| The Headbangers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | Mosh Thrasher |
| Name(s) | The Flying Nuns The Guardians of Truth The Headbangers The Sisters of Love The Spiders |
| Combined billed weight | 488 lb (221 kg)[1] |
| Hometown | Monastery in the Himalayas,New Jersey |
| Debut | 1994[2] |
| Years active | 1994–2000 2011–present |
The Headbangers are aprofessional wrestlingtag team consisting ofMosh (Charles Warrington) andThrasher (Glenn Ruth). They are currently signed to WWE as ambassadors.
As the name of the team implies, theirgimmick is that they are a pair ofmetalheads, complete withheavy metal related T-shirts, kilts, piercings, goatees, shaved heads, and blackface paint.
They were both trained byLarry Sharpe in New Jersey in the early 1990s. Warrington and Ruth teamed up in 1994 as the Spiders in their home state, New Jersey, for theNational Wrestling Alliance. They made anEastern Championship Wrestling appearance in June 1994, losing toThe Bad Breed (Axl andIan Rotten). Also they worked forUnited States Wrestling Association (USWA) feuding with the Rottens andThe Eliminators. They had a brief stint in Dallas for the NWA in 1995. Later that year they moved down to Tennessee inSmoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW). It was there that they changed their gimmicks to the Headbangers. Their slogan was "Real men wear skirts." During their time in SMW, they feuded with TheRock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton andRobert Gibson) andThe Thugs (Tracy Smothers andTony Anthony), and later sided withJim Cornette andTerry Gordy in their feud withBrad Armstrong over theSMW Heavyweight Championship. By the end of the year, SMW folded and they returned toUnited States Wrestling Association. In December 1995, they debuted as jobbers in the WWF as the Spiders, the Arachnoids, and even used their real names. On an episode ofMonday Night Raw they got a World Tag Team Title shot against the Smoking Gunns. Afterwards, they continued working for the USWA and theindependent circuit.
The team debuted on WWF television on the November 24, 1996 episode ofSuperstars under their Headbangers gimmick defeatingAlex Porteau andAldo Montoya. Shortly after that, they began wearingnuns' clothing and billed as the Flying Nuns (a play on thetelevision show of the same name), Sister Angelica and Mother Smucker. They were also humorously billed as hailing from a monastery in the Himalayas. On an episode ofShotgun Saturday Night,Brother Love showed up to manage the Nuns. After the Nuns defeatedThe Godwinns, Love renamed them the Sisters of Love.[3] The gimmick was short-lived, but they kept the skirts when they returned to being The Headbangers in January 1997.[3][4] They later had T-shirts with the phrase "Real men wear skirts" and occasionally woresports bras over their shirts.[5] The duo often carried aboombox to the ring, and on one occasion, Moshvomited during aninterview.[3]
Throughout 1997, The Headbangers (who wereTweeners),feuded with The Godwinns, as well asDoug Furnas andPhil Lafon, often finding themselves on the losing end. They facedThe Legion of Doom during their surprise return match on February 24 to a doublecountout. AtWrestleMania 13, The Headbangers won afour-way elimination match for a shot at theWWF Tag Team Championship. The team was seen onNew York'sWABC-TV in June, which re-aired on WWF programming.
The Headbangers won the vacant Tag Team title atGround Zero: In Your House after Mosh pinnedOwen Hart, thanks torun-in interference bySteve Austin.[6][7][8] Mosh and Thrasher would lose the titles to the Godwinns atBadd Blood: In Your House in October. They facedThe New Age Outlaws in their debut match as a team on October 20 and frequently challenged them into the following the year for the Tag Team title.
The two are seen backstage playing withBret Hart's son, Blade, in the1998documentary filmHitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows. The footage depicts events from the previous year.
Both Mosh and Thrasher entered the1998 Royal Rumble and both lasted over 10 minutes before Mosh was eliminated byKurrgan and Thrasher by Steve Austin.[9] On February 17, 1998, The Headbangers won theNWA World Tag Team Championship fromThe Rock 'n' Roll Express, which aired on the February 23 edition of Raw Is War. They lost the belts the following month toThe Midnight Express. They feuded withThe Quebecers and theOddities throughout the year and become the firstMaryland Championship Wrestling Tag Team Champions on August 18 defeating Jimmy Cicero and Julio Sanchez in the finals of a tournament.[10]
The Headbangers were both meant to compete in the1999 Royal Rumble, but Thrasher suffered a (legitimate) knee injury and was shelved while Mosh was (kayfabe) attacked backstage byViscera as a way to write both men off television. While Thrasher was injured, Mosh would be repackaged as Beaver Cleavage and then Chaz, performed in singles competition and began having problems with his on-screen girlfriend,Marianna Komlos.[11] He waskayfabe arrested on an episode ofSunday Night Heat in September after Komlos claimed hehit her.[2][11] After Chaz's match on October 5, Glenn Ruth (Thrasher) showed GTV footage of Mariana applying makeup to create the effect of wounds.[2][12] This proved her accusations false, and The Headbangers subsequently reunited. They then took on a gimmick where they dressed as the opponents that they feuded with, such as theDudley Boyz andMean Street Posse. The duo later turned heel and began to dress indrag, which included wearing breast cones.
Mosh entered in the2000 Royal Rumble alone eliminated byRikishi;[13] however, The Headbangers continued performing in tag team and singles matches.[14] Both men participated in theHardcorebattle royal atWrestleMania 2000 where Thrasher held the title for43 seconds defeatingJoey Abs.[15][16] The team continued battling the likes ofToo Cool andT & A until July 2000.[14] After being together for six long years, they separated, and Mosh joinedD'Lo Brown as Chaz to form Lo Down.[17] Thrasher focused on his singles career and was taken off WWF TV and the main roster later that month.
Glenn Ruth was released from the WWF in December 2000, after working several months in their developmental territoryPower Pro Wrestling in Memphis, and Charles Warrington was released from the WWF in August 2001.
Years after their departure from the company, The Headbangers have borne the brunt of criticism byWWE media. One example can be found in a 2007 article inWWE Magazine about the history of WWE champions. The article criticized wrestlers who are considered not worthy of winning a belt they held. The Headbangers were included in this article for their supposedly poorTag Team Championship reign.[18] The article suggested that the team had the titles by default since it was "in between the eras ofThe Smoking Gunns and theNew Age Outlaws."
WWE'sRaw 15th Anniversary magazine also includes a list of 15 superstars who "overstayed" their welcomes in the company. This has The Headbangers at #2, behind onlyScott Steiner.[19] However, in 2010 WWE added the team to their "Where Are They Now?" section of WWE.com.[20]
Mosh and Thrasher reunited on the independent circuit in 2011. They are members of theNWA Ring Warriors roster. They wrestled forJuggalo Championship Wrestling multiple times. On August 12, 2011, The Headbangers were in the battle royal won byZach Gowen. On December 17, 2011, The Headbangers defeated Necro Butcher and Mad Man Pondo. December 31, 2011, The Headbangers lost to Shockwave The Robot and 2 Tuff Tony. The Headbangers then lost two ten-man tag team matches while teaming with Bull Pain, Jake Manning and Colt Cabana.[21]
Mosh and Thrasher appeared on theRing of Honorpay-per-viewBest in the World on June 24, 2012 as the masked tag team Guardians of Truth, managed by theTruth Martini. They lost to theBriscoe Brothers. Later on, the two would unmask themselves and go on to compete as The Headbangers. They then competed on the Independent Circuit. In March 2013, both Headbangers were present during aWWE Smackdown taping. On June 18, 2013, The Headbangers defeated The South Side Playaz Club (Craig Steele and Joe Hardway) at PWS Dream on 6th Anniversary iPPV.
The Headbangers made their debut for Championship Wrestling Entertainment (CWE) competing in a triple threat match at Wrestlefest 2015. In 2016 they made their debut for Fighting Evolution Wrestling. On March 31, 2017 they defeatedCryme Tyme at Fighting Evolution Wrestling in Orlando, Florida. Later that same year they went Australia to wrestle for World Series Wrestling and feuded withThe Basso Brothers.
In October 2023, the Headbangers appeared on theNWA pay-per-viewSamhain, losing a tag match to The Southern 6 (Kerry Morton and Alex Taylor).[22]
The duo made their first appearance as a team in WWE since 2000 on the August 30, 2016 episode ofSmackDown Live as heels and participants of theSmackDown Tag Team Championship tournament, losing againstHeath Slater andRhyno in the first round.[23] They returned on the November 1 episode ofSmackDown, losing toThe Usos in aSurvivor Series qualifying match. Then they were seen again on the November 15 900th episode ofSmackDown, teaming with other heel tag teams.