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Monday, October 3, 2011

Boo: Tag Teams are Doomed

Doom & Woman
By Kevin Hunsperger @kevinhunsperger on Twitter

Halloween Havoc was a pay per view concept created by the NWA back in 1989.  The event obviously aired in October, near Halloween and often featured some spooky, scary, or downright silly gimmicks, matches, and characters.  I'll be writing about several of them this month.  Today's submission though is a tag team that debuted at the first ever event: Doom.

Quick back story Nancy Sullivan, aka Woman back then, was managing the Steiner Brothers.  Her gimmick was a bit of a nerd and she had a crush on Rick Steiner.  The brothers took her in, as well as Missy Hyatt if memory serves me right.  Woman eventually turned on the duo and said the Steiners would meet their doom at the first ever Halloween Havoc. 

And that's when Ron Simmons and Butch Reed arrived on the scene.  Both wrestled under black masks and wore long black pants.  They were a tough team and beat the Steiners in their debut as a team.  Not too shabby.  I remember back then knowing it was Ron Simmons and Butch Reed, but still enjoyed the masked gimmick.  Up until that point, I felt like Simmons had been kind of lost in the shuffle of the NWA.  Reed had just had a less than stellar run as "the Natural" in the WWF.  So this pairing helped reignite both their careers.

Tag team champions
The two would win the tag team titles, but lose their masks too.  They also lost their Woman, and picked up Teddy Long as a manager.  Doom was without a doubt my favorite WCW tag team at that time.  I watched their St. Louis Street Fight with Arn Anderson and Barry Windham live in person at Starrcade 1990.  The match ended in a no contest I believe, which I don't understand how a street fight ends without a winner.

Doom eventually disbanded though, and Simmons became the face.  He soundly defeated Reed in several matches and continued to rise in the ranks.  He eventually won the WCW world title in 1992.  Reed meanwhile fell off the face of the wrestling earth for the most part. But there was a time in the late 80's and early 90's when the tag team scene was Doomed! 

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