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Doom (professional wrestling)
Encyclopedia
Doom was a professional wrestling
tag team
composed of Ron Simmons
and Butch Reed
. They competed from 1989 to 1991 in the National Wrestling Alliance
(NWA) and World Championship Wrestling
(WCW).
in 1988 after leaving the World Wrestling Federation
and feuded shortly with the Junkyard Dog
. Simmons had been with JCP for a while teaming with Eddie Gilbert but had not achieved much notoriety.
and Scott Steiner
started to team in 1989 a female fan (Robin Green) started following them around, professing her love for the cute & dorky Rick Steiner. Steiner's brother Scott
and their manager Missy Hyatt
began to have suspicions after the woman suddenly changed to a new vampy
look. When the woman tripped Scott in the ring, causing him and Rick to lose to champions The Freebirds, it briefly caused dissention among the brothers. In the end, she turned on the Steiners, adopting the name Woman and vowed that the brothers would meet their "doom" at Halloween Havoc 1989 but never made it clear who or what “Doom” was.
At the night of the PPV Woman unveiled the Steiner Brothers' Doom – a couple of brawny, hard hitting masked wrestlers. Doom won their debut match against the Steiners when one of the members of Doom pinned Rick Steiner after a headbutt with an illegal object in his mask. Doom followed up on this success by defeating Eddie Gilbert and Tommy Rich
at Clash of the Champions IX, looking very strong in the process.
Unfortunately Doom’s next PPV outing did not come with the same success. Along with the Steiner Brothers, the Road Warriors
, and the Samoan Swat Team
they were entered in a one night, tag-team round robin tournament
but did not score a single point ending dead last in the tournament. Doom’s misfortune continued as Woman soon dropped the team and left the federation. Then on February 6, 1990 Doom hit rock bottom when they were defeated by Rick & Scott Steiner and as a result of the stipulation were forced to unmask.
, Doom began to prosper. Being free to use their full movesets and not trying to hide who they were, Doom earned another shot at the Steiner Brothers.
At Capital Combat
Doom shocked the world when they beat the Steiner Brothers, a team that at that point in time did not lose very often. Doom won the tag-team titles and quickly set about defending them against the former champions the Steiners as well the rest of WCW’s very talented tag-team division. Doom defeated The Rock 'n' Roll Express at the Great American Bash 1990 and also mauled such teams as Flyin’ Brian
& The Z-Man
and The Southern Boys
. In the fall of 1990 Doom soon got their hands full with The 4 Horsemen
after a backstage altercation that saw the arrogant Horsemen insult Doom by not wanting to share a dressing room with them (this of course was a storyline). Doom then turned face and began a feud with The Four Horsemen
At Halloween Havoc 1990 Doom held on to their tag-team titles against Ric Flair
and Arn Anderson
despite both teams being counted out. A no rules rematch was signed for Starrcade 1990
but on the night Ric Flair was replaced by Barry Windham
since Flair was slated to wrestle as The Black Scorpion in the main event. Once again the result was a “No Contest”, this time due to a double pin (Windham pinned Simmons and Reed pinned Anderson at the same time) but despite the non-definitive finish the Doom / Horseman feud ended shortly afterwards.
At Clash of the Champions XIV Doom lost a non-title match to Sting and Lex Luger
in a match that foreshadowed the trouble that lay ahead for Doom.
in August 1992.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
composed of Ron Simmons
Ron Simmons
Ronald "Ron" Simmons is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and retired American football player. He is recognised as being the first Black world heavyweight champion in professional wrestling and the first of only two African Americans to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship,...
and Butch Reed
Butch Reed
Butch Reed is an American professional wrestler best known for his stints in the World Wrestling Federation and the National Wrestling Alliance/World Championship Wrestling.-Career:...
. They competed from 1989 to 1991 in the National Wrestling Alliance
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
(NWA) and World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
(WCW).
Before the masks
Butch Reed had signed with Jim Crockett PromotionsJim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...
in 1988 after leaving the World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
and feuded shortly with the Junkyard Dog
Junkyard Dog
Sylvester Ritter was an American professional wrestler and professional football player, best known for his work in Mid-South Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as The Junkyard Dog...
. Simmons had been with JCP for a while teaming with Eddie Gilbert but had not achieved much notoriety.
Woman’s masked team
When RickRick Steiner
Robert Rechsteiner is an American professional wrestler, better known under his ring name Rick Steiner.Steiner is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling, where he was an eight time World Tag Team Champion...
and Scott Steiner
Scott Steiner
Scott Carl Rechsteiner is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Scott Steiner. Steiner is perhaps best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling alongside his older brother Rick as the Steiner Brothers and as a member of the New World Order...
started to team in 1989 a female fan (Robin Green) started following them around, professing her love for the cute & dorky Rick Steiner. Steiner's brother Scott
Scott Steiner
Scott Carl Rechsteiner is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Scott Steiner. Steiner is perhaps best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling alongside his older brother Rick as the Steiner Brothers and as a member of the New World Order...
and their manager Missy Hyatt
Missy Hyatt
Melissa Ann Hiatt is an American professional wrestling valet, better known by her ring name, Missy Hyatt. She gained the majority of her fame while working for World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling....
began to have suspicions after the woman suddenly changed to a new vampy
Vamp
Vamp may refer to:* VaMP, the first autonomous car that drove long distances in traffic* Vamp , a Norwegian folk music band* Vamp, a character in the Metal Gear series of video games* Vamp , in Gobots toyline and cartoon...
look. When the woman tripped Scott in the ring, causing him and Rick to lose to champions The Freebirds, it briefly caused dissention among the brothers. In the end, she turned on the Steiners, adopting the name Woman and vowed that the brothers would meet their "doom" at Halloween Havoc 1989 but never made it clear who or what “Doom” was.
At the night of the PPV Woman unveiled the Steiner Brothers' Doom – a couple of brawny, hard hitting masked wrestlers. Doom won their debut match against the Steiners when one of the members of Doom pinned Rick Steiner after a headbutt with an illegal object in his mask. Doom followed up on this success by defeating Eddie Gilbert and Tommy Rich
Tommy Rich
Thomas Richardson , better known by his ring name, "Wildfire" Tommy Rich, is a professional wrestler. He is best known for his wrestling career in Georgia and Memphis throughout the 1980s.-Professional wrestling career:...
at Clash of the Champions IX, looking very strong in the process.
Unfortunately Doom’s next PPV outing did not come with the same success. Along with the Steiner Brothers, the Road Warriors
Road Warriors
The Road Warriors were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Michael "Hawk" Hegstrand and Joseph "Animal" Laurinaitis. They performed under the name "Road Warriors" in the American Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance, and World Championship Wrestling, and the name Legion...
, and the Samoan Swat Team
The Headshrinkers
The Headshrinkers were a professional wrestling tag team in the World Wrestling Federation that consisted of Fatu and Samu. They previously competed under the name The New Wild Samoans in the National Wrestling Alliance , and as The Samoan Swat Team in World Championship Wrestling , World Class...
they were entered in a one night, tag-team round robin tournament
Round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...
but did not score a single point ending dead last in the tournament. Doom’s misfortune continued as Woman soon dropped the team and left the federation. Then on February 6, 1990 Doom hit rock bottom when they were defeated by Rick & Scott Steiner and as a result of the stipulation were forced to unmask.
Unmasked
When Doom unmasked no one was really surprised to see Ron Simmons and Butch Reed underneath the black hoods, they had both been on WCW television shortly before Doom debuted and they were the only two African American wrestlers in the federation that had the same massive physical appearance. Freed of the masks and now under management of former referee Teddy LongTheodore Long
Theodore R. "Teddy" Long is an American professional wrestling manager and former referee who currently works for WWE on its SmackDown brand as its General Manager.-National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling:...
, Doom began to prosper. Being free to use their full movesets and not trying to hide who they were, Doom earned another shot at the Steiner Brothers.
At Capital Combat
Capital Combat
Capital Combat: The Return of Robocop was a one time professional wrestling pay-per-view from the National Wrestling Alliance held under the World Championship Wrestling name. It took place on May 19, 1990 from the D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C....
Doom shocked the world when they beat the Steiner Brothers, a team that at that point in time did not lose very often. Doom won the tag-team titles and quickly set about defending them against the former champions the Steiners as well the rest of WCW’s very talented tag-team division. Doom defeated The Rock 'n' Roll Express at the Great American Bash 1990 and also mauled such teams as Flyin’ Brian
Brian Pillman
Brian William Pillman was an American football player and professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling....
& The Z-Man
Tom Zenk
Thomas Erwin "Tom" Zenk is a former Mr. Minnesota Bodybuilder, and most notably a American professional wrestler, also known by his nickname Z-Man.-Early career:...
and The Southern Boys
Southern Boys
The Southern Boys were a professional wrestling tag team in World Championship Wrestling also known as The Young Pistols. It was composed of Tracy Smothers and Steve Armstrong.-History:...
. In the fall of 1990 Doom soon got their hands full with The 4 Horsemen
Four Horsemen (professional wrestling)
The Four Horsemen were a professional wrestling stable in the National Wrestling Alliance and later World Championship Wrestling that was disbanded in 1999. The original group featured Ric Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard...
after a backstage altercation that saw the arrogant Horsemen insult Doom by not wanting to share a dressing room with them (this of course was a storyline). Doom then turned face and began a feud with The Four Horsemen
At Halloween Havoc 1990 Doom held on to their tag-team titles against Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....
and Arn Anderson
Arn Anderson
Martin Anthony Lunde better known by his ring name Arn Anderson, is a former American professional wrestler and author. His career has been highlighted by his alliances with Ric Flair and various members of the wrestling stable, The Four Horsemen, in the NWA/WCW...
despite both teams being counted out. A no rules rematch was signed for Starrcade 1990
Starrcade (1990)
Starrcade '90 was the eighth annual Starrcade professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced under the National Wrestling Alliance banner. It was the third Starrcade event produced by World Championship Wrestling, and the last pay-per-view event held by the NWA. It took place on December 16,...
but on the night Ric Flair was replaced by Barry Windham
Barry Windham
Barry Clinton Windham is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and the son of wrestler Blackjack Mulligan. He is best known for his appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling ....
since Flair was slated to wrestle as The Black Scorpion in the main event. Once again the result was a “No Contest”, this time due to a double pin (Windham pinned Simmons and Reed pinned Anderson at the same time) but despite the non-definitive finish the Doom / Horseman feud ended shortly afterwards.
At Clash of the Champions XIV Doom lost a non-title match to Sting and Lex Luger
Lex Luger
Lawrence Wendell "Larry" Pfohl , better known by his ring name Lex Luger, is an American former professional wrestler and football player currently working with WWE on their wellness policy...
in a match that foreshadowed the trouble that lay ahead for Doom.
Break up and beyond
On February 24, 1991 at WCW’s 1991 WrestleWar PPV Doom took on former tag-team champions The Fabulous Freebirds and lost due to miscommunication between Reed and Simmons. After the Freebirds left the ring Reed turned on Simmons and beat him up, turning Simmons face and ending the team of Doom forever. Teddy Long sided with Butch Reed as the former Doom partners engaged in a short but intense feud. The feud culminated at SuperBrawl I where Ron Simmons pinned Butch Reed in a Steel cage match (referred to as a "Thunder-Doom" cage match). After the PPV Reed left the company allowing Ron Simmons to focus on other opponents while Teddy Long started to manage other talent in WCW. Long would appear in Simmons' corner occasionally after Ron became WCW World Heavyweight ChampionWCW World Heavyweight Championship
The World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation . It existed within WCW between 1991 and 2001. Following the acquisition of WCW by World Wrestling...
in August 1992.
Reunion
Doom was brieflly reunited on WWE's SmackDown on a few occasion that involved Teddy Long's wedding. Both Reed and Simmons appeared at Long's bachelor party and both were ushers in the wedding. At both occasions, Doom was mentioned.In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Diving shoulder block
- Shoulder TackleTackle (football move)Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling is to disposses an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend....
- ManagerManager (professional wrestling)In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
- Teddy LongTheodore LongTheodore R. "Teddy" Long is an American professional wrestling manager and former referee who currently works for WWE on its SmackDown brand as its General Manager.-National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling:...
- Woman
- Teddy Long
Championships and accomplishments
- National Wrestling AllianceNational Wrestling AllianceThe National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
/ World Championship WrestlingWorld Championship WrestlingWorld Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version)WCW World Tag Team ChampionshipThe World Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in World Championship Wrestling...
/ WCW World Tag Team ChampionshipWCW World Tag Team ChampionshipThe World Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in World Championship Wrestling...
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version)
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- Doom won the titles while they were still called the NWA titles and lost them after the name changed to WCW.
- Pro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
- PWI ranked Doom # 91 of the best 100 tag teams of the PWI Years.
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Doom won the titles while they were still called the NWA titles and lost them after the name changed to WCW.
-