Demolition is an American professional wrestling tag team most prominent during the late 1980s and early 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) made up of Ax (Bill Eadie), Smash (Barry Darsow), and later Crush (Brian Adams). In the WWF, Demolition were three-time WWF World Tag Team Champions, and hold the record for the most combined days as reigning champions with that championship. Their first reign with the WWF World Tag Team Championship is the fourth longest reign with any tag team championship in WWE history (behind Mark Coffey and Wolfgang's reign with the NXT UK Tag Team Championship, The New Day's reign with the WWE (Raw) Tag Team Championship and The Usos' reign with the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship) and is the longest reign on record for that specific championship (which has been defunct since 2010). Beginning in 2007, Ax and Smash reunited for several appearances at various independent shows and legends conventions.
Career
World Wrestling Federation (1987–1991)
Formation and early push (1987–1988) Randy Colley and Bill Eadie created the Demolition gimmick and worked for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). They debuted as a heel tag team on January 4, 1987, at the Springfield Civic Centre in Massachusetts, alongside manager Luscious Johnny V, defeating the team of The Islanders and later participating in a battle royal won by Pete Doherty. Demolition wore studded black leather outfits and leather-covered hockey masks to the ring, which they removed to reveal face paint usually made up of some combination of black, white, red, or silver colors, though other colors were sometimes included. The tag team wore outfits similar to Lord Humungus of the 1981 film Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, while their facepaint was reminiscent of hard rock band KISS. However, in TV interviews the characters generally compared themselves to another hockey-masked horror movie villain, Jason Voorhees of the Friday the 13th film series, as well as Freddy Krueger of Nightmare on Elm Street.
After only two more matches (wins over enhancement talent at TV tapings on January 5 and 6), Colley was replaced with Barry Darsow starting with a match filmed January 26, 1987 at the Sundome, Tampa FL and aired on the February 14, 1987 edition of Superstars. Eadie has stated that Colley was replaced because he was too recognizable to the fans as the man who previously performed as Moondog Rex. The WWF pitched a few potential replacements to Eadie, but he thought fans would recognize the suggested replacements. However, Eadie felt that many WWF fans would not recognize Darsow, who had been working for Jim Crockett Promotions as Krusher Khruschev alongside Nikita Koloff. Darsow had left Crockett following a dispute in order to take over the role of Smash. On the March 14 Saturday Night's Main Event X, Demolition participated in another battle royal, won by Hercules Hernandez. Around that same period, Johnny Valiant (who went on to manage the "new Dream Team" of Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo before leaving the WWF at the end of 1987) sold their contracts to Mr. Fuji who became their manager.
Demolition's undefeated streak ended when they suffered their first pinfall loss to The Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel and Tom Zenk) on June 6, 1987 at the Boston Garden, Demolition became known for their aggressive style in the ring and the way that they dominated their matches. Their first feud was with the team of Ken Patera and Billy Jack Haynes, which started after Ax and Smash brutalized WWF jobber Brady Boone (billed in storyline as the cousin of Haynes), during a televised match and then battered first Haynes and then Patera when they each tried to come to the rescue. Demolition claimed victories over all of the established face tag teams in the WWF at the time, including The Killer Bees (Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair), The Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond), British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith), The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers), The Islanders (Haku and Tama), and The Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel and Tom Zenk).
Demolition made their pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series in an elimination tag team match where five babyface teams faced five heel teams. Demolition was part of the heel group, They eliminated The Rougeau Brothers, but were disqualified when Smash shoved down referee Dave Hebner during the match and the face team went on to win the match.
Tag team title reigns (1988–1990)