Scariest of All-Time: The Road Warriors

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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It's been a while but I'm trying something ambitious for October. Quick, daily blogs counting down the 31 scariest wrestlers of all-time. These are in no particular order.

First up is the Road Warriors. When I first started watching wrestling, Hawk and Animal were the AWA tag team champions. The makeup, spikes, and crazy haircuts made them two of the most intimidating guys to step through the ropes. Throw in Black Sabbath's Iron Man and you couldn't find a tougher twosome. 

Even after bouncing around from company to company and changing their look from time to time, Hawk and Animal remained intimidating forces in the ring. They snacked on danger and dined on death and became the only tag team in history to win the championships in AWA, NWA, and WWF. Their influence is still felt today. 

So today, I salute the Road Warriors and honor their legacy. Oh, what a rush.  

WWE Hall of Famer heading to IWA-Productions

Courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Listen to the podcast

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One of the greatest tag teams of all time is without a doubt the Road Warriors. I remember at an early age seeing Hawk and Animal in action in the AWA. The duo was like no other at the time. Face paint, crazy haircuts, spikes and lots of muscle. The Legion of Doom rolled through everyone they faced eventually winning the gold in the AWA, NWA and WWF. 

Courtesy: WWE 

Sadly, half of the team, Hawk, died in 2003. Animal has continued on and had a brief run in WWE in 2006. I saw him at the Bacon, Bagels and Biceps Brunch at WrestleMania 22. Then in 2011, I was in the crowd as the Warriors and their longtime manager "Precious" Paul Ellering were inducted into WWE's Hall of Fame.

Now the Legend is headed to southern Illinois. Animal will be at IWA Productions this Saturday night (Nov. 17) at the Mt. Vernon Elks Lodge. Tickets for the evening, just ten bucks and proceeds go to the Team Cuff Youth Wrestling program. Many of you read my blogs about Stride Pro Wrestling and you'll see many members from that roster Saturday including Ax Allwardt, Dexter Roswell, Heath Hatton, El Magnifico, Jay Spade, Farmer Billy Hills and Hollywood Redneck.

I'm looking forward to this show as it'll be my first opportunity to meet Animal. It's also been more than a month since I've announced an entire show. Last weekend I did the Impact Wrestling tryout but it's not quite the same as announcing in front of a live crowd of fans. Be sure to join us. Bell time is 7 p.m.

Buy the Centmas Vacation shirt here

WWE vs. former Superstars

Jimmy Snuka gets smashed

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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Dozens of former WWE Superstars are taking the company to court. Some of the big names involved in a class action lawsuit include "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Road Warrior Animal, King Kong Bundy, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. & Sr., Sabu and both members of Demolition. Here's the full list of the 51 plaintiffs.

The suit alleges that the wrestlers incurred "long term neurological injuries" in the course of working for the company, while it "routinely failed to care" for them " in any medically competent or meaningful manner" and even "fraudulently misrepresented and concealed" the nature and extent of those injuries.

"Instead of upholding its duty to its employees, WWE placed corporate gain over its wrestlers' health, safety, and financial security, choosing to leave the Plaintiffs severely injured and with no recourse to treat their damaged minds and bodies."

Right now concussions and the long term impact is being studied and discussed at length. The NFL and NHL have faced similar lawsuits due to injuries players have suffered. WWE, the NFL and the NHL have change their policies to help protect Superstars and players. The death of Eddie Guerrero and the murder-suicide carried out by Chris Benoit brought about change in WWE.

Sabu

I'm not judging anyone who is a part of the suit. My biggest complaint is guys who never wrestled under the WWE banner are also trying to cash in on this situation. To my recollection Rod Price never wrestled in WWE. Guys like Sabu, Axl Rotten and Tracy Smothers suffered the brunt of their injuries years before stepping in a WWE ring. Chavo Guerrero, Sr. only had a handful of matches as did Black Bart and Bobbi Billiard.

Slick & Kamala are also suing

My point is many if not most of the names on the list were injured and "forced" to wrestle in companies other than WWE. But because Vince McMahon and his team are the last ones standing, they're the ones with the cash and are expected to be responsible. I have no doubt in some cases men and women have been asked to or have felt obligated to get in the ring despite being injured. Maybe for that they deserve some sort of compensation. 

Demolition vs. The Powers of Pain (both teams are suing)

I'll be curious to see what happens to Orndorff and Animal's status in the WWE Hall of Fame. Snuka has already been "removed" due to his court case involving the death of his girlfriend in 1982. By the way the "Superfly" was deemed incompetent to stand trial in that case, which makes me wonder who added him to this class action suit. But it's also unlikely now the likes of Kamala, Demolition and Bundy will ever be inducted. I know there are bigger issues at hand than that, but I digress.

Bottom line: the situation sucks. I'm sure some involved in this case don't want to attack or hurt WWE, but feel they have no other choice in the matter. I'm no legal expert, but I would imagine there could be a settlement in the works. I'd be shocked if this makes it all the way to court. But I'd be even more surprised if WWE is held liable for the injures suffered decades ago.

Somebunny is Not Who They Claim to Be

Theo & George or George & Theo

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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For several months my daughter has been asking for a bunny.  In September, she got a hamster for her birthday and embraced caring for it.  She researched on YouTube and watched video after video on the subject.  Because she was so dedicated to the Ralphie, over Easter break my wife and I discussed it and agreed she'd earned herself a bunny too.

It so happened about this same time, my wife had a coworker with TWO rabbits she was looking to give to a good home.  After some discussion and figuring out free is the right price, we decided to welcome Theo and George into our home in April.  The bunny brothers hopped in and out of their multilevel habitat built by their previous owner.  They roamed Brooke's bedroom, but with the freedom came the problem of spraying.

Still can't tell them apart

After one episode too many of this, we decided the best option was to have Theo and George neutered.  My wife made the arrangements with a local animal hospital and recently dropped them off for their "procedure" on her way to work.  Since I'd be home when it was over, I was the point of contact for picking them up.  

A couple hours after the drop off my phone rang.  It was a vet tech who explained that they would not be able to do George's neutering because as they prepped the bunny for surgery, they discovered he is a SHE.  That's right, we had a boy and girl bunny this whole time.  I opted to not have her spayed as the whole reason for the neutering was the issue of spraying. 

My oldest son made a good point as I explained to them that George (now Georgie-Ann) is a girl.  "What if she's pregnant?  You know rabbits do it like.... rabbits."  I don't know if they checked for babies, I can only hope that these two were on their best behavior and didn't partake in any furry fornicating.  But if they did, we may be having a sale on bunnies very soon.  

 

Friday Fail: Sid's Tough Break

Sid breaks his leg

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

I debated doing this as a Friday Fail as it saw someone suffer a serious injury.  But one of our readers (and a friend of mine), Weston made the argument that a fail happens when you attempt to do something and it doesn't go according to plan.  Maybe it wasn't the best idea for a 6'7" monster to climb the top rope.

I'll be honest, I can't even go back and look at the footage of the accident.  It happened at the WCW pay per view SIN in 2001.  Sid was wrestling Scott Steiner, Animal, and Jeff Jarrett.  Sid went to the top rope and to say he landed wrong is an understatement.  He landed on his leg the wrong way and it snapped like a twig.

The break was so graphic and horrific in my opinion, I was shocked that Sid eventually was able to get back in the ring and wrestle.  He was no spring chicken at the time of the accident and to see him still active today is a testament to his determination.  I interviewed Sid once before the accident.  He talked about all the training he goes through to stay in such great shape.

Fantasy Friday: Bulldogs vs. Road Warriors

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

This week's submission features two of the greatest tag teams in the history of the business.  And they were both pretty big at the same time, just dominate in different organizations.  Of course of I'm talking about the British Bulldogs and the Road Warriors.

Sadly, unlike the two previous Fantasy Friday submissions, this match could never happen today.  Davey Boy Smith died in 2002.  Road Warrior Hawk passed away in 2003.  And Dynamite Kid has been in a wheelchair for years.  So this week it will truly be a fantasy.

The British Bulldogs:

Photo courtesy: WWE

My favorite tag team of all time is the British Bulldogs.  Although they weren't very good on the mic, they backed it up in the ring.  Dynamite's speed and agility as well as his pure wrestling talent coupled with Davey Boy's brute strength and developing in ring skills made them top dogs.  Pardon the pun.  Seriously though, their matches with the Hart Foundation are some of the finest tag team matches in the history of the WWE.  I think the series between Edge & Christian and the Hardy Boys and the Rockers vs. the Brain Busters may be the top 3 tag team rivilaries of all time.

Their time in the WWF was brief.  They appeared in the company for about 4 years, from 1984 until 1988. In that time they only held the tag team titles once, beating The Dream Team of Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine at Wrestlemania 2.  The Bulldogs held the titles for about 9 months before dropping them to the Hart Foundation.

They defended the belts against the Dream Team, the Harts, and the Iron Sheik & Nikoali Volkoff.  Those are the big opponents I remember.  I think they even beat King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd by DQ on Superstars once.  There were also plenty of wins over jobber teams (including Mick Foley) during their run.

Even after they lost the belts, they had more great matches against Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart.  They also entered a feud with the Islanders and the Fabulous Rougeaus Brothers.  They left the WWF before really getting another shot at the gold.  I had hoped they'd get another run and maybe challenge then champions Demolition.  It never happened.

The pair held the Stampede tag titles a couple of times too.  But for some reason the duo split and had a mini feud in Stampede before Davey Boy returned to the WWF to embark on a solo career.  Like I mentioned before, their time together was short (well, a lifetime by today's tag team standards), but they were my favorite team.

The Road Warriors: 


An even more dominate force was tearing through the competition in the AWA and NWA.  The Road Warriors won the tag team gold in the AWA first.  They beat Crusher and Baron Von Raschke in 1984 and then steamrolled through the competition.  They held those titles for just over a year before dropping them to the unlikely duo of Steve Regal (not William) and Jimmy Garvin.  But for those 13 months on top, they kicked a lot of ass.  The Road Warriors were different for sure.  They didn't look like any other tag team at the time, and certainly like no one else in the AWA.  The company was starting to struggle at that point, losing big names like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and Ken Patera to the WWF.

The Warriors were young, strong, and tough.  They snacked on danger and dined on death.  And in 1986 they left the AWA and continued to dominate the tag team ranks in the NWA.  It didn't take long for them to win the first ever Crockett Memorial Cup.  They also feuded with the evil Russians Ivan & Nikita Koloff and Jim Cornette's team of the Midnight Express.

It wasn't until a heel turn that they won the tag team titles by beating the face Midnight Express.  They lost their gold again to another unlikely team, this time Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams.  It was long after that the Warriors left WCW and headed to the WWF, where they also won the tag team gold.  They're the only tag team in the history of the business to hold the titles in AWA, NWA, and WWF.  Quite a feat.

Now if this match would have been held at the height of both teams careers, which was roughly the same time, it would have been a dream match.  The Bulldogs would have obviously kept it a high speed match with quick tags and lots of technical wrestling.  Davey Boy wasn't quite the power house he was at the end of his WWE run, so I don't think he would have been able to match Animal's brute power.

Because I was such a Bulldogs mark (and still am) it's hard for me to say this, but I'd have to pick the Warriors to win this contest.  I base it mostly on their dominance over so many tag teams during their run in the AWA and NWA.  The Bulldogs had some great opponents, but I think the Warriors were better for a longer period of time.  Dynamite's premature injury is partly to blame I think for the Bulldog's early plunge from the top of the WWF tag team division.

What are your thoughts?  Who would have won this epic tag team battle?  Weigh in here or on Facebook, Twitter, or even YouTube.