When The WWF Got Nastisized

In late 1990, Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags competed in a tag team match agains the Steiner Brothers at Halloween Havoc for World Championship Wrestling. They put on a good showing against the popular tag team, so much so that they bailed on WCW and headed North to the World Wrestling Federation where they would have an up and down tenure.

The Nasty Boys arrived to the WWF in January and quickly showed they were serious business by winning a feud with the Bushwhackers in a rather convincing manner. On the February 16th edition of WWF Superstars, they became the number one contenders to the WWF World Tag Team Championships thanks to Power & Glory eliminating the Legion of Doom to allow the Nasty Boys to win a seven team battle royal. Knobbs and Sags would get their first tag team title shot at WrestleMania VII.

Prior to their showdown, the Nasty Boys worked with the Rockers and prevailed in most of the encounters with their losses only being due to disqualification. A week before WrestleMania the Nasty Boys lost to the Hart Foundation in Richfield, OH.

It was evident that the Nasty Boys were being promoted as the new heel tag team moving forward and they rose to the top of the tag team division when they won the WWF World Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania by defeating the Hart Foundation in just over twelve minutes. The victory would be the first and only title reign for the Nasty Boys.

Their first title defense would be against the Bushwhackers at Saturday Night’s Main Event as they worked with the duo for several months after their title victory. They also fought the Rockers on the May 4th edition of WWF Superstars but lost by disqualification. At this point, it was clear that the Legion of Doom were the next challengers for the WWF World Tag Team Championships.

For the next three months the Legion of Doom dominated their feud with the Nasty Boys leading to Hawk and Animal winning the WWF World Tag Team Championships at SummerSlam on August 26th. The rise of the Nasty Boys was over with and they would tumble down the card in a rather quick fashion.

During their reign the team of Earthquake and Typhoon formed and they were known as the Natural Disaster. The duo would be promoted as a devastating tag team for the closing months in ’91 effectively putting the Nasty Boys on the back burner.

To close out 1991 the Nasty Boys were regularly losing to the Legion of Doom in title matches while picking up victories over the Bushwhackers and the Rockers to keep them a credible tag team.

Early on in 1992, the Nasty Boys had a series of matches with Jim Duggan and Sgt. Slaughter with the Nasties unable to get a tag victory over the new tag team on the house show market. They would square off at WrestleMania VIII in an eight man tag match. Nasty Boys came out on the losing team with Repo Man and the Mountie while Duggan and Slaughter teamed with Big Bossman and Virgil in the victory.

For most of the summer, the Nasty Boys competed in a feud with High Energy. The feud didn’t get much airtime and mainly happened on the house show circuit. Knobbs and Sags didn’t win a lot of matches against Owern Hart and Koko B. Ware continuing their downward spiral. They would wrestle on the SummerSlam pay per view teaming with the Mountie in a losing effort against Jim Duggan and the Bushwhackers.

Over the fall of 1992 the Nasty Boys would change from being hated heels to fan favorites. It started when Jimmy Hart wouldn’t commit to either the Nasty Boys or Money Inc. to get a WWF World Tag Team Championship match against the Natural Disasters. Eventually, Jimmy Hart sided with Ted DiBiase and IRS. That didn’t sit well with the Nasty Boys and that sparked a feud between the two teams. DiBiase and IRS won the WWF World Tag Team Championships from the Natural Disasters on the November 1st edition of WWF Superstars.

As a result of being overlooked, the Nasty Boys chased after DiBiase and IRS for the titles but it never amounted to a title match on television or pay per view. They were booked to get a title shot at WrestleMania IX but instead they willingly gave their shot up to Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake so the duo could get revenge on Money Inc. for their attacks on Beefcake earlier in the year.

After a brief TV feud with the Headshrinkers, the Nasty Boys left the WWF and returned to WCW where they continued to team until late 1996. They also teamed in TNA in 2010, but that run didn’t last long.

What are your memories of the Nasty Boys and their run in the World Wrestling Federation? Would you have rather to have seen them wrestle Money Inc. at WrestleMania?

Leave your thoughts below.

Thanks for reading.