The Powers of Pain

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Mando]

After listening to the recent GWE podcast and hearing Will and Dylan making a case for being true to your own pro wrestling loves in your ballot and not worrying about kowtowing to popular opinion I had to at least toss out a nomination for the The Powers of Pain. For me they were quintessential late-'80's/early-'90's pro wrestling personified. It's hard to attribute why I always had a soft spot for them over Demolition and the Road Warriors, maybe I'm a sucker for the unloved underdog, but I always got excited seeing them bludgeon opponents. They'll land in my 25 for sure.

A friend got me a four-disc set of their oeuvre years ago. Besides the more widely seen stuff like WWF pay-per-view appearances, etc. there's lots of hidden gems on there worth seeking out:

- 5/14/88 vs. Road Warriors (NWA)
- 7/23/88 vs. Demolition (Philadelphia Spectrum)
- 8/13/88 vs. Bolsheviks (LA Sports Arena; I'd rate it a tick higher than their Summerslam bout 16 days later)
- 6/10/89 vs. Hart Foundation (Nassau)
- 10/28/89 vs. Bushwhackers (MSG)
- 1/15/90 vs Rockers (MSG; think this is still on YouTube, too)
- 10/30/04 vs. Animal & Rick Steiner
- 3/4/06 vs. Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton (SCW)
- 7/15/06 w/ Mad Man Pondo vs. Vampiro, Nosawa, & Violent J (JCW)
- 10/19/07 vs. Kamala & One Man Gang (Wrestle Fan Fest)

[jpchicago23]

I've always liked PoP as well. Barbarian makes the team for me, such a good high impact wrestler. The Rockers match in Jan 90 might be their best match

[Danish Dynamite]

I have a feeling that there was way more potential in them, than they ever got to show. Maybe if the gimmick hadn't so clearly had the Road Warriors look, they could have gone furrther. Maybe if they'd gone full Conan with the Barbarian and Warlord gimmick, instead of that weird facepaint, kinda like a couple of other teams but not really look... I'm all for face painted wrestlers, no problem. I like it no less than masks at least. But while they were in PoP they never looked like a barbarian and a warlord to me. Maybe a weird point :-) ... I do feel like they might actually have had more potential in ring, than their Demolition / Road Warriors counter parts. So other factors have been decisive for their career, and will be part of why they're not in my top25...