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I will always remember marvelling at just how strong Barry Darsow was at his Summerslam 89(?) with Akeem/One Man Gang (It may of even been a tag match, but the old memory is hazy these days!). The way he was able to scoop up and slam a man of OMG's like he was a lightweight size was amazing and MUCH MORE impressive than Hogan doing the same with Andre.
The Summerslam match was a 6 man affair with Demoliton teaming with Hacksaw Duggan against the Twin Towers and Andre.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but how many people have spotted that the ending of that bout was actually a pastiche of the endings of a lot of Demolition's matches during their period as heels under Mr Fuji in 1987-88.
Back then, faced with such opposition as Strike Force, the British Bulldogs and the Hart Foundation, there would come a time in the bout when Smash would be in imminent danger of submission or a pinfall - from, say Rick Martel's Boston Crab, Dynamite Kid's abdominal stretch or Bret Hart's piledriver. Ax would try to intervene but be swiftly floored by Santana/Davey Boy/Neidhart/whoever. Mr Fuji would then try, getting the attention of both the tag partner and the referee, during which he would quietly drop his cane on the mat (or in the case of Summerslam '88, Jimmy Hart ran out and threw in his megaphone.) Ax would bash the opponent out cold with the foreign _object_, then drape the agonised and/or barely conscious Smash across the fallen opponent. The referee would turn round, see Smash covering one of the other team and make the count. The other opponent would be busy beating up Fuji when suddenly the bell went, the Demolition music started and the ring announcer pronounced the Demos to be the winners and new/still champions - and the opponent would look round in shock and amazement.
Come Summerslam '89, the Demos were beloved babyfaces, ex-champs (and twice future champs) and teaming with Hacksaw King Duggan against the WWF's three biggest baddies. And yet plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose! Ax took on Fuji's part and Hacksaw took on Ax's part but Smash still played his usual role. Otherwise the finish was a rerun of the heel days. One again Smash was in dire peril - splashed by 400+ pounder Akeem for a pin. Ax was busy with the Big Boss Man at ringside. Hacksaw tried to break up Akeem's pin attempt on Smash, bringing Andre into the ring and causing the ref to have to look away so as to order the Giant out.
While Boss Man was busy thumping Ax, the Axer pitched Duggan's 2x4 into the ring. With the referee's back turned, King Duggan bashed Akeem out cold with the foreign _object_, then draped the barely conscious Smash across the fallen opponent. The referee turned round, saw Smash covering one of the other team and made the count. Sounds familiar?
They even had the fine detail of Smash still in "agony" selling the opponent's big move even after it was ruled he'd scored a pin, as well as the Demos and their third man (Fuji/Duggan) unable to properly celebrate their big win as they were too busy smuggling the weapon back to its rightful owner.
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