WWE Missed Opportunities: Legion of Doom vs. Demolition
We're going to rewind the clock way back this week.
We're going to go back to a golden age in WWE, when tag team wrestling was at its best. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, WWE had so many tag teams that it was hard to keep up with all of them.
But it didn't just have one or two solid tag teams and then a bunch of teams just randomly thrown together. It had top-tier teams, midcard teams and even good teams that served as jobbers.
In June 1990, perhaps the greatest tag team in wrestling history made its WWE debut. Hawk and Animal, collectively known as the Legion of Doom, had hit the scene.
The LOD was already a highly decorated tag team at that time, having already become well-known in Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association as well as World Championship Wrestling.
Sandwiched in between its time in those two companies was a successful stint in Japan.
But in order to be considered among the best teams ever, the tag team knew it needed to make its mark in WWE.
Prior to the Legion of Doom's arrival in WWE, a team known as Demolition Ax and Smash had ruled the yard. Demolition was often compared to the Road Warriors, and in WWE, it defeated every other tag team the company had on its roster, leading to three tag team title reigns.
The two teams were on a collision course for one of the biggest tag team matches ever.
In the summer of 1990, Demolition added a third member. Crush would become the new piece of the team after Ax was reduced to a more limited role.
This move didn't take away from the team's success, but it was never the same after this move.
At SummerSlam in August 1990, Demolition defended the tag team titles against the Hart Foundation in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match. With the match tied at one fall apiece, it would be LOD who got involved in the match and cost Demolition the deciding fall and the titles.
This was the moment fans had been waiting for: the beginning of the feud between these two teams. But the big payoff match between the two never really came about.
Because Demolition had three members,Ā LOD added the services of Ultimate Warrior to even the odds. On an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event in October 1990, Ultimate Warrior and LOD defeated Demolition in a six-man team match.
The next month at Survivor Series, those men would be on opposite sides in a four-on-four elimination match. Demolition teamed with Mr. Perfect to face Ultimate Warrior, LOD and Texas Tornado.
Three minutes into the match, Ax was eliminated by Ultimate Warrior. Shortly thereafter, Crush and Smash were eliminated along with LOD after the referee disqualified all four men for brawling on the outside of the ring.
That would be about as far as the feud would ever go.
The teams went in opposite directions, and Demolition would soon fall down the ladder in the tag team division. By the end of 1991, the team was disbanded for good.
On the other hand, LOD would go on to great success within the organization. It collected wins over the Rockers and Power and Glory, before entering what was probably its most memorable rivalry in WWE against the Nasty Boys.
At SummerSlam in 1991, LOD defeated the Nasty Boys to become WWE tag team champions. The team would also have a very good feud with Money Inc.
LOD cemented its status as possibly the greatest tag team in wrestling history with its accomplishments in WWE. But Demolition was all but wiped out by its presence.
LOD and Demolition waged war in the ringāso at least we can say that the matches happened. They should just be so much more memorable.
