The WFIA Tag Team of the Year Angle

One of the all time classic angles. Eddie Gilbert at his absolute best.

This is from sometime in late July, early August 1984. After Steve Kern and Stan Lane left Memphis, Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert were put together as the "New Fabulous Ones." Althought they had a pretty good feud with the likes of the PYTs, the gimmick just didn't work. And after Rich won a couple of singles title Eddie turned on "Wildfire" claiming Tommy had abandoned the team.

After the break up you have this angle. The WFIA awards Rich and Gilbert the tag team of the year award for 1984. What it turns into is one of the best angles ever done on television.

Gilbert, especially, must have been a fan of this as he used the exact same angle in 1986 with Bill Watts in the UWF and in 1988 with the Nightmares.

Please to enjoy.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• memphis
• wrestling
• wfia
• tommy
• rich
• eddie
• gilbert
• new
• fabulous
• ones

[mdhotstuff]

Good ole Lance Russel. The coolest announcer on the planet. Jim Ross would have been screaming. Thanks so much for showing this. I do hope some day to see clips of Rich and Gilbert as The Fabulous Ones. They are 2 of my all time favorites.

[popculturestu]

I've got a couple of their matches with the PYTs from earlier in '84 that I'll be posting shortly.

[cubeus19]

Man, look at all that blood on the floor, I mean that's terrible... but with the right kind of chips it's not! :')

[muta157]

I prefer watching HHH win every match like they do it now adays.

Yeah, right. This video show what a lost art form and just pure awesome pro wrestling can be when it's not sports entertainment.

[flipgood89]

@muta157 ....I see what you're saying, but its a different time now. There is wrestling pre-internet and wrestling after the internet. Once fans were let in on the secrets of pro-wrestling, the business was forever changed. Fans now argue about booking strategies and workrate, than the actual matches. That said, im not going to praise the Rich/Gilbert angle that much. Both Gilbert and Rich sliced and mutilated themselves for a silly angle. Wrestling was pretty gruesome and barbaric.

[muta157]

@flipgood89 Yes, a lost art to emotionally draw in the fan. Blood, brawling, believable. Today, it's just a show.

[flipgood89]

@muta157 ....a lost art?

[mankind2112]

Nobody could juice as good a Tommy Rich.

[kaneohe47]

Lance Russell sounds like the exasperated father of two mischievous sons.

[sammys70]

I can't but notice that most of the fans are cheering for Eddie Gilbert after he beat up Rich.

[bigD5172]

The mark on the right looks like Woody Harrelson.

[mamacornettesmoney]

@DaveInOCNJ 'Cause he was in Memphis. Probably the least "legit" of all the wrasslin promotions pre-WWF expansion. Seeing clips doesn't do him justice. To truly appreciate him you have to see him in the context of all the ridiculous, hokey stuff mixed in with the more realistic stuff. In other words, his style just fit the whacky, southern-fried promotion perfectly.

[danteras23]

Eddie Gilbert was such a great heel. Pure evil. He had a lot of moments like this. One of the best.

[MrKooldaddykool]

classic