Demolition

Demolition was a professional wrestling tag team in the late 80s / early 90s World Wrestling Federation made up of Ax (Bill Eadie), Smash (Barry Darsow), and later Crush (Brian Adams).

Career

Formation

Randy Colley and Bill Eadie created the Demolition gimmick and look around 1987 while working for the World Wrestling Federation. After only a few matches, however, Colley was replaced with Barry Darsow for reasons which vary depending on the source (either he was recognizable as the former Moondog Rex or there was a contract dispute with the WWF which led to his leaving the company).

Because the members of Demolition wore face paint, used a raucous theme song, and were booked as dominating, many professional wrestling fans speculate that Demolition was inspired by the The Road Warriors, a team the WWF had unsuccessfully tried to sign in the 1980s.

Demolition domination

After debuting with manager Lucious Johnny V, the team was eventually paired with Mr. Fuji for a manager, who began to wear Demolition style paint around his eyes. He lead them to their first WWF Tag Team Title when they defeated Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel) at the March 1988 WrestleMania IV.

As champions, they easily defeated a number of the WWFs top teams which at the time had a very talented, popular and hotly contested tag division. Demolition ran roughshod over the rest of the tag team division, holding the titles for a record 478 days, until The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) were able to take the titles in a Two out of three falls match on Saturday Night Main Event. Prior to losing the titles the team had engaged in a lengthy feud with the Powers of Pain (the Warlord and the Barbarian) led by the Baron. However, the increasingly popular team would be backstabbed by Mr. Fuji at the 1988 Survivor Series, when Fuji joined up with the Powers of Pain. Ax and Smash would also memorably square off against each other as entrants #1 and #2 at the 1989 Royal Rumble before being joined in the ring by Andre the Giant. The popular team would regain the titles from the Brain Busters, and lose them to Bobby Heenans new team of Andre the Giant and Haku, known as The Colossal Connection.

Crush

In 1990 Brian Adams joined the team as Crush. In kayfabe this was related to their new (heel) attitude, but it was actually because of Eadies heart problems.

Crush soon took a more and more active role, teaming with Smash while Ax faded into the background, becoming more of a manager. At this time Demolition used the so-called Freebird rule to allow any two members to wrestle the matches, including defenses of the WWF Tag Team Title, which Ax & Smash had won for the third time back at WrestleMania VI in April of 1990 by defeating The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku).

Smash and Crush defended the titles at Augusts SummerSlam, losing them to The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart). They were never able to recapture the titles after this loss.

Soon after, The Road Warriors signed with the WWF and Demolitions popularity began to decline, despite regaining the managerial services of Mr. Fuji in the fall of 1990. The team lost a final match to Genichiro Tenryu and Koji Kitao at WrestleMania VII in 1991 before they broke up and the members went their separate ways.

Post WWF

After leaving the WWF, Eadie began using the name Axis the Demolisher on the independent circuit and took in original Smash gimmick owner Randy Colley as well as Carmine Azzato under the name of Demolition Blast in an attempt to resurrect the Demolition name and gimmick. They were sent a cease and desist letter by the WWF once they found out.

In the mid 1990s, Bill Eadie filed a lawsuit against the WWF for the rights of the Demolition name and gimmick but lost. Smash recently inked a deal with Jakks Pacific to make a Demolition Legends action figure.

On April 1, 2007, Darsow and Eadie reunited for the first time in 16 years at a Meet the Legends event in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

On September 29, 2007, Darsow and Eadie will reunite as the tag team Demolition for the first time in 16 years in Orlando Florida .

Death of Crush aka Brian Adams

On Monday, August 13th, 2007 Brian Adams aka Crush passed away.

Championships/Accomplishments

Pro Wrestling Illustrated
* Ranked #59 of the 100 best tag teams during the PWI Years in 2003.

World Wrestling Federation
* WWF World Tag Team Championship (3 times) (Their first reign was the longest on record!)

WWE Magazine
* Ranked The greatest World Tag Team champions in WWE history

In wrestling

Finishing and signature maneuvers
* Demolition Decapitation (Combination backbreaker hold & top-rope elbow drop)
* Double double Axe handle
* Bearhug hold, attack combination
* Double clothesline

Managers
* Luscious Johnny V
* Mr. Fuji

Theme music

Demolition had one of the most unique pieces of theme music in the late 80s WWF. A piece of hard-driven rock music by Rick Derringer whose lyrics actually introduced both members of the team (Here comes the Ax, and here comes the Smasher). The song was eventually released on Piledriver - The Wrestling Album 2.