Demolitions Historic Tag Title Reign Ends
At WrestleMania 4, Demolition defeated Strike Force, capturing the WWE Tag Team Championships. It was a huge win for Ax and Smash, and one that was the starting point for their record-breaking 478-day reign with the tag championships. A reign that saw them conquer every team in their path, making us question if they would ever relinquish the tag straps.
That question was answered in the most shocking of ways on an episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event in 1989. In a two-out-of-three falls match, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson, known as the Brain Busters, shocked the wrestling world when they upended the champions. No one in their right mind could have expected this upset. Not to say that the Brain Busters didn’t deserve the win, it was not something the world was used to seeing on Saturday Night’s Main Event.
The Heartbreak Kid Wins Gold
The wrestling world knew that The Rockers were destined for a split. The office has backed Shawn Michaels as the next big star, and the infamous Barber Shop segment solidified his emergence. He stormed onto the singles scene, and as great as he was, he needed a big win to legitimize his rise to the top. That win came at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
The British Bulldog put his Intercontinental Championship on the line against the brash young star. It was a great back-and-forth battle. One that saw Michaels reverse a suplex to eke out the shocking win over the Bulldog. Shocking only because the British Bulldogs’ reign had only just started, and most assumed that he would be carrying the strap for a while.
That shouldn’t take away from how important this victory was for Shawn Michaels, as it was the start of his path to the top of the company. The reign he enjoyed proved his viability as a singles star.
