We have been waiting years for this one.

Today, the Undertaker broke the news to Bill Eadie and Barry Darsow, who competed as Ax & Smash of Demolition in the WWE from 1987 to 1990 will be entering the WWE Hall of Fame.

Prior to their formation, Eadie began his career in 1972 as one of the Mongols, but later donned a mask and became the Masked Superstar.  Under that persona, he won multiple regional titles and competed in promotions across the United States and Japan.  In the summer of 1986, Eadie became Andre the Giant’s tag team partner, as The Super Machine, but this would last only six months.  Following the run of the Machines, Eadie took the mask off, painted his face, and was joined by Darsow, who had been wrestling as Krusher Kruschev in the NWA.  Now named Ax (Eadie) and Smash (Darsow), the rest was history.

While initially viewed by some as Road Warrior rip-offs, many WWF viewers had never seen Animal and Hawk.  Aligned with Mr. Fuji, Demolition won match after match and won their first World Tag Team Title by defeating Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) at Wrestlemania IV.   Fuji would betray the team at the 1998 Survivor Series, but Fuji’s new duo, the Powers of Pain, were unable to wrest the straps from Ax and Smash. 

Demolition lost the titles to the Brain Busters (Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson) 15 months into their first run, but they would win back the titles months later.  The second reign was brief, as they dropped the titles to the Colossal Connection (Andre the Giant & Haku), but they won them back at Wrestlemania VI.   Following that win, they turned heel and lost the belts to the Hart Foundation after the Road Warriors (now the Legion of Doom) had entered the WWE and distracted Demolition at their SummerSlam title defense.  Ax would leave the WWF following a health scare and was replaced by Crush, but the new version of Demolition would be disbanded only a few months later.

Demolition’s delay in the Hall likely stems from its participation in the 2016 Konstanin Kyros concussion lawsuit, which was later thrown out.  Last year, the tandem signed a Legends Deal with the WWE, signalling that this induction was inevitable.

We will be removing Demolition from our Notinhalloffame WWE list of those to consider for the WWE Hall of Fame following Wrestlemania.

We here at Notinhalloffame would like to congratulate Eadie and Darsow for this impending induction.

Brian Adams was brought in as “Crush” to replace an ailing Ax in Demolition.  The last incarnation of Demolition just wasn’t the same, but Brian Adams would remain tied to the WWE for years after with various incarnations of the Crush gimmick and had a stable role in mid card feuds.  He was big enough to work as a monster yet not too big to work effectively with smaller wrestlers in even give and take contests.  Adams would later go to WCW where he languished until his Kronik pairing with Bryan Clarke.  That tandem had a failed final run in WWE and Adams wasn’t seen after.  He has since passed away, but he had a very solid career in pro wrestling.  It may not be Hall of Fame material though.

Now here is an interesting case.  Ax (Bill Eadie) wrestled successfully as Bolo Mongol, The Masked Superstar and The Super Machine before donning the face paint.  Smash (Barry Darsow) was also making money as Khrusher Khruschev before becoming Smash and had good runs as The Repo Man and The Black Top Bully after.   It is hard to argue though that in each case their greatest recognition was together as Demolition.