“The Marty Jannetty”, a look into the world of infamous tag teams that featured two wrestlers who ventured off solo, with one being more famous in stature – a la Shawn Michaels – and one tails off into distant memory – The Marty Jannetty. We finish off with a look at some other Martys in the industry, plus the one man who may have Jannetty beat at his own game, (you can catch up with the first chapter by clicking here).
THE DYNAMIC DUDES: Johnny Ace & Shane Douglas
Near the end of Jim Crockett‘s days with NWA and the transition to WCW, the company decided to capitalize on the sweeping skateboarding fan of the late 80’s. They paired young wrestler Shane Douglas with up-and-comer Johnny Ace (real life brother of The Road Warrior‘s Animal) as the absurd Dynamic Dudes. Originally intended to be faces, their apparent inability to actually skateboard turned the very demographic they were supposed to cater to against them and they were soon heels managed by Jim Cornette. Douglas was still green and Ace was proving to be the better technician of the family (he invented the Ace Crusher, which would be the blueprint for the Stone Cold Stunner, Diamond Cutter and RKO). When the NWA severed ties with All-Japan Pro Wrestling in 1990, Ace decided to jump ship to AJPW, where he became a pretty big star for the company, winning Tag Team gold with “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and AJPW icon Kenta Kobashi. But outside Japan, Ace was still considered the failed joke from the Dynamic Dudes. But Douglas continued to impress in North America with a solid tag team run in WCW alongside Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (with a great feud versus The Hollywood Blondes – “Stunning” Steve Austin and Brian Pillman). Shortly after losing the WCW World Tag titles in 1993, Douglas left WCW for Eastern Championship Wrestling, a smaller NWA affiliate in Philadelphia, and the rest, they say is history. On August 27, 1994, Douglas won the NWA World Heavyweight title and immediately cut the infamous “Dead Promotion” promo, throwing the title – which was still considered to carry prestige – down and declaring himself the first ECW World Heavyweight Champion. ECW withdrew from the NWA, renamed itself Extreme Championship Wrestling, and Douglas became it’s not only its figurehead but it’s “Franchise”. A four time ECW World champion, two-time ECW TV champion (plus a reign as WWF Intercontinental champion during his weakest gimmick change as Dean Douglas), Douglas became a major part of the history of the business during the 90’s. Meanwhile, Ace is probably best remembered now as “People Power” himself, John Laurinaitis (or The Bella Twins new stepfather).
MNM: Johnny Nitro & Joey Mercury
When indie standout Joey Matthews – who’d previously made his mark in such promotions as Ring of Honor and the end of the original ECW – joined WWE developmental in 2004, many indie fans were excited to see the phenomenal aerialist getting his opportunity on the “Grandest Stage of Them All”. The mood quickly soured when he was renamed Joey Mercury and paired with 2002 Tough Enough winner John Hennigan, who was repackaged as Johnny Nitro in MNM. After all, Mercury was the indie darling; Nitro was just a reality star creation. But Nitro held his own and, along with the exotic Melina at their side, MNM captured WWE World Tag Team gold three times. Mercury soon became a slave to his demons and was released in 2007. At first, Nitro seemed to get lost in the shuffle, paired in a disaster with former Spirit Squad member Kenny Dykstra. But when he was drafted to WWE’s ECW relaunch – and renamed John Morrison – his stock went through the roof. An ECW Champion, he then formed another gold winning tag team with The Miz, plus a three time Intercontinental champion. He left WWE in 2011 and immediately hit the indie circuit, becoming a cornerstone in upstart Lucha Underground in 2014. Mercury returned to WWE after cleaning himself up with a forgettable stint in CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society and is now best remembered for his voiceless role as part of Seth Rollins‘ J & J Security alongside Jamie Noble.
THE MASTER BLASTERS: Master Blaster Steel & Master Blaster Blade
It’s no secret that many consider WWF’s Demolition a direct influence (or copy) of NWA’s iconic Road Warriors faction. The Road Warriors were apocalyptic ass-kickers inspired by the 1981 Mad Max sequel, The Road Warrior. But in 1990, the Road Warriors were now the Legion of Doom in the WWF, so WCW decided to go back to the well, debuting the mohawked mismatched The Master Blasters, inspired once again by a Mad Max sequel, this time, 1985’s Mad Max Beyond The Thunderdome. While the shorter Blade (veteran grappler Al Green), the larger muscle Steel was an imposing rookie named Kevin Nash. The tag team floundered horribly and soon Nash became simply known as Master Blaster. The failure continued with his repackaging as the Great Wizard Oz, and it wasn’t until he was handpicked by Diamond Dallas Page for The Diamond Mine in 1992 – where he would meet future Outsider Scott Hall (then known as The Diamond Studd) – that Nash’s own brand of sarcastic wit would emerge and the foundation for “Big Sexy” would be glimpsed. A jump to the WWF unleashed “Big Daddy Kool” Diesel onto the wrestling landscape, first as the heel bodyguard for a recently solo Shawn Michaels, and then as the WWF World Champion. In 1996, he returned to WCW and launched the nWo alongside Hall and Hulk Hogan, launching a deafening shot in the Monday Night Wars. Following his exit from The Master Blasters, Green was paired with The Terminator (the other brother of Johnny Ace and Animal) in a failed tandem, The Wrecking Crew, and attempted another return at the end of WCW. Now called The Dog, he was paired with Nasty Boy Brian Knobbs in a hardcore faction managed by Fit Finlay. But it was only months later that WWE purchased WCW and Al Green was let go without ever really leaving much of a mark on the industry, while Nash went on to become one of the 90’s biggest players.
AMERICA’S MOST WANTED: “Wildcat” Chris Harris & “Cowboy” James Storm
Before there was The Young Bucks, or the American Wolves, or the Motor City Machine Guns, there was America’s Most Wanted. They were the tag team that every indie fan loved and argued were the best tag team in the world, miles above anything the WWE had to offer. Ad hoc thrown together by TNA shortly before their debut in 2002, they would become six-time TNA-NWA World Tag Team champions. While “Cowboy” James Storm was clearly a talented brawler, it was the more handsome and athletic “Wildcat” Chris Harris that most speculated would become a singles star, either in TNA or in WWE. By 2008, Harris had left TNA, while Storm went on to another of TNA’s most successful tag teams, 5-times champ in Beer Money with Bobby Roode, plus a brief run as the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. He set Twitter ablaze when he showed up for a brief stint in NXT, but returned to TNA where he still competes as one of the last of the TNA Originals. Harris went to WWE in 2008 and debuted on their ECW brand under the name Braden Walker, horribly out of ring shape and seemingly lacking the desire that had made him one of TNA’s shining spots in their early days. Harris never recovered from the Walker debacle and is simply a footnote in James Storm’s bio.
AIR RAID: Air Paris & Air Styles
In one of WCW’s last minute efforts to turn ratings around in the dying days of 2001, they created a new Cruiserweight Tag Team title, bringing in indie sensations Air Paris and his tag team partner AJ Styles (whom they renamed Air Styles). While both were talented aerialists, Paris outshined Styles in the promo department. He was the flash compared to a very vanilla Styles. Soon after, WWE purchased the company and apart from a couple enhancement appearances for the WWE in 2002, was never used. He returned to the indies and immediately became a big star for the upstart Ring of Honor. He stayed with the company for years, splitting his time between ROH and another upstart promotion, TNA. By 2006, he was TNA exclusive and would become the biggest star in TNA history. He left TNA in controversial fashion in 2014, returning to ROH and through association NJPW, where he replaced departing Bullet Club leader Prince Devitt (who headed to NXT to become Finn Balor) as the Commander-in-Chief of the world’s most popular faction. In January of 2016, the unthinkable happened and AJ returned to the WWE, no longer as an enhancement talent, but as a bona fide global Superstar, with impressive feuds with Chris Jericho, WWE World Champion Roman Reigns and now thrust straight into a program with WWE’s Golden Boy John Cena. A 5-time TNA/NWA World Champion, 6-time TNA X-Division Champion, ROH Pure Champion, and two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion in NJPW, Styles has conquered the world before him. Meanwhile, Air Paris remains a photo on the proverbial wrestling milk carton (or maybe he’s a time traveller – he kinda looks a lot like Chad Gable in that photo…)
THE NEW ROCKERS: Leif Cassidy & Marty Jannetty
The scene of the crime of the first “Double Jannetty”. Marty Jannetty actually became the “Marty Jannetty” of the second incarnation of ironically the same tag team he’d been superkicked out of earlier by Shawn Michaels. He started The New Rockers to show the world he was the better of the original duo, debuting a rookie grappler named Leif Cassidy. While the New Rockers tanked and Jannetty went Full Marty, Leif Cassidy went to ECW, changed his name to Al Snow and got himself some “head”, returning to the WWF as a hardcore icon during the Attitude Era. Marty is the 3rd most successful person to ever be a Rocker. Ouch.
There’s plenty of other teams that could have been mentioned. Billy Gunn surpassed his “brother” Bart in The Smoking Gunns, “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton had a far better solo career than Midnight Express partner Dennis Condrey, Sgt. Slaughter became a WWE Hall of Famer while his partner Don Kernodle fell by the wayside, and even Marcus Bagwell got over as Buff Bagwell during the nWo’s peak, while his American Males‘ counterpart Scotty Riggs lost an eye and had to hang out with Raven.
But there’s one man who probably should take the cake over Marty Jannetty. Because he wasn’t just the weak link in his tag teams. He was the weak link in ALL of his tag teams. He was a partner who continuously saw his partners go onto become Legends in the industry while he was left wailin’ for mercy. The “Golden Boy” himself, Danny Spivey.
THE SPIVEY
Danny Spivey just can’t catch a break. He’s been paired with some truly huge names in his wrestling career, and each time, the team has failed and the other partner went onto huger things, while he jumped to another partner, who then in turn also moved on to further greatness. It all started with his first real tag team in 1984, the horrendously named American Starship in the NWA. Scouted by Dusty Rhodes alongside his workout partner Scott Hall, the Dream paired the two together – as Starship Eagle and Starship Coyote respectively – but they duo was a disaster. Scott Hall would move onto AWA where he’d capture AWA Tag Team gold alongside a young Curt Hennig, then to WCW as the Diamond Studd, before striking gold in the WWF as Razor Ramon. His return to WCW as part of the nWo cemented Hall’s legacy in the history books.
Following his departure from NWA, Spivey signed to the WWF in 1985, primarily because of his resemblance to Barry Windham. Windham had just left the WWF – and the popular former Tag Team champions The US Express with Mike Rotunda – and the WWF didn’t want to lose their momentum. With his large imposing frame and long blonde hair, Spivey was a dead ringer for Windham. Unfortunately, he lacked any of the traits that Windham used to win the audience over and he was released by WWF in 1988 following a failed run as “Golden Boy” Danny Spivey, a Hulk Hogan lite character. He would briefly tour Japan in the late 80’s as a tag partner of Johnny Ace (another noted tag team albatross).
He returned to NWA in 1989, replacing Rick Steiner in the popular Varsity Club, but shortly after his joining, the faction dismantled. His former WWF tag team partner and Varsity Club teammate Mike Rotunda returned to the WWF and was repackaged as Irwin R. “IRS” Shyster, becoming a huge heel and three-time WWF World Tag Team champion with The Million Dollar Man. Spivey was then paired with manager Teddy Long (whom we all know, loves his tag teams), who placed him alongside recent WCCW acquisition, the imposing giant known as Sid Vicious. Together as The Skyscrapers, they entered main event feuds with The Steiner Brothers and The Road Warriors. But only a few months into their run, Sid was hurt during a match with the Steiners and removed from the team. Enter his replacement, “Mean” Mark Callous. Another nearly 7′ tall giant, Callous replaced Vicious shortly after his debut in WCW. But instead of continuing this push, Spivey decided to leave WCW shortly after Callous’ partnership. Callous would venture to the WWF a year later and become Vince McMahon’s “greatest creation”. The Phenom. The Undertaker. In a matter of 6 months, Spivey had blown a tag team that would feature a 7-time World Champion in The Undertaker and a 4-time World Champion in Sid Vicious.
Spivey returned later that year, but by then Callous was with Paul Heyman and Sid was in the Four Horsemen. So he teamed up with Stan Hansen. He and Hansen did well initially, but Hansen would end up leaving WCW to finish his last decade as one of the biggest gaijin stars in Japanese history, a 4-time AJPW Triple Crown champion and a WWE Hall of Famer. Spivey returned to the WWE in 1995 as the demented backwoods cult leader Waylon Mercy, in what many view as the precursor of today’s Bray Wyatt. He couldn’t even wrangle a role properly for himself.
Perhaps the reason that Marty Jannetty is the fall guy in the whole tag team scenario was the timing. When that Barbershop superkick was launched by Shawn Michaels, the WWF Universe was in a state of change. The Big Men were winding down as the Main Event and the technicians and “little guys” were starting to gain the fans’ attention. And with one superkick, everyone’s eyes looked to the junior Rocker. The one with the bravado, the spunk, the attitude and the smirk. We may have hated him, but we couldn’t keep our eyes of him. In comparison, Jannetty just seemed too plain. He was the older brother that was cool until you hit 14, that picked Asia over Motley Crue. He became forgettable.
But as my friend Andrew Ferguson commented while discussing this article, “somewhere Marty Jannetty is thinking ‘At least I had a better career than Danny Spivey’“
Or did he? After all, at least it’s not called The Danny Spivey.
(Main Photo: WWE.com)
