Hello readers and welcome to another Nefatiri Spotlight. Since I will be spending the remainder of the week getting ready to attend my next WWE house show, I have decided to leave you with a good read. Since everyone seems to be spotlighting tag teams, I thought I'd do the same.
I'm a huge fan of ESPN Classic because late at night I can watch wrestling. To be specific, I watch AWA wrestling; and in my opinion, some of the best wrestling you can watch if you, of course, don't count the international wrestling leagues.
Well, last Saturday night, the AWA spotlighted one of my favorite old school tag teams: The Midnight Rockers. They were making a big return against the formidable team of "Slick" Nick Kiniski and Mr. Magnificent. The two teams would put on an awesome bout, not the greatest match ever, but it was done well enough to showcase the talents of The Midnight Rockers.
Who Were The Midnight Rockers?
The Midnight Rockers or just plain "The Rockers," were a tag team made up of two very talented men: Marty Jannetty and, future Hall of Famer, Shawn Michaels.The two men just happened to meet in a small Kansas territory in 1985. They struck up a partnership after Marty and, then partner, "Bulldog" Bob Brown parted ways and became an official nameless tag team after working a few matches.
The two wrestled a few more matches and even managed to win the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship on May 15, 1986. Their reign was short lived, though, and they lost the belts seven days later. Shawn and Marty parted ways briefly, only to find out that they had both been signed to the AWA because of the AWA's desire to sign as much young talent as possible.
They would end up teaming together, once again, because of booker, Greg Gagne. They wrestled a few matches and it wasn't long before people started noticing how good they were. They got a big push when they were booked to feud against one of the top teams in the AWA: Doug Somers and Buddy Rose. They had a good long feud with Somers and Rose, even managing to tag with Curt Hennig, also known as Mr. Perfect, who is another WWE Hall of Famer.
Shawn and Marty finally won the AWA Tag Team Championship from Somers and Rose after a really long, drawn out feud. During this time in their careers, they managed to catch the attention of Vince McMahon. They signed a contract with the WWF even though they were still AWA Champions. They dropped the AWA belts on May 25, 1987 and left to work for Vince.
The Rocky Road to Success
Shawn and Marty were fired shortly after signing with Vince. I know, tough break for them. Shawn stated on his "Heartbreak and Triumph" DVD that he and Marty liked to party too much. They were unprofessional, according to Vince, and as a result, he let them go.
Shawn and Marty ended up back in the AWA, but it was not doing very well at the time. The WWF was becoming very successful and Shawn knew that it was only a matter of time before the AWA folded completely. After a short stint in the AWA, and an even shorter run in the CWF, they were given a second chance to prove themselves in the WWF.
They would not disappoint.
The WWF fans got a preview of things to come in 1988 when The Rockers made their Pay Per View debut at Survivor Series, winning a 10-Man Tag team match that lead to a feud with The Brainbusters. The feud received rave reviews from the lucky fans who got to see them fight since they were mainly working the house shows.
In 1989, the feud with The Brainbusters was halted for a feud with The Fabulous Rougeaus. This feud resulted in the introduction of the Iron Man Match, and though at least five of these matches took place between the two feuding teams, none of them were ever televised.
In 1990, The Rockers spent the year and then some months feuding with The Orient Express. The Orient Express went through some changes when Akio Sato, one half of the original Orient Express, decided to leave the US. Despite the change, The Orient Express continued feuding with The Rockers, their most memorable match taking place at the Rumble in '91.
The Rockers were one of the best tag teams in the WWF, second only to the reigning tag team champions, The Hart Foundation. There was only room at the top for one team, which meant the start of a new feud. The Rockers and The Hart Foundation—Bret Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart—wrestled several great matches. Shawn and Bret even wrestled a few singles matches during the feud, giving us a preview of great things to come from the two of them.
Eventually, The Rockers proved to be "better," if only by a few small technicalities and eventually earned themselves a shot at the belts. They wrestled a Two-out-of-Three Falls match on October 30, 1990 and "won" the belts. However, it was not the way that they envisioned.
The match would have probably been an instant classic had the top ropes not broken. When that happened, it made it harder to put on a good show. Shawn even stated on his DVD that it was "terrible." They still got the win, but by WWE records, it never happened. This great, innovative team never won the belts and sadly they never would.
Shawn and Marty split up after Shawn decided that he wanted to take part in singles wrestling. In what would be dubbed the famous "Barbershop Incident," Shawn super-kicked Marty through a window, making him bleed. At the time, it was considered very controversial. The two would not survive on-screen after that and went on to feud, ending their partnership for good.
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