The Short History of The Towering Skyscrapers

Brian Damage

*Cue theme music from the Scorpions*

Gary Michael Capetta’s voice…

“Being led to the ring by Mr. Theodore R. Long…from Metropolis…at a total combined weight of six hundred and thirty four pounds….Dangerous Dan Spivey…Sid Vicious…The Skyyyyyyyyyscrapers!”

That was the usual introduction the WCW tag team of the Skyscrapers received every time they entered the ring. They were two big, imposing specimens who weren’t the best talkers or the best performers…but together there seemed to be something very special. Not unlike the Hall of Fame tag team were in their heyday…The Road Warriors.

Dan Spivey and Sid Vicious had that look and were booked strong from the beginning to make them a lock for tag team dominance for years to come. Unfortunately, that isn’t what transpired…within a year…they were no more.

They never won tag team gold and the original team of Spivey and Vicious…weren’t even a part of the team at the end of their run. It was a series of injuries and unfortunate circumstances that led to the fall of the Skyscrapers.

The first set back came at Clash of the Champions IX…in a match against the Steiner brothers. The anchor of the team Sid Vicious suffered a broken rib which punctured his lung. Sid was put on the shelf for over 6 months due to that injury. The booking team, not wanting to lose the momentum that the team had….picked another tall, young wrestler to fill the void of Sid. His name was ‘Mean’ Mark Callous. You may now know his as…The Undertaker.

Mark Callous was talented…obviously…but he just didn’t bring that imposing presence that Sid Vicious had at that time. Never the less, the Skyscrapers continued getting a big push. Their next opponents appeared to be the old dogs versus the young lions. A program perhaps set up to solidify the Skyscrapers as the next big thing in tag team wrestling. It would pit Spivey and Callous against the team they were being somewhat compared to…Hawk and Animal…The Road Warriors.

A big pay per view Chicago Street Fight match was set up between the two teams at Wrestle War 1990. The problem this time was Dan Spivey. He was suffering from a multitude of nagging injuries and to make matters worse…he was rumored to have had a falling out with the company over money and walked away before the event.

So with Dan Spivey a no show…that left only Mean Mark and manager Teddy Long. Instead of canceling the match…the old adage “The show must go on” was put into play. They took the big and burly Mike Enos and placed a mask on him. Why wear a mask? Mike Enos and his then tag partner Wayne Bloom were still employed by the AWA and were their tag team champions for a while. The AWA was in dire straights and ready to shut down…so they both took side work with WCW.

‘The Masked Skyscraper,’ as Mike Enos was known and Mark Callous were defeated by The Road Warriors in under 5 minutes. The match also saw the return of Doom (Butch Reed and Ron Simmons) as they were revealed as the newest team of manager Teddy Long. The writing was indeed on the wall and the Skyscrapers were no more.

Almost a year later at Starrcade ’90, WCW tried to recapture the magic of the original team by reuniting Sid Vicious with a returning Dan Spivey against The Big Cat (Curtis Hughes) and the Motorcity Madman. Despite a quick, dominating squash of the team…the aura was lost and the Skyscrapers disbanded yet again.

An unfortunate end to a team that back in that era…had so much promise to be huge. Instead, they turned out to be pretty small.