World Wrestling Federation (1987–1991) Formation and early push (1987–1988) Randy Colley and
Bill Eadie created the Demolition
gimmick and worked for the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF). They debuted as a
heel tag team on January 4, 1987, at the
Springfield Civic Centre in
Massachusetts, alongside
manager Luscious Johnny V, defeating the team of
The Islanders and later participating in a
battle royal won by
Pete Doherty. Around that same period,
Johnny Valiant (who went on to manage the "new Dream Team" of
Greg Valentine and
Dino Bravo before leaving the WWF at the end of 1987) sold their contracts to
Mr. Fuji who became their manager. Demolition's undefeated streak ended when they suffered their first pinfall loss to
The Can-Am Connection (
Rick Martel and
Tom Zenk) on June 6, 1987 at the
Boston Garden, Demolition became known for their aggressive style in the ring and the way that they dominated their matches. Their first feud was with the team of
Ken Patera and
Billy Jack Haynes, which started after Ax and Smash brutalized WWF
jobber Brady Boone (billed in storyline as the cousin of Haynes), during a televised match and then battered first Haynes and then Patera when they each tried to come to the rescue. Demolition claimed victories over all of the established
face tag teams in the WWF at the time, including
The Killer Bees (
Jim Brunzell and
B. Brian Blair),
The Rougeau Brothers (
Jacques and
Raymond),
the British Bulldogs (
Dynamite Kid and
Davey Boy Smith), the
Young Stallions (
Paul Roma and
Jim Powers),
The Islanders (
Haku and
Tama), and The Can-Am Connection.
Tag team title reigns (1988–1990) At
WrestleMania IV, Ax and Smash defeated
Strike Force (Rick Martel and
Tito Santana) to win their
first WWF Tag Team Championship. Ax struck Martel in the back of the neck with Fuji's cane while he had Smash in a
Boston crab (Fuji had dropped the cane into the ring while taking a beating from Santana who carried on oblivious to what was happening in the ring). Martel was knocked out and Smash covered him for the pin while Ax hid outside with the cane. As champions, they defeated a number of the top teams of the WWF, which at the time had a very talent-rich and hotly contested tag division, most notably the British Bulldogs and
Hart Foundation (
Bret Hart and
Jim Neidhart). Their first big challenge came in the summer of 1988, when
The Powers of Pain (
The Warlord and
The Barbarian) entered the WWF and challenged them for the Tag Team Championship. The Powers, formerly heels in
Jim Crockett Promotions, had been brought in as mercenary babyfaces by Strike Force to avenge both the title loss and an injury (kayfabe) to Martel which Demolition had inflicted on June 1, 1988 during a title defence in
Oakland, California. During the
elimination tag team match at
Survivor Series, Mr. Fuji attacked Demolition and joined forces with the Powers of Pain. A
double turn took place as Demolition
turned face while the Powers of Pain turned heel. Interviewed after the contest, Fuji claimed that he had turned on Demolition because, since winning the championship, they had become insubordinate and disrespectful towards him, whereas the Powers would be utterly obedient and loyal apprentices. For their part, Demolition denounced their former manager as a parasite, labelling him "Fuj the Stooge." Ax and Smash also memorably squared off against each other as entrants #1 and #2 in the
Royal Rumble match at the
Summit in
Houston in
1989, tearing into each other for the full two minutes before being joined in the ring by the third entrant
André the Giant, where they once again joined as Demolition and targeted the big man. Demolition defeated the Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji in a tag team handicap match at
WrestleMania V to retain the WWF World Tag Team Championship when they caught Fuji in the "Demolition Decapitation". That day, Demolition became the longest reigning WWF World Tag Team Champions after breaking the previous
370 day record of
The Valiant Brothers (
Jimmy and
Johnny). Subsequently, on May 2 Demolition's reign exceeded the
399-day third reign of
The Fabulous Kangaroos with the
WWWF United States Tag Team Championship, thus becoming the longest running holders of
any tag team championship in WWF/WWWF history. They would eventually last a reign of
478 days, and while the general record for any male tag team championship has since been broken (by The New Day in 2016, by
Mark Coffey and
Wolfgang in 2020 and by
The Usos in 2022), this still stands as the specific record for the "classic" World tag team title of 1971–2010. After WrestleMania V, Demolition started a feud with
The Twin Towers (
Akeem and
The Big Boss Man) and then a feud with
The Brain Busters (
Arn Anderson and
Tully Blanchard), who were managed by
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. On the May 27, 1989 ''
Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, the Brain Busters defeated Demolition by disqualification. They finally dropped the titles to the Brain Busters in a two out of three falls match on the July 29 Saturday Night's Main Event XXII (filmed July 18, 1989 in Worcester, Massachusetts at the Worcester Centrum) following outside interference from André the Giant who threw a chair into the ring for Anderson to use on Smash. As well as looking to regain the belts, Demolition sought revenge on André and closure on The Twin Towers. At SummerSlam 1989, King Duggan and Demolition defeated André and the Towers in a six-man tag team match (already advertised prior to the title change) where Darsow showcased his strength by body slamming both of the Twin Towers. Demolition focused on regaining the tag titles and restarted their feud with the Brain Busters. On the November 4 edition of Superstars'' (taped on October 2), Demolition defeated the Brain Busters to regain their tag titles and win their second WWF Tag Team Championship. Demolition next feuded with the new Heenan Family team,
The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku). On the December 30 edition of
Superstars (taped on December 13), Demolition lost the tag titles to the Colossal Connection. Due to his deteriorating physical condition, André never tagged in during the match with Haku facing Demolition on his own.
Addition of Crush (1990–1991) Shortly after WrestleMania VI, the team quietly turned heel. This intensified when
Brian Adams debuted in WWF and joined the team as
Crush. In
kayfabe it was claimed that this was a heinous scheme to gain a three-on-two advantage over other tag teams. (In reality, it was
actually because Eadie had developed an allergy to
shellfish which he attributed to his frequent trips to Japan, which hospitalized him, and WWF owner and head
booker Vince McMahon wanted to add a third member to the team just in case the illness put Eadie out of action for an extended period of time.) Crush soon took a more active role, teaming with Smash while Ax faded into the background, becoming more of a
manager. At this time Demolition used the "
Freebird rule" to allow any two members to wrestle the matches. Smash and Crush defended the titles in the summer of 1990. On the July 28
edition of ''Saturday Night's Main Event'', Smash and Crush defeated
The Rockers (
Shawn Michaels and
Marty Jannetty) to retain the titles after Ax interfered on their behalf and scored the pin on Michaels. The next month at
SummerSlam, however, Demolition lost the titles to the Hart Foundation in a two out of three falls match. In that match, Smash & Crush started, but Ax secretly came down later on to substitute himself into the match behind the referee's back. Ultimately, the
Legion of Doom (
Hawk and
Animal), who had signed with the WWF a month earlier, interfered and snuffed out the deception. Demolition never recaptured the titles after this loss. As a result of the interference by LOD, Demolition began feuding with Hawk and Animal who would often be joined in six man matches by reigning
WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior. WWF commentators at the time would often claim that the team wearing the face paint would win whichever particular match they were broadcasting (Demolition, LOD and the Warrior all wore face paint). On the October 13
edition of ''Saturday Night's Main Event'', Ax, Smash, and Crush lost to the Ultimate Warrior and LOD. Soon after, due to the Legion of Doom (L.O.D.) now being on the WWF roster, Demolition's popularity began to decline and they regained the managerial services of Mr. Fuji in the fall of 1990. At
Survivor Series, The Perfect Team (Demolition and
Mr. Perfect) was defeated by The Ultimate Warriors (the Ultimate Warrior, the
"Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich, and the Legion of Doom). Shortly after, Ax left the WWF, with the on-air explanation being an order from kayfabe WWF President
Jack Tunney that there could only be two members of Demolition. Smash and Crush were the two remaining members, and went on to primarily lose to teams such as the Rockers and the Legion of Doom. The team lost a match to
Genichiro Tenryu and
Koji Kitao at
WrestleMania VII. The team's next match was at WWF/
SWS Wrestlefest on March 30, 1991 where they defeated Shunji Takano & Shinichi Nakano. Following this match, Demolition would continue to wrestle in the SWS throughout the summer usually on the losing end of matches. Crush went on a leave of absence from the WWF (his SWS commitments aside), while Smash wrestled in singles matches (usually on the losing end) for a brief time before also leaving the WWF. As well as SWS, they also teamed in the
WWC after leaving the WWF. The team's final WWF-related match occurred on an SWS show in Japan on September 18, 1991 in a losing effort to
George Takano and Shunji Takano. Afterwards, they eventually broke up and the member Crush would return to
PNW (where he had previously wrestled as Brian Adams), still in his Demolition attire and paint, but as a
face, where he would eventually win the
PNW Heavyweight Championship Crush would later turn heel on
Randy Savage and rehire Mr. Fuji as his manager in 1993, once again painting his face, only in a different pattern from his Demolition days.
Post-WWF Original "Smash" gimmick owner Randy Colley moved to the
Continental Championship Wrestling territory in late 1987 and revived his version of the Demolition character with only minor modifications as
Detroit Demolition. He was managed by
Downtown Bruno and stayed in the territory until the end of 1988. In May 1988 he teamed with D.I. Bob Carter to win the
CWF Tag Team Championship. Detroit Demolition feuded with
Lord Humungous after Humungous turned babyface on Bruno's stable, helping (kayfabe) childhood friend
Shane Douglas defeat Detroit Demolition . In retaliation, Detroit Demolition squirted ink in Humungous' eyes, causing Douglas to come to his old friend's aid, cementing their alliance. Humungous and Douglas would defeat Detroit and Carter for the tag team title in June 1988. As Darsow and Adams would do later on, Colley as Detroit Demolition also made occasional visits to the WWC in Puerto Rico. By early 1989 he had reverted to Moondog Rex and signed with WCW. After leaving the WWF, Eadie began using the
name Axis the Demolisher on the
independent circuit and took in Colley as well as Richard "Le Magnifique" Charland under the name of
Demolition Blast in an attempt to resurrect the Demolition name and gimmick. They were sent a cease and desist letter by the WWF once they found out. They wrestled for Universal Superstars of America where they held tag team title once. Also
Demolition Hux portrayed by
Garry Robbins. In between his time as Repo Man in the WWF and his 1994–1995 stint as Blacktop Bully in WCW, Darsow wrestled as Smash in
Australia for local promotion AWF in mid 1993, losing to Hawk on 14 June in Melbourne. In the mid-1990s, Bill Eadie filed a lawsuit against the WWF for the rights of the "Demolition" name and gimmick but lost. Ax, Smash and Crush signed a deal with
Jakks Pacific to make Demolition Classic Superstars action figures. Ax and Smash were together in a 2-pack for Toys R Us, each had a singles figure from series #14, and were packaged and repainted with Crush in a 3-pack for Walmart. On April 1, 2007, Darsow and Eadie reunited for the first time in 16 years at a "Meet the Legends" event in
Windsor, Ontario,
Canada. On September 29, 2007, Darsow and Eadie reunited as the tag team Demolition for the first time in 16 years in
Orlando, Florida at a United States Xtreme Wrestling event. They once again became tag team champions, defeating the
Christopher Street Connection (Buff-E and Mace) to win the UXW Tag Team Championship. On Friday, February 22, 2008, both Ax and Smash were re-united and inducted into the XWF Hall of Fame by Jack Blaze who also inducted both New Jack & Shark Boy in the same night. Later that year, XWF became LPW (Legends Pro Wrestling) where Demolition are still honored as LPW Hall of Fame Inductees- Class 2008. Demolition teamed with
One Man Gang in the 28-team
King of Trios tournament held by
Chikara during the weekend of February 29 and March 1 and 2, 2008 in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. While losing the three-man tournament they did win the Tag Team gauntlet. On November 13, 2010, Demolition appeared at WrestleRage VIII in Villa Park, Illinois with POWW Entertainment. They beat the team of Picture Perfect for the POWW Tag Team titles, but quickly lost them after the first match to the team of Trevor Blanchard and Black Iron. Their match against
Tony DeVito and Ralph Mosco went to a no contest when local commentator and manager Larry Dallas came out and said his men wanted revenge. The ring was stormed by
Manu,
Sami Callihan, Blain Rage and Joey Attel. Demolition, Devito and Mosco managed to clear the ring and beat Dallas to end the show. On September 16, 2012, Demolition returned to Chikara, taking part in the tag team gauntlet match at the
2012 King of Trios tournament, from which they were eliminated by their old WWF rivals, The Powers of Pain. In 2013, Demolition were set to perform for the eastern Canadian independent promotion XWA. The former champions were scheduled to make appearances in Saint John (June 6), Fredericton (June 7), Miramichi (June 8), and Bathurst (June 9). In November 2013, their Demolition Decapitation finishing move was rated the 7th greatest Tag Team Finisher of all time. In July 2016, Eadie and Darsow were named part of a
class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit is litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE. The lawsuit was dismissed by US District Judge
Vanessa Lynne Bryant in September 2018. On May 6, 2017, Demolition wrestled their last match as a tag team. Both Eadie and Darsow retired from wrestling later that year. Colley died December 14, 2019. On March 2, 2026,
The Undertaker announced that Ax and Smash would be inductees of the
WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2026. ==Members==