Demolition named to the WWE Hall of Fame

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.