When did they drop down to class 10 strength? I thought they all had like class 50, except the Wrecker, who was even stronger.
Most Marvel Handbooks that actually say what Wrecker's strength level is, either recently or in the past, state it at around 40-50 tons. When he has the rest of the Crew with him, this is split evenly. Thus, they'd only be able to lift 10-12.5 tons each as the Crew, but alone, Wrecker would be stronger. That was actually why it made sense once when Bendis had most of the then New Avengers (Spidey, Wolverine, Cage, and Spider-Woman/Veranke) fight Wrecker and have a hard time of it because he was alone and thus at full strength (as in able to overpower even Luke Cage easily).
In RUNAWAYS (vol. 2) #1 when Piledriver's son is with them, Wrecker even gripes that splitting his power 5 ways instead of 4 makes them all weaker and is a pain.
Supposedly, Wrecker gained training from Ulik regarding retaining his full strength while empowering the Crew, but this wouldn't make the Crew themselves any stronger. So even if Wrecker can always lift 40-50 tons with or without the Crew, they (Bulldozer, Piledriver, and Thunderball) all can only lift about 10-12 tons each. Which against Thor isn't worth much, since all standard Asgardian males can supposedly lift about 30 tons. So when the Wrecking Crew attack Thor, it's akin to fighting one really strong Asgardian demigod and his three kids. His crowbar has some magical mojo, but, again, nothing that should really challenge Thor these days unless he's off his game.
This doesn't mean the Wrecking Crew can't be formidable opponents; writers just need to choose them better and make a better show of it. I can imagine the new Thunderstrike (Kevin Masterson) and "Grunny" having trouble putting them away. Hell, even the Rhino managed to defeat Kevin in his first power outing, and the Rhino hasn't won a fight since I've been alive.
Of course, what Handbooks state and what is often written is often different. For a long time Colossus could only lift about 70 tons and that's increased these days. For a long time Thing could lift 85 tons and that's been boosted (finally) as well. Supposedly, Luke Cage can lift 30 tons, but I've seen him man-handle the vastly stronger Orca in the 90's H4H, so he's usually written as stronger (unless it's just when he gets mad). Heck, Handbooks STILL claim Wolverine is 5' 3'', yet not a single Marvel artist since 1980 has drawn him any shorter than about 5' 7'' or 5' 8'' at best, especially not within the past 20 years.
It's a difficult thing, being a B-List "grunt" villain. The masterminds and the psychos get the most attention, which leaves others like Rhino or the Wrecking Crew to just be pawns or named henchmen. Still, I do think some attempt can be made to show how dangerous some of them can be even if they're only there to provide a Bond-intro action sequence for a story.
