#14 – The Hart Foundation (Bret “Hit Man” Hart & Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart) (co-captains), Demolition (Ax & Smash), The Bolsheviks (Boris Zhukov & Nikolai Volkoff), The New Dream Team (Dino Bravo & Greg “The Hammer” Valentine) & The Islanders (Haku & Tama) (Survivor Series ‘87)
In late ‘80s pro wrestling, the villain or the “heel” was traditionally someone who was bigger, meaner and dare I say less handsome than his “babyface” counterparts. They were the larger athletes who used power moves, strength, methodical speed, brawling tactics and a healthy dose of cheating to gain an advantage. This ten-man contingent certainly fits that bill perfectly.
Other than co-captain Bret Hart, this group of five tag teams was full of burly, barrel-chested fighters that fit the criteria mentioned above. It was a group of power men that cheated at will and all had a manager in their corner to help them out as needed. Jimmy Hart, Mr. Fuji, Slick, Johnny V and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan were all in this team’s corner, making for an even more impressively large entourage. It showed that not only was the tag division thriving at this point, but also the use of managers and manager “stables” was at an all time high as well.
What made this group so great is that in addition to each individual team having a manager, each team complimented each other so well. The original Demolition Smash (Randy Colley) was noticed from his previous gimmick as Moondog Rex and so Barry Darsow from the NWA was brought in to replace him, and the new Demolition gelled together so much better. Nikolai Volkoff had lost his original partner Iron Sheik shortly before this and “fellow Russian” Boris Zhukov was brought in to become Volkoff’s new partner, making a more cohesive tag team unit than Sheik and Volkoff. Greg Valentine was already a former WWF Tag Team Champion with Brutus Beefcake in the original Dream Team, and now partnering with Dino Bravo it changed the dynamic of the team into an all-power team. And Tama, a young Samoan from the legendary Anoa’i family, got valuable in-ring training from the veteran from Tonga, Haku.
But the true complimentary team was that of the captains, the former WWF World Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation. Hart was a second-generation star from Calgary that had impeccable in-ring wrestling ability and nearly unmatched technical and scientific skill. Even this early into his WWF career, the legendary Gorilla Monsoon had already dubbed Hart “The Excellence of Execution,” and his skills were already getting him noticed as one of the best in the world. He had the perfect tag partner in his brother-in-law Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. Neidhart was a powerhouse with charisma coming out of his pores. His promo skills and off-the-wall character traits made him the perfect compliment to the technically savvy, yet charisma deficient Hit Man.
It was a group of five wildly diverse tag teams and their accompanying managers, but it showed that at least for one night there was honor among thieves.
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