Fame or Shame: Pro Wrestling Discussion Thread

[HappyGilmore]

 

Steele may be best known on this site for his portrayal of Tor Johnson in Tim Burton Ed Wood (1994).

That's where I'd first seen him, actually.  I had watched wrestling in the '80s, but hadn't known him so much until my uncle showed me some old tapes he had from the '80s and '70s.

[JaseSF]

Bruno Sammartino joins the Singles Hall of Fame. "The Living Legend" held the WWWF World Title longer than anyone else in wrestling history. His two WWWF World title reigns lasted over 11 years. He is reputed to have headlined at Madison Square Garden 211 times, more than any other wrestler in history, with 187 sellouts. He had a strong ethnic appeal as "the Italian Superman".

Born in Pizzoferrato, Abruzzo, Italy in 1935, Sammartino was the youngest of seven brothers and sisters. As a child, he struggled to survive in hiding from German soldiers with his mother having to sneak into German occupied territory on occasion for supplies. She was once captured and once shot in the shoulder during said trips. Sammartino when he came down with rheumatic fever would again be saved by his mother thanks to leeches and blankets. In 1950, he moved to Pittsburgh to live with his father. Sammartino's experiences in Europe made him of slight frame and that combined with his tenuous grasp of English made him the target of bullies. Soon Sammartino started weight training and would eventually train with wrestlers. Soon he would become known in Pittsburgh for Strongman stunts. While working in construction in 1956, Sammartino wrestled an orangutan at a carnival only to lose by disqualification when he punched the ape in the stomach.

Sammartino debuted in professional wrestling in December 1959 in Pittsburgh and was a huge hit with fans at the studio wrestling there. Eventually he'd move on to compete in the WWWF and again would prove a huge hit and would headline Madison Square Garden within six months after his debut starting in tag team matches teaming with the also extremely popular Antonino Rocca. Sammartino next made a major impression when he lifted the huge Haystacks Calhoun, all 640 pounds of him, in a match.

After some controversy and friction with Vince McMahon Sr., Sammartino bounced around from New York to San Franscisco and then to Toronto where under promoter Frank Tunney Sammartino would win his first major title, an International tag team title with Whipper Billy Watson. While in Toronto, Bruno defeated Buddy Rogers in a NWA World title match but refused to accept the title because Rogers could no longer continue after Bruno accidentally headbutted him in the groin. He also wrestled NWA World champion Lou Thesz losing once and battling him to a draw another time.

Sammartino would eventually be lured back by McMahon Sr. would wanted a popular wrestler to usurp Buddy Rogers who was having an hard time drawing in New York. Sammartino won the WWWF World Heavyweight championship on May 17, 1963 defeating Rogers in just 48 seconds. Sammartino would go on to have the longest reign of any WWWF/WWF/WWE World champion, a reign totalling seven years, eight months, and one day. In 1965, Sammartino was so popular he would even be picked by the rival National Wrestling Alliance to challenge for the NWA World title but Bruno refused as he was already so busy. In MSG, Sammartino headlined against an whos who of villainous challengers - Killer Kowalski, Johnny Barend, Gorilla Monsoon, Dr. Bill Miller, Dr. Jerry Graham, Tarzan Tyler, The Sheik, Freddie Blassie, Bill Watts, Curtis Iaukea, Professor Toru Tanaka, George "The Animal" Steele, Gene Kiniski, Giant Baba, Bull Ramos, Hans Mortier, Waldo Von Erich, The Crusher, Johnny Valentine and even more.

Bruno defended his title all over the world including in Spain, Australia, Mexico and Japan. He was even honored with a private audience with the Pope at this time.

On January 18, 1971, Bruno finally lost the WWWF World title before a stunned and shocked audience at MSG to "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. Three weeks later the title was moved to fellow ethic fave (Puerto Rican) Pedro Morales who was popular in New York but proved less popular elsewhere.

In 1972, Bruno returned to California and competing  in and winning a memorable 22 man battle royal that would eventually be voted match of the year for 1972, the only time a battle royal ever won such an award.

Later in 1972, Bruno was again lured back by McMahon Sr. this time to actually challenge fellow fan favourite Pedro Morales in an unexpected dream match. The two battled to a 75 minute draw at Shea Stadium in a show that narrowly missed breaking the outdoor attendance record for a wrestling show at that time.

On December 10, 1973, Bruno would win his second WWWF World title defeating Stan "The Man" Stasiak. He'd go on to successfully defend the title against challenges from the likes of John Tolos, Bruiser Brody, Ken Patera, Spiros Arion, Baron Von Raschke, Spiros Arion, Bugsy McGraw, Freddie Blassie, Ivan Koloff, Superstar Billy Graham, Angelo Mosca, Don Leo Jonathan, Ernie Ladd and Nikolai Volkoff. His second reign lasted three years, four months, and twenty days. On April 26, 1976, Sammartino would suffer a neck injury at the hands of Stan Hansen but went on to defeat Hansen by countout in a subsequent revenge match. Sammartino's second world title reign would end at the hands of Superstar Billy Graham on April 30, 1977 when Graham pinned Sammartino with his feet illegally on the ropes.

Following the loss, Bruno went on to compete around the world wrestling NWA World champion Harley Race to a draw, plus defeating the likes of Blackjack Mulligan, Lord Alfred Hayes and Crippler Ray Stevens. Eventually he'd team up with Dick the Bruiser to win the WWA tag team titles from the Valiant Brothers. Bruno though entered into probably his most memorable and emotional feud with Larry Zbsyzko, a former student who turned on him during an on-air demonstration. The feud came to an head on August 9, 1980 at Showdown at Shea which saw Bruno defeat Zbyszko in a brutal steel cage match.

Bruno would eventually be lured back into wrestling when his son David wanted to get a start in WWF. Bruno would go on to team with David against Paul Orndorff and Bobby Heenan and Brutus Beefcake & Johnny Valiant. Eventually David realized though that he was being used to lure his dad back to wrestling as Bruno was still a huge draw in the Northeast. During this period in 1985-1986, Sammartino would have memorable feuds with Randy Savage and Rowdy Roddy Piper. Bruno eventually moved away from in-ring action to concentrate and commentary, which to be honest he wasn't nowhere near as talented at as he was at wrestling. Sammartino did challenge Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental title, although DQs and countout wins kept the title in Honky's hands. Then Sammartino battled Hercules for a while but his last WWF match would be teaming with Hulk Hogan to defeat One Man Gang and King Kong Bundy. Sammartino would end his WWF stint in March 1988. In 1989-1990, he'd moe to Herb Abrams UWF as a commentator but that federation would prove short-lived.

Bruno might be critical of today's wrestling but was a proud champion who nearly always set a good example and rarely resorted to dirty tactics unless they were done to him first and then it was fighting fire with fire and few could fight fire as well as Bruno who I personally consider one of wrestling's best ever brawlers...a champion through and through.

[JaseSF]

Colonel Robert Parker joins the Managers/Valets Hall of Shame. Following a lenghty successful career throughout the Alabama and Tennessee regions as Robert Fuller, Fuller would move to WCW and assume the role of manager Col. Robert Parker. While wrestling as Fuller, he was constantly head of a stable of grapplers he called the Stud Stable. That would be a name he would bring with him again to use in WCW for the stable of grapplers he at one time managed. Fuller moved to WCW as Parker, a take-off name on Col. Tom Parker of Elvis Presley fame. First Parker managed Sid Vicious whom he teamed up with Vader, who was managed by Harley Race forming a team called "The Masters of the Powerbomb" as they feuded with Sting and the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith.

Following the split of this team, Parker would start managing "Stunning" Steve Austin in 1994 before reforming a new Stud Stable with longtime tag team partner Jimmy Golden now playing the role of Bunkhouse Buck and teaming him up with the likes of Meng, "Dirty" Dick Slater, Terry Funk and "Double A" Arn Anderson.

The group would feud heavily with Dustin and Dusty Rhodes. In 1995, Parker would begin to woo fellow manager Sherri Martel despite the protests of his own Stud Stable and Sherri's charges Harlem Heat. Eventually Parker would leave the Stud Stable and join forces with Sherri managing Harlem Heat until Harlem Heat eventually fired Parker in 1996. Parker then recruited The Amazing French Canadians (Formerly the Quebecers in WWF) to unsuccessfully feud with Harlem Heat. In 1998, Parker left WCW and resurfaced as Tennessee Lee, manager of Jeff Jarrett in WWF but that would prove short-lived. Parker had rather limited success as a manager despite some seeming classic pairings with Austin and Jarrett.


Kane, the longtime WWF/WWE storyline even larger younger "brother" of the Undertaker, joins the Hall of Shame. Kane has been certainly been saddled with some of the worst on-air wrestling storylines in history moving from mysterious masked mystery wrestler with omnious past (which was actually kind of cool) to scarred psychotic freak (which has become something of a tired cliche by this point). Perhaps worst of them all was the infamous "Katie Vick" storyline where Kane's supposed dead ex-girlfriend , actually a mannequin, gets humped by Triple H.

Before moving to the WWF, Glenn Jacobs started out as Unabomb in Smoky Moutain Wrestling debuting in 1992. There he would win the SMW Tag Team titles. He also worked in the USWA as Doomsday and there won the USWA Heavyweight title. He also had a brief forgettable WCW stint as Bruiser Mastino. Jacobs first debuted in the WWF in 1995 as the wrestling dentist Issac Yankem D.D.S., an associate of Jerry "The King" Lawler and someone who the King brought in to battle Bret "The Hitman" Hart during their bitter feud. Jacobs actually continued under this silly gimmick until late 1996 when he would again find himself put into a ridiculous gimmick playing the "fake" Diesel introduced as a replacement by Jim Ross for Kevin Nash in October 1996. This understandably proved short-lived as fans were far less that thrilled with a new fake Diesel and Razor Ramon and it probably caused many to tune into WCW to catch the real Scott Hall and Kevin Nash instead.

In mid-1997, Paul Bearer began tormenting the Undertaker than a new challenger was on the horizon. This new challenger proved to be Kane, yet again Jacobs re-invented this time as the Undertaker's long-lost "brother". This new gimmick, a masked red monster with ties to the Undertaker finally did get over and Kane became an attraction fans wanted to see, especially to see him go one on one vs. the similarly built but actually a bit smaller Undertaker. Kane began wrestling a style very similar to that of Undertaker which arguably is even more impressive given Kane's massive frame. The feud would culminate in a match at Wrestlemania XIV at which the Undertaker would defeat his half-"brother". Later more details of Kane and the Undertaker's pasts would come to light as we'd learn that as children, Undertaker supposedly burned down their parents funeral home accidentally and Kane ended up in a mental asylum afterwards. Eventually we learned that Paul Bearer is in fact Kane's "father". Kane as a character was portrayed as psychologically unstable, schizophrenic, quick to anger and violence.

Kane would go on to upset "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for his first and only WWF World Title win in a First Blood match at King of the Ring 1998 but would lose the title back to Austin on Raw the very next night. Following this, Bearer teamed Kane with Mankind and together they twice won WWF tag team title gold. After spending more time feuding with the Undertaker and eventually joining and being booted out of the Corporation, Kane began teaming with X-Pac in 1999 and eventually acquired a new girlfriend in Tori. Kane and X-Pac would go on to win WWF tag gold twice as well and X-Pac helped Kane seemingly come out of his shell on national TV having him speak for the first time saying the DX slogan "Suck It". Eventually though X-Pac would betray Kane to rejoin his DX brethen and would even steal Tori away from him creating a long feud that last into 2000. Kane would next form an unlikely team with his brother only to wind up feuding with him yet again and nearly lost his mask to Taker at this time.

Kane eventually did finally team up with Undertaker, once more becoming a face, in early 2001 and would go on to have a truly impressive Royal Rumble showing eliminating 11 men during the match, a record he still holds. Kane would go on to win the WWF Hardcore title at Wrestlemania X-7 and would team with his brother to battle the Austin-Triple H two man power trip eventually defeating Triple H for the Intercontinental title at Judgment Day 2001. Kane and Undertaker as a team would prove successful flag bearers for the WWF during the Invasion angle winning both the WWF and WCW tag team championships and feuding with and getting the best of Diamond Dallas Page & Chris Kanyon and Kronik.

In 2002, Kane and the Hurricane would win the World tag team titles from Lance Storm and Christian until finally losing them later on to Chris Jericho and Christian. Kane however would get a measure of revenge defeating Jericho for yet another Intercontinental title only to lose hos title to Triple H in a World vs.  Intercontinental Unification match. Next Kane and Rob Van Dam would win the World tag team titles only to eventually lose them to La Resistance. Triple H would eventually go on to win a match in which Kane was forced to unmask if he lost. Kane did and went berserk attacking former allies such as RVD and pretty much everyone else in his path including setting Jim Ross on fire and tombstone piledriving Linda McMahon. Kane would go on to become a monster again and would eventually find himself once again an opponent of the Undertaker at Wrestlemania XX who again defeated him. Next Kane would get involved in an unlikely storyline relationship with Lita even going so far as to "marry" her eventually leading to the storyline with Gene Snitsky causing Lita to miscarry Kane's demon love child. Since this Kane has been plagued with bad storyline after bad storyline be it Katie Vick or twin imposters. He did go on to win an ECW title in 2008 and lately has been a bit revitalized by a new storyline searching for the attackers responsible for putting his "brother" Undertaker in a comatose state.

[HappyGilmore]

I thought Kane was kinda cool for the first few years.  Relatively good for a big man, had a decent storyline.

Then it all got muddled up and they changed it completely, pulled off his mask, etc.

[Rev. Powell]

I don't follow wrestling but I'm curious: Jase, are you writing these entries as you go?  If so, do you realize you've already just about created an entire Encyclopedia of Wrestling? Surely you're cutting and pasting from Wikipedia or something?

[JaseSF]

Yes Rev., Wikipedia is a main source of research for these but to be honest with some of the older talents, I probably could write lenghty entries right off the top of my head as I was a huge wrestling fanatic throughout my youth and watched numerous numerous hours of classic wrestling on VHS video too. Honestly I still watch it to this day although it's much more a guilty pleasure now than in my youth and I strongly miss those old innocent kayfabe days when they played it up as if wrestling was a real sport I miss rasslin' being the main focus and not the entertainment aspect. I probably could well write a book on it if I really wanted to...it's only since the late 1990s when titles started changing so frequently that things get more than a bit muddled up in the head but there are great online resources about wrestling history, some arguably much better than Wikipedia too not to mention Pro Wrestling Illustrated yearly Almanacs which I own a copy of from every year dating back quite some time.

I have been a regular on wrestling message boards in the past and have written bios for certain grapplers off the top of my head there in times past particularly for dream tournaments we'd sometimes have.

Happy, with regards to Kane, I agree. I liked the mysterious, quiet masked man far more than the psychotic freak he is now. But bad storylines after bad storylines (Katie Vick, Lita pregancy, Imposter Kane, May 11) really took a lot of the punch out of the character. Sure some here are familar with Kane from the film See No Evil

[HappyGilmore]

Happy, with regards to Kane, I agree. I liked the mysterious, quiet masked man far more than the psychotic freak he is now. But bad storylines after bad storylines (Katie Vick, Lita pregancy, Imposter Kane, May 11) really took a lot of the punch out of the character. Sure some here are familar with Kane from the film See No Evil

Once the mask came off, all went to hell.  I hate what they've done with him.

[Rev. Powell]

Yes Rev., Wikipedia is a main source of research for these but to be honest with some of the older talents, I probably could write lenghty entries right off the top of my head as I was a huge wrestling fanatic throughout my youth and watched numerous numerous hours of classic wrestling on VHS video too. Honestly I still watch it to this day although it's much more a guilty pleasure now than in my youth and I strongly miss those old innocent kayfabe days when they played it up as if wrestling was a real sport I miss rasslin' being the main focus and not the entertainment aspect. I probably could well write a book on it if I really wanted to...it's only since the late 1990s when titles started changing so frequently that things get more than a bit muddled up in the head but there are great online resources about wrestling history, some arguably much better than Wikipedia too not to mention Pro Wrestling Illustrated yearly Almanacs which I own a copy of from every year dating back quite some time.

I have been a regular on wrestling message boards in the past and have written bios for certain grapplers off the top of my head there in times past particularly for dream tournaments we'd sometimes have.

You ought to keep these writeups in a file somewhere.  You have the beginnings of a book here. 

[JaseSF]

Paul Bearer joins the Managers/Valets Hall of Fame. William Alvin "Bill" Moody, born April 10, 1954, started out in the wrestling business in his teen years as a photographer. After finishing high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and while serving for 4 years, wrestled occasionally during his off duty hours for Gulf Coast independent promotions. In 1978, he adopted the gimmick of Percy Pringle III, a wealthy man who had inherited his family's fortunes which he now parlayed into acquiring the best wrestling talents, which he used in southeastern independents. Following the birth of his oldest son, Moody cut back on his involvement in wrestling to obtain a degree in mortuary science and ear certification as a funeral director and embalmer.

He would return to wrestling full time in 1984 as manager Percy Pringle III managing stars in Floirda, World Class and eventually the USWA. Amongst his most notable charges were Ravishing Rick Rude, who won the WCCW Heavyweight title under him, , the Missing Link, a young Stunning Steve Austin and the Texas champion - The Punisher (who would later gain fame as the Undertaker). He also briefly managed a young Lex Luger, The Dingo Warrior (who would later become the Ultimate Warrior) and Eric Embry.

In 1990, at the suggestion of Rick Rude, Moody would be brought into the WWF by Vince McMahon and because of his past as a funeral director/embalmer would eventually be given the gimmick of Paul Bearer, seemingly the perfect manager to guide the Undertaker aiding him via the use of his mystical urn and taking his hat and coat as Undertaker wrestled. Bearer would manager solely the Undertaker for five years, even managing him to a WWF World Title, and even had his own talk show segment called "The Funeral Parlor", on one episode of which Undertaker locked the Ultimate Warrior inside a casket.

At Summerslam 1996, Bearer shockingly turned on the Undertaker aiding his long-time nemesis Mankind and also enlisted The Executioner and Vader into his war with the Undertaker. Eventually in 1997 using a long kept hidden dark secret, Bearer blackmailed Undertaker into once more being his protege but eventually the secret would come out. Storyline wise, Bearer had an affair with the Undertaker's mother resulting in his half-brother Kane. Eventually Bearer would reveal Undertaker's masked long-lost brother Kane who would attack his brother the Undertaker during an Hell in the Cell match vs. Shawn Michaels at Bad Blood 1997. Eventually an intense feud evolved between Kane and the Undertaker with Bearer managing Kane & Mankind, who together would win WWF tag team gold. Kane himself would eventually win the WWF World title in a First Blood match at WWF King of the Ring 1998 only to lose it back to Steve Austin the very next night on Raw.

Towards the end of 1998, Bearer would eventually betray his "son" Kane to once more manage the Undertaker and together the two would eventually form the nightmarish Ministry of Darkness that ran rampant in WWF in 1999 commanding a group that also included Viscera, Mideon, The Acolytes and briefly the Brood too. In late September 1999, Bearer and Undertaker would briefly disappear from the scene following an injury to the Undertaker. In early 2000, Bearer briefly returned as a face to manage Kane before retiring to become a behind the scenes road agent, stage manager and talent scout until his contract with WWE ran out in 2002. He would move briefly to TNA under his old identity as Percy Pringle but that stay would prove rather forgettable. In October 2003, he signed a new contract with WWE but his health problems would prevent him from taking an active role until Wrestlemania XX when he returned as a face manager for the Undertaker in yet another match vs. Kane. In spring of 2004, Bearer would be kidnapped by The Dudley Boyz and Paul Heyman during their feud with the Undertaker. At Great American Bash 2004, Heyman threatened Undertaker that if he didn't throw the match he would throw a switch that would bury Bearer in cement inside a glass crypt. After defeating the Dudleys, the Undertaker himself threw the switch effectively terminating Bearer's last run in the WWE. Bearer would eventually sign a promotional contract with WWE allowing them to continue marketing his personality and allowing him to make sporadic guest appearances including one special appearance at a January 2007 Smackdown live event show where he joined the Brothers of Destruction Kane & the Undertaker in his Paul Bearer garb at ringside in their corner.

Other wrestlers managed by Percy Pringle/Paul Bearer include Logan McDonald, The Assassin, Blackjack Mulligan, Buzz Sawyer, The Spoiler Don Jardine, The Great Kabuki, Jack Victory, New Jack, Koko B. Ware, Maniac Matt Borne and Sugar Bear Harris. He won the PWI Manager of the Year Award in 1998.

[JaseSF]

Tommy Dreamer joins the Singles Hall of Fame. Here we have yet another wrestler the fans have come to embrace and appreciate for all his hard work and effort over the years, a wrestler who gave his all many times over to entertain the fans and asked for very little reward in return. He is often referred to as "the heart and soul" of the original ECW, being normally tied up in many of the company's most entertaining angles although rarely wearing the ECW World title capturing it just once during his stay in the original ECW, and then for only about 30 minutes, he was also involved in a lot of the behind the scenes booking. Mostly Dreamer seemed to be about helping develop other talent and it was a trait he'd carry with him into the WWE's watered down version of ECW where he was mostly used as an enhancement talent to put over new stars but despite this, his hard work would again be rewarded, this time by WWE, with an ECW title reign there during the end of his stay with WWE.

Dreamer was trained by Johnny Rodz and first debuted as T.D. Madison in International World Class Championship Wrestling (IWCCW) winning its tag team titles alongside G.Q. Madison three times in 1991. He'd change his name to Tommy Dreamer, the "Dreamer" part being a tribute to Dusty Rhodes, in 1992 and move to New England's CWA (Century Wrestling Alliance) winning its first Heavyweight title in a tournament final over Tony Atlas in November 1992. He would hold the title for four months before dropping it to The Iron Sheik. He'd also start wrestling in Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1992, wearing green suspenders and playing the part of a pretty boy wrestler, a character soundly booed by fans at the time even despite his kicking out of Jimmy Snuka's Superfly splash.

However as ECW became Extreme Championship Wrestling, a new style of booking done by Paul Heyman led to Tommy Dreamer vs. The Sandman in a Singapore Cane match. It was in this match Dreamer first earned the respect of the fans as despite losing, he took his ten lashes with the Singapore cane and asked for another. When Dreamer later accidentally "blinded" Sandman in a match, he began coming to his aid but it would eventually be revealed to have been a ploy by Sandman all along as he revealed he faked the blindness and unexpectedly attacked Dreamer yet again.

Perhaps Dreamer's most memorable and brutally emotional feud would arguably come against Raven in 1995, portrayed as childhood rivals the two would eventually come to feud over the beautiful Beulah McGillicutty. Raven dominated the entire feud for around two years with Dreamer finally winning in Raven's last ECW match - a loser leaves town match. By the end of the feud, Dreamer had both McGillicutty and had won his respect. During his feud with Raven, Raven also brought in hired help to take on Dreamer including boydguard "Prime Time" Brian Lee and Raven's Nest followers including Stevie Richards, Tony Stetson, Johnny Hotbody, the Pitbulls, Luna Vachon, the Vampire Warrior, The Dudleys, Cactus Jack, Kimona Wanalaya (who replaced Beulah when she left for Dreamer in 1996), the Bruise Brothers - Ron & Don Harris, Super Nova and even more.

Following Raven's departure for WCW in 1997, Dreamer started feuding with an invading Jerry "The King" Lawler in a feud symbolic of new school ECW vs. old-school Memphis & WWF. Dreamer stood up for his home ECW promotion.

In 1998, Dreamer began feuding with the Dudleys leading to the Dudleys eventually taking out Beulah, kayfabe breaking her neck. This would led to a 1999 challenge during the Dudleys last night with ECW to Dreamer, now managed by Francine, for a tag title match depsite Dreamer not having a partner. Shockingly Raven would appear on the scene and team with Dreamer to win the ECW Tag Team titles that night. Not suprisingly, this team didn't last very long with Raven eventually selecting Mike Awesome as his new partner. Dreamer would also reluctantly become ECW World champion in 2000, defeating Tazz, who by then had signed with WWF, only to lose the title 30 minutes later to Justin Credible. Dreamer himself didn't want to win titles but wanted to help build other stars so it was only when guys were leaving ECW he reluctantly won the titles he did. While he was in ECW, Dreamer also won tag team titles with Johnny Gunn and Masato Tanaka. Dreamer stayed with ECW till the bitter end in 2001.

After briefly competing in independents such as Jersey All-Pro and Combat Zone Wrestling, Dreamer would sign with the WWF and would take part in the ECW/WCW Invasion joining the ECW/WCW Alliance. When the angle ended in November, Dreamer would be sent to the farm territory Heartland Wrestling Association. He would be brought back to WWE in 2002 in April on the Raw brand. Following a short-lived and ill-conceived just a regular guy gimmick that saw him eating food off the floor and using his toothbrush to brush his dog's teeth, thankfully "The Innovator of Violence" old-style ECW gimmick returned and Dreamer went on to win 14 WWE Hardcore titles. Dreamer would be the final Hardcore champion when the title would be unified with the Intercontinental title following a title unification match vs. Rob Van Dam. Following this, Dreamer would yet again feud with Raven eventually defeating him in a loser leaves Raw match.

By 2003 and 2004, Dreamer would be used less and less by WWE and would eventually take on more of a behind the scenes role while WWE allowed him to take independent bookings and work as a color commentator for their development territories Ohio Valley Wrestling and Deep South Wrestling. Eventually he even took on a series of office jobs in WWE.

In 2005, Dreamer was a major part of the ECW One Night Stand Reunion show taking part heavily in the promotion leading up to the event and even teaming with the Sandman vs. The Dudleys on a Raw main event. Eventually at the One Night Stand show, Dreamer and his mentor Terry Funk would team up to face a newly heel Mick Foley now teaming up with Edge and Lita. Beulah would return at the PPV to join Dreamer and Funk vs. Foley, Edge and Lita with Foley & Edge eventually winning out.

In 2006, ECW would be relaunched by WWE and Dreamer would be one of its major stars and old ties to the classic ECW. Early on, he and the Sandman teamed up to feud with Mike Knox and Test. Following a brief forgettable feud with Daivari, a new feud began to emerge - that of the New Breed (Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von, Matt Striker and Kevin Thorn) vs. the ECW Originals (Dreamer, Sandman, Rob Van Dam & Sabu). The Originals would win the showdown between the two teams at Wrestlemania 23 but lost an extreme rules rematch on ECW.

In 2007, Dreamer came to join the ECW's brand Elimination chase to name a new # 1 contender for the ECW title and despite making it all the way to the finals and seemingly winning over Elijah Burke at the end, ECW GM Armando Estrada surprised Dreamer by annoucing the winner must now take on the monsterous 500 pounder Big Daddy V who ultimately defeated Dreamer to become # 1 contender.

In 2008, Dreamer began to mentor enhancement talent Colin Delaney and the pair even upset the WWE tag team champions The Miz and John Morrison in a match but failed to ultimately win WWE tag team gold. Dreamer also lost an ECW title match to Chavo Guerrero Jr. shortly thereafter. Dreamer would also win a 24 man battle royal to earn yet another shot but yet again fell short and even lost an Extreme Rules match to Mike Knox and the 100th episode ECW special. At One Night Stand 2008, he was a participant in a brutal multi-man Singapore Cane match but failed to win. At the Great American Bash 2008, Delaney shockingly and unexpectedly turned on Dreamer costing him his title chance against then ECW champion Mark Henry. Delaney hoped to then pair up with Henry only for Henry to turn on him too. Dreamer would go on to soundly defeat Delaney in an Extreme Rules match and began feuding with Jack Swagger with the two putting on a series of entertaining bouts with Swagger eventually coming out on top.

On January 13, 2009, Dreamer annouced if he couldn't win the ECW title before his contract ran out, he would no longer wrestle for ECW. Following this, Dreamer would have a long and extended losing streak that finally ended in late February when he defeated Flapjack Brown. Dreamer in April would be granted an ECW title match vs. then champion Christian but the match would go to a no contest following interference by Swagger. Dreamer would be granted a one day extension on his contract to challenge Christian for the ECW Title at Extreme Rules 2009 in an Hardcore Triple Threat match also featuring Jack Swagger. Dreamer would go on to pin Swagger in the match and finally capture the ECW Title, the only old school ECW World champion to accomplish this feat also in the WWE's version of ECW. Dreamer would successfully defend the title for a couple of months including matches against former champ Christian and a Championship Scramble match at the Bash 2008, Dreamer eventually dropped the title back to Christian at Night of Champions 2008. Christian successfully retained his title in a return Extreme Rules match vs. Dreamer. Following this, Dreamer briefly teamed with Christian, Yoshi Tatsu and Goldust in several pairings vs. William Regal and his alliance with Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekial Jackson. On a December 29, 2009 match vs. Zack Ryder, Dreamer lost a match that would see him retire if he lost. Following the match, Dreamer thanked the fans before leaving the ring with his two daughters. On January 4, 2010, Dreamer would officially be released by WWE.

In late January 2010, Dreamer debuted for Dragon Gate USA losing an hardcore match to Jon Moxley. Dreamer also competed in independents such as American Championship Entertainment and Universal Championship Wrestling where he defeated Shane Douglas for the UCW title on Feburary 20, 2010. He also competed for Maximum Pro Wrestling and Chikara. On June 23, 2010, Dreamer debuted in TNA appearing in the crowd with several old school ECW alumni including Raven, Stevie Richards and Rhino.

Mr. Fuji joins the Managers/Valets Hall of Fame. Following a lenghty and successful career in the ring that saw him capture WWWF/WWF tag team gold 3 times with Prof. Toru Tanaka and  twice with Mr. Saito, Mr. Fuji would go on to have an arguably even more successful career as a manager.

His managerial career began in 1985 with Fuji wearing a tuxedo and bowler hat to the ring as his most common garb. Like during his time in the ring, Fuji would often use ceremonial salt to blind his men's opponents, throwing it in their eyes while the referee was distracted elsewhere. Fuji first managed George "The Animal" Steele until Steele became a fan favourite. Next Fuji managed The Magnificent Muraco in a pairing that seemed a perfectly natural fit. Together they appeared in a memorable and hilarious Miami Vice parody segment called "Fuji Vice". The best feud for Muraco under Fuji would come vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat who the pair would attack leading to the Dragon seeking revenge on both men and even wrestling Fuji himself. Fuji also briefly managed Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart only to eventually sell the contract to Jimmy Hart who formed the Hart Foundation.

In 1987, he purchased the contract of Demolition from Johnny Valiant. While also managing the nightmarish Killer Khan and Sika, he successfully guided Demolition to their first and longest WWF tag team championship reign with a win over Strike Force at Wrestlemania IV, a record that still stands. Surprisingly Fuji would eventually turn on Demolition in favor of the Powers of Pain at Survivor Series 1988 perhaps believing the Powers could defeat the Demos. Fuji however would be proved wrong here as Demolition successfully defeated him and his Powers of Pain in an handicap match at Wrestlemania V. Eventually Fuji would sell the Barbarian's contract to Bobby Heenan and the Warlord's to Slick.

His next team would be The Orient Express of Akio Sato and Pat Tanaka who went on to feud with the Rockers. Eventually the Orient Express (who would eventually be changed to a team of the masked Kato and Pat Tanaka) would get involved in the feud between the Legion of Doom and Demolition which Fuji eventually returning as manager of Demolition. This though would prove short-lived as Demolition was eventually phased out. LOD soundly defeated both Demolition and the Orient Express in matches. In 1991, Fuji also began to sporadically manage the Berzerker.

In late 1992, Fuji now wearing a more traditional Japanese kimono introduced arguably his most successful and impressive charge in the form of the massive 600 pound Yokozuna. Under Fuji, Yokozuna would win the 1993 Royal Rumble and would go on to defeat Bret "The Hitman" Hart for his first WWF World title at Wrestlemania IX. Foolishly, Fuji would challenge Hulk Hogan following the match resulting in Hogan regaining the WWF World title from Yokozuna but Yoko would get his revenge at King of the Ring 1993 defeating Hogan for his second WWF World title. Later on, Fuji would be joined as co-manager by spokeman Jim Cornette whom Yokozuna would eventually take a disliking too firing him leading to a six man war pitting Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson and Jake "The Snake" Roberts vs. Camp Cornette's Big Van Vader, Owen Hart and the British Bulldog at Wrestlemania 12. Yoko would be accompanied by a now face Fuji during the match. Shortly thereafter, Fuji would leave WWF. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.

[JaseSF]

I've updated the Halls here. Want/Plan to go into a bit more detail on these latest additions in the near future.

[JaseSF]

Demolition (Ax & Smash) join the Tag Teams Hall of Fame. "Here comes the Ax and here comes the Smasher!" From the moment I heard the theme music, saw the face paint, the leather and studs, the Mad Max style Lord Humongous masks and saw them ground and pound their opponents into the dust, I knew Demolition were something special. Often accused of being Road Warrior rip-offs, I personally feel Demolition forged their own unique and successful identity. Ax of course had a long successful career before nearing its end he decided to move from competition as the Masked Superstar to the Super Machine and eventually to Ax. Smash was a young upstart looking to make a name for himself and while he'd had some small success previously as a "Russian" ally of the Koloffs named Krusher Kruschev, his most successful persona ever would be Smash. Later runs as the Repo Man and Barry Dorsow, his real name, provided very little real success.

Initially though it would be a former Moondog Randy Colley (Moondog Rex) who would team with Bill Eadie/Ax under manager Johnny V. However Colley who was thought too recognizable as a former Moondog would be replaced by Darsow and the rest as they say is history. Demolition were soon cutting a swath through the top WWF babyface tandems bettering Ken Patera & Billy Jack Haynes and even "injuring" Haynes cousin Brady Boone. They'd go on to defeat the Killer Bees, Rougeaus, British Bulldogs, Islanders, Young Stallions and even the Can-Am Connection. They beat practically anyone who was anyone. Somewhere during this period, Mr. Fuji would purchase Demolition's contracts and he would lead them on to tag team gold at Wrestlemania IV where they defeated Strike Force to win their first WWF World Tag Team titles. To this day with this reign, Demolition still holds the record as the longest reigning WWF/WWE World Tag Team champions of all time. Demolition successfully fended off tough tag team challengers in an hot and very talented tag team division including wins over the Hart Foundation and the British Bulldogs.

In mid-1988, another face painted nightmarish team appeared on the scene - this was the Powers of Pain (The Warlord and the Barbarian), fresh off their losing feud to the Road Warriors in the NWA and who actually more resembled the Warriors than did Demolition) managed by Baron Von Raschke. Shockingly at Survivor Series 1988, perhaps believing the Powers of Pain on the verge of defeating Demolition, Mr. Fuji switched sides and betrayed Demolition joining forces with the Powers of Pain and helping them win Survivor Series 1988. At Royal Rumble 1989, Ax and Smash memorably briefly were forced to battle each other as # 1 and # 2 entrants. At Wrestlemania V, Demolition would get their revenge on Mr. Fuji and the Powers of Pain soundly defeating them in an handicap tag team title match.

Demolition would successfully hold the titles until a July 29, 1988 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event where they finally lost them to the Brain Busters Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson in a two out of three falls match with a bit of help from Andre the Giant. Then Demolition actually starting feuding with Andre and the Twin Towers teaming up with Hacksaw Duggan to defeat them at Summerslam 1989. In November, they'd also regain their WWF World tag team titles from the Brain Busters. However an even more massive challenge lay ahead of them - Bobby Heenan's newly assembled Colossal Connection of Andre the Giant and Haku who would defeat Demolition for the WWF World Tag team titles in December. At Wrestlemania VI, Demolition actually managed to defeat the Colossal Connection to win their third and last WWF World Tag Team titles and finally put an end to their long running feud vs. the Heenan Family.

In 1990, Demolition eventually reverted back to their more heelish roots and eventually added a third younger, bigger member in Crush but also because Eadie's health was starting to fail at the time. Eventually Smash and Crush would become the main active members of the team with Ax essentially serving as manager and outside interference whenever it was needed. At Summerslam 1990, Demolition lost their WWF World Tag Team titles to the Hart Foundation thanks to interference from the Legion of Doom - the Road Warriors. Next the feud everybody had long wanted to see came to fruitition and proved a huge disappointment as the LOD practically destroyed the Demos who were well past their glory days by this point and Smash & Crush never gelled together as a team the way Ax & Smash did. Demolition, yes Ax and Smash, has actually the last few years reunited in the independents capturing several tag team titles there.

Jerry "The King" Lawler joins the Singles Hall of Shame. Though honestly I suspect his placement here has more to do with him being up against some incredibly tough competition more than anything else. Actually Lawler is one of the best wrestling heels I ever watched perform in a wrestling ring. He was able to hold the audience in the palm of his hand and get the reaction he desired time and time again..just great at drawing heat from the fans in particular but could just as well play the babyface role, albeit a more tough, fight fire with fire Bruno style fan favourite. Lawler mostly dominated Memphis wrestling where he was often also involved in the booking behind the scenes so of course many say he likely used politics and his power to place himself on top but truthfully the King was hugely over in his home territory and definitely belonged on top there more often than not (He won the Memphis Southern title more than 50+ times). Has claimed victories over an whos who of wrestling history (Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, etc.) but one has to note most of those came with him on his home ground. Had long lasting memorable feuds with Bill Dundee, Eddie Gilbert, the Moondogs, Paul E. Dangerously/Paul Heyman, comedian Andy Kaufman, Kerry Von Erich, Terry Funk, Tommy Rich and Austin Idol.

Lawler's most impressive title wins were his AWA World championship win over Curt Hennig in 1988 and his title unification win over Kerry Von Erich which also gave him the World Class Championship Wrestling Heavyweight title. Eventually Lawler would use this to claim the USWA title a World title (which he'd hold around 28 times) after the AWA stripped him of the title for lack of defenses in their actual territory. To WWF/WWE fans, he is mostly known for his annoucing work and his feud with Bret Hart, Doink the Clown and ECW but Lawler is also one of the greatest old-school brawlers/wrestling giants of yesteryear. You could argue Lawler was hardcore before there was hardcore. Lawler is from the old-school era and knows what that's all about even as he's a part of the modern wrestling scene as an annoucer.

Jesse "The Body" Ventura joins the Hosts/Announcers Hall of Fame. Jesse Ventura was the man to me as a kid. He was larger than life, a colorful, boastful blowhard with a big chin who dressed in colorful over-the top garb and seemed such a badass character, a real hero even as he told fans to "win if you can, lose if you must but always cheat". He truly had the gift of gab and whether providing color commentary for Vince McMahon on Superstars of Wrestling or providing it on numerous 80s WWF PPVs, Jesse almost always had something interesting and definitely something entertaining to add to the proceedings. I can't hardly recall my childhood without thinking of him and certainly not the wrestling I grew up watching.

[JaseSF]

Harvey Wippleman joins the Managers/Valets Hall of Shame. Harvey actually started out in Memphis and Continental wrestling in the 1980s as Downtown Bruno, a smarmy little gruff voiced man with an overinflated ego. He normally managed monstrous big heels, which set off his smaller frame next to them even more, and set them after the area's top faces. Amongst those he managed in the Memphis and Continental areas were the Stud Stable of Robert Fuller (who was usually also seconded by Sylvia who eventually Bruno would feud with as well), Jimmy Golden, Dutch Mantel, Brian Lee, Cactus Jack and Brickhouse Brown; Ron & Don Harris, The Assassins, The Rock 'n' Roll RPMs, Badd Company, The Moondogs, "Hotstuff" Eddie Gilbert, Doug Gilbert, the Batten Twins, Tony Falk, Frankie Lancaster, Tony Anthony, Gary Young, Don Bass, Ray Candy, Jeff Gaylord, Phil Hickerson, Eli the Eliminator and many others - a virtual who's who of Memphis/Continental/USWA villains. Shockingly while in Continental wrestling, Bruno would capture the Southeast United States Junior Heavyweight Championship, a title he'd win in September 1988 and would hold until Continental closed in 1989, essentially a title he never loss.

 As I said earlier, he often managed monstrous heels (particularly as Harvey Wippleman in the WWF which was essentially Downtown Bruno under a geekier name) such as Lord Humongous/Sid Justice who he managed in both Continental under a mask and later when he turned heel on Hulk Hogan in the WWF, Big Bully Busick, The Warlord,  Sika, Giant Gonzales, Kamala, Adam Bomb, Mr. Hughes, Kwang. In the WWF, he also managed Well Dunn and the Brooklyn Brawler. Most of the monsters he managed in WWF, such as Kamala and Giant Gonzales, he unsuccessfully sent after the Undertaker. Arguably his most successfully pairing though was that as manager/"boyfriend" of Bertha Faye (formerly Rhonda Singh/Monster Ripper - a hugely successful in Japan lady wrestler), a huge lady grappler who liked to wear polka dots and captured the WWF Women's title in 1995 from Alundra Blayze. Eventually Wippleman would wind up feuding with ring announcer Howard Finkel resulting in several godawful and unwanted tuxedo matches. Wippleman would also disguise himself as a woman calling himself Harvina to become the only man to win the WWF Women's title defeating the Kat in a Lumberjill Snow Bunny match. He'd later lose the title to Jacqueline in under a minute. Since then, Wippleman has served behind the scenes for WWE as a road agent and sometimes still adopts his Downtown Bruno persona in Memphis wrestling.

The Headbangers join the Tag Teams Hall of Shame. In the late 1990s, a new and bizarre tag team appeared on the scene. They were self-professed loud music loving headbangers who loved to as their names suggested Mosh and Thrash in the mosh pit. Mosh and Thrasher had long plied their trade as enhancement talent, talent used to put over others when Charles Warrington and Glen Ruth were finally paired up together and given an heavy metal headbanging makeover with both men wearing punk and heavy metal T-shirts, piercings, shaved heads, black eye makeup and skirts, which was a throwback to an earlier short-lived gimmick where they were managed by Brother Love as the Sisters of Love and the Flying Nuns on Shotgun Saturday Night. In 1997, they feuded with the Godwinns, Phil Lafon & Doug Furnas and the Road Warriors usually coming out on the losing end. But at Wrestlemania 13, they would win a 4-way elimination match for a shot at the WWF World Tag Team titles, titles they would eventually win in a match at In Your House 17 (Sept. 7, 1997) in a match for the then vacant titles vs. Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith. They would lose the titles to the Godwinns less than a month later. Throughout 1998, they were frequent challengers to the New Age Outlaws but failed to regain the titles. On February 17, 1998, the Headbangers would upend the Rock 'n' Roll Express for the NWA World Tag Team titles but would lose the titles to the New Midnight Express of Bart Gunn and Bob Holly a little over a month later. They would then go on to feud with the Quebecers and the Oddities and became the first Maryland Championship Wrestling Tag Team champs on August 18, 1998. As a team, they also won tag teams titles in independents such as the Heartland Wrestling Association, Insane Championship Wrestling where they won the Streetfight tag titles, Main Event Championship Wrestling, New England Wrestling Federation and the Texas Wrestling Alliance.

In 1999, following injury the Headbangers were split up and repackaged with Mosh becoming Beaver Cleavage and eventually Chaz but eventually they would reunite when Thrasher would prove Chaz's manager Marianna had set him up to take a fall.  Following their reunion, they often began to dress up as their opponents including the Dudley Boyz and the Mean Street Posse. Eventually they turned heel and got even more bizarre dressing in drag and wearing breast cones to the ring. The Headbangers both entered the Hardcore battle royal at Wrestlemania 16 which saw Thrasher actually briefly win the WWF Hardcore title. They would continue to battle the likes of T & A and Too Cool until mid 2000 when they were once more split up, this time with Chaz teaming with D-Lo Brown as Lo Down and Glen Ruth being released by WWF. Chaz would be released too by mid-2001.

Personally I thought a lot of their gimmick was fantastic and they really should have played up more the headbanging aspect of the pair given that was in fact quite popular at the time, their fun-loving nature could have potentially made them quite popular as well but they just seemed to get more and more bizarre as time went on and were hampered by poor over the top WWF attitude era storylines which often saw them just haphazardly thrown into the mix.

[HappyGilmore]

I liked The Headbangers quite a bit.  Thought that they weren't the most technically sound team, but worked well together, had chemistry.  Just wished they had better stories.

[JaseSF]

The New Age Outlaws join the Tag Teams Hall of Fame. In the late 1990s, two lower mid-carders who seemed to lack focus and direction would find it by joining up and becoming one of the most dominant tag teams in pro wrestling history. No one expected the surprise seemingly makeshift pairing of Road Dogg Jesse James and Bad Ass Billy Gunn to upset wrestling legends the Road Warriors for the WWF World Tag Team titles in November 1997 but that's exactly what the young upstart team did. They were new and different and played by their own set of rules, they were very much as their name implied - outlaws of a new age, a new era. Eventually they would be brought into and would become a major part of the mega-popular DeGeneration X stable also including Triple H, X-Pac and Chyna. Billy had won tag team titles before with "brother" Bart Gunn but had since been searching for an identity as a singles competitor but found himself ultimately unable to move above mid-card. Similarly Road Dogg struggled to get above mid-card status and saw the potential in Gunn while actually feuding with him just before the two would pair up. Together they would form arguably Billy Gunn's greatest pairing of the many successful teams he was a part of.

The Outlaws would eventually drop the titles in 1998 to Mick Foley and Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk) in a dumpster match but would regain the titles the very next night on Raw with help from DX eventually joining them officially following a steel cage match. Eventually Road Dogg began to deliver his long popular entrance delivery "Ooh you didn't know?" which would prove an hit with fans and which many versions of later DX would later borrow the ending "And if you're not down with that, we've got two words for you - Suck it!"

In the summer of 1998, they'd lose the titles to Kane and Mankind but would regain them at Summerslam when Kane didn't show up leaving Mankind in an handicap match. In late 1998, Corporation members Ken Shamrock and Big Bossman would capture the titles away from the Outlaws as DX was currently feuding with the Corporation. Following this, each man began to pursue singles gold once again and began to drift apart with Road Dogg capturing the Intercontinental title and the Hardcore title and Billy Gunn winning the Hardcore title twice and an Intercontinental title himself not to mention winning a King of the Ring tournament. Eventually though they'd find their way back together reuniting as a team in late 1999 winning their fifth and final WWF World tag team title from Mankind & the Rock on September 21, 1999 only to lose them back to the Rock and Sock Connection less than a month later. After spending time as a face and eventually heel version of DX in 2000, at No Way Out 2000, Gunn injured his arm and would be storyline written out of DX. After short pairings with X-Pac and eventually K-Kwik, Road Dogg would be released from his WWF contract in 2001. Gunn would continue to compete in WWF/WWE for three more years winning a tag team title twice in a quasi-gay pairing with Chuck Palumbo and also teaming up with Hardcore Holly before he was released in 2004.

Meanwhile Road Dogg had moved on to competing in TNA under the name B.G. James and was there teaming with Konnan and Ron Killings (Formerly K-Kwik) as 3LiveKru. Billy Gunn debuted in TNA in 2005 under several names including the Outlaw but eventually adopted the name Kip James. After briefly feuding with B.G. and 3LiveKru, Billy would eventually team up with his old buddy once again as the James Gang but the former New Age Outlaws were now well past their prime and the NWA and TNA tag team titles proved elusive although they won the Maryland Championship Wrestling tag team title in the independents. A name change to the Voodoo Kin Mafia where they criticized WWE and their old allies in DX and feuded with Christy Hemme proved rather forgettable and finally Kip turned on B.G. hitting him with a crutch on Feburary 21, 2008 ending the team.

APA/The Acolytes joins the Tag Teams Hall of Shame. Very little good seemed to come out of the Corporate Ministry but well this dominant tag team of Bradshaw and Farooq certainly left their dominant mark and were initially put together as members of the Ministry of Darkness. This pair of powerhouse brawlers, although Farooq could execute mat fundamentals too, seemed like an unstoppable force the likes of which hadn't been seen in wrestling since the heyday of the Road Warriors. They'd win their first WWF World Tag Team titles as members of the Ministry from Kane and X-Pac on May 25, 1999 only to lose the titles in shocking fashion via an upset by the Hardy Boyz a little over a month later. The Acolytes however would gain their revenge about a month after that regaining the titles from the Hardys and their manager Michael Hayes when they pinned Hayes. Kane & X-Pac would gain a measure of revenge on them though defeating the Acolytes for the WWF World Tag Team titles on August 9, 1999. In 2000, the Acolytes now away from the Ministry influence redubbed themselves as guns/bodyguards for hire the Acolytes Protection Agency (and were hired to protect people like the Mean Street Posse and Crash Holly) becoming more of a comedy segment on most shows with them drinking beer in the back and playing cards and brawling and battling for money, fun and kicks. The tag team titles did remain elusive at this time for the APA but they would finally regain them from the Dudley Boyz on July 09, 2001 only to lose them about a month later to Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon on August 07, 2001. Eventually the brand split would see Bradshaw drafted to Raw and becoming a a successful Hardcore champion while Ron Simmons competed on Smackdown and would eventually be more known and perhaps sadly more remembered for saying "Damn!" comedy bit that for his WCW World titles or WWF World tag team titles. After a brief reunion in 2003, Bradshaw would eventually turn on Farooq and reinvent himself as JBL. Technically though the Acolytes total time as tag champs despite three reigns was less than 3 months.