10 Things WWE Fans Should Know About The Classic Tag Team The Killer Bees

Lasting from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, the Golden Era of WWE boasted an impressive tag team scene, with notable teams including the Hart Foundation, the British Bulldogs, the Rockers, the Brain Busters, and more. Then there’s the Killer Bees, who were a fan favorite tag composed of “Jumping" Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair, but are sadly forgotten among other fans.

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The Bees stuck around in WWE as a duo from 1985 to 1988, which isn’t an incredibly long time but there’s still a lot to discuss about Blair and Brunzell’s time together. Let’s take a look at the Killer Bees and what fans should know about them, including the surprising origin of their name.

10 Suggested By Hulk Hogan

The Killer Bees were a result of WWE’s national expansion, which involved hiring wrestlers from all over the North American wrestling scene, but they were not partners prior to WWE. Rather, B. Brian Blair performed in the Florida territory while Jim Brunzell was best known for being one half of the High Flyers with Greg Gagne in the American Wrestling Association. At the time, Blair was set to compete as a singles star, but at the time Vince McMahon was reportedly looking to build up the tag team division, and Hulk Hogan suggested that he pair Blair and Brunzell.

9 Inspired By The Miami Dolphins

Once they were paired together, WWE booker George Scott tasked Blair and Brunzell to come up with a name for their tag team. In an interview on Lanny Poffo’s podcast, Blair revealed the story behind the Killer Bees’ name, which had nothing to do with insects and everything to do with American football. Blair remembered that the linebackers of the 1972 Miami Dolphins — their legendary undefeated season — were nicknamed the Killer Bees because all of their last names started with the letter B.

8 Lanny Poffo “Invented” Their Look

As Blair and Brunzell pitched the Killer Bees name to George Scott — who immediately relayed it to Vince McMahon — there was one one person in the room: “Leaping” Lanny Poffo, who was quietly sitting in the corner. Once Scott returned to announce McMahon’s sign-off on the idea, it was Poffo who made a major contribution to their gimmick.

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In response to Vince’s approval, Poffo reached into his bag and pulled out two pairs of trunks with yellow and black stripes that he happened to have, which he gave to the newly dubbed Killer Bees to solidify their signature look.

7 “Masked Confusion”

Golden Era WWE fans remember The Killer Bees for one particular trick, which they dubbed “masked confusion.” At some point during a match, Blair and Brunzell would put on masks and switch places to confuse the referee as well as the opponents and gain an advantage, despite that seeming like a total heel move. It’s a gimmick more recently used by the Bella Twins, but the Bees didn’t invent it, either. Former wrestler turned WWE announcer and interview Billy Red Lyons used it during his career, and suggested the Killer Bees adopt it.

6 Feuded With The Hart Foundation

After debuting in the summer of 1985 and enjoying victories over various tag teams composed of jobbers, the Killer Bees entered a lengthy feud with Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart, otherwise known as the Hart Foundation. The two teams ended up having amazing chemistry, with the Bees being great babyfaces and the Foundation proving to be amazing heels. Countless great matches ensued in the years that followed, including a victory over the Foundation for the Bees on a November 1986 episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event.

5 Competed At Multiple WrestleManias

As a popular babyface tag team in the 1980s, it was all but guaranteed that the Killer Bees would have some matches at the newly created annual extravaganza WrestleMania. Curiously, however, they would only have three ‘Mania matches, two of which were battles royal. Their first would be WWE & NFL Battle Royal at WrestleMania 2, with their last being at WrestleMania 4. Between those two are the only actual tag team match that they had at ‘Mania, losing to Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik by disqualification at WrestleMania 3.

4 Never Won The WWE Tag Team Championship

Despite their popularity, the Killer Bees were actually never able to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship, but not for lack of trying. On the house show circuit, Blair and Brunzell had myriad title shots at the Hart Foundation and Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine), but victory always eluded them. Of their various title bouts, only three were televised: one against the Dream Team and two against the Hart Foundation.

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Eventually, that would be a source of tension between the Killer Bees and management, with WWE reportedly promising to put the Tag Title on Blair and Brunzell on multiple occasions. Eventually the frustration would take its toll, and B. Brian Blair would depart WWE in 1988.

3 May Have Turned Heel At A House Show

While the Killer Bees were babyfaces, was an incident at a 1988 Philadelphia show that aired on the regional PRISM Network that suggested a heel turn for Blair and Brunzell. It was during the main event — a Lumberjack match between Hulk Hogan and Ted DiBiase — that the Bees, curiously wearing their signature masks, repeatedly attacked fellow babyface Hogan whenever he was on the floor, leading to a post-match attack in the ring after Hogan’s victory. The Hulkster ripped off one of the Bees’ masks to reveal a second mask underneath, and there was a strong implication that the two were paid off by DiBiase. However, there’s some debate about whether they were the real Killer Bees.

2 Quietly Broke Up

Not only was the Killer Bees’ heel turn not acknowledged, nor was their breakup, which happened over the summer. Their final match happened in late August of 1988, and shortly after the two began competing separately, with no break-up angle to speak of. As stated, B. Brian Blair left WWE shortly after, while Jim Brunzell was relegated to jobber status until he also departed in the early 1990s, and as a result the fizzling of the Killer Bees have led some fans to consider them another instance of WWE wasting talent.

1 Tagged Together Outside WWE

Once both Brunzell and Blair were out of WWE, the two reunited as a tag team on a handful of occasions, including for Blair’s old stomping ground, the ailing American Wrestling Association. They also performed in Herb Abram’s infamous Universal Wrestling Federation, using the name Masked Confusion due to WWE’s trademark on the Killer Bees gimmick. Together, they were able to defeat the New Powers of Pain — Warlord and Power Warrior, a.k.a. Larry Power — to capture the newly created UWF World Tag Team Championship on UWF’s last show ever, the disastrous Blackjack Brawl.