The Road Warriors: Best Team Ever Or Over Rated?

I think the Road Warriors were the best tag team ever because they were exciting and innovative. They headlined promotions, influenced guys like Sting, Ultimate Warrior, Demolition, and any other face paint wearing muscle-bound bad ass ever to put on a pair of tights, and were hugely over all around the world. They were the best tag team in the greatest era of tag team wrestling.

That said, I've heard two main lines of criticism regarding the Road Warriors. The weakest of these criticisms comes from WWF diehards who only know or care about the Warriors in their WWF incarnation, and don't give proper weight to the work done in their wrestling primes in Georgia, the AWA, the Mid-Atlantic, and Japan. If you view only the work done by LOD in the WWF, and regard the rest of their career as being done in some kind of minor leagues, I could see how you might think of the Road Warriors as being overrated. But you'd be wrong.

The other criticism is the "smart mark" argument that the Road Warriors were poor "workers" and that their exciting style consisted primarily of no-selling and power moves. I actually take this criticism more seriously, but ultimately I think it doesn't hold much merit. Yes the Road Warriors no-sold as part of their gimmick, but this was partly masterful ring psychology, and a big part of the reason audiences were so captivated by them. Having seen tons of Road Warrior matches, I don't get criticism of their in-ring skills. They flew around the ring with power and agility. Hawk off the top rope? Animal's 300 pound ass doing dropkicks? Check their work against the Midnight Express and 4 Horsemen for proof of their in-ring ability, selling, and story-telling. It takes good "work" by everyone involved for fans (in the kayfabe era, no less) to believe that either of those teams could hurt the Warriors and put them in jeopardy.

Overrated, but did a lot to help the company.

I agree 100% with everything said in this post.

I generally agree with what you're saying, except I would want a more detailed sense of what we're calling "pure wrestling talent." To me, this encompasses a lot of things. Are we talking about "shoot" wrestling ability, like the Steiners? The ability to string a series of moves together smoothly, in the style of a mat technician. High flying moves? Selling an opponent's offense (I'm sure you can find Hawk on youtube getting his ass beat like Ricky Morton)? I ask not to be simply rhetorical, but because I feel like power wrestling (done with speed and skill, not clumsily or plodding) is an underrated component of "wrestling ability."

Put a different way, I would argue that the Road Warriors' success was not just about their image or their promos. They were solid workers and compelling in the ring. I honestly think it diminishes their accomplishments to consider them all show and no go. It's not like they were Hogan or the Ultimate Warrior. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that the Road Warriors were marvels of technical wrestling, but I strongly resist the idea that their place in wrestling history is entirely based on image and charisma. Hell, a big chunk of their reputation was earned in the 80's NWA, which is widely reknowned for its great matches and stellar in-ring work.

Everybody has their own criteria for wrestling greatness. For me, it's at the intersection of charisma/image and in-ring performance (not limited to technical skill). A wrestler has to be able to get me interested and then put on a hell of a match. I'm old school, so I'm more likely to judge a match by kayfabe standards (did it look like a fun and convincing fight?), then I am to judge by modern, "how many moves did he do" standards. But making the fight look fun and convincing (the latter factor being why I rarely enjoy WWF/E matches) is an important part of wrestling "ability."

I would have to say during the 80's and 90's, The Road Warriors were the best wrestling tag team in their time, they pretty much dominated the tag team division.

The Road Warriors were a special breed. To me I see them as the Hulk Hogan of tag team wrestling. Are they the best technical wrestlers? No but they are the best entertainers. They were huge draws and put butts in the seats. However much like I consider singles wrestlers the Road Warriors fall 2nd in an all time greats list. I put the Steiner Brothers as #1 because not only can they draw well but they also have the in ring talent to go with it.

That's fine and dandy, except the Road Warriors used "Iron Man" as their theme in AWA.

" . . ."

They had the look. The charisma. The mic skills. The manager. The title wins. The intensity. The historic feuds (did they ever face Harlem Heat? That's the glaring omission in their track record). And they had the in-ring skills.

Calling them the Hulk Hogan of tag teams is a put down; the Road Warriors could go all out in the ring. Taking bumps, calling spots, chain wrestling, it was all there when the match was important. They're known for their squashes because that was their characters, but to say that they could not wrestle is just wrong. They were just more of Dusty Rhodes style wrestlers than a Ricky Steamboat. It was a gritty, rough, and smart NWA-style, which we don't see as often today.

Are they the greatest ever? Probably, because they were the first to revolutionize tag team wrestling. Ask me on any other day and I could possibly throw out Harlem Heat or The Hart Foundation, but for today I'm saying the Road Warriors.

LOL how is being called the Hulk Hogan of Tag Team wrestling a put down? Hogan is clearly the biggest name in wrestling of all time. No he wasnt physically gifted in every aspects but neither were the Road Warriors. They're matches were never botch free. Again, You have to put them in a different category of wrestling. Theres guys like Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Road Warriors, Sting who are big powerful average to above average workers then you have your all around guys like Flair, Steiner Bros, Brain Busters that could get in the ring and do it all.

I was going to post this exact sentence. As far as teams I like to watch, they wouldn't crack the top ten for me, but if I ranked teams as far as influence and money-making is concerned, they're #1.