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Usually in this column I look back at one of the many great tag teams who have come and gone. However, in this particular article, I instead am going to look at how an event has changed tag team wrestling. More importantly, I will look at how tag team wrestling has changed through the years by using the event as my yardstick. The event I am speaking of is none other than Wrestlemania. The next four issues of “Tag Team Spotlight” will look over the great event. In Part one, we will mow over Wrestlemania I-V.
Over the past six months I have watched every Wrestlemania from number one in 1985 to number twenty-three this year, 2007. Each match has a story and those stories are worth while to look back on. For tag team wrestling it has been a story with many turns and more ups and downs. The only place to start is at the beginning, where arguably, the biggest tag team match in history took place, Wrestlemania I.
Wrestlemania I
Wrestlemania one had the first Tag Team Title match in Wrestlemania history, The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff vs. Barry Windam and Mike Rotundo. Both these teams had fantastic superstars and this was a high time for tag team wrestling. It is an instant classic and truly both teams were in their prime.
The other tag match was of course the main event, Hulk Hogan and Mr. T (w/Snuka) vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff (w/Orton). It had been hyped for weeks and Vince McMahon was betting his entire career on this bout. It had a ton of back and fourth action until in the end the Hulk and Mr. T got the victory.
What is most interesting to note about the first installment of Wrestlemania is that a tag match headlined the card. This would mark the one and only time that this feat occurred, wherein over the next 23 years a singles star and usually the WWE title headlined the show. In the end Wrestlemania I put a spotlight on the entire industry on a national level and tag team wrestling was highlighted in two terrific matches.
Wrestlemania II
Wrestlemania II had its share of highlights while being broadcast from three different arenas around the United States. Just as in its predecessor it held two tag bouts but unlike Wrestlemania I, neither were main events. All though one could make an argument that the tag title bout did indeed headline the middle section of the program from Chicago, Illinois.
The tag team championship match pitted Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and Brutus Beefcake vs. The British Bulldogs. It was a fantastic match with very solid teams. It really exemplified what tag team wrestling was about at the time. Frequent tags and out of the box thinking was shown to its capacity here. In the end after a head-on collision Davey Boy capitalized and seized the win for his team.
The second bout, Terry Funk & Hoss Funk (w/Jimmy Hart) defeated the Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana. It was an okay match highlighted by the tremendous work ethic of all four competitors. In the history of tag wrestling it has all but been forgotten. In the end, WMII really didn’t do much to keep the prestige of tag wrestling moving upward but placed two more than fine bouts on an already fantastic card.
Wrestlemania III
The Numeral three weighed rather ominously at this installment of Wrestlemania where it concerned the tag division. Two of the four tag matches on the card were 6-man tag bouts. Another interesting note is that WMIII was the first ‘Mania not to have a tag title bout.
The first tag event of the evening was historic in that each team included one “big man” and two “little people” as participants. King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo, and Lord Littlebrook looked to be men on a mission in this match up as they tousled with Little Beaver, the Haiti Kid and the infamous Hillbilly Jim. The match was a short one and neither team really reflected their great in-ring skill. In the end Hillbilly’s band of misfits picked up the win. This match showed that comedy had a place in wrestling but that the comedians in a bout needed a straight man like Bundy to make it work, and it did just that…work!
The Dream team of Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine defeated the Fabulous Rougeau brothers in the next tag match. This match, in my opinion, was one of the best on the card technically. People often forget how great of heels The Dream Team was and how profound their legacy is.
The other six-man match of the evening was between The Heart Foundation along side Danny Davis against The British Bulldogs and Tito Santana. Honestly, for my money there weren’t six better in ring athletes at the time but it is another match that is quickly glossed over in the annals of history.
The final tag bout of the evening came when The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff made fairly quick work of The Killer Bees. The crowd was absolutely back in fourth with this one, hoping for their hero’s, the bee’s, to squeak out a win. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t in the cards.
In the end Wrestlemania III will be remembered for two matches Andre vs. Hogan and Steamboat vs. Savage for the IC strap. Tag team wrestling was still lying dormant during the third installment of this great annual event. But be forewarned, the tag division was going to slowly creek back into the spotlight, whether Vince and his creative guru’s liked it or not, it just wasn’t going to be at Wrestlemania IV...
Wrestlemania IV
Wrestlemania Four wasn’t about the tag division. Its sole purpose was to crown a new heavyweight champ and did so in one Macho Man Randy Savage. There were two very good tag bouts on the card however. The Islanders and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan took on The British Bulldogs and Koko B Ware. Also, the Tag Team Championship was once again decided at Wrestlemania when Demolition squared off against Strike Force.
In the first match the one and only Weasel actually got the pin and scored the victory with a bit of help from the Islanders. In the championship match Demolition won the belts with a little help from Mr. Fuji. Both matches were excellent and were showing two things in the world of tag wrestling. One, tag team wrestling was no longer sitting on top of the world and might have a rather long climb. Two, Demolition was a force to be reckoned with and would be for years to come.
Wrestlemania V
“The Mega-Powers Collide” was the tag line for Wrestlemania V and boy, did it ever come true. Macho Man and Hulk Hogan tore it up at Trump Plaza that year over not only the title but Miss Elizabeth as well. But where does tag team wrestling fit into here, one might ask. Simple…the biggest feud of the year, and some might say the biggest feud in the history of Sports Entertainment began months before Wrestlemania when Savage and Hogan teamed up as the mega powers to face teams like The Twin Towers. Tag team wrestling may not have headlined WMV, but without it, there would have been no Hogan/Savage feud or match and that would have been a disgrace for us all.
Unfortunately, the downside to this tremendous feud was that we now have an overabundance of times in recent history where either a tag team is used only to elevate singles stars, or they rehash this feud where stars become a team and then breakup to feud over a singles title. A great example of that is the MVP/Hardy feud being done today.
As far as tag team wrestling matches goes there were four matches on the card; The Brainbusters vs. Strike Force, The Twin Towers vs. The Rockers, The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers vs. The Bushwhackers and Demolition vs. The Powers of Pain for the tag straps. Honestly, in the history of Wrestlemania the tag team championship match from this show is one of the best tag title bouts ever on any card. The feuds build up to this match was incredible in the weeks leading to the event and in the end, the hard work paid off.
Closing thoughts
So, that was a recap of Wrestlemania I –V. In some cases tag team wrestling was at a high and in others it wasn’t. We can see that tag team wrestling started out strong and then took an immediate dive to being lower on the card and an afterthought. But beginning with WMV we saw the spark that would see tag wrestling begin again.
In my next installment I will cover Wrestlemania’s VI-X and we will see how tag wrestling developed through those next five years. Until next time…this has been tag team spotlight!
