Hollywood Blonds

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The Hollywood Blonds is a name used by several professional wrestling tag teams over the years.

The original Blonds were Buddy Roberts and Jerry Brown, who used the name in the 1970s. Rip Rogers and Ted Oates wrestled as The Hollywood Blonds in the mid-1980s in the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). The name was also adopted by "Pretty Boy" Larry Sharpe and "Dynamite" Jack Evans, who had a stint in then World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). The most well-known team to use the "Hollywood Blonds" moniker was "Stunning" Steve Austin and "Flyin" Brian Pillman who used the name as a heel tag team in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1992 and 1993 and is often mentioned when talking about great tag teams.[1]

Buddy Roberts and Jerry Brown

The Hollywood Blonds V1
Buddy Roberts
Jerry Brown
Billed heightsRoberts:
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Brown:
Unknown
Billed fromHollywood, California
Debut1970
Disbanded1977

The team of Buddy Roberts (billed as "Dale Roberts") and Jerry Brown were the first to adopt the name "The Hollywood Blonds" in wrestling when they began teaming together in 1970 in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Tri-State territory (NWA Tri State promoted in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi).

The two quickly became one of the top heel acts in the territory with their "Hollywood superstar" arrogance and cheating ways.[1] On May 8, 1970, the Blonds won their first title when they won a tournament to crown new NWA United States Tag Team Champions (Tri State version). Their first run with the title was short as Luke Brown and Danny Hodge defeated them three weeks later, but the Blonds managed to regain the gold days after being defeated by them. For the rest of 1970, Roberts and Brown dominated the Tri State tag team scene until losing to Bill Watts and Billy Red Lyons in January 1971.[2] In early 1973, the Blonds became three-time NWA United States Tag Team Champions by defeating Dennis Stamp and Bull Bullinski for the titles. The Blonds held on to the titles until sometime in April, when they lost the gold to Rip Tyler and Eddie Sullivan before leaving the promotion by mid-1973.[1][2]

After leaving the Tri State area, Roberts and Brown next popped up in Florida working for

Nagoya, Japan saw the Blonds win the North American Tag Team titles on September 22. On October 2, Inoki and Sakaguchi regained the titles and they became more or less exclusive to NJPW after that date.[2]

When the Blonds' time in Los Angeles ended near the end of 1975, they returned to the Tri State promotion and immediately targeted the United States Tag Team championship. On March 18, 1976, the duo defeated

Bob Ellis and Jim Garvin for the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship on July 25. The Blonds lost the titles to Norvell Austin and Pat Barrett on August 15. After holding the titles two more times, the team lost them for good to Austin and Barrett on September 25, 1977.[2]

Shortly after losing the Southern Tag Team titles, Brown and Roberts split up, with Roberts going on to form

The Fabulous Freebirds with Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes while Brown kept working as a singles wrestler mainly in the south.[1]

Rip Rogers and Ted Oates

The Hollywood Blonds V2
Tag team
MembersRip Rogers
Ted Oates
Billed fromHollywood, California
Debut1984
Disbanded1984

In 1984, Rip Rogers and Ted Oates adopted the Hollywood Blonds moniker and "Superstar" gimmick for a run in the NWA's Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling territory. Rogers had previously teamed up with Gary Royal and Pez Whatley in a Hollywood Blonds inspired team known as The Convertible Blondes in Angelo Poffo's International Championship Wrestling (ICW).[1]

The arrogant

The Lightning Express (Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner) on November 1.[2]
Not long after losing the titles, Rogers and Oates split up when Rip Rogers left the area to pursue a singles career.

Dusty Wolfe and Ken Timbs

The Hollywood Blonds V3
Tag team
MembersDusty Wolfe
Ken Timbs
Billed fromHollywood, California
Debut1984
Disbanded1984

From August till October 1984, Dusty Wolfe and Ken Timbs formed The Hollywood Blondes in Florida.[3]

Steve Austin and Brian Pillman

The Hollywood Blonds V4
Tag team
MembersSteve Austin
Brian Pillman
Billed heightsAustin:
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Pillman:
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Combined
billed weight		480 lb (220 kg; 34 st)
Billed fromHollywood, California
DebutJanuary 2, 1992
DisbandedOctober 30, 1993

The version of The Hollywood Blonds with the greatest exposure worldwide was the

NWA world title, and told Pillman he should instead team with Austin. However, the real reason for the team's reunion was that the WCW bookers didn't have any other immediate plans for Austin.[6]

At first, the two were just billed as "Stunning" Steve and "Flyin'" Brian, but the two (with input from Scotty "Flamingo" Levy) came up with the idea of The Hollywood Blonds, complete with matching trunks and vests.[7] The duo was immediately thrust into a feud with Shane Douglas and Ricky Steamboat over the NWA and WCW World Tag Team titles, which gave the duo a chance to show off their teamwork and their trademark "mock filming" pose that they invented. After a successful move, one of the Blonds would move his hands like he was turning the handle on an old film camera. After winning a match, Austin or Pillman would arrogantly state that "Your brush with greatness is over" to further annoy the fans. Austin and Pillman made their pay-per-view (PPV) debut on February 21, 1993 taking on Buff Bagwell and Erik Watts at SuperBrawl III, which Austin and Pillman won the match.

On the March 27, 1993 episode of

Slamboree.[1] However, by the time Slamboree came about, Douglas had been fired by WCW and Steamboat was without a partner. Instead of canceling the already announced steel cage match, Tom Zenk was made to wear the mask of "Hombre Uno" and work the match without anyone realizing it wasn't Douglas under the red and green hood.[1] The Blonds won at Slamboree, thus ending the "Dos Hombres" angle.[9]

After the feud with Steamboat and Douglas ended, the Blonds were programmed with the recently reformed

Clash of the Champions XXIII, where Flair and Anderson challenged the Blonds for the tag team titles. Despite winning the two out of three falls match, they did not win the titles since the Blonds were disqualified after Barry Windham interfered.[11]

Windham's attack shifted Flair's focus away from the Hollywood Blonds, which in turn meant that Arn Anderson needed a new tag team partner. Not long after the Clash, Paul Roma was introduced as the fourth Horseman and would team with Anderson in the Horsemen/Blonds feud. On July 18, at

Clash of the Champions XXIV. However, due to WCW taping policies, Arn Anderson and Paul Roma had already been taped as the World Tag Team Champions so the title change had to happen despite Pillman being injured. Austin teamed with "Lord" Steven Regal at the Clash where they dropped the titles to Roma and Anderson.[13]

As soon as the Blonds dropped the titles, the team was again temporarily split up. Austin and Pillman both claimed that it was for political reasons. Austin was given a singles push challenging

Dustin Rhodes for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. After Pillman finally recovered, he and Austin had a few more matches together taking on teams such as Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio, Scorpio and Ron Simmons,[14] Simmons and Ice Train,[15] and jobber tag team Frankie Rowe and Jimmy Rogers.[16] The Blonds also confronted The Nasty Boys and Missy Hyatt during an interview after The Nasty Boys had won the titles from Anderson and Roma. The Blonds' last match as a team took place on the October 30, 1993 episode of Saturday Night. After the Blonds had defeated a jobber tag team, Col. Rob Parker (who had just become Austin's new manager) came to ringside to congratulate Austin (and not Pillman) on winning the match. Pillman took exception to Parker snubbing him. Parker brought up Pillman's bad leg and said if he was a race horse
, he would put him down. Pillman attacked Parker, which in turn led to Austin attacking and turning on Pillman, turning Pillman face and breaking up the Hollywood Blonds for the third and final time. The Austin/Pillman feud was never pushed intensely and at times played more for comedy than emotion, a fact underscored by Pillman being more interested in putting Parker in a
chicken suit
than getting back at Austin.

They would briefly reunite in the WWF in 1996, but not as the Blonds. Austin by then was using his new "Stone Cold" persona, and an injured Pillman was "The Loose Cannon" and acted primarily as his sidekick, until Austin turned on Pillman[17] for showing his admiration for Austin's nemesis, Bret Hart.

According to WrestlingData.com, a compiler of available win–loss records, The Hollywood Blonds are perfectly balanced at 52-52, with 8 draws.[18]

In 1999,

The West Hollywood Blondes
as a play off the old name.

Championships and accomplishments

Roberts and Brown

Rogers and Oates

Austin and Pillman

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  3. ^ The Hollywood Blondes (Wolfe and Timbs) from WrestlingData.com
  4. ^ Pro Wrestling illustrated, PWI 500 4th edition December 1994 issue, Steve Austin bio, p.35.
  5. ^ "WCW Starrcade Results (1992)". prowrestlinghistory.com. 1992-12-28. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  6. ^ a b Steve Austin (2006-09-26). Brian Pillman: Loose Cannon (DVD). Hartford, Connecticut: WWE Home Video.
  7. ISBN 0-7434-7720-0
    .
  8. ^ The Hollywood Blondes winning the World Tag Team Titles, WCW 1993, retrieved 2021-05-07
  9. ^ "WCW Slamboree Results (1993)". prowrestlinghistory.com. 1993-05-23. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  10. ^ WCW Saturday 1993 - Hollywood Blonds Calling Out The Four Horsemen, archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2021-05-14
  11. ^ "WCW Clash of the Champions Results (23)". prowrestlinghistory.com. June 16, 1993. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  12. ^ Graham Cawthon (July 18, 1993). "WCW Show Results 1993". Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  13. ^ "WCW Clash of the Champions Results (24)". prowrestlinghistory.com. 1993-08-18. Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  14. ^ The Hollywood Blondes vs 2 Cold Scorpio and Ron Simmons, WCW 1993, retrieved 2021-07-11
  15. ^ The Hollywood Blondes vs Ice Train and Ron Simmons, WCW 1993, retrieved 2021-11-15
  16. ^ The Hollywood Blondes vs jobbers Frankie Rowe and Jimmy Rogers, September WCW 1993, retrieved 2021-07-22
  17. ^ Steve Austin attacks Brian Pillman and then invades his house entire segment, WWF 1996, retrieved 2021-11-15
  18. ^ Match history of The Hollywood Blonds, from WrestlingData.com
  19. ^ Grand Prix Wrestling Tag Team Title history
  20. ^ Hoops, Brian (January 17, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/17): Vader wins IWGP heavyweight title". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
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