They expected to face Savio Vega and Crush. They got PG-13. But it doesn't matter to the Road Warriors, who only have the WWF World tag team championship on their minds.
They thought they were getting the Nation of Domination's best, and so did everyone else in the crowd for the Raw is War broadcast in Newark, Delaware. The announcement was made early in the evening: The Legion of Doom would face the Nation of Domination in a tag match later in the card. And who would Hawk and Animal face? Most likely Savio Vega and Crush, at least if the Nation had any intention of winning the match.
As it turned out, this one was a gimme, because the Nation had no intention of offering a challenge or lifting the Legion's stature in the WWF. While the Road Warriors impatiently stood in the ring waiting for their opponents, Crush, Savio, Farooq, Wolfie D and Jc Ice stood on the ramp and sorted things out. And jaws dropped around the arena when Wolfie and Ice, the tag team known as PG-13, were told by other members of the group to make there ways to the ring.
Forced to go to the ring, actually.
Now, there's nothing really wrong with PG-13. The teams won 11 tag team championships in the USWA and was known as one of the toughest brawling tag team s on the independent circuit. But this was the WWF, and that was the Legion of Doom, who check in at a combined weight of 562 pounds, most of it muscle and all of it angry. Wolfie D and Jc Ice at a combined 471? Why, when Crush and Savio could at least compete with the Warriors at 572 pounds? That would be men against men. But this?
"It was like men against boys," Hawk growled. "a complete waste of our time. When we saw them coming down the aisle, Animal turned to me and said, 'Brother, is this a joke?' Yeah it was a joke. The Nation of Domination didn't have the guts to take us on. We wanted their men, they gave us their B team. Let me tell you something, if you're going to mess with us, don't challenge us with your little boys!"
The match was a rout from the opening bell. After overcoming their initial shock, Hawk and Animal tore into PG-13 with a ferocity approaching rage, as if they had been insulted by the very sight of Wolfie D and Jc Ice having the nerve to step into the ring with them. It's no wonder that when Farooq ordered Wolfie and Jc to wrestle, they looked like they had just been told to swim with a school of piranha.
The few offensive moves that PG-13 tried didn't work at all. At one point in the match, Animal said to Hawk, "Why don't we just forget these punks and go after the real stuff!"
Decided Hawk: "We'll take care of these punks now and those punks later."
Naturally, PG-13 didn't see it that way. They did their best, and that wasn't surprising. They have always been reckless competitors who get themselves into trouble by taking on too much. They love to go on the attack, but they sacrifice defense for the sake of offense. That's a foolhardy plan against a team like Hawk and Animal.
A small, smart team of mat wrestlers might have had a chance of overcoming the size disadvantage. PG-13 had no shot. Both members of the tag team were pinned simultaneously.
"They came after us like a couple of big men," Animal said. "I like their guts, but I don't think much of their strategy. They must've been crazy if they thought they would overpower us. Haven't they been watching us for the last 15 years?"
These days, who knows who's doing what in the Nation of Domination? The organization is on the verge of a total collapse and embarrassments like PG-13 vs. the Road Warriors will only accelerate it's demise. The Road Warriors don't really care. Their only goal is winning the WWF World tag team championship, and PG-13 represented nothing more then a little bump in the road, the kind that a bulldozing duo like the Road Warriors wouldn't even notice.
A stiffer challenge was the following week at Raw is War, when Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman-both former tag team champions-lost to the Road Warriors by DQ. That same night, Austin and Michaels defeated Owen and Davey Boy for the World tag team belts, ending a title reign that lasted about eight months.
That changed the Warrior's focus from Owen and Davey to Michaels and Austin, and they figure they have a big edge in at least one department.
"Michaels and Austin don't even like each other," Hawk growled. "They're bound to fall apart, and if they don't, we can take them. The only reason we didn't beat Hart and Smith is because they hid behind the DQ rule like a bunch of cowards. Michaels and Austin don't have teamwork to do that. They're going to try to take us on, and we're gonna throw then right back where they came from...without the belts.
"I'm not saying that Michaels and Austin aren't better than PG-13, but it doesn't matter. They're both going to fall to the Legion of Doom. It's just a matter of who falls harder."
PG-13 has that one by a mile. They have already moved onto the ECW, and are making a run at the tag team titles there. The Road Warriors have already forgotten they ever existed.