The Executioners (professional wrestling)

The Executioners is the name of several tag teams of masked wrestlers who wrestled in the World (Wide) Wrestling Federation.

The Executioners (1970s)

The Executioners
Tag team
Members Executioner #1
Executioner #2
Executioner #3
Name(s) The Executioners
Heights Executioner #1:
6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Executioner #2:
6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Executioner #3:
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Combined
weight		 755 lb (342 kg)
Debut 1976
Disbanded 1976
Years active 1976
Promotions WWWF

The first version of Executioners was founded by Executioner #1 who was a masked wrestler wrestling for World Wide Wrestling Federation. In 1976, he trained Executioner #2 and the two became a tag team in WWWF.

Together, the Executioners captured the WWWF Tag Team Championship on May 11, 1976 by defeating Louis Cerdan and Tony Parisi. Later, they were joined by a third masked wrestler who called himself Executioner #3 because he was the third member of the Executioners.

The Executioners were stripped of their titles on December 7 because Executioner #3 was used in a title defense against Chief Jay Strongbow and Billy White Wolf. A three-team tournament occurred on the same day and Executioner #3 unmasked himself under his real name Nikolai Volkoff.

Volkoff selected Tor Kamata as his partner and then The Executioners & Nikolai Volkoff and Tor Kamata were defeated by Chief Jay Strongbow and Billy White Wolf in the three-team tournament. Later, the team was abandoned when the Executioners went on their own way.

Championships and accomplishments

The Executioners (1980s-1990s)

The Executioners
Tag team
Members Duane Gill
Barry Hardy
Name(s) The Executioners
Lords of Darkness
Debut 1988
Disbanded December 20, 1993
Years active 1988-1993
Promotions WWF

There was also a second version of the Executioners and these were also masked wrestlers. These consisted of Duane Gill ("Pain") and Barry Hardy ("Agony") in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They both formed two tag teams The Executioners and Lords of Darkness.

Their teams were mainly jobbers who lost to tag teams. Their first popular match was against The Steiner Brothers on March 1, 1993 edition of WWF Monday Night RAW which they lost. After that match, they would lose to several tag teams in WWF. Their tag team ended in 1994.

Match history

Executioner Agony also was sometimes a jobber for singles wrestlers such as Lex Luger.

Championships and accomplishments

Singles wrestlers

Buddy Rose (1985)

Some wrestlers have portrayed The Executioner gimmick as singles wrestlers. One of the first singles wrestler to compete as The Executioner was Buddy Rose at WrestleMania I. It was the opening match of WrestleMania where Buddy Rose as The Executioner lost to Tito Santana after a Figure four leglock.

Terry Gordy (1996)

In 1996, another wrestler Terry Gordy, a WCCW legend who was also a part of the Fabulous Freebirds debuted in WWF on Buried Alive PPV as the masked Executioner. He attacked The Undertaker after Undertaker defeated Mankind in a Buried Alive match. He made another appearance at the 1996 Survivor Series as he saved Paul Bearer from The Undertaker following Taker's victory over Mankind. The Executioner made one wrestling appearance on Monday Night Raw on November 25, 1996 defeating Freddie Joe Floyd, this match was his last televised match before his match against The Undertaker at It's Time PPV. The match was an Armageddon Rules Match. He lost the match to The Undertaker when he couldn't answer the 10 count.

List of wrestlers who portrayed The Executioner

1976

1985

1993

1996

Others under The Executioner name

The Executioners were also portrayed by Terry Manton and Jerry Fazzio; their reign as six time Tag Champs in various federations lasted from 1986-2002. During this period, The Executioners defeated monumental tag teams, such as the Wild Samoans, the Fantastics, and the Oaks Brothers. Jerry Fazzio continued to wrestle under the alias Executioner 1 from 2002 on to 2013.

External links