News of Demolition signing a WWE Legends deal is a welcome yet surprising shift in the fortunes of the revered tag team.
Demolition enjoyed great success during the 80s and 90s but has been shown the cold shoulder by WWE since they participated in the infamous 2016 CTE lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged that wrestlers sustained traumatic brain injuries during their WWE tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury.
The lawsuit was dismissed in 2018 but made headlines for the number of notable wrestlers listed as plaintiffs. Alongside Demolition, Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka, Sabu, Road Warrior Animal, and ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff was also confirmed as plaintiff.
Is Demolition’s Legends Deal a sign of things to come in WWE?
The move to sign Demolition to a Legends Deal suggests yet another break with the past under Paul Levesque’s tenure. Demolition has for some time been viewed as a glaring omission from the Hall of Fame.
They won three World Tag Team Championships during their time in WWE (then WWF). Their first reign, which lasted 478 days, broke the record for the longest tag team championship reign in WWE history. The record stood until 2016 when it was surpassed by The New Day.
Demolition managed to be domineering, memorable, and popular at a time when the tag team division was thriving. Successful title defenses against the likes of the Hart Foundation, the British Bulldogs, and The Brain Busters attest to this. Their impressive episode in WWE history has now been rightly rewarded with a Legends deal.
This type of deal allows for special licensing for merchandise – which was another bone of contention in the Demolition story when Ax tried to claim the rights to the tag team’s name and gimmick during the mid-90s. It also opens the door for signed Legends to appear at events and ceremonies such as the Hall of Fame.
Naturally, this has led to rumors of a possible induction in 2025.
If not this year, an induction for Demolition in the future now seems very likely. Crucially, it opens the door to reconciliation for other wrestlers associated with the CTE lawsuit. Levesque has shown a track record for this, offering an olive branch to excommunicated legends Bruno Sammartino and Ultimate Warrior. Sammartino and Warrior were inducted in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Once again, it underlines Triple H’s desire to play peacemaker and create explicit contrasts between his era and that of Vince McMahon.
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