The title bout: Road Warriors face the British Bulldogs for the best tag team of the 1980s
The stage is set! The main event has arrived!! The stakes have never been higher!!!
It’s time for the two best tag teams of the 1980s — as voted by you, the fans — to lock up in battle to determine which will come out on top and earn the title of the Best Tag Team of the 1980s.
During the past month, we've whittled 16 tag teams down to these two greats.
As with the first three rounds, your votes will determine which team will stand atop all.
The championship match
In your head, you have to hear Howard Finkel's voice as you read this next part:
In this corner, from Chicago, Illinois, at a total combined weight of 575 pounds, Animal and Hawk — the Road Warriors!
Their opponent, from Wigan, England, at a total combined weight of 481 pounds, The Dynamite Kid, and Davey Boy Smith — the British Bulldogs!
OK, now you can start reading in your own voice again...
The Road Warriors soundly defeated the Hart Foundation in the Fracas of Four with 84 percent of the vote.
The Bulldogs held off a worthy challenge by Demolition by taking 50.67 percent of the vote.
Background
The British Bulldogs and Road Warriors (aka Legion of Doom in WWE) never fought each other with all four original members.
The British Bulldogs left WWE in 1988 and returned to Stampede Wrestling in England. They split for good in 1990 when Davey Boy Smith returned to WWE, but without Dynamite Kid.
Smith would have a successful singles run and later joined a faction consisting of Bret “the Hitman” Hart, Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart and Owen Hart.
Meanwhile, the Road Warriors were an AWA/NWA/WCW attraction from the early 1980s into 1990, when they signed with WWE and became the Legion of Doom.
They only competed in WWE until 1992, then left for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where they remained until 1995. They returned to WCW for a short run as the Road Warriors from late 1995-into early 1997, then returned to the WWE.
A British Bulldog vs. the Road Warriors
Upon their return to the WWE in 1997, the original Road Warriors of Animal and Hawk had a tag team match against Davey Boy Smith, but with Owen Hart as his tag team partner.
This match took place Aug. 18, 1997, with Davey Boy Smith, now known singularly as The British Bulldog, as the European champion.
The match was going along great until a team known as the Godwinns interfered, hit Hawk in the head with a metal bucket, and Owen Hart pinned Animal.
The Godwinns and LOD were feuding at the time. It was an anti-climactic end to what had been a pretty good match.
Now, it’s time to cast your vote.
Will it be the Road Warriors? Or the British Bulldogs?
The fate of the 1980s rests in the balance…
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Vote for wrestling's best tag team of the 1980s. Here are the final two
