| Powers of Pain | |
|---|---|
 The Warlord andThe Barbarian in 2016 | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | The Barbarian The Warlord |
| Name(s) | Powers of Pain Super Assassins Super Destroyers |
| Billed heights | Barbarian: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Warlord: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Combined billed weight | 623 lb (283 kg; 44.5 st)[1] |
| Debut | 1987 |
ThePowers of Pain are aprofessional wrestlingtag team.
Paul Jones had previously managedThe Barbarian (Sione Vailahi) inNational Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) territories from 1985–1987, whileThe Warlord (Terry Szopinski) joined the NWA in late 1986, where he was managed byBaby Doll. Soon, The Warlord and Baby Doll left the NWA and went to the Central States area, where Jones was managing The Barbarian. A feud then took place between The Warlord and The Barbarian. Baby Doll soon stopped managing The Warlord, and The Warlord and The Barbarian stopped feuding. Jones then started to manage The Warlord as well and teamed him up with The Barbarian as the "Powers of Pain".[2] Later on Jones brought The Powers of Pain to the NWA in late 1987.
AfterPaul Jones and the Powers of Pain came to theNational Wrestling Alliance'sJim Crockett Promotions in late 1987, they were joined byIvan Koloff.
The Powers of Pain then beganfeuding withthe Road Warriors. During their feud, they attacked the Road Warriors during abench press contest between the two teams, rammingRoad Warrior Animal's head into a stack of weights.[3] A (legitimate) eye socket injury suffered byAnimal at the time was attributed inkayfabe to the Powers of Pain's actions. Later during their feud, the Powers of Pain won theWorld Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Ivan Koloff from the Warriors andDusty Rhodes.
They feuded for several more months until the Powers of Pain left the NWA while still the champions with Koloff when the Powers of Pain refused to doscaffold matches.[4] As a result, the Powers of Pain and Koloff were stripped of the titles. Jones would continue to use the "Powers of Pain" name for his stable in JCP even after Warlord and Barbarian debuted in the WWF under the name, but soon thereafter quietly dropped the name.
The Powers of Pain made their debut in a dark match (of which footage survives) at a TV taping on 18 June 1988 as a replacement for Strike Force in a WWF World Tag Team Championship match where they beat Demolition by count-out when the champions walked out.[5] Their televised debut was filmed later that evening and screened on the 16 July episode ofSuperstars where they defeatedenhancement talents"Iron" Mike Sharpe and Tony Ulysses.[6][5] Upon their arrival, the Powers of Pain werefaces managed byTito Santana.[7][8] They feuded with Demolition[1] who had defeatedStrike Force (Santana andRick Martel) for the title and then injured Martel (kayfabe). The Powers of Pain were introduced as mercenaries to help Martel and Santana gain revenge on Demolition for both the title loss and the injury to Martel. They had their first televisedrivalry againstThe Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff andBoris Zhukov). They defeated Bolsheviks in theirpay-per-view debut atthe inaugural SummerSlam, where they introduced their new managerThe Baron.[9] The Baron left the WWF in early November.
At theSurvivor Series, The Powers of Pain led a team of fan favorite tag teams against Demolition's team of villainous tag teams in aSurvivor Series match, during which adouble turn took place when Demolition's managerMr. Fuji turned on Demolition by causing them to get eliminated by count-out. The Powers of Pain afterwards came to Fuji's aid and thus becamevillains and Demolition became fan favorites. The Powers of Pain then eliminatedLos Conquistadores to win the match before Demolition returned to the ring to confront the Powers of Pain and Fuji. Following this, Demolition and the Powers of Pain (with Fuji now in their corner) engaged in a series of championship matches at house shows, typically ending in double disqualification or a narrow countout victory for the Powers of Pain. On 12 December episode ofPrime Time Wrestling, Fuji was confirmed as the new manager of The Powers of Pain. On 20 February episode ofPrime Time Wrestling, Powers of Pain received an opportunity for the Tag Team Championship against Demolition, which they lost via disqualification. AtWrestleMania V, Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji competed against Demolition for the title in ahandicap match, where Demolition retained the title by pinning Fuji.
Following their failure to win the titles, the Powers of Pain feuded with teams such asThe Hart Foundation (Bret Hart andJim Neidhart),The Bushwhackers (Luke andButch) andThe Rockers (Shawn Michaels andMarty Jannetty). At the1989 Survivor Series, they along withZeus were a part ofTed DiBiase's "Million Dollar Team", losing to the "Hulkamaniacs" team ofWWF World Heavyweight ChampionHulk Hogan,Jake "The Snake" Roberts and WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition. The Barbarian and The Warlord each eliminated members of Demolition, only to both be disqualified from the match for double teaming Hogan.
In March 1990, the team split,[10] with Mr. Fuji selling Barbarian's contract toBobby "The Brain" Heenan while selling Warlord's contract toSlick.[1] Their final match as The Powers of Pain came on March 25 inHershey, Pennsylvania when they were defeated by Hulk Hogan and theBig Boss Man, which strangely enough was their first pinfall loss in the WWF.[11]
They reunited in Japan atSuper World Sports on October 28, 1991 defeatingGeorge andShunji Takano. Although not officially reunited as a tandem, The Warlord and The Barbarian would team again on January 18, 1992 at ahouse show inBoston, Massachusetts, losing toThe New Foundation ("The Rocket" Owen Hart andJim "The Anvil" Neidhart).[12]
Upon returning to theindependent circuit, The Powers of Pain won theWWWA Tag Team Championship together on the independent circuit in the early 1990s before later debuting forWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) in November 1995. The team was put under masks as the "Super Assassins" and were managed byCol. Rob Parker. They only had five matches together (two wins overThe American Males and The State Patrol and losses toThe Nasty Boys[13] andSting and Lex Luger) before The Warlord left WCW due to injuries and retired in early 1996, while Barbarian stayed and formedThe Faces of Fear with former Heenan Family stablemateHaku, who by then went by the name, Meng.
They lost toThe Dream Team at the Road Warrior Hawk Memorial Show on November 11, 2003. They later reformed their team in 2005 for Gladiator Championship Wrestling (GCW). The Powers of Pain reunited on September 16, 2012, inChikara, taking part in agauntlet match, from which they eliminated their old WWF rivals, Demolition, before being eliminated themselves by1-2-3 Kid andMarty Jannetty.[14]
The Powers of Pain continue to wrestle occasionally, including schedule matches for Big Time Wrestling (BTW) in February 2016.[15]
They filmed ashoot interview in 2004 with RF Video and spoke about their careers.[16]
In 2008, they introduced anenergy drink in association with Gladiator Championship Wrestling.[16]