5 WWE Tag Teams that succeeded despite the odds

#3 Demolition

Ax and Smash were not just imitators, they became tag team legends

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but in the case of The Road Warriors, it was merely a way to make a quick buck. Pro-wrestlers had painted their faces before Hawk and Animal did it. Pro-wrestlers were big and tough before Hawk and Animal came along. But no one did everything they did, and no one did it better.

The Legion of Doom was the greatest tag team of all time because they made more money than everyone else. Period. Hawk and Animal were in demand by every wrestling promotion on the planet, and everywhere they worked, they won tag team gold.

They drew main event crowds, in an era when singles wrestlers were typically the ones used in those spots. The Road Warriors broke the top guy mold and forever changed tag team wrestling. But they were most definitely not just two tough guys wearing paint.

But Demolition was. Ax and Smash each had successful careers in regional promotions, with the former portraying The Masked Superstar, and the latter performing as Krusher Kruschev. Individually they were good hands that did good work.

But together, they were nothing more than Vince McMahon’s poor attempt at recreating The Road Warriors. The team was manufactured, built from the ground up to dominate as Hawk and Animal had. Nothing about them was organic, and nothing about them was original.

However as time passed, Ax and Smash not only gelled as a team, they actually got over. Because they were no slouches in the ring, Bill Eadie and Barry Darsow changed the fans’ perception of what Demolition was, and what it could be.

To this day, Demolition is revered by many fans that respected and appreciated what they brought to the game. They were a team that should have failed, but instead became one of WWE’s most beloved duos of all time.