The list of people to have crossed Vince McMahon in WWE and gone on to enjoy the company’s spotlight certainly isn’t a long one.
McMahon oversaw the growth of what is now a billion-dollar entity with a global reach from the relatively small parts that made up the family wrestling business.
WWEDemolition had a Hall of Fame worthy career without that recognition[/caption]
Though having departed in controversial circumstances amid terrible accusations surrounding his conduct in office, he remains a household name thanks to the wild nature of professional wrestling and the at-times controversial product he put on air.
Having spent so long at the summit of an entire industry, it’s perhaps little surprise that McMahon didn’t always see eye to eye with everyone.
Top star Bret Hart lashed out and left WWE in dramatic fashion in 1997 after being double-crossed by his boss, while Hulk Hogan showed up in rival organisation WCW having vowed to have put wrestling to bed after his WWE exit.
Eric Bischoff was arguably McMahon’s biggest business enemy, having tried to run him out of business as the head of WCW during the Monday Night Wars.
Each of those names, however, ended up burying the hatchet with the promoter and either returning to or signing with WWE to make high-profile appearances at major events like WrestleMania. Some stars, however, haven’t been as fortunate.
One such example would be one of the great WWE tag teams in the company’s history in the form of Demolition. Starring, for the most part, Bill Eadie as Ax and Barry Darsow as Smash, the team were hugely successful in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Decked out in face paint, studded outfits and masks, Demolition struck fear into the hearts of opponents and, often enough, audiences too.
Demolition were three-time WWE tag team champions, once for a then-record 478 days as they dominated the division and competed at WrestleMania 4, 5 and 6 among other mammoth wrestling events.
While there were other members of the line-up – perhaps most notably Crush, who joined in 1990 – Eadie and Darsow are arguably most enshrined in the memory as Demolition.
It’s something of a travesty to many, then, that in the 32-year history of WWE’s Hall of Fame, there has been induction for one of the company’s most high-profile tag teams.
It’s a long-held belief that their apparent banishment as being because the pairing were among a string of wrestlers who tabled legal action against WWE for injuries they alleged were sustained during their time with the grappling entity.
The class action lawsuit was dismissed in the US in 2018, but it wasn’t Demolition’s only legal tangle with WWE – Eadie had years earlier unsuccessfully battled what was then the WWF over the rights to the Demolition name.
As such, while Crush and Darsow wrestled as singles stars for the company in the early 1990s, their tag team efforts were largely ignored, at least where the Hall of Fame is concerned. That could, however, all be about to change.
Fans are convinced that 2025 might finally be given WWE’s ultimate honour after PWInsider reported they’d penned new contracts with the company, with McMahon now long gone.
Crush sadly died in 2007 but Eadie and Darsow, it’s said, have inked Legends deals which, judging by others of its kind, allow them to appear on WWE programming and materials and earn as a result.
Some have called it a major win for the Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque era – McMahon’s son in law took over the helm of on-screen creative and will undoubtedly have green lit the deal to bring Demolition back into the fold, beyond the occasional action figure fans have been able to enjoy in previous years.
GettyVince McMahon wared with many a rival on and off screen in WWE[/caption]
One fan on X wrote: “About time. Demolition were my faves as a kid. A bad ass tag team with a great theme song and colourful look. A HOF induction is long overdue, too.”
A second added: “Give them the #WWE Hall of Fame induction they deserve. Where Demolition belongs.”
Quite whether WWE sees fit to induct Demolition as quickly as April’s WrestleMania or in future years remains to be seen, but the calls for that to happen just got a whole lot louder.
