Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
In the Summer of 1988, the WWF acquired the services of the Warlord and the Barbarian better known as The Powers of Pain. At the time, it was a huge coup for Vince McMahon who always had his sights set of bringing in the Road Warriors. While the Powers of Pain were not in the same class as Hawk and Animal…they had a very similar look with the mohawks, physiques and face paint. If Vince couldn’t get the Road Warriors…this was surely the next best thing.
The Powers of Pain started out their WWF careers as monster babyfaces who ran roughshod through all the heel tag team competition. It was obvious the end game was a big, money feud with the top team in the company at the time…Ax and Smash of Demolition. For many fans outside of the WWF bubble, Demolition were considered Road Warrior knock offs. Now add the Powers of Pain and you have a battle of Road Warrior clones in the WWF. At least, that is what was perceived by some.
The Powers of Pain were pushed heavily as babyfaces and for a time were managed by The Baron. Seemingly out of nowhere, the Baron vanished and was nowhere to be found. According to the Barbarian, Baron Von Raschke was let go in order for Vince’s grander plan for the tag team. The Barbarian was extremely upset when Raschke was fired as the two were very good friends in real life.
The Powers of Pain were seemingly over as babyfaces with the fans for a bit, but ultimately they were nowhere near what McMahon had envisioned for them. On the flip side, the heel team of Demolition were becoming extremely popular. Despite the team working as monster heels and being managed by the devious Mr. Fuji, WWF fans gravitated towards Ax and Smash.
The decision was made to flip the two teams and the place to do it was The Survivor Series ’88 pay per view. A very unique Survivor Series elimination match was set up between Team Demolition versus Team Powers of Pain. A match that saw 5 tag teams on each side….with a total of 20 wrestlers. The match would last close to 45 minutes. The Barbarian said it was the longest match that he and the Warlord ever competed in.
The match came down to just three teams with Demolition and the Conquistadors on one side and the Powers of Pain on the other. With Demolition in full control of the match, their manager Mr. Fuji climbed onto the ring apron to seemingly bark orders. Ax was thrown into the ropes and it appeared as if Fuji held the ropes open for Ax to fall through them to the outside floor. Demolition would be counted out and get eliminated. An argument ensued between Demolition and Mr. Fuji.
Demolition ended up body slamming Fuji on the floor and walked away. This led to the Powers of Pain going outside the ring and dust off Fuji and help him to his feet. As fans were in a confused silence, Fuji helped trip up a Conquistador and allow the Powers of Pain to become the sole survivors of the match.
To solidify the heel turn, Warlord and Barbarian held Mr Fuji on their shoulders in celebration. That led Demolition to run back to the ring and attack the Powers of Pain…running them off. Fans were booing Demolition during this sequence. According to Barry ‘Smash’ Darsow, he and Ax were not happy about losing Fuji as their manager. Bill ‘Ax’ Eadie said that they rushed Demolition to turn babyface and should have waited at least a year to do so.
Eadie did understand why the double turn was done…Demolition were more popular than the Powers of Pain and while Ax and Smash could talk for themselves…The Warlord and Barbarian could not. It only made sense for Vince to do it. Demolition just weren’t completely happy about it. The kayfabe excuse given by Mr. Fuji was that Demolition stopped listening to him and became full of themselves since they won the world tag team titles.
As a kid growing up, I loved the double turn done by these two teams. As an adult, it probably could have been executed a bit better. Why not have Demolition and the Powers of Pain as the final two teams and have Fuji turn then? Why were the Conquistadors needed in the switch? Hearing the crowd’s reaction…they were a bit confused by it all and were not sure who to boo and who to cheer. In any case, it worked well and Demolition became one of the most popular duos during that era.