Demolition Talk About the Road Warriors,Being Repoman....More

[OMEN]

There’s an all new edition of JG's Radio Free Insanity on the air and available for download at www.WorldWrestlingInsanity.com. This week, host James Guttman is joined by both Barry "Smash" Darsow and Bill "Ax" Eadie from Demolition.

James opens the show by giving a bit of background on Demolition, saying that they were one of the most dominant teams in WWF history. JG says that following Bill Eadie’s lawsuit against the company, WWE started to downplay Demolition’s place in history. However, Guttman says that they’ve persevered and people still ask about them. Guttman then talks about how today’s episode is historic. He says that it’s been years since the two of them have appeared on the same show and he’s thrilled to have them on. First up is Barry "Smash" Darsow. JG also says that there’s a new audio setup on the show so the interviews will be much clearer to listen to.

JG then mentions all the trivia bits surrounding Demolition. He says they were originally managed by Johnny V and had one of the most popular theme songs from the Piledriver album. He also mentions the other gimmicks used by both men including Darsow as the Repo-Man and Eadie as the Masked Superstar.

James then welcomes Barry "Smash" Darsow to the show.

Darsow tells Guttman that he’s between gimmicks and he doesn’t know whether to talk as Smash, the Krusher Kruschev, or Barry Darsow. He asks James what he should do. JG laughs and says he doesn’t care either way as long as Barry doesn’t repo his car.

James tells Barry that he’s one of the real favorites at World Wrestling Insanity because of how memorable all his gimmicks were. Guttman asks which name he’s called the most when people walk up to him. Barry says they usually call him "Smash," but if he goes down South, where his wife’s from, they tend to remember Krusher Kruschev.

Guttman then brings up the fact that Darsow was actually the second Demolition Smash, replacing Randy Culley after only a few shows. He asks Barry how that came about. Darsow said he was down in Jim Crockett Promotions and had a falling out over money. He had quit wrestling, but eventually called the Hebners, who went to Vince McMahon and put in a good word. Vince then talked to Bill Eadie and they gave Barry a call. Darsow says when he went to meet with them; they didn’t go into what the position was. McMahon told B.D. that once he signed the contract, they’d tell him what they had in mind for his gimmick. He told Vince, "Whatever you need." Darsow signed the contract and became Smash. He says he felt bad for Randy, but it was the way it was. Because Randy Culley’s spot in the Moondogs was so successful, people recognized him when he played Smash.

James then asks about the Road Warriors comparison. He says that between the L.O.D. and the Powers of Pain, there were a number of teams working with similar gimmicks. JG wonders if that caused any problems. Darsow says it didn’t because Bill was such a professional. Barry listened to what Bill said and they worked hard. They didn’t think of the Road Warriors at all, they thought "we’re gonna make Demolition and the people just took to us right away." Darsow says the hard part was being heels because the people liked them so much at first. They’d beat people up and the fans would cheer. It wasn’t until they feuded with the Hart Foundation and other teams that were over that people really started booing them.

Guttman about their double turn at Survivor Series 1988 and Smash goes into how turning babyface affected them. He says he told Bill, "The Road Warriors aren’t over like us." Darsow says that when you get over with the WWF fans, you know you’ve made it big.

JG says that the team was dominant and asks Darsow if Bill suing WWF has lead to the company downplaying their legacy. Barry and James discuss the situation and how it affected Demolition.

They then talk about the L.O.D.- Demolition feud and how it didn’t work. Barry says that the Road Warriors didn’t get over as well as they had hoped and it was hard to push them as the babyfaces. Barry says that they came from Ted Turner at the time and many WWF fans didn’t watch Turner’s shows. JG says, "They almost resented it in a way." Barry replies "Exactly!" Guttman talks about the two weeks where Demolition was wearing masks. Barry says that was done for the Road Warriors and didn’t work out. He says it made no sense to have them changing their gimmick to get the Warriors over. James says that he remembers all the six-man tags around the country between Crush, Ax, and Smash against the LOD and Ultimate Warrior with them jobbing each time. Smash calls it the end of their reign. He says he was a company man so he did what they said to do. Bill was looking out more for the team and said, "This ain’t right." So they got "more heat and more heat." Darsow said there were so many scenarios they could have done, but they didn’t. He wasn’t in the office to hear the decisions.

Darsow then talks a bit about the failed feuds that they had. He says that people were constantly leaving their teams and the Demos would be stuck. He mentions the conflict with Billy Jack Haynes and Ken Patera that lead to Haynes being replaced by Hillbilly Jim. JG says that the feud was based on Demolition beating up Billy Jack’s cousin, Brady Boone, so it killed the thing. Barry agreed and mentioned the Can-Am Connection loss of Tom Zenk. He says that Tito Santana was a fine replacement, but he was still a replacement. If it had been Tito and Rick Martel from the start, it would have worked better. He says that even though Tito "was better than Zenk," he was still seen as a filler.

JG asks about the Repo Man gimmick. Barry says that he came to Vince and asked if he had ever seen the "masked weasley goofy guys" in the old Batman shows. He then told McMahon how he used to reposes cars for a living. He’d sneak in at night, steal the car, and drive it to the lot. Vince said, "Let’s do it!" They filmed the first vignette in Connecticut and it felt natural. Darsow says he told McMahon they should make Repo-Man a heel, but such a goofy heel that kids will like it. He mentions the Bushwhackers as another gimmick that seemed silly, but got over with the kids. JG says that the gimmick allowed Darsow to do things he couldn’t do as Smash, including appearing on Family Feud.

They continue on and at the end, Barry asks James to tell Bill Eadie he said "Hi" and would love to meet up for a beer and some laughs. JG says he will and Barry adds that Eadie is a good man.

The full interview with Darsow goes about 30 minutes including talk about the Rick Derringer Piledriver Song, the current state of tag team wrestling, working with the Rock-n-Roll Express, his WCW Uncensored incident against Dustin Rhodes, getting heat as Krusher Kruschev, almost getting stabbed, working with Nikolai Vollkoff, his WCW stints as Hole in One and Blacktop Bully, and much more.

Once part two begins, James talks about the sales of World Wrestling Insanity: The Book and how great things have been going. JG goes over what you can find in the book. He then says he’s gotten great feedback from non-fans and says the book is a great way to introduce your non-wrestling friends to you world.

After that, Guttman welcomes Bill "Ax" Eadie to the show.

James asks Bill if he was the brains behind Demolition. Eadie doesn’t take full credit for it and mentions that it was both he and Randy Culley who came up with. JG then references how Randy was the first Smash and asks how Eadie decided to bring in Darsow. Bill says that Randy only worked two shows as Smash. Everyone recognized him so Eadie thought it wouldn’t work. He says that Randy "graciously stepped aside and let me choose another character." Guttman wonders how he decided on Darsow. Bill says he interviewed about a dozen guys, but Barry was a new face and willing to listen.

JG asks about the downfall of tag team wrestling due to the end of in-ring psychology. Bill says that the fans know the tag team wrestling aspect gives more excitement and longevity. Men can have longer careers if they work tag teams. The promoters don’t seem to realize that today. Guttman asks if they can use it to get over singles stars in a team. Eadie says that he worked many singles matches, but enjoyed his character in a team. He tells James that there’s no emphasis on tag wrestling. Many fans at the conventions bring up how there are no more tag teams. He talks about how the Midnights and Rock and Roll Express still are popular with diehard fans today.

Guttman asks who Ax’s influences are. He names Boris Malenko because he was his first manager when he was Masked Superstar. He says that Boris didn’t interfere too much, like today’s valets. That makes sense if the guy in the ring can’t perform, but if he can then it’s a distraction. Malenko focused more on interviews. He also named Getto Mongol. Eadie calls them both "old school." Some guys thing they look good in a mirror and can be a wrestler, but that’s a cookie-cutter mentality. You used to have characters. Now you have weightlifters. "Just because you look good, doesn’t mean you can work good." Ax says he focused on what he can do well and not what he can’t do. He then talks about some advice Malenko had given him.

James brings up how Demolition had a unique relationship with Mr. Fuji. He says that they didn’t use Fuji as a mouthpiece. Also, JG says that they had given him both facepaint and the Master name. It seemed more like he was meant to be with them after they did that. Bill says he can’t take credit for that. He credits Vince McMahon for it, but isn’t sure whether it was a good idea of a "cruel joke on Fuji." It ended up being a positive though. Bill says that people like Demolition whether they were good, bad, or riding the fence. He says that the fans recognized that they could perform.

Eadie says they’ve been accused of copying the Road Warriors, but it wasn’t the case. They did their own thing. JG and Bill then discuss the feud with the LOD and how WWF seemed more into getting the Warriors over than Demolition.

Bill offers this quote regarding their matches with the LOD:

"In my opinion, we never had a good match with them."

The interview goes on with Bill and more subjects are discussed including a Masked Superstar book, the Mighty Igor, upcoming WWE action figures, whether he’d ever be involved with WWE again, the WWE Hall of Fame and much more.

PWI

[Matthinho]

Darsow was the Repo Man? I never would of guessed.....