5 Ways Each Team Was The Superior Duo

One of the most iconic tag teams of all time are The Road Warriors. Otherwise known as the Legion of Doom in the World Wrestling Federation, Animal and Hawk were two giant men in facepaint who dressed like guy from a Mad Max movie -- hence the tag team name -- and dominated dudes across every major promotion you could think of: the WWF, WCW, AWA, NWA, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and countless others.

But there’s also a case to be made for Demolition, the classic -- and similar -- World Wrestling Federation tag team consisting of Ax and Smash. But who's the better of the two legendary tag teams? Without further ado, let’s evaluate both teams and see what their strengths are.

10 Demolition: Part of The Golden Era

For many fans who grew up with late ‘80s and early ‘90s WWF, Demolition holds a warm place in their hearts as the face-painted post-apocalyptic monster man tag team of the Fed's “Golden Era.” Debuting in January of 1987, Demolition quickly established themselves as dominant power wrestlers as they beat the stuffing out of various jobbers on shows like Superstars and The Wrestling Challenge. That surely made a strong impression on children of the day.

9 Road Warriors: The Originals

Demolition are actually a good tag team, but for many other fans, it’s hard to get past the fact that they were a rip-off of The Road Warriors, right down to the very specific gimmick. The Road Warriors, on the other hand, were the originals whose unique style and ability to obliterate dudes quickly propelled them to the tops of cards despite them being relatively new to wrestling when they started out in the early ‘80s.

8 Demolition: Longest Title Reign

During their time with the WWF, Demolition would become three-time WWF World Tag Team Champions. Their first reign with the title, won from Strike Force, would go 478 days until losing them to The Brain Busters, making Demolition the company’s longest reigning tag team champions for a quarter century.

The New Day would beat their reign by a few days in 2016, but Demolition are still the longest reigning champs with that defunct title.

7 Road Warriors: Multiple Title Reigns All Over

At their peak The Road Warriors were a legitimate sensation, wrestling across the various NWA territories, the WWF, WCW, and in both New Japan and All Japan Pro Wrestling. Across these promotions, The Road Warriors would score lengthy title rings including 400 days with the AWA World Tag Belts, 456 with the NWA International Tag Team Titles, and even a nearly two-year reign with the NWA World Six Man Tag Team Titles alongside Dusty Rhodes.

6 Demolition: Great WWF Matches

Throughout their WWF heyday, Ax and Smash had some strong tag team matches. They put on great efforts with both of the beloved tag teams of the day, The British Bulldogs and The Hart Foundation, but also had solid efforts against Strike Force and The Colossal Connection. Their best work was their Saturday Night’s Main Event 2/3 Falls match for the Tag Titles against The Brain Busters, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard,

5 Road Warriors: Classic Matches

The Road Warriors weren’t just facepaint, spikes, and muscles. They put on hard-hitting matches against The Steiner Brothers, The Samoan Swat Team, and also Tully and Arn, not to mention some of the fiercest stars of New Japan. They obliterated jobbers just like Demolition, but took on loads of tough competition. Fans mustn't forget The Road Warriors’ participation in WCW’s old WarGames matches either -- those were always awesome bloodbaths.

4 Demolition: Transcended Rip-Off Status

It’s rare that a rip-off transcends the source, but Demolition was certainly one of those precious cases. It can’t be understated that Demolition’s gimmick was literally the same thing as The Road Warriors, but Ax and Smash had honest wrestling talent that kept fans from writing them off as a mere imitation.

Ax was the better wrestler of the pair given that he had nearly 15 years of experience when Demolition formed, but Smash was also a great power guy.

3 Road Warriors: Influential

The fact that Demolition even existed in that form goes to show just how influential The Road Warriors were at the time. Their gimmick was lifted from a movie to begin with, but the team’s vibe and iconic look spawned countless imitators over the years like the WWF’s other late ‘80s rip-off The Powers of Pain and modern versions like The Ascension, not to mention the largely tongue-in-cheek Devastation Corporation in Chikara.

2 Demolition: Carried the Tag Team Division

Because The Road Warriors came to WWF in the early 1990s and stole a lot of the group’s thunder, it’s easy to forget how over Demolition was in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. They were massively popular, enough to turn babyface while feuding with the aforementioned Powers of Pain in 1988. From there, they became one of the top tag teams in the company, carrying the division by wrecking everyone in sight.

1 Road Warriors: Beat Demolition Every Time

Once the Road Warriors came to WWF and became the Legion of Doom, they got into an ongoing feud with Demolition. Throughout 1990 and 1991, the Road Warriors would take on Demolition in dozens of matches -- mostly at house shows -- and win every single time. On television, Animal and Hawk would team up with The Ultimate Warrior to beat all three members of Demolition once Crush got brought into the fold. The most notable of these would be the 1990 Survivor Series match where Demolition and Mr. Perfect would lose to the aforementioned trio, joined by The Texas Tornado.

NEXT: The 10 Greatest WWE Tag Team Matches Ever (According To Dave Meltzer)