The Young Stallions

Paul Roma and Jim Powers were put together to be used as enhancement talent in the World Wrestling Federation in March 1987 in what at first likely seemed to be a one-time pairing on March 21, 1987 at a *WWF Superstars* taping in Las Vegas, Nevada. Falling to Demolition, Roma and Powers would then go on to lose televised matches to The New Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo), and Butch Reed and The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. Finally, a bit of success came at a *WWF Superstars* taping on April 24 when the two teamed with Tito Santana in a winning effort against Bob Orton, Don Muraco, and Tiger Chung Lee. Shortly after, Roma and Powers began teaming on the house show circuit, losing to Demolition and defeating fellow preliminary team The Shadows. Meanwhile, on television, Roma and Powers would again lose to Demolition in May on *WWF Superstars*, followed by a loss to the New Dream Team on *Wrestling Challenge*.

The team's first significant victory would come in a huge upset victory over Bob Orton and Don Muraco at Madison Square Garden on May 18 at a house show. The match would air on *Prime Time Wrestling* later that month. During this time, Powers also wrestled Bob Orton in the house show circuit, all in the losing side for Powers. Roma and Powers would follow this with televised victories over The Shadows on June 20. This momentum was quickly squashed when the duo teamed with Mario Mancini and Don Driggers in a squash match loss on June 2 to the newly formed Heenan Family (King Kong Bundy, Hercules, Harley Race, and a returning Paul Orndorff). For the next two months, Roma and Powers would wrestle The Islanders on house shows, where they were winless.

The team's first big break came on August 8, 1987, when they faced WWF Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation. Roma and Powers scored a tremendous upset victory in a reversed victory in a non-title matchup. The win was the beginning of a push for the team, which soon began winning multiple encounters with Muraco and Orton on the house show circuit as the summer closed. Another huge upset victory came on August 20, when they upended Kamala and Sika via countout on *WWF Superstars*. On August 30, they again defeated The Hart Foundation, this time via disqualification in a match on *Prime Time Wrestling*. Meanwhile, on the house show circuit the team won several encounters with The New Dream Team.

That fall, the Roma and Powers pairing finally received an official moniker, **The Young Stallions**. The Stallions received their first ever *Saturday Night's Main Event* matchup, where they narrowly fell to The Hart Foundation in a match that aired on October 3. This did little to stall the momentum that the team now had, and Roma and Powers scored the biggest victory of their careers when they became one of only two surviving teams alongside The Killer Bees in the elimination tag team match at the first annual 1987 Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 26, 1987.

The Stallions success took a small hit at the 1988 Royal Rumble, where Roma and Powers lost a best of three falls match to The Islanders in two straight falls (Roma appeared to suffer a legitimate knee injury during the match). Despite this, Roma and Powers continued to enjoy success that winter, winning house show encounters with The Bolsheviks, The Alaskans (Dave Wagner and Rick Renslow), and The Conquistadors. On March 3, 1988, nearly a year after their initial encounter, Roma and Powers again faced Demolition on *Prime Time Wrestling*. This time the match was much closer, with Demolition winning. The teams would later face on a house show match on March 20 in Lafayette, Louisiana. Subbing for Strike Force, the Stallions gained their first victory over Demolition. Less than two weeks later, they faced again in Lugano, Switzerland on April 1, with the Stallions scoring a huge upset victory.

The Stallions lost house show matches to the Rougeau Brothers in May, then dropped multiple encounters to The Bolsheviks the following month. Roma and Powers even lost to The Conquistadors on a house show in Warwick, Rhode Island on July 3, and by the end of the summer had lost all momentum, falling in multiple encounters to The Killer Bees. A year after winning the inaugural Survivor Series, The Young Stallions found themselves the second team eliminated at the 1988 edition.

As Roma and Powers limped into 1989 at nearly the very bottom of the tag team ranks, their teaming became more infrequent. After several losses to The Twin Towers (Akeem and Big Boss Man) in January, the Young Stallions would not be seen together until a Madison Square Garden victory on March 18 against The Conquistadors. That would be the last pairing of the two until June 19, when the Stallions defeated Boris Zhukov and Barry Horowitz on *Prime Time Wrestling*. This would also be their final victory, as the duo remained dormant until they reunited one last time in a loss to The Powers of Pain on August 7 on *Prime Time Wrestling*. Without an official announcement or angle to end the partnership, Roma and Powers went their separate ways, competing once again full-time in the singles division.