Andrew Lutzke
Presented by Kayfabe Commentaries.
The concept behind this shoot is that Demolition will be discussing some of their biggest matches and moments while watching them on a monitor. As an added bonus, they will be applying their trademark make up to their faces as things move along.
Moondog Rex had the idea to create a new tag team based off of the Road Warriors and the movie Mad Max. They bounced ideas around for weeks before Vince McMahon approved it.
The fans could tell it was Rex right away, and since he had been a jobber for the past year plus, the fans didn’t buy him as a threat.
Bill Eadie (Ax) went on a tour of Japan and gave Rex his blessing to find a new partner if need be. McMahon instead gave Eadie the option of a new partner when he came back and Barry Darsow got the gig.
Ivan Koloff gave Eadie the thumbs up that Darsow would be a good hand.
Moondog Rex had never been able to cut a promo, so Demolition lucked out by dumping him from the picture.
Rex came back as one of “The Shadows” to work underneath.
Ivan Koloff and Nikolai Volkoff taught Darsow how to work and psychology. Fuji and Eadie added to his growth as well.
The paint took 40 minutes to apply and they would have to reapply it after every match during TV tapings where they might work 3 or 4 times.
Fans couldn’t recognize them outside of the ring, which was nice for being able to live a normal life.
Airport security loved playing with their spiked outfits and titles.
Darsow and Eadie went to a sex shop to buy their gimmicks.
They didn’t change the paint job very often because being consistent led to it looking better.
Brian Adams was too green to portray Crush. Eadie feels it was unfair to put so much pressure on Adams.
Demolition never really felt they were seen as Road Warrior rip offs. The WWF fans saw the Demoliton as a unique entity.
Darsow knew Road Warrior Animal from before they got into wrestling.
Ole Anderson pulled Animal out of wrestling school and made him a monster. Since Animal was still green, they added Hawk to help the ease the learning curb.
Eadie created the “Demolition Decapitation”. Darsow was strong enough to put almost anyone in position for the move, so it worked effectively.
Jimmy Hart produced the “Demolition” theme that Rick Derringer would ultimately record.
Some jobbers were scared to face them due to their hard hitting style, but they never had any complaints afterwards because they could work well enough not to hurt anyone.
Enhancement guys would sometimes not sell very much and a few stiff shots quickly corrected that problem.
Johnny Valiant was the first manager for Demolition and he delivered promos that were too over the top goofy for the gimmick, so Eadie pushed for Fuji to replace him. A few months down the line the change was made.
Fuji was all business, always on time, always ready to perform. Demolition and Fuji always left ahead of schedule so they could have a relaxing drive and not have to race from town to town.
The trio would stay at good hotels, and eat at nice restaurants to treat themselves and help make life on the road more tolerable.
Fuji was always plotting ribs on people, but Demolition had him on their side so they were safe.
The other guys in the locker room respected Eadie and Darsow for being all business and they were spared from others ribbing them as well.
Ax and Smash were always trying to improve in the ring and on the mic.
Fuji was replaced by a mentally challenged ringside attendant for one house show. His favorite team was The British Bulldogs and he wouldn’t help Demolition hurt his heroes. The kid’s name was Eugene (I wonder if that is where Nick Dinsmore got the name from?)
Wrestlemania 4 vs. Strike Force is their first match they watch. Eadie says Mania was a huge event at the time – now the PPV universe is diluted and Mania feels less special. The big crowds didn’t bother the guys as you just got wrapped up in the match and blocked out most of the crowd.
The guys all liked each other, so the match went smoothly. Rick Martel had been AWA champ in Minnesota and knew Darsow before Barry broke in himself.
Joey Marella was always screwing around backstage and had to keep himself reserved while refereeing.
They next check out a match from Wrestlefest 88 vs. The British Bulldogs.
The delayed reaction from the fans in a monstrous audience like this was a hard thing to get used to.
Dynamite Kid sold for you like a pro. He could turn an average bump into a scene akin to a car wreck.
Matilda the bulldog was mistreated by some in the locker room.
A 5 am wake up call would come fast, so trying to keep up with the partying lifestyle would burn people out fast.
Summerslam 88 vs. The Hart Foundation comes up next in the rotation.
They praise Jimmy Hart for all of his promotional efforts and extra efforts he made to make everyone better backstage.
Bret Hart was a good performer, but they never foresaw the headlining success he would enjoy in the 90’s.
The Hart Foundation played off each other well and always had good matches with the Demolition.
The popularity of the WWF demanded that they expand the amount of big shows – Eadie admits that the more big shows would mean more fan burn out. You can have PPVs, but that alone doesn’t make it an “event”.
TV tapings and PPVs were a LONG day as you’d be at the arena for upwards of 12-14 hours.
Eadie doesn’t recall Randy Savage being too protective of Elizabeth. Savage was very stand offish.
Royal Rumble 1989 is next. Ax and Smash came in one and two. Fighting each other only came naturally since their whole gimmick was attack, attack, attack.
Andre still loved wrestling, but his body was failing him fast.
Bam Bam Bigelow, Big John Studd, Randy Savage, Iron Sheik and Jake the Snake were all on Andre’s shit list.
Andre and Hogan would be given more money than other guys in a battle royal situation then most of the other guys would be paid roughly the same. Bonuses would be handed out if you worked an extra long time in the match though.
Sputnik Monroe would show up backstage in Houston and engage the boys in lots of old war stories.
Howard Finkel is a great guy. Some have rumored he has among the largest porn collection you’ll ever see,
The Main Event vs. The Powers of Pain comes on next.
Fuji had turned on Demolition by this point. He was upset a bit to have his routine altered as he now rode with the Powers of Pain. Warlord insisted on stopping to eat upwards of 8 times a day.
The Powers of Pain using the face paint and such didn’t bother Demolition. Warlord was a great guy but couldn’t work very well due to his bulk.
Heels should not change their style too drastically when they turn face. If you got over by being a roughneck, you better keep pounding people down as a babyface.
Ax preferred being a heel so he could call the match.
Demolition vs. Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson from October of 1989 is shown to them next. This is footage of Demolition winning the World tag belts for the second time.
Darsow and Arn Anderson were good friends from their time in Crockett together.
Blanchard chipped Smash’s teeth by cracking him too hard with a gimmick while impaired.
The Brain Busters were all business in the ring and trading the belts was never a cause of worry.
Some in the locker room were bothered by Tully and Arn shooting to the top in a matter of months compared to some teams that had been going up and down the road with the WWF for years having not yet gotten a run on top.
You see the same guys on TV every week now, back in the 80’s you had to pay to see the guys wrestle against other big names and the stars would only be on TV maybe 2 times a month.
Demolition vs. Giant Baba and Andre the Giant from Japan is next.
Eadie covers the All Japan vs New Japan war.
Smash won over 500 dollars from Andre playing cribbage on this trip.
Baba was an all time legend in Japan, so he could get away with doing very few spots and getting big pops for doing little.
Giant Baba started the match out of respect for Andre. In Japan the underling of the team would traditionally start things off.
Baba wasn’t seen often by the boys as he would either be in his office or his home running things and having his cronies run the wrestling shows.
The Japanese rookies were in charge of taking care of the veterans clothes washing, hotel and travel arrangements and anything else you needed.
The money was guaranteed in Japan, so if you could get over you could make a lot of cash and have no worries about flaky promoters.
American movies were run in Tokyo theaters to help the Japanese people learn English.
Ax was warned by his trainers how stiff he’d have to work in Japan to survive.
Stan Hansen and Eadie were sent into a match with the Road Warriors with orders to stiff them in order to try and teach them a lesson on loosening up their work.
If the promoters thought you were dogging it, they would send other workers after you the following nights to wear you down and teach you a lesson.
Final thoughts: A very calm and reserved interview, which did not feature too many revelations. Sometimes guys are just normal and happy which makes for a somewhat dull interview compared to someone with an ax (pardon the pun) to grind.
