Wrestling Forum banner

Did turning the Powers of Pain heel completely kill their momentum?

7K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  dave 1981 
#1 ·
I was watching Summerslam 88 the other night and noted how over these guys were when they first arrived in the WWF. Whilst the Warlord was a sub par worker, I thought the Barbarian was a solid worker who was very underrated. I quite liked the Powerslam and Headbutt from the top rope finish too.

We all know that the Powers turned heel at Survivor Series 88 and aligned with Mr Fuji, thus turning Demolition face in the process. I heard rumours that Demolition were jealous of the insane pops that the Powers were getting and asked to be turned face and the Powers turned heel. But I thought that there would have been major potential in a face Powers v Heel Demolition feud with the payoff being that the Powers took the belts at Wrestlemania 5. But instead they just became a glorified jobber tag team post Wrestlemania 5.

Had they remained face and won the titles and had a decent run as champions and continued their feud with Demolition, does anyone think that we may have been talking about the Powers of Pain as a solid tag team as we do with the likes of Demolition, LOD, Bulldogs and the Hart Foundation? My point being that if all this played out, the Powers of Pain could have been remembered as one of the best tag teams in WWF history as opposed to just being remembered as an afterthought? Does anyone agree that turning them heel so soon derailed their momentum?

Also does anyone know why the Baron was axed as their manager so quickly?

I do know that LOD had requested for them to be split up before they joined the WWF which was not a problem as they were not really an established team anyway by that point, but I happen to think that if the scenario I set out happened, it would have not been so easy for them to be split up and we may have even had a Powers/LOD feud.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I'll go ahead and answer with not much of an answer, since no one else has left an answer. Answer.

While I am too young to exactly remember the Powers of Pain's initial run, I haven't quite looked back on their history. From what I've seen, I have only seen them as a heel tag team with Mr. Fuji. The double turn seems absolutely pointless and probably confused some people. I mean, Fuji dumps Demolition for the Powers of Pain, and it really doesn't seem like much of a reason, kayfabe, unless I am missing something.

The WWF was loaded with amazing tag teams at the time. Maybe an overload of that and they thought that turning Demolition into the crowd favorites with a lot of attention, while being able to afford turning the Powers of Pain heel, eventually to split them into singles careers? Since Ax and Smash in singles roles doesn't really sound that appealing. That's my guess.
 
#3 ·
I loved the double turn with Demolition and The Powers Of Pain and i've always believed that The Powers Of Pain were much better once they turned heel because of Mr Fuji being alongside them. With Demolition both Ax and Smash were good enough mic workers to carry their team whereas neither The Warlord or The Barbarian could work the mic at all so everything with them was just beating people up which back then when WWE were very cartoonish and over the top with characters couldn't have worked.

What killed their momentum was not allowing them to ever go over Demolition once they had turned heel as they had always got the better of Demolition as babyfaces when Tito Santana brought them in as his back up. All the way through 1989 they were booked weakly and then just broken up to basically be just mid card guys that were used every now and again when they should have stayed together. In 1990 when they were broken up there was The Road Warriors, The Hart Foundation, Demolition, The Rockers, The Orient Express and The Bushwhackers yet The Bushwhackers and The Orient Express were jobber tag teams so The Powers Of Pain should have been kept together to be the big heel tag team.

Back when The Powers Of Pain were in NWA/JCP they worked some good matches with The Road Warriors and were very believable in going up against them and beating them and could have had good matches with The Hart Foundation and The Rockers in my opinion. Later on in 1990 we saw Demolition begin to fade out once Crush was brought in so through late 1990 to late 1991 i think The Powers Of Pain could have done a great job as a tag team whilst The Natural Disasters were still being built up as a tag team through the middle of 1991 in their feud with Andre The Giant.
 
#4 ·
See the thing is I can see how that double turn could be confusing to someone watching it for the first time. I believe a lot of people in attendance and watching the event had initially thought that Fuji had turned face, as opposed to the Powers turning heel when the double turn occurred. It was also very strange that the Powers were turned heel so soon after arriving as monster faces in the WWF. It just makes very little sense to me.

I do however agree with the point that they could have been a monster heel tag team in the 90's as I imagine they could have easily turned heel by that period if the double turn had never occurred.
 
#5 ·
I hate how Demolition were labeled "The Road Warrior Ripoffs". No no, it was these guys. I always liked Barbarian as a big guy worker, but overall, this team was just a cheap Road Warriors knock off and I don't think they would have amounted to much anyway. They went about as far as they could go. If anything, turning heel to feud with Demolition probably extended their run a bit.
 
#6 ·
Among the factors that killed the momentum were that most people saw them as a poor man's Road Warriors, and also Warlord just was not a very good wrestler. He was too big for his own good, and it made him look stiff and slow in the ring.

I think a better pairing with longer staying power would have been Barbarian and Haku/Meng.
 
#7 ·
I can see how The Powers Of Pain would be labelled as more of a rip off of The Road Warriors than Demolition but the thing is The Powers Of Pain were actually put together to feud with The Road Warriors by Ivan Koloff and were meant to be similar to them so it would make The Road Warriors look as if they had met their match. With Demolition it was a case of Vince McMahon trying to make his own version of The Road Warriors which is what Demolition effectively were although they were a great tag team in their own right.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top