At the time in 88 when they did a switcheroo with Demolition, them going face and these lads going heel with fuji swapping over - that was a brilliant angle. Today it would get crapped on and people would say it was done because POP weren't over or whatever. But it was just a great angle well executed at its time.
What was strange about The Powers of Pain, in 1988, was when they came to the World Wrestling Federation, as babyfaces, they were getting a monster push. Then they turn heel, after winning the tag team elimination match, sole survivors, at the 1988 Survivor Series. Once they became heels, Demolition became babyfaces, it seemed that was it for the Powers of Pain. Their push ended, and a few years later they were no longer a tag team. Why? Strange.
spencer palmer Demolition’s unplanned popularity with the fans upstaged them and ruined their WWF career. They came during the time Demolition was at the height of their career. So, unfortunately they couldn’t have them both as faces because they still needed Demolition to have some opposition
I concur. Bro i never knew that they were babyfaces at first until I recently saw their first pay-per-view appearence at Summerslam 88. Man they were awesome together and were so over with the crowd. They had so much potential man. Kick ass theme music, great tag team combo moves and a pretty sweet finishing move. Too badd they both were never properly used as solo contenders and jobbed their way out of the WWF.
I remember the Road Warriors wanted the Powers of Pain split up before they got to the WWF because they thought that the fans who only watched the WWF would have thought they were copying the Powers of Pain.
The Powers of Pain were the best tag team in wrestling history. 625 pounds! .. WAY bigger than the Road Warriors or Demolition, and they were just as wild. ... Barbarian was a BIGGER Hawk, and Warlord was a BIGGER Animal. ... McMahon messed up SO BADLY when he made them turn into bad guys.
powers of pain were a very good tag team one of the best tag teams never to win the wwf tag belt when they became singles wrestlers they were never the same
They left WCW/MidAtlatnic Wrestling / Crockett for WWF rather than face the Road Warriors in those stupid Scaffold Matches they used to hold. I wouldn't want to be told I had to participate in that match either. They got a nice bit of money for that too since McMahonn knew how hard a worker Barbarian's cousin Meng/Haku was and he loved their look. One of the smartest moves ever.
This team had sooo much potential! But they just couldn't help getting upstaged by Demolition...I think what gave Demolition the edge, is their theme song and mic skills!
+kelamo The Powers of Pain first had to turn heel cause they couldn't talk or cut a good promo hence pairing him with Fuji. That also killed their chances of being a good face team, they were only faces cause they feuded with Demolition who fans hated for a long time but they were able to cut a face promo as well. Powers of Pain couldn't cut a promo much less a face promo.
I remember the WWF separated them because The Legion of Doom was coming and they (The Legion of Doom) didn’t want the fans who only knew the WWF to think they copied from The Powers of Pain.
The fact that as famous a team as LOD probably rightly worried about being viewed as a POP knockoff illustrated that even though NWA/WCW had survived as the other national promotion, showed how much WWF fans were simply fans of WWF Product rather than wrestling. Same went for how fans never got the idea of Flair as on Hogan's level a year later. Ironic though considering the POP were essentially an LOD ripoff that got their start feuding with them in the NWA.
I remember the WWF split them up because the Road Warriors were coming and they didn't want some fans thinking that the Road Warriors were copying the Powers of Pain.
I was watching the Survivor Series 1988 DVD today, and was wondering why they were turned heel. I know that Demolition was getting face pops, but the crowd at Survivor Series seemed pretty behind the Powers of Pain. I think they even cheered them after they lifted Fuji on their shoulders.
That photo of the Warlord and the Barbarian was definitely from summer/fall 1988 because when they were faces, Barbarian had yellow paint on. The paint was black and red when they were heels.
Man classic wrestling was the best. I mean lots of crazy characters and costumes. Remember when wrestlers wore gimmicky costumes and had nicknames? Was there a dude with a trash can and he took it out like the garbage man?
Demolition were already getting some cheers on a regular basis from the fans (go back and watch Summerslam from that year), and whilst it's commonplace today for heels to get small sections of the crowd cheering for them, twenty years ago that almost never happened. Plus the Demo's were far more over as faces than PoP were.
early 90, legion of doom were coming in to wwf so they split them up. mr fuji sold warlords contract to slick, and he sold barbarians to heenan. (is there footage) warlord began wearing short tights, a phantom of the opera mask, was totally bald and left in 1992, was then managed by wippleman. barbarian grew full head of hair and start wearing fur clothes and antlers. he left early 92, returned in 94 as sionne and was part of headshrinkers. left wwf in 95. still wrestle together sometimes
Well, i'd agree for Warlord. Barbarian is one of the most respected big men in history, a shame he didn't get titles to match. You need something besides a big kick. I mean, heck, Shameous adopted the kick LAST after the Razor's Edge Splash Mountain, which is kind of f unny.
Warlord is still doing independent dates, but had a tryout with the WWE just before Benoit killed his family and they camped down on "superhuman" physiques. WWE were pretty big on rehiring him. He looks EXACTLY the same since his prime. Vince buried him in an interview recently saying CM Punk doesnt have the Warlord's body, but the Warlord only put 3 people in a building.
back when tag team wrestling was alive in wwe fedeartion years. 1988-1996 had demoltion rockers, demoltion, lod, headshrinkers, body donnas, stenier bros, money inc, natural diasters. the natural diasters would destroy health and justin.
Powers of Pain had to drop the tag belts to the Road Warriors in a scaffold match and refused to do that match and left the NWA... Road Warriors Didn't like them whatsoever and Vince new Road Warriors would make him money... plus Demolition was still around and was way over at the time... So Road Warriors/ Legion of Doom vs Demolition was a natural setup
Speaking of Orton, I've met his dad before as well. Some wrestlers I've met in person and others on MySpace IM. Yep, they are real as I got their links from the Wrestlers myspace section on OWW.
The WWF brought these guys in, but in some senses I think the WWF failed to realize how over Demolition was getting and that Ax and Smash were not going to be able to stay as heels for that long. The Powers of Pain provided some size in the tag team division to compete with Demolition something that arguably had been missing with the top contenders in 1986-1987 being the Harts, Bulldogs, Bees and I daresay the Stallions. The Bolsheviks might have been big, but to suggest them as a contender :)
What are you talking about? This was a hell of a theme. I don't know why they couldn't have a done a slower sinister version after the 1988 double turn at Survivor Series.
But doesn't it make sense that there were discussions going on between the Road Warriors and the WWF months before they actually came to the WWF ... and as part of their negotiations for actually signing? There wasn't a lot of time between March of 1990 when they were split up and June/July when the Road Warriors arrived. It seems like a definitely possibility to me.
they came into wwf in mid 88 after feuding with the road warriors in the NWA and they were set to face them in scaffold matches and would rather jump to wwf than take the fall off the scaffold
No, it's not. They split up in very early 1990 for the sole reason that their push was given up on and they were jobbing to teams like the Bushwhackers and they thought they would be better off in singles competition. The Road Warriors didn't come to the WWF until mid 1990.
I think on paper it's a great idea and both teams are evenly matched... however two power tag teams that no sell offense really needs to be a squash match with whomever is getting put over... The Feud they had in NWA was short and sweet... I really liked the build up to the Feud with Powers of Pain attacking them during the bench press contest!!!
@badass87irocz28 Yep Legion of Doom were negotiating with the WWF in June 1990, they reportedly demanded that the Powers of Pain be split up and repackaged in different gimmicks because LOD thought people would think they were Powers of Pain-ripoffs when they entered the WWF due to their similar appearances so Powers of Pain were broken up and became singles wrestlers
Actually, I think the team of Mr Fuji & Professor Tanaka and then the Wild Samoans each held the belts 3 times before Demolition did. Then like RaginClimax said, the Smoking Gunns held it it 3 times. Since then the New Age Outlaws, the Dudleys, the Hardy Boyz and Edge/Christian held them about 287 times amongst them. Of course, my count may be a bit off... I'm sure there have been others that currently escape my.
good wrestling theme,powers of pain was an underrated tag team,that should of had the tag belts once,worst thing that happened to these 2 was they ended up as single wrestlers,vince was a fucking idiot for doing that,these guys should of been around longer,vince like with many wrestlers could not see the big picture.he just wanted what was hot at the time,never mind the wrestlers who had a lot going for them,powers of pain had something special,if vince could of saw that,these guys would of held them tag belts once or twice,but not a lot of tag teams was beating demolition at the time.
Powers Of Pain was a very good tag team exspeaclly Barbarian when he did that flying headbutt off the top rope they was also very powerful but warlord was the weakest on that team exspeaclly Royal Rumbles. As a tag team they kicked ass also awesome gimmicks aswell weather they are on there own or as a team.
I didn't think so. If he would've been, they would've recognized it. He was a familiar face in the 90's. I just didn't want to correct anyone because I wasn't 100% sure
survior series 88 an summerslam 88 it was used.. rare to find, they didnt have music when they turned heel. why i dont know. wm5 and survivor series 89 it wasnt played for them.
agreed. that was most likely the other reason they could not get over. Bad interviews and not a great manager who was articulate enough to make up for that fact.
This had to be ditched after they went heel at Survivor Series '88 when the Powers went heel only for the fans to forget themselves and POP all over a diving headbutt, pin and this perky little tune.
Vince didn't trust them... I see both sides to it... Powers of Pain didn't wanna do a Scaffold match with Road Warriors... Boring match up for two power teams... Scaffold matches are great for Acrobatic wrestling such as Rockers, Midnight express and the Funks since they don't care about high risk stunts...
I preferred the Legion of Doom over the Warlord and The Barbarian. For such aggressive characters, I imagined they would have a more aggressive theme to fit their characters.
@danzig73079 Also you'd essentially have three teams with similar gimmicks. You could have the LOD go after the POP first, but that would take away from their future feud with Demolition. If you leave POP out of it, then they just become another team with nothing to do and they were pretty much washed up as a team in WWF at that point anyway.
if not demolition, then have the powers of pain overpower the bulldogs or hart foundation, or if they were kept together by late 1990, have em take the belts from the rockers, and then have the rockers regain
At the time in 88 when they did a switcheroo with Demolition, them going face and these lads going heel with fuji swapping over - that was a brilliant angle. Today it would get crapped on and people would say it was done because POP weren't over or whatever. But it was just a great angle well executed at its time.
Two badass dudes wish they had tag title reign even if it was short these dudes were all business
i agree with you,a good tag team that should of had a title reign.
What was strange about The Powers of Pain, in 1988, was when they came to the World Wrestling Federation, as babyfaces, they were getting a monster push. Then they turn heel, after winning the tag team elimination match, sole survivors, at the 1988 Survivor Series. Once they became heels, Demolition became babyfaces, it seemed that was it for the Powers of Pain. Their push ended, and a few years later they were no longer a tag team. Why? Strange.
spencer palmer Demolition’s unplanned popularity with the fans upstaged them and ruined their WWF career. They came during the time Demolition was at the height of their career. So, unfortunately they couldn’t have them both as faces because they still needed Demolition to have some opposition
classic theme i love it to this day and its been 20 years now.
This was actually used again in 1996 as The Rock's (Rocky Maivia) theme song
I concur. Bro i never knew that they were babyfaces at first until I recently saw their first pay-per-view appearence at Summerslam 88. Man they were awesome together and were so over with the crowd. They had so much potential man. Kick ass theme music, great tag team combo moves and a pretty sweet finishing move. Too badd they both were never properly used as solo contenders and jobbed their way out of the WWF.
They had no theme music after their heel turn in WWF.
And unfortunately one that heel turn came, that theme was never heard ever again in WWE. WTH?
***** Yeah that sucked didn't it? They should've had a heel theme
***** maybe the powers of pain shouldve been the ones with the demolition demo daze theme they later used in late 1990 early 91
@@brotherc.w.encino8716 wwf
Jim Johnstone said the theme was too upbeat and fitted more for a face than a heal.
love the theme always a fav
Powers of Pain should have gotten the tag team titles as Heels at some point.
Always liked these guys.
I remember the Road Warriors wanted the Powers of Pain split up before they got to the WWF because they thought that the fans who only watched the WWF would have thought they were copying the Powers of Pain.
Such a badass workout song!!!
The Powers of Pain were the best tag team in wrestling history. 625 pounds! .. WAY bigger than the Road Warriors or Demolition, and they were just as wild. ... Barbarian was a BIGGER Hawk, and Warlord was a BIGGER Animal. ... McMahon messed up SO BADLY when he made them turn into bad guys.
Apart from the fact they half the talent of LOD and Demolition , they had less charisma too. The warlord especially was pretty awfull
John Long
???
Warlord and Barbarian could certainly move around the ring better than Hawk or Animal. Barbarian was the better worker of the two.
Close to it as far as weight! Warlord was 321lbs and Barbarian was 300lbs.
powers of pain were a very good tag team one of the best tag teams never to win the wwf tag belt when they became singles wrestlers they were never the same
You pretty much knew he'd end up jobbing to the bigger names, but he was one hell of a performer.
Interesting. Sort of a precursor to the 1-2-3 Kid's theme.
They left WCW/MidAtlatnic Wrestling / Crockett for WWF rather than face the Road Warriors in those stupid Scaffold Matches they used to hold. I wouldn't want to be told I had to participate in that match either. They got a nice bit of money for that too since McMahonn knew how hard a worker Barbarian's cousin Meng/Haku was and he loved their look. One of the smartest moves ever.
This team had sooo much potential! But they just couldn't help getting upstaged by Demolition...I think what gave Demolition the edge, is their theme song and mic skills!
+kelamo The Powers of Pain first had to turn heel cause they couldn't talk or cut a good promo hence pairing him with Fuji. That also killed their chances of being a good face team, they were only faces cause they feuded with Demolition who fans hated for a long time but they were able to cut a face promo as well. Powers of Pain couldn't cut a promo much less a face promo.
I feel like this music underrepresented their badassery
I remember the WWF separated them because The Legion of Doom was coming and they (The Legion of Doom) didn’t want the fans who only knew the WWF to think they copied from The Powers of Pain.
they used this theme at Survivor Series 1988
The fact that as famous a team as LOD probably rightly worried about being viewed as a POP knockoff illustrated that even though NWA/WCW had survived as the other national promotion, showed how much WWF fans were simply fans of WWF Product rather than wrestling. Same went for how fans never got the idea of Flair as on Hogan's level a year later. Ironic though considering the POP were essentially an LOD ripoff that got their start feuding with them in the NWA.
One cool tag team.😊👍
I remember the WWF split them up because the Road Warriors were coming and they didn't want some fans thinking that the Road Warriors were copying the Powers of Pain.
Powers of Pain vs. The Legion of Doom. Who'd like to see that?
I would, my money would be on the powers of pain
Totally remixed into the 1-2-3 Kid's theme.
Multiple themes, Road Warriors, Hacksaw Jim Duggans, just to name a couple
I was watching the Survivor Series 1988 DVD today, and was wondering why they were turned heel. I know that Demolition was getting face pops, but the crowd at Survivor Series seemed pretty behind the Powers of Pain. I think they even cheered them after they lifted Fuji on their shoulders.
happened in NWA back in late 80's, fued'ed even. its on youtube
That photo of the Warlord and the Barbarian was definitely from summer/fall 1988 because when they were faces, Barbarian had yellow paint on. The paint was black and red when they were heels.
Why do I feel like this would be a graduation theme song for a school
Ah, so that was the reason Powers of Pain were split up. I didn't know that was an actual demand of the Road Warriors in order to come to the WWF.
Man classic wrestling was the best. I mean lots of crazy characters and costumes. Remember when wrestlers wore gimmicky costumes and had nicknames? Was there a dude with a trash can and he took it out like the garbage man?
Demolition were already getting some cheers on a regular basis from the fans (go back and watch Summerslam from that year), and whilst it's commonplace today for heels to get small sections of the crowd cheering for them, twenty years ago that almost never happened. Plus the Demo's were far more over as faces than PoP were.
When they split barbarian had such a good run in wrestling in wwe and wcw
early 90, legion of doom were coming in to wwf so they split them up. mr fuji sold warlords contract to slick, and he sold barbarians to heenan. (is there footage)
warlord began wearing short tights, a phantom of the opera mask, was totally bald and left in 1992, was then managed by wippleman.
barbarian grew full head of hair and start wearing fur clothes and antlers. he left early 92, returned in 94 as sionne and was part of headshrinkers. left wwf in 95. still wrestle together sometimes
Well, i'd agree for Warlord. Barbarian is one of the most respected big men in history, a shame he didn't get titles to match. You need something besides a big kick. I mean, heck, Shameous adopted the kick LAST after the Razor's Edge Splash Mountain, which is kind of f unny.
@meragan12487 Yes, when Mr. Fuji became their manager, The Powers became heels and they dropped the music.
Warlord is still doing independent dates, but had a tryout with the WWE just before Benoit killed his family and they camped down on "superhuman" physiques. WWE were pretty big on rehiring him. He looks EXACTLY the same since his prime.
Vince buried him in an interview recently saying CM Punk doesnt have the Warlord's body, but the Warlord only put 3 people in a building.
back when tag team wrestling was alive in wwe fedeartion years. 1988-1996 had demoltion rockers, demoltion, lod, headshrinkers, body donnas, stenier bros, money inc, natural diasters. the natural diasters would destroy health and justin.
POWER OF PAIN RULES
Powers of Pain had to drop the tag belts to the Road Warriors in a scaffold match and refused to do that match and left the NWA... Road Warriors Didn't like them whatsoever and Vince new Road Warriors would make him money... plus Demolition was still around and was way over at the time...
So Road Warriors/ Legion of Doom vs Demolition was a natural setup
Kinda sounds like s mix of the Beverly Brothers and the 123 Kid's themes. Very Cool. I miss the old days when wrestling didn't such like it does now
I miss the great tag teams like (demolition & powers fo pain).
Speaking of Orton, I've met his dad before as well. Some wrestlers I've met in person and others on MySpace IM. Yep, they are real as I got their links from the Wrestlers myspace section on OWW.
Classic I miss the golden age of tag teams
The WWF brought these guys in, but in some senses I think the WWF failed to realize how over Demolition was getting and that Ax and Smash were not going to be able to stay as heels for that long. The Powers of Pain provided some size in the tag team division to compete with Demolition something that arguably had been missing with the top contenders in 1986-1987 being the Harts, Bulldogs, Bees and I daresay the Stallions. The Bolsheviks might have been big, but to suggest them as a contender :)
What are you talking about? This was a hell of a theme. I don't know why they couldn't have a done a slower sinister version after the 1988 double turn at Survivor Series.
imagine if the powers of pain,the road warriors and demolition were on that movie "THE ROAD WARRIOR" mel gibson.the drifters wouldn't stand a chance.
But doesn't it make sense that there were discussions going on between the Road Warriors and the WWF months before they actually came to the WWF ... and as part of their negotiations for actually signing? There wasn't a lot of time between March of 1990 when they were split up and June/July when the Road Warriors arrived. It seems like a definitely possibility to me.
The Barbarian and Warlors were a tag team before they went to WWF
they came into wwf in mid 88 after feuding with the road warriors in the NWA and they were set to face them in scaffold matches and would rather jump to wwf than take the fall off the scaffold
@Fanik10 Well they did start out as face. I wonder if this was their theme before Mr. Fuji joined them.
Ragan31687 it was. They used it at the 1988 Survivor Series when they turned heel and joined forces with Fuji.
I wish the Powers of Pain kept their entrance theme.
if they was giving the proper chance they could have been one of the greatest tag teams of all time.
Too much of a carbon copy of The Road Warriors. That's what hindered their growth to stardom.
Jamie Mitchell- no. Not they couldn't have been.
@@horizontoday7874 nope, it was the fact they were dreadful workers.
No, it's not. They split up in very early 1990 for the sole reason that their push was given up on and they were jobbing to teams like the Bushwhackers and they thought they would be better off in singles competition. The Road Warriors didn't come to the WWF until mid 1990.
One went to Bobby Heenan, another to Slick from what I remember. I don't remember who went to which manager.
I agree, this theme wouldn't work for heels
FKN UNDERATED. BIG TIME.
I think on paper it's a great idea and both teams are evenly matched... however two power tag teams that no sell offense really needs to be a squash match with whomever is getting put over...
The Feud they had in NWA was short and sweet... I really liked the build up to the Feud with Powers of Pain attacking them during the bench press contest!!!
"Coming down the isle...."
@badass87irocz28 Yep Legion of Doom were negotiating with the WWF in June 1990, they reportedly demanded that the Powers of Pain be split up and repackaged in different gimmicks because LOD thought people would think they were Powers of Pain-ripoffs when they entered the WWF due to their similar appearances so Powers of Pain were broken up and became singles wrestlers
this is an earlier version of the 1,2,3 kids theme
jesus your right it is the very similiar if not the same theme
Actually, I think the team of Mr Fuji & Professor Tanaka and then the Wild Samoans each held the belts 3 times before Demolition did.
Then like RaginClimax said, the Smoking Gunns held it it 3 times. Since then the New Age Outlaws, the Dudleys, the Hardy Boyz and Edge/Christian held them about 287 times amongst them. Of course, my count may be a bit off...
I'm sure there have been others that currently escape my.
These guys had awesome music.
good wrestling theme,powers of pain was an underrated tag team,that should of had the tag belts once,worst thing that happened to these 2 was they ended up as single wrestlers,vince was a fucking idiot for doing that,these guys should of been around longer,vince like with many wrestlers could not see the big picture.he just wanted what was hot at the time,never mind the wrestlers who had a lot going for them,powers of pain had something special,if vince could of saw that,these guys would of held them tag belts once or twice,but not a lot of tag teams was beating demolition at the time.
RIP Barbarian
I wish themes today could be as good this still. PG era in WWE is not watchable by a long shot
Knowone had a big boot like the barbarian ruthless
i only met him through myspace im...he also told me randy doesn't have a myspace either.
Reckon this theme tune would stand out great in todays wrestling environment
Dr Robotnik Mean Bean
When the keyboards chime in around :26 it sounds like Jake the Snake's theme.
Powers Of Pain was a very good tag team exspeaclly Barbarian when he did that flying headbutt off the top rope they was also very powerful but warlord was the weakest on that team exspeaclly Royal Rumbles. As a tag team they kicked ass also awesome gimmicks aswell weather they are on there own or as a team.
to be honest. the barbarian didn't really need the warlord by his side at time.
I think it was dubious that the WWE never made the Powers of Pain the tag team champions
wwf
I didn't think so. If he would've been, they would've recognized it. He was a familiar face in the 90's. I just didn't want to correct anyone because I wasn't 100% sure
survior series 88 an summerslam 88 it was used.. rare to find, they didnt have music when they turned heel. why i dont know. wm5 and survivor series 89 it wasnt played for them.
@Jeebus
Yeah, this sounds like a good face theme.
the powers of pain,imo, had a very strange career in the wwf
agreed. that was most likely the other reason they could not get over. Bad interviews and not a great manager who was articulate enough to make up for that fact.
when they were faces they used this when the went heel no more theme
they didnt use music when they turned...this is when they were faces.
This had to be ditched after they went heel at Survivor Series '88 when the Powers went heel only for the fans to forget themselves and POP all over a diving headbutt, pin and this perky little tune.
Vince didn't trust them... I see both sides to it... Powers of Pain didn't wanna do a Scaffold match with Road Warriors... Boring match up for two power teams... Scaffold matches are great for Acrobatic wrestling such as Rockers, Midnight express and the Funks since they don't care about high risk stunts...
The Warlord vs Batista at Wrestlemania 30
Warlord could use him as a tampon
I preferred the Legion of Doom over the Warlord and The Barbarian. For such aggressive characters, I imagined they would have a more aggressive theme to fit their characters.
Nothing about this song makes me think pain. They deserved a killer theme.
MAN I'M PUMPED!!!!!
sounds like something the genius would come to the ring to
wow did this theme not work for these 2 monsters
You tell em Roderick!!!!
That was a cool theme.
@danzig73079 Also you'd essentially have three teams with similar gimmicks. You could have the LOD go after the POP first, but that would take away from their future feud with Demolition. If you leave POP out of it, then they just become another team with nothing to do and they were pretty much washed up as a team in WWF at that point anyway.
Yes it was. When they turned heel, they lost the theme, as it didn't really fit them.
yeah the warlord said in an interview once that vince didnt want them to have music after they turned heel
if not demolition, then have the powers of pain overpower the bulldogs or hart foundation, or if they were kept together by late 1990, have em take the belts from the rockers, and then have the rockers regain
They remind me of the road warriors
@ranban666 LOD was the reason they were forced into singles action LOD said they'd walk if they weren't
@Fanik10 If you can be a heel when you have face music, then you're doing very awesome.
I hear a little Jake The Snake theme at the :20 mark and the :50... I think they were all the same song just composed differently
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