OO Column: Timeline by Hatter X (Pro Wrestling News, Analysis, and Commentary... WWF, WCW, ECW, The Rock, Steve Austin, RVD, Undertaker, Triple H)

TIMELINE
Vince McMahon Presents:
The Blade Runners
December 1, 2001

by Hatter X
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

"This is STING", familiar words, which rang through the ears of NWA/WCW fans from late 1987 to as recently as this past March. Sting was a fixture of the Crockett territory after their purchase of the Bill Watts owned Universal Wrestling Federation. Through the territory's many incarnations, spanning the Ted Turner owned WCW era, up until its subsequent purchase at the hands of WWFE. Sting held virtually every title the NWA/WCW could come up with and headlined countless PPV and TV specials over his nearly 15 year career with Turner. He was consistently a top draw, and one of a handful of wrestlers that were deemed impossible to make a heel. Millions loved him. He probably always will be. This was evident when on the historic simulcast of WWF Raw and WCW Nitro this past March, as Vince McMahon uttered the words for the first time on WWF programming and the WWF fans lost their collective minds.

Our question set before us is simply this: What if Sting hadn't been available for Jim Crockett to use in the wake of his acquisition of the UWF? What if Sting had followed his former Blade Runner partner, Rock, known to fans better as The Ultimate Warrior, through the World Class territory and eventually into the arms of the WWF and Vince McMahon? Yes. In this reality, Sting would cease to exist. In this reality, 1987 would begin a new dynasty, as Vince McMahon would introduce us to his newest tag team find: The Blade Runners.

Timeline: March 1987
Location: Titan Towers

Two awesome specimens, Jim Hellwig & Steve Borden, fresh off a short stint working for Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling, have been called up to the big time to meet with the self-proclaimed "Walt Disney of Wrestling", Vince McMahon. McMahon, fresh off a second failed attempt to secure The Road Warriors, Hawk and Animal, away from Jim Crockett has decided to do what always does when his back is up against the wall, he will make his own Road Warriors. McMahon has tried in the previous months to get over a couple of older wrestlers, Bill Eadie and Randy Culley, as Ax and Smash, Demolition. But the crowds on the house show circut weren’t taking well to what they perceived as shabby Road Warrior knock-offs. It also didn't help that Eadie & Culley were nowhere near in the physical shape that Hawk & Animal were. So Vince, just as he had with The HonkyTonk Man & Harley Race, (substitutes for Jerry Lawler) and Danny Spivey (Substitute/replacement for Barry Windham), would create his own "improved" version of the original. McMahon offered Hellwig and Borden outrageous contracts, certainly more money than the duo had ever seen before, and they happily accepted. McMahon promises them tag team gold immediately and a top spot on the tag team roster shortly after Wrestle Mania 3. He runs a few names past them, including the Demolition moniker, seeing as how it had yet to make TV. Borden & Hellwig lobbied to keep their Mid South/UWF gimmick, The Blade Runners. McMahon, never one to just give in, compromises and allows them to use the tag name, if they change their individual names. Don Muraco was penciled in to undergo a face turn in a few months and begin using "The Rock" Don Muraco, as opposed to his heel gimmick as "The Magnificent Muraco". Vince asked Hellwig to stop using his "Rock" persona and try a different name. Hellwig mentioned their stint in World Class as The Dingo Warriors, and proposed using "Warrior" as his name. Vince liked the name and began repeating it over and over as if he was searching for something extra. Vince then proclaimed Hellwig "The Ultimate Warrior!" Vince then turned to Borden, who had been using both Flash and Sting as his previous monikers. Vince liked neither, as they reminded him of the comic book character and the singer. Vince scrambled for a name, sifting through the many papers on his desk, looking for his creative department's submissions, tossing out names that they had planned on using over the next few years: Big Bossman, Kane The Undertaker, Damien Demento, Battle Kat, Crush... none of the names seemed to fit. Then Vince suggested that they go with The Blade Runner as Borden's ring name and merge the two stars as Demolition. Neither man is too pleased with the idea, but they agree to give it a shot. McMahon signed the duo to a one-year deal and Vince then pencils them in to debut at the first set of Superstars Tapings the week after Wrestle Mania 3.

The night of Demolition’s TV debut, Borden & Hellwig arrive at the building, only to be told that they will be wrestling 4 times tonight. The team will be taping squash matches, introducing them to fans on four different WWF TV Shows: WWF All American Wrestling, WWF Prime Time Wrestling, WWF Superstars and WWF Challenge. The duo had never worked so many times in one night before. On the Prime Time taping they squashed the team of Omar Atlas & Steve Lombardi, on Challenge they destroyed "Iron" Mike Sharp and Renee Goulett. For All American Wrestling they ran over Lanny Poffo and SD Jones, and finally on the flagship show, Superstars, they killed veterans, "The Rebel" Dick Slater & The Junk Yard Dog. Backstage, Bill Eadie, who has returned to calling himself The Masked Superstar, did his best to talk down the new stars and trash their work ethic to the boys. Upon returning to the dressing room after their final match for the evening, the young stars were greeted with cold shoulders. Demolition was off to a shaky start.

After a long summer of stiff beatings at the hands of established teams such as The Killer Bees, The Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs and The Dream Team; Demolition were finally positioned to take the WWF Tag Team Titles from the champions, The Hart Foundation. Demolition was about to be on top of the world, however success was not to come as expected. McMahon had recently paired former AWA Champion, Rick Martel with popular WWF mid-card player, Tito Santana, to form the extremely popular Strike Force. McMahon decided to push this new baby face team into a title feud with The Harts, which would lead to a tag title change and a baby face twist for The Hart Foundation. Hellwig was livid, as he felt cheated by McMahon, and asked for his release at the end of his deal, which ran through March of 1988. McMahon, a person who doesn't take lightly to threats, releases Hellwig immediately. Hellwig begs Borden to come along, but Borden has always been a loyalist and decides to give McMahon another chance. Vince tells Borden he will go it alone as The Blade Runner, and he will begin working the house show circuit against Hercules Hernandez.

In March of 1988, at Wrestle Mania 4, which originated from Trump Plaza that year, The Blade Runner impressed fans and critics alike by defeating Hercules Hernandez and in the process delivering two visually stunning moves that would become his signatures: The flying body-press into the corner and The Scorpion Deathlock... not to mention his signature howl. In another significant event on the card, Strike Force would lose their titles to a young upstart heel team, signed away from Verne Gagne weeks prior to Wrestle Mania 4, known as The Midnight Rockers. Following Wrestle Mania, The Blade Runner continued to wow fans and draw crowds for the WWF. As luck would have it, just days before the WWF's very first Summer Slam, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake was sidelined and his opponent, Intercontinental Champion, The HonkyTonk Man, was without a challenger. The Blade Runner received the coveted spot and was given the title, before a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden. The Blade Runner had arrived.

1989 was a strange year for Steve Borden. The Blade Runner had brought him huge success and a fat pocket book. But Borden was growing tired of the same thing night in and night out. Borden wanted to focus more on wrestling, and less on showmanship. Borden then asked to be placed in a program with the newly acquired Terry Taylor, whom Borden had worked with in Watts' old UWF. McMahon had already lined Borden up to feud with Rick Rude over the IC title for the majority of the year and denied Borden's request. Borden went ahead with McMahon's plans, but the seeds of discontent have already been planted. In a bold move, Borden requested to lose the IC strap to Rude at Wrestle Mania 5, instead of squashing him, which was the plan at the time, so he could chase Rude, and play the baby face in pursuit, rather than the hulking monster McMahon has envisioned. McMahon allowed it and the match set the tone for the summer of 1989, as The Blade Runner chased Rick Rude and the Heenan Family into Summer Slam and then into a feud with the legend Andre The Giant at Survivor Series '89. The Blade Runner captained a team of himself, newly turned faces, The (formerly Midnight) Rockers and Jim Neidhart, to face Andre's team of himself, Haku and The Brainbusters. The Blade Runner would come out the winner and move on to the biggest challenge of his career: Focal point of the company.

At Wrestle Mania 6, WWF Champion, Hulk Hogan would pass the torch to The Blade Runner and then go off to film a movie, leaving Steve Borden to fill shoes that many thought he could never fill. Borden, though thankful for the opportunity, didn't think that his persona would be a believable champion. He considered himself cartoonish and wasn't pleased with the WWF's lack of "basic wrestling". Borden went to McMahon and proposed a huge blood feud, based on wrestling with WWF mid-card heel, "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig. Hennig has been given short brushes with the Main Event against Hogan in late '89 and very early 1990. Many considered him the best mat talent the company ever had up to that point. Yet, Hennig, a former World Champion for Gagne's AWA, was never given the ball in the WWF. McMahon was planning to use Hennig for an IC Title run during the summer of 1990, but gave Borden the benefit of the doubt and agreed. The IC title would be given to Rick Rude instead. 1990 signaled many changes in the dynamic of the WWF. Inspired by the classic Blade Runner/Mr. Perfect Feud, which was drawing record houses around the country, McMahon launched a new campaign to bring in talent that was on "par" with Borden & Hennig. Over the course of the year, McMahon would offer large money to names that no one ever suspected McMahon would deal with, due to their size and their style, which many would consider "southern"; such as "Stunning" Steve Austin of World Class and from WCW, Cactus Jack, Brian Pillman and Rick & Scott Steiner. Of course the occasional "big man" was brought in such as Sid Vicious, Kerry Von Erich, and The Road Warriors, and a man known as Mark Calloway, who would become The Undertaker... but the WWF was obviously leaving the era of "The Giant". As 1990 roared to a halt, the USA was becoming increasingly more and more drawn into the Gulf War over in Iraq. McMahon wanted to capitalize off the war, so he pushed Sgt. Slaughter, formerly a USA hero, as an Iraqi sympathizer. McMahon was tempted to move Blade Runner, who has just regained the title for the 2nd time from Hennig, into a spot to drop the belt to Slaughter at the 1991 Royal Rumble. Borden went along with the idea and lost the belt, after outside interference from Hennig. Little did Borden realize that this plan was two-fold. With the title off Borden and his character pushed out of the main event spotlight, McMahon had set the stage for Hulk Hogan to take back the strap from the evil Slaughter at Wrestle Mania 7. On the under card, Blade Runner and Mr. Perfect fought a 45-minute classic inside a steel cage, which stole the show. Hogan had grown increasingly tired of the smaller wrestlers taking the spotlight and had backed McMahon into a corner. After Mania, Hogan threatened McMahon that he would walk if Vince didn't restore the WWF to its status as "Land of the Giants". Vince informed Hogan that he has made more money during the summer of 1990 showcasing Blade Runner vs. Mr. Perfect, than he had previously in 1989 with the Hogan/Savage war. McMahon gave Hogan the option to leave but ordered that we must drop the gold to Blade Runner at Summer Slam. Hogan balked, McMahon had called his bluff and Hogan was then put into a feud with a man that was becoming somewhat a cult phenom, The Undertaker. Meanwhile, even though they were running the upper mid-card, Blade Runner & Perfect were tearing down the house night after night through the summer. In the early Fall of 1991, the WWF signed away Ric Flair from WCW and brought him in to take over the feud with Blade Runner, when Hennig was released abruptly after a contract dispute. Flair met Blade Runner for the first time, one on one, in the Double Main Event at Summer Slam. The Match was a 1 Hour draw, which absolutely killed. Hogan defeated The Undertaker in the match that followed, before a half empty house, who began leaving shortly after the previous match.

1991 drew to a close with McMahon using Blade Runner's drawing power to help the increasingly sagging draw that Hogan was becoming, by teaming the two, against Ric Flair & Sid Vicious. Hogan hated the idea that he was being "carried" by another star and refused to work the angle any longer. Hogan threatened McMahon for what would be the last time, leading to Vince firing Hogan on January 1, 1992. The 1992 Royal Rumble was set up to be for the vacant WWF World Title. The Winner ended up being Ric Flair, thus setting up a continuing feud between Blade Runner and Ric Flair for the WWF Title. Wrestle Mania 8 saw Blade, who had now been allowed to shorten his name, defeat Flair in a marathon 60-minute match, which saw the return of Hennig at the side of Flair. After the match, Flair reformed a WWF version of his famous stable, The 4 Horsemen, with himself, Hennig, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.

1992 saw the WWF put on some of the greatest wrestling displays on record with intense southern storytelling and an outstanding roster consisting of talent such as, Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Paul E. Dangerously, The Horsemen, Cactus Jack, Eddie Gilbert, The Steiner’s, Sid Vicious, The Undertaker, The Road Warriors, The Great Muta, Brian Pillman, Jim Cornette, Arn Anderson, Abdullah The Butcher, Terry Funk, Vader, Tatanka, Doink, The Nasty Boys, Owen Hart, The Natural Disasters, Ted DiBiase, Yokozuna, Razor Ramon and Randy Savage. With Blade leading a lone charge against The Horsemen, Vince McMahon was raking in the dough. The "southern" success of the WWF would last well into 1994, until with Hulk Hogan as their star witness, the federal Government would successfully prosecute and send Vince McMahon to federal prison for distribution of illegal steroids.

With Vince McMahon gone, Paul Heyman, Jim Cornette & Jim Ross were left to govern the WWF. None of these men were the promotional giants that McMahon was and the business began go suffer. Meanwhile, down south, Hulk Hogan & Ted Turner had worked a deal to bring Hogan to the struggling WCW. Hogan was immediately made a focal point of the company. Back in the WWF, Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman) was given the reigns of the company's book and began to pull them back up to the level that McMahon had brought them before. Heyman brought a more violent style to the book and fans began to take notice again. Heyman's style was more adult and didn't sit well with Borden. After a few months, Borden tired of the style and left the WWF. Borden accepted a huge offer from Ted Turner to come to WCW, where his first match would be against Hulk Hogan. He lost. Yes, Borden suffered in WCW, although making twice what he was making in the WWF, he was an enemy of Hogan politically and was used as a whipping boy for Hogan's buddies, such as Hacksaw Duggan, Lex Luger, Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, The HonkyTonk Man, Rick Steamboat and Jake Roberts. Borden, using the name Sting once again, was even jobbed to rookie and Hogan lackey, Jean-Paul LeVesque, at Starrcade '94... in the opening match. Meanwhile, the WWF was hopping as Heyman has turned Hart baby face on the Horsemen and set him feuding with the group, replacing Hart in the stable with Steve Austin.

1995 was a heavy year for Borden. Hogan brought in Borden's old tag team partner, Jim Hellwig, who by now had changed his name legally to "Warrior", and feuded the duo. All the while Hogan rode atop the WCW machine, beating every potential challenger he could find. Slowly but surely, WCW began acquiring the last remaining remnants of McMahon's old WWF. Randy Savage, The Undertaker, Yokozuna, Rick Rude, The Road Warriors and Sid Vicious all made the jump. WWF was hurting and in the meantime, even though they were losing ground, Heyman was creating new faces like Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman, The Thrill Seekers, The Eliminators, The Gangsters, Public Enemy, Raven, Chris Candido, and "The Franchise" Shane Douglas. Blade was largely becoming a forgotten name.

1996 opened up a new door for Steve Borden as a rift between Heyman and Cornette & Ross caused a shift in the WWF direction and Cornette & Ross left with many top talents, including Curt Hennig, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ted DiBiase, The Nasty Boys and Tatanka to join Jerry Lawler's failing Memphis promotion the USWA. Borden received a release from WCW and join Cornette in Memphis. Blade was immediately thrusted into the Main Event against Flair and began to regain his footing. Former AWA producer, Eric Bischoff, who was also a contact to Japan, replaced Cornette in the WWF. Shane McMahon, who was now of age to begin helping out with the day to day affairs of the WWF, lead a movement to reclaim Borden for their company. Just as Cornette & Lawler were about to go national with Blade as their top star, Heyman & McMahon made a huge offer to Borden to bring him back home in February of '96. Borden would show up on TV as the mystery partner of Bret Hart, in a tag match against the top heels of the promotion, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin & Shawn Michaels: The Dangerous Alliance. Borden would then go on to double Main Event Wrestle Mania 12 against Steve Austin, while World Champion, Shawn Michaels would face Bret Hart in an Iron Man Match. The show was a huge success, however, the WWF was still losing the ratings war.

The Team of Bischoff, Heyman & Shane McMahon, then came up with a huge idea. The brought over popular young WCW stars, Jean-Paul LeVesque and Kevin Nash, teamed them with Austin & Michaels and formed a group called the New World Order, or NWO for short. The plan was then for Hart to double-cross Blade and join them as well in a "take over" of the WWF. With Blade re-established as the top face and a hot heel invasion underway, the WWF pulled ahead of it's opponent, WCW.
The late '90's saw WCW fall into a bad slump and eventually sold to Jim Cornette, Jerry Lawler & Ric Flair, as the trio had worked a deal with Fox to move the company. The company then repositioned itself to take on the WWF.

But that is another story...

Amarillo, TX, is home to Hatter X, a wrestling fan for 25 of his 30 years. He enjoys pure wrestling, but its the edgy drama and quality storytelling that really frosts his donut. E-mail Hatter X at [email protected].

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