With nothing really happening this week, we have had Santino retire, and Impact gain about 200,000 new viewers and that is about it, this week, I want to look back in time, to when tag team wrestling was good.
Tag team wrestling used to be something people did while they learned the ropes, stick a young guy in with an experienced guy, or stick two inexperienced guys in together, and put that team against some older heads. It served a purpose, introducing the audience to new talent, while not leaving them out on their own.
Occasionally, you would find two guys who just worked way better as a team than they would as two singles wrestlers, but look at some of the greats who started off in a tag team. Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and Edge all started off in tag teams, and worked their way to eventually become stars as singles competitors. And lets face it, they were pretty big stars.
But what made tag team wrestling so good was the story they told in the ring. There would ALWAYS be a heel team, and they would cheat. Every chance they got. When I was much younger, my introduction to American Wrestling came every week, when I would watch the Fabulous Freebirds take on the Midnight Express. I say every week, because it seemed like that’s how often they faced each other.
Jim Cornette would be in the corner of the Express, tennis racquet in hand, desperate to watch the good guys win. no matter what he did to help, they never did, because the bad guys cheated more than he did. Cheating is a topic for another article by the way. The rules now are so relaxed, nobody has to, and that is a shame.
Michael PS Haynes, and Jimmy Garvin used every trick in the book, they turned a wrestler away from the ref so they could punch him, they clapped hands to simulate tags, even when they could have just tagged, they would taunt opponents into the ring, then double team while the ref dealt with the errant good guy. They built heat by cheating, and that is real heat, crowds really hated them.
On the other side of the ring, we had Beautiful Bobby and Sweet Stan, Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane, and they could never catch a break. The ref would miss legal tags, Cornette would try to help, and that would backfire, anything that could go wrong invariably went wrong. And a younger less cynical me would be there every week without fail.
And those two were not the only teams, wrestling promotions, believe it or not would have a whole host of teams. At the time we had 2 of the Horsemen, the Samoan Swat Team, a youngish Steiner Brothers, and Brian Pillman would generally be teaming with someone.
While all this talent was available to the tag team division, the biggest difference is that these wrestlers acted like a tag team. Nowadays a lot of tag team wrestling looks more like four individuals rather than two teams. WWE are really bad for booking tag matches between four individuals, especially in the build to a PPV.
The latest example would be Cena and Reigns v Orton and Kane. But it realistically is any two faces who have a match at the next PPV, versus whoever their two opponents are. WWE pull this trick before every PPV, and in my opinion, it devalues tag wrestling so much that being tag champs does not mean a whole lot of much these days.
These matches generally look like two singles matches taking place at the same time. Wrestler A wants to get his hands on wrestler C, wrestler B wants to get his hands on D.Good tag team matches are about two guys on the same team, fighting not for themselves, not to help themselves, but for the team.
Promotions now have maybe 3 or 4 tag teams, WWE has the Usos, the Gold Stars, the Wyatts and Rybaxel. We obviously don’t count the matadors who are less over than the bull. TNA has the Wolves, Bromans, err………..Gunner and Shaw?
Surely the two biggest promotions( this may change before this is published) are missing a trick here? WWE does have NXT to develop talent, but a lot of people only watch Raw. TNA have nothing. So why not bring new guys into the promotion as part of a tag team rather than as singles competitors? Why ignore what was a tried and tested method of getting new guys over?
Bo Dallas and Adam Rose both apparently were really big in NXT, now they are on the main roster, they look to me to be struggling. Bo Dallas’ gimmick does nothing for me, and Adam Rose was being used with Santino to promote Iced Tea last week. Before them we have had Brodus ‘Funky Dinosaur’ Clay, Xavier Woods and Curtis Axel to a lesser extent.
Now I know Xavier came in as part of a team, but you cant really get a rub off R Truth, so basically all five came in solo. Even being with Heyman never helped Axel. Now compare them to the Wyatts and the Shield, who came in as 3 man teams. Who got over?
Brodus and Curtis eventually became part of a team, but lets face it, once they failed to get over as solo wrestlers, they were done. Putting them in a team only prolongs the inevitable.
Wrestling companies these days seem to really hate tag team wrestling, unless its to sell a PPV. But done properly, a good tag team match gives the fans something different. It gives wrestlers a chance to learn while having someone else to share the load. One bad night as a young solo wrestler might be enough to kill your chances, if you are part of a team, the other guy can pick up the slack, and know it could be him messing up next time.
The promotion then gets to see how two guys perform, and generally decide which one gets a push, but sometimes, they hit the winning formula, and find a tag team that actually works. And when a tag team works, everyone benefits. The tag team division gets better with more teams, and the belts mean something again. Teams get a rub just from being champs, and if they break up the team, these guys have experience of wrestling in big matches.
It worked for Shawn Michaels, it worked for Bret Hart. It also worked for Scot Steiner, Bobby Roode,Jeff Hardy, Bully Ray,Stone Cold,Edge,Booker T, and countless others. Obviously, for every Shawn there is a Marty, but if you are batting at .500, you are not doing bad.
So please, WWE and TNA, get back to bringing through wrestlers in tag teams, make tag wrestling important,give us tag divisions with more than two teams, and help the young guys break through. It is what is best for business…
Time once more for my usual reminder for all the other great articles here at SLTD. While my article was once again written last minute, while everyone else was watching Raw, and probably the introduction of four new tag teams, making me look stupid again, some of the articles look like some real work and research went into them.
For some light listening relief, once again I would recommend SLTD radio, and of course the MFX Podcast. Both really are great stuff, and have helped sustain me through some really boring nightshifts. Twitter I have given up on, and accepted my girlfriend is just more popular than me. I am fine with that, and not bitter and twisted in any way, and any previous outbursts were completely out of character.
But just in case, its @GrantCookDFC
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