BRIAN ADAMS
Real Name: Brian Adams
Alias: "Crush"
The arrival of Bryan Adams in the New World Order marked
yet another top talent to the organization, for he is a man with a relatively
short but colorful career in the wrestling business thus far...the man
now known to wrestling fans as Bryan Adams is most noted to date for his
past accomplishments in the World Wrestling Federation, and under the name
of "Crush", Adams has undergone many different personas which have left
fans wondering who this man really is...first surfaced in the WWF as the
third member of Demolition with Ax (Bill Eadie) and Smash (Barry Darsow),
and joined the team due to Ax's health problems...often defended the team's
WWF World Tag Team Title during Demolition's third title reign with Smash,
though Crush never won the belt as part of the team...later replaced Ax
completely after Ax retired due to age and injuries, though unfortunately,
the team never enjoyed the same level of popularity after that...Crush
and Smash lost the WWF tag titles to the Hart Foundation on 8/27/90 in
Philadelphia, PA...the duo never managed to regain the titles in rematches...feuded
with the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) upon the LOD's entrance in the
WWF, and the duo soundly defeated Demolition in several matches across
the country...Demolition had often been called an imitation of the Road
Warriors and the team split up shortly after the Demolition/LOD feud ended...Crush
later resurfaced in the WWF with a different gimmick though he kept the
same name...Crush's new gimmick was that of a superhero-type character,
who as a kid dreamed of being big and strong so that he could "crush" the
bad guys...announced as being from Kona, Hawaii, Crush wore a brightly
colored costume and actually squeezed the heads of his opponents into submission
as his signature move...the gimmick failed to go over with the fans and
Crush soon turned heel, though that didn't work either...Crush soon left
the WWF and disappeared from the wrestling scene for quite some time...it
is after this departure from wrestling that Bryan Adams seemingly went
on a downslide...was reportedly arrested on drug possession charges and
was jailed...this fact was interestingly incorporated into his new gimmick
upon his return to the WWF in 1996...was brought in as a shady, renegade-type
outlaw character under the guidance of Clarence Mason, and later joined
the Nation of Domination along with Mason since he lacked a significant
push...at the time, the NOD was an assemblance of WWF rejects who couldn't
get over with the fans on their own...NOD leader Farooq kicked Crush out
of the group along with Mason and Savio Vega when the group was retooled
to include only African-Americans...angry over his dismissal, Crush formed
a new team called the Disciples of Apocalypse with three new wrestlers
to the WWF, Skull, 8-Ball and Chainz...upon the team's debut the three
often rode motorcycles to the ring, and the DOA feuded with the new Nation
of Domination in addition to Savio Vega's new team, Los Bariquas...this
three-team feud was controversial at the time because of its racial overtones;
since an all-white team (DOA), an all-black team (NOD), and an all-Hispanic
team (Bariquas) were all against each other...unfortunately, Crush and
his new team did not accomplish much at all in the WWF beyond this feud...Bryan
Adams finally left the his Crush character behind in early 1997 after the
WWF's Survivor Series, reportedly because of the controversy regarding
Vince McMahon and Bret Hart which led to Hart's departure. Adams, outraged
at McMahon for his actions against Hart, was one of the few men who actually
left the WWF in protest, leaving the DOA to carry on without him...Bryan
Adams signed with World Championship Wrestling and appeared on WCW Monday
Nitro on 2/16/98, and walked to ringside during an interview with Bret
Hart...Adams said "you have a friend in this business" and offered to shake
Hart's hand after offering him assistance against the New World Order,
and as Hart looked to the crowd to shake his hand Adams attacked him, taking
off his jacket to reveal an NWO t-shirt...the rest of the NWO then ran
to ringside to attack Hart...Hart would get his revenge however, as he
defeated Adams two weeks later on Nitro (the match marked the Nitro wrestling
debuts of both men)...despite the loss, Adams' addition to the NWO is a
significant one, since his size, talent and experience will certainly prove
to be valuable assets to the organization.
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