Or you'll meet your maker tonight"
The Moondogs were a Professional Wrestling Tag Team that started in WWF before making its home in Memphis. It started in 1981 with Moondog King (Ed White) and Moondog Rex (Randy Culley), until White was unable to enter the U.S. from Canada. As a result, they brought in Larry Booker to replace him as Moondog Spot. They had one run with the WWE World Tag Team Titles
, defeating Rick Martel and Tony Garea on March 7, 1981 and losing them back on July 21st. Rex and Spot then went down to Memphis, where they became pioneers of hardcore wrestling, with one wild, vicious brawl after another. Culley went back to WWE in 1987 to create Demolition, but he had to be replaced because too many of WWE's Northeastern fans recognized him under the face paint. Over time, the team came to include Moondog Spike (Bill Smithson), Moondog Cujo (Lanny Kean, aka WWE's Cousin Junior), Moondog Splat (Bill White), Moondog Rover (Paul McKnight) and many others.
Spot died of an in-ring heart attack on November 29, 2003. King died on August 26, 2005 due to injuries suffered in a car crash on December 2004. Cujo died of a heart attack on January 13, 2009. Spike died on March 21, 2013. Rex died on December 14, 2019.
In total, the Moondogs would hold the USWA World Tag Team Titles 16 times in different combinations. (4x Spot & Spike; 4x Spot & Splat; 2x Spike & Cujo; 2x Spot & Cujo; 3x Spot & Rex; 1x Spot & Rover). In 1992, The Wrestling Observer Newsletter and Pro Wrestling Illustrated both named the Spot/Cujo-Jerry Lawler/Jeff Jarrett feud "Feud of the Year."
"Moondog Tropes":
- Alliterative Name: One of Spot's other identities, Larry Latham.
- Animal Motif: Yeah, it was dogs.
- Arch-Enemy: The Fabulous Ones, Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett; (in SMW): the Bruise Brothers (Ron and Don Harris)
- Ax-Crazy: In Memphis, since their matches were almost always stiff, vicious weapons-filled brawls.
- Beard of Evil: Pretty much everyone except Fifi and Moonpuppy wore wild beards.
- Crazy Consumption: Spot tried to eat one of Jerry Lawler's crowns.
- Deep South: The whole team is associated with the Southern United states but come from all over. Spot actually is from Louisiana though and got his start in Monroe.
- Distaff Counterpart: Moondog Fifi, if a halfway example, there being no women's tag titles in their territory.
- Finishing Move: Backbreaker with top-rope elbow drop, which would become the finisher for Demolition.
- Food Fight: In the Concession Stand Brawls in Memphis.
- Garbage Wrestler: They became this in Memphis, being considered pioneers of hardcore wrestling due to their matches there becoming one wild, vicious brawl after another.
- I Have Many Names:
- Randy Colley/Moondog Rex ALONE is this. He was Demolition Smash, Deadeye Dick, Detroit Demolition, Assassin #3, Assassin #2, the Nightmare and the Black Scorpion.
- Ed White/Moondog King was also Sailor White, Big John Strongbo, Sailor Moondog White, Knuckles McKnight, the Wharf Rat and the Canadian Hit Man.
- Larry Booker/Moondog Spot was also Larry Latham.
- Lanny Kean/Moondog Cujo was also Cousin Junior, Bloody Ox Brody, Big Daddy Cyrus and King Harley Hogg.
- Bill Smithson/Moondog Spike was Hollywood Hippie in Tony Rumble's New England promotion ICW/IWCCW.
- Bill White/Moondog Splat was also Giant Goliath and Super Moondog.
- Moondog Fifi was Diane von Hoffman
- Implied Death Threat: On the January 18, 1992, episode of USWA Championship Wrestling, their manager Richard Lee brought a chair with him that read "RIP JEFF JARRETT.''
- Improbable Weapon User: Bones as clubs.
- Legacy Character: Moonpuppy was trained to carry on the legacy
- Mad Eye: The music video for them that aired on Memphis TV on August 6, 1983, set to a theme by manager Richard Lee, mentioned "the madness in their eyes."
- Oral Fixation: They would carry chewed up bones to the ring.
- Parts Unknown: They were billed from there.
- Power Stable:
- Rex and Spot were member of Jimmy Hart's the First Family in Memphis.
- Spot and Cujo were members of Cornette's Criminals in SMW.
- Ring Oldies: In the 1990s and beyond, excepting the occasional new member like Wenzel, Molsonn or puppy.
- Squash Match: Many. In Memphis, they would run in with weapons and just destroy their opponents in only a few minutes.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Moondog Spot replaced Moondog King in the WWWF when he was denied re-entry to the U.S. from Canada in 1981 after winning the Tag Team Championship with partner Moondog Rex.
- Tuckerization: The Moondogs were named for "Moondog" Lonnie Mayne.
- Villain Team-Up: Frequently with "Black Dog" Bungy Takada, especially against Jerry Lawler, Junkyard Dog or Koko B. Ware.
- Wild Hair: Not just on top of their heads but on their faces too.
