The Man, the Myth, the Legend Vol. 6: The Road Warriors

#8. Winning the NWA tag team championship--as heels.

In 1988, the NWA head booker Dusty Rhodes decided that he wanted to turn the Road Warriors heel.

In spite of being warned that the move might not go over well with fans, Dusty proceeded. When Sting needed time off to heal an injury, he was put into a tag match with the Road Warriors as their partner. The Warriors grew angry at Sting for getting the win by applying his Scorpion Deathlock move after a Doomsday Device, 'stealing' the win from Hawk even though they were on the same side. The Warriors brutalized Sting and hit him with their finisher multiple times.

This wasn't enough to make fans turn on the Warriors, despite Sting's incredible popularity at the time. So Dusty upped the ante by having the Warriors to 'gouge out' his eye with one of their shoulder spikes. The sequence came off much more gruesome than intended, and some NWA network affiliates refused to show the match without blurring the image.

The heel Warriors were booked to face World tag team champions the Midnight Express. They brutally beat down Bobby Eaton before the match even started, forcing Stan Lane to take on both members of the LOD. Which he did, to his credit, fighting off both men and scoring many near pinfalls utilizing his martial arts skills before the Warriors wore him down. Unwisely, Bobby Eaton tagged in, and...well, watch the video.