Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Through the years, promoters have attempted to recreate or improve a tag team, faction or gimmick. Usually, it doesn’t pan out as expected. Why? Simple…fans know quality. They hear of a name brand, they are understandably going to expect what the original had to offer and expect even more. Most of the time, the second incarnation or the new and improved version lacks something.
The New Rockers
It seemed to make sense….with Shawn Michaels starting a successful singles career…why not try and recapture the the success of The Original Rockers? With Marty Jannetty now paired with Leif Cassidy (Al Snow)…it tanked rather quickly. The suave, cool Shawn Michaels was replaced with a seemingly goofy character in Cassidy. Even the WWF announcers made fans aware of that fact.
The New LOD
This certainly wasn’t the WWE’s first attempt at re-imagining the Legion of Doom aka The Road Warriors. They tried adding a female valet (Sunny) to the originals Hawk and Animal…they then tried out “Puke” aka Darren Drozdov….finally the eccentric Jon Heidenreich was brought in to team with Animal as the new LOD. They even won WWE tag team gold. Nothing against Heidenreich, but many fans just couldn’t accept Animal teaming with anyone but his late, great original partner…Hawk.
The New Midnight Express
I realize there have been several incarnations of the Midnight Express over the years. The most known members are of course, Bobby Eaton, Stan Lane and Dennis Condrey. There have been others including Randy Rose and Norvell Austin….but Eaton, Lane and Condrey are the most familiar. With that said, not too many people think ‘Bombastic Bob’ Holly and ‘Bodacious Bart’ Gunn when reminiscing about that once great tag team. Not even Jim Cornette as the “New” Midnights manager could save this team from failing.
The Varsity Club
This wasn’t exactly a new version of the Varsity Club…just tweaked years later. The original members were brought back ie Mike Rotunda, Rick Steiner and Kevin Sullivan. They did bring in the former ECW valet Kristina Laum (Kimona Wanaleya) as Leia Meow. Her biggest contribution to the reformed stable was bouncing up and down on a trampoline. The same magic just wasn’t there as both Rotunda and Steiner were much older and slower. The stable was quickly disbanded.
Harlem Heat 2000
This new tandem was a train wreck right from the start. WCW took the older, slower, less athletic brother in the Harlem Heat team…Stevie Ray and paired him with someone slower and less athletic than even him in Big T aka Tony Norris. Add an equally nonathletic bodyguard in Swoll and you have Harlem Heat 2000.
The New Freebirds
In an attempt to shake things up and make Michael Hayes a singles star…a new version of the Fabulous Freebirds were introduced in World Class Championship Wrestling. Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts remained…but with Michael Hayes out…enter in ‘Iceman’ King Parsons. Now nothing against Parsons personally, he was an outstanding, charismatic wrestler….the new version just didn’t have the same heat or magic to it. Michael Hayes was the proverbial straw that stirred the Freebirds drink.
The New Headshrinkers
Samu and Fatu were a tremendously successful tag team everywhere they traveled to including WCCW, WCW and the WWF. When Samu abruptly quit the WWF, the former Barbarian…Sione Vailahi was added to the group. They quickly became a jobber tag team.
Fake Razor Ramon and Diesel
In a desperate attempt to keep viewers locked in to Monday Night Raw, the WWF thought it would be a great idea to regurgitate two once successful gimmicks in Razor Ramon and Diesel. The main problem with this plan is it wasn’t Scott Hall and Kevin Nash portraying the revitalized characters….and it quickly failed.
The New Demolition
Crush was younger, bigger and stronger than the man he was attempting to replace in Bill Eadie aka Demolition Ax. The fans didn’t accept the change despite possessing those credentials and eventually…the new Demolition faded away.
The New Blackjacks
In an attempt to try to recreate the success of the original Blackjacks of Lanza and Mulligan, the WWF formed a team consisting of Bradshaw and Barry Windham. The only thing that connected the originals with this new version was Windham who was the real life son of Blackjack Mulligan. The team floundered and were eventually split up.
The nWo 2000
I really don’t know why bookers think that by adding “2000” at the end of a revamped team or faction…it automatically makes them hip and trendy. Such was the case with WCW’s desperate attempt at trying to recapture the initial success of the New World Order by reforming the group and adding Jeff Jarrett and Bret Hart. No offense to either wrestler, but combined, they just didn’t have the impact that Hulk Hogan had on the group.
The Reformed Main Event Mafia
The original Mafia was one of TNA’s better ideas. A group of main event wrestlers who were also world champions. I had high hopes when TNA announced that MEM was reforming. It didn’t take long to be disappointed as Magnus who at the time was neither a main event wrestler or a former world champion and Rampage Jackson…an MMA guy were added to the group. It was a big miss in my personal opinion.
The new ECW and WCW
Two opportunities to keep the once vibrant, electric and innovative wrestling promotions alive and both times the WWE failed to truly capitalize on the brands. In the end, the new ECW was a PG version of a once rated TV MA wrestling promotion. WCW fared a little better, but never quite developed into anything but an angle.
James
If WWE signed Kensuke Sasaki and teamed him up with Animal, it would’ve worked.