It's time to visit my old school roots with a thread about a random wrestler that no one ever talks about. In this case it will be a tag team. The mid to late 80s were the golden age of tag team wrestling. If I were to ask people to name some WWF teams from that time undoubtedly I would hear The Hart Foundation, British Bulldogs, Demolition, Rockers, etc. Now I admit they didn't have the success or longevity of those legendary teams but I always liked The Islanders.
In 1986 both King Tonga and The Tonga Kid looked to have some potential as babyface singles wrestlers. Late in the year they were renamed Haku and Tama to form The Islanders. It seemed like a good pairing and together they should have made for a pretty popular team. They kind of floated around the lower part of the card often getting lost in the shuffle. In the summer of 1987 The Islanders had a rare face vs. face match against Strike Force. During the match Bobby Heenan showed up at ringside out of the blue. Both teams were confused by Heenan's presence but when The Islanders uncharacteristically and violently attacked Strike Force it became clear Heenan was their in support of The Islanders and a new heel team was born. During that time being associated with Heenan immediately made a wrestler relevant. After feuding with Strike Force and making it to the end of a ten team elimination match in a losing effort at Survivor Series The Islanders entered into a feud with The British Bulldogs. Before a scheduled match The Islanders and Heenan kidnapped Matilda. This was the most memorable moment during The Islanders brief run and the feud culminated in a match at WrestleMania IV where The Islanders teamed up with Heenan to defeat The Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware. Shortly after WM4 Tama left the WWF and just like that The Islanders were done.
While Haku would go on to work for the WWF for a few more years Tama never did return. It's a shame because I thought The Islanders were a good team that had potential to put on some good matches. Haku did ok on his own and was a part of a couple more teams but I think he was best when teamed with Tama. The Islanders were a great combination of power and speed. We got to see The Islanders vs. The Young Stallions at the 1988 Royal Rumble and I remember them against The Killer Bees on Saturday Night's Main Event but they could have had better matches with teams higher in the pecking order. The story called for a six man tag at WM4 but I would have loved to have seen just Islanders vs. Bulldogs afterwords. I'm sure there's a 20 minute MSG match out there somewhere that WWE should put on the Network. I don't think there are any matches against The Hart Foundation though. That's too bad because I think they would have been great matches. The Harts turned face right after WM4 just as Tama was leaving the WWF. So close. Their best rivalry probably would have been with The Rockers. We missed that one by a couple months as The Rockers didn't debut until the summer of 1988. That would have been one of those underappreciated rivalries that could have lasted for months and would have always stolen the show. I can definitely picture that going to a time limit draw in MSG in 1988.
Given they did not last long and were around over 25 years ago I don't know how many will have an opinion on The Islanders, but if you do, please share. Do you think they were or could have been as good as I make them out to be or am I overrating them? I really wish they could have lasted just another year or so. I'm not saying the would have or should have been champions, but I would have loved to have seen matches vs. The Harts and The Rockers.
In 1986 both King Tonga and The Tonga Kid looked to have some potential as babyface singles wrestlers. Late in the year they were renamed Haku and Tama to form The Islanders. It seemed like a good pairing and together they should have made for a pretty popular team. They kind of floated around the lower part of the card often getting lost in the shuffle. In the summer of 1987 The Islanders had a rare face vs. face match against Strike Force. During the match Bobby Heenan showed up at ringside out of the blue. Both teams were confused by Heenan's presence but when The Islanders uncharacteristically and violently attacked Strike Force it became clear Heenan was their in support of The Islanders and a new heel team was born. During that time being associated with Heenan immediately made a wrestler relevant. After feuding with Strike Force and making it to the end of a ten team elimination match in a losing effort at Survivor Series The Islanders entered into a feud with The British Bulldogs. Before a scheduled match The Islanders and Heenan kidnapped Matilda. This was the most memorable moment during The Islanders brief run and the feud culminated in a match at WrestleMania IV where The Islanders teamed up with Heenan to defeat The Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware. Shortly after WM4 Tama left the WWF and just like that The Islanders were done.
While Haku would go on to work for the WWF for a few more years Tama never did return. It's a shame because I thought The Islanders were a good team that had potential to put on some good matches. Haku did ok on his own and was a part of a couple more teams but I think he was best when teamed with Tama. The Islanders were a great combination of power and speed. We got to see The Islanders vs. The Young Stallions at the 1988 Royal Rumble and I remember them against The Killer Bees on Saturday Night's Main Event but they could have had better matches with teams higher in the pecking order. The story called for a six man tag at WM4 but I would have loved to have seen just Islanders vs. Bulldogs afterwords. I'm sure there's a 20 minute MSG match out there somewhere that WWE should put on the Network. I don't think there are any matches against The Hart Foundation though. That's too bad because I think they would have been great matches. The Harts turned face right after WM4 just as Tama was leaving the WWF. So close. Their best rivalry probably would have been with The Rockers. We missed that one by a couple months as The Rockers didn't debut until the summer of 1988. That would have been one of those underappreciated rivalries that could have lasted for months and would have always stolen the show. I can definitely picture that going to a time limit draw in MSG in 1988.
Given they did not last long and were around over 25 years ago I don't know how many will have an opinion on The Islanders, but if you do, please share. Do you think they were or could have been as good as I make them out to be or am I overrating them? I really wish they could have lasted just another year or so. I'm not saying the would have or should have been champions, but I would have loved to have seen matches vs. The Harts and The Rockers.
