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Introduction
Last time in Part one of this four part series, Tag Team Spotlight took a detour from looking at all the great tag teams of the past and announced a four part series on how Wrestlemania has impacted tag team wrestling. If you are just “tuning in”, this is the second in the four part arc. In this issue we are going to be looking at Wrestlemania VI-X.
When last we left off, tag team wrestling had gone from main eventing in Wrestlemania I to being an afterthought in Wrestlemania IV. In Wrestlemania V though we saw a glimmer of hope for the division, a possible upswing? Let’s find out, shall we…
Wrestlemania VI
Wrestlemania VI was all about the glitz and glamour of sports entertainment. At that point, the Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan were neck and neck for the most popular award. And the sixth installment was built around the “Hulkamaniacs and the Warrior’s” battling it out for supreme supremacy.
However, unlike many other cards, tag team wrestling was not forgotten on this day. Demolition defeated the Colossal Connection (Andre the Giant and Haku) to win another world tag team championship in a fantastic match. More importantly this tag team bout served as the turning point for Andre to go out as a humble face instead of as a monstrous heel when he punched Bobby Heenan square in the jaw and made quick work of his then tag partner Haku.
In one of the quickest bouts in wrestling history (nineteen seconds) the hart Foundation destroyed and defeated the team of Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov. The Russian natives were singing the national anthem when The Anvil and The Hitman decided to stop the chalkboard screeching. This cemented The Hart’s as not only true contenders for Demolition’s title, but one of the great tag teams in the world.
Also on the card was a mixed tag team match between Dusty Rhodes with Sapphire against Miss Elizabeth with Randy Savage and The Rockers getting counted out against the Orient Express. Another tag related bout pitted The Big Boss Man against his former partner Akeem, a match that essentially came from the
Wrestlemania VII
The tag matches of Wrestlemania VII are not all that memorable in the great scheme of things. The Rockers defeated the Barbarian and Haku. The Nasty Boys defeated The Hart Foundation for the World Tag Team Title in a fairly good bout and The Legion of Doom (Road Warriors) destroyed Power and Glory in just under a minute. With as great as tag wrestling had been the year prior, it immediately fell under the rug again for this installment of Wrestlemania.
Wrestlemania VIII
This was another dud for the tag division and to be honest in my opinion one of the worst Wrestlemanias in the history of the event overall. The only two on two contest was for the tag team straps and it was The Natural Disasters taking on the money grubbing duo of Money Inc. There was an eight man match on the card but it is almost too bad to speak of.
Wrestlemania IX
Wrestlemania IX, or as fans nowadays call it, “The one where Jim Ross started with the company”, was a tremendous card on paper that just wasn’t quite executed the right way. The screwball finish in the title bout for the world strap left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths and so because of it the rest of the card has been tossed aside.
The big tag match of the evening also included most of the participants that made the World title match miserable…Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan. Money Inc. Retained their tag team gold against Hogan and Beefcake when Bret interfered and the Mega-Maniacs couldn’t handle the heat.
The other tag match was a strong bout between the Headshrinkers and The Steiner Brothers. Not surprisingly, in my opinion, this one stole the show. Though Demolition will always be my favorite tag team of all time for varied reasons, The Steiner’s are arguably the best technical tag team there ever was with maybe the exception of the Brainbusters. They, as usual, put on a show for the world to see and remember those boys from
Wrestlemania X
Well folks…here is the all time low. The Quebecers were defeated by Men on a
Closing
In Part III of our journey through Wrestlemania via the tag team division we will see much improvement. There will be some fantastic matches to read about. I think what we’ve learned from this part of the series is that Wrestlemania, and especially the tag division, has had a lot of twists and turns over the years. There are growing pains in any walk of life and Wrestlemania is no different
As for how tag wrestling was changed during Mania’ V and Mania’ X I will say this… There was a noticeable wealth of talent in the pool. Many people who were in tag teams of this era, were already, or went on to be huge singles stars in the WWE. Here is a small list…Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Big Daddy V, Earthquake, Tugboat, Ted Dibiase, Bam Bam Bigelow, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, and Andre the Giant. The WWE was putting the best of the best into the tag division; unfortunately, the best of the best in talent does not always make for good matches. The best matches from these Wrestlemania’s were all had by people who at the time were not singles stars and some who never would be such as Demolition, The Nasty Boys and The Road Warriors. It just goes to show that those who put their passions on the table and fight for what they believe in are the one’s who will do the best.
