Tag team wrestling on endangered species list

[Guest Trivia247]

one thing that is taking a real serious downturn is the Tag team division...

 

now we have seen that is has been bad after the post Hardys E&C Dudleys era of 2000-2001 but now its like titles are being wasted. And why, Lack of competition and Lack of compeditive Tag team champions

 

Raw you got

Ric Flair and Batistia. Ric Flair in his mid 50's is the one being the work horse for the younger still clumbsy Batistia. Probably still no where near being ready so they didn't have a tag team title match. But hell look who they would have to work with..

 

Hurricane & Rosie?

 

La Resistance..

 

is that it? Two god Damn Tag teams? far departure from the mid 80's where you had Dozens of tag teams viaing for the belts.

 

on Smackdown

well shit its Rikishi and Scotty to Hotty.... Its not like Rikishi is back down to that Slim Fatu Headshrinker Weight cough cough, but the heat on him and Scotty is on Life support, a Big Ass Samoan in a thong just isn't funny anymore, its losing its pops.

 

But again who do they got to work with..

 

Dudleys a Solid tag team

 

the Bashrams pretty ok once they develop a Personality since they lost their bdsm submissive gimmick

 

And lets not forget the Rutterless Leaderless and therefore low card jobber squad of Sakoda and Akio...WWE version of Kaientai v2.

Im sorry but at least Taka and Funaki were entertaining as a tag team (From all those years in the Michinoku Pro stable of Kai en Tai DX.)

I just can't get a read out of the two new guys... Asides knowing Akio as Jimmy Yang of WCW and TNA fame.

 

You think that they have a Cruiserweight booker for the lightweights (Oh yea that helped lots) and they of course got the full brunt of the Creative control for the Heavyweights, that they could get a creative booker for the tag team divisions...

 

I Mean they got alot of ex wrestlers on the payrole, or did at one point ... Give Jim Cornette another part time job in between his Promotional Gigs with OVW...

 

Get Doc Tom Prichard to do it..

 

What about Stan Lane, Bobby Eaton, somebody who the HELL knows what tag teaming is all about AHHHHH!!

 

ok Im calm now.

 

so basically its like Bischoff's WCW dislike of tag teaming all over again in the WWE.

 

I hope it improves tag teams was one of the highlights for me.

 

 

anyone else get this drift as well?

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

so basically its like Bischoff's WCW dislike of tag teaming all over again in the WWE.

Weird, as me and a friend of mine had this conversation two days ago. Strange how history seems to repeat itself.......

[Guest webmasterofwrestlegame]

Not defending WWE here because they can package people into proper tag teams, but it also seems to me that there are not nearly as much proper tag teams on the Indy circuit these days either - that can't bode well for the future either.

[spman 0]

Just have Rosie and Hurricane win the belts in an upset victory, and then team up a couple of guys from OVW to come in and be superdominant right away like Demolition or soemthing. Have them squash La Resistance, and Lance Storm and Garrison cade over two weeks,a nd then hae them flatten Rosie and Hurricane for the belts at whatever PPV in like 30 seconds. That'd be a bit better.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

I was watching the 2001 Rumble last night, and a thought hit me. Why not bring Haku back in and put him in a team with Rikishi. Then you could send Grandmaster Sexay to Smackdown to team up with Scotty 2 Hotty and they could feud. It would be all this emotional buildup as Rikishi turns on Scotty and GMS comes back to reunite with his old friend. And then Eugene shows up and everyone is happy...

 

Then I woke up.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

The funny thing is, the Tag Team division is like the easiest one to fix. Pair up 12 people to form 6 tag teams, say...

 

Palumbo & Venis = "The Power Team"

Albert & Tajiri = "The Bald and The Buzzsaw"

Hurricane & Rosie = "Hurricane and Rosie"

Cade and Storm = "The FreeLancers"

Dreamer and Richards = "The Extremists"

Conway and theotherguy = "La Rez"

 

Team names with matching tights and a tag team finisher. To establish these things, have them do jobber matches.

 

Ok, so you have the champs, say, Hurricane and Rosie. Then you have the #1 contenders, say Albert and Tajiri. They feud. Then you have two other teams battling it out to be the #1 contender. Then you have the last 2 teams getting mixed up with the other 4 in some way or another. There, an active division.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

The weird thing is...the WWE has a big enough roster to make enough tag teams to not keep the division boring.

 

It's just the usual: they don't try hard enough to keep the division exciting.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

The funny thing is, the Tag Team division is like the easiest one to fix. Pair up 12 people to form 6 tag teams, say...

 

Palumbo & Venis = "The Power Team"

Albert & Tajiri = "The Bald and The Buzzsaw"

Hurricane & Rosie = "Hurricane and Rosie"

Cade and Storm = "The FreeLancers"

Dreamer and Richards = "The Extremists"

Conway and theotherguy = "La Rez"

 

Team names with matching tights and a tag team finisher. To establish these things, have them do jobber matches.

 

Ok, so you have the champs, say, Hurricane and Rosie. Then you have the #1 contenders, say Albert and Tajiri. They feud. Then you have two other teams battling it out to be the #1 contender. Then you have the last 2 teams getting mixed up with the other 4 in some way or another. There, an active division.

OK...you did Raw there.

 

Now...what about Smackdown's division?

[TheBigSwigg 0]

The funny thing is, the Tag Team division is like the easiest one to fix. Pair up 12 people to form 6 tag teams, say...

 

Palumbo & Venis = "The Power Team"

Albert & Tajiri = "The Bald and The Buzzsaw"

Hurricane & Rosie = "Hurricane and Rosie"

Cade and Storm = "The FreeLancers"

Dreamer and Richards = "The Extremists"

Conway and theotherguy = "La Rez"

 

Team names with matching tights and a tag team finisher. To establish these things, have them do jobber matches.

 

Ok, so you have the champs, say, Hurricane and Rosie. Then you have the #1 contenders, say Albert and Tajiri. They feud. Then you have two other teams battling it out to be the #1 contender. Then you have the last 2 teams getting mixed up with the other 4 in some way or another. There, an active division.

But you forget about team chemistry. What good are Cade and Storm if they have no energy that makes you want to watch? Putting teams together is more than just slapping two names together, it's putting two guys together who meld in personality and style.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

They were examples of teams, not actual teams that I want to see. Tag Team is as much about aesthetics as it is about chemistry. As long as you look like a tag team, have a team name, and have a tag finisher, you have like 75% of the work done.

 

OK...you did Raw there.

 

Now...what about Smackdown's division?

 

Silly CMW, there is no such thing as Smackdown...

[ChrisMWaters 0]

RRR: OK, fun joke.

 

Now seriously, if you were in charge of re-building Smackdown's tag team division, and you had to do it without trading anyone over from Raw, how would you do it?

 

OVW call ups are allowed too.

[Dandy 0]

One major thing that could help out both shows would be trade Rosey for Shannon Moore and Scotty II Hotty (after dropping the tag straps).

 

This would allow Moore/Helms to team, Too Cool to reform, and Rosey/Rikishi could go heel. That would be three teams that are not stale added to the mix with one minor trade.

[Dandy 0]

Without trades, I would do this:

 

RAW

Evolution (Batista and Flair)

Superheroes

Palumbo/Cade

Stevie Richards and Albert (have Stevie run his mouth and Albert back him up)

La Resistance

Storm/Venis wrestling as serious heels because they are pissed with how they were made to act before

 

SMACKDOWN

Bashams

Dudleyz

London/Kidman

Gunn/Holly

Akio/Sakoda

Stamboli/Nunzio

Jindrak/Jordan

 

That is enough tag teams for a division on each show. Take the diamonds from those teams and dissolve the ones that don't mesh well over time. You can add to the division with time.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

SD has teams already, they're just not used.

 

SD (cruiser-intensive - might as well use them in some capacity):

-Akio/Sakoda - already a team, just use them

-Rey/Kidman - rumors are creative has nothing for Rey, so go back to tried & true

-Nunzio/Stamboli - already a team, just use them

-Rikishi/S2H - I don't like them, but the crowd does, so use them to get heel teams over

-Holly/Gunn - eh, why not? Keeps them out of singles action.

-Knoble/London - gives London exposure, plus Knoble isn't doing anything

-Bashams - use them for a bit, then look to break them up to move Doug into singles action. Don't care much for Danny, so move him to Raw, I guess.

 

Kanyon/O'Haire would have made a good team, but it's too late for that.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

Billy Gunn & Hardcore Holly

Orlando Jordan & Mark Jindrak

 

That's all I've got. Seriously. There roster is half that of RAW's

 

EDIT: Sheesh. Seems like everyone is putting Gunn and Holly together already

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Because Gunn & Holly have teamed up a few times already on Velocity.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

I can honestly say that I haven't cared at all about the tag scene since around 2001 when Austin & Triple H feuded with Taker & Kane, then later Jericho & Benoit.

 

UYI

[Dangerous A 0]

Perhaps WWE could do itself a favor and not have all tag matches follow the same exact formula as well. Part of that problem is it's hard to build a good, in depth story that a tag match is capable of doing with only 3-5 minutes to do it. I think the structure and formula of a tag match needs to be overhauled so that it isn't just trading moves, face in peril, tease to hot tag, get hot tag, count out about 30 seconds before finish involving outside interference and/or ref bump.

 

Tag team wrestling has a lot more storytelling to be had, but WWE doesn't tap into it enough. My two favorite matches of all time are tag matches and part of that is because there can be multiple layers of stories and psychology going on at once. I'm not saying WWE should copy what the Japanese or Lucha promotions are doing in regards to tag team wrestling, but they should at least look outside the box a little in regards to structure.

 

Another thing that may help is if more main event caliber players were to get more involved in the tag team scene. It's sad that a lot of the main event guys like HHH and Taker feel that tag team wrestling is beneath them. I look at Benoit and HBK teaming up recently to try to take the tag team gold from Flair and Batista. When the false finish happened, all of a sudden, the tag belts meant something for the first time since forever because Main event guys cared about the belts. It made me care about the tag belts since the brand split. It's too bad that the Creative team missed a grand oppurtunity to heat up Benoit vs Shawn by having them act all goody goody in the end instead of being mortally pissed at each other. The point is that if the main guys give a shit about it, the public will too.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

London and Mysterio = High Anxiety. It's a way to introduce plucky young go-getter Paul London after Kidman turns on London and sides with that evil Charlie Haas whom offers Kidman promises of success as they become the new worlds greatest tag team. London may be hiding his true potential since he is afraid of upstaging Rey... Rey tells London to go all out, because that's how you earn the fans' respect. London wears a lucha mask occasionally.

 

Nunzio and Knoble = "Nunzio and Knoble" - Nunzio disbands the FBI and goes back to his real family. They are in contrast to the high flying dynamic of London and Rey as they are more mat-based.

 

Rico and Shannon and Yang AND ORLANDO *Edited for extra genius* = "The Fourth Street Posse", it's inregards to Ricos Las Vegas origin. Rico has taken Mattitudeless Shannon and Tajiriless Akio and have made them a part of his crew. Orlando is there because he wants to sex-up Moore, but Rico is protective of his bitch yet keeps Orlando around since he's an asset to the group. They dress up like card sharks (Rico does so very extravagantly) and their names match a suit - Rico is "Diamond", Orlando is "Spade", Moore is "Heart" and Akio is "Clubs", they have the symbol on the back of their jackets and tights. The group is organized as such - Yang/Shannon: "High Risk", Orlando/Rico: "Wildcard", and their moves are "Double Down", "House Wins", and "Royal Flush"...

 

Scotty and Rikishi = Obligatory fan-friendly team.

 

Charlie Haas and Billy Kidman = new heel team of two very vanilla motherfuckers aka "The New Worlds Greatest Tag Team".

 

Dudleys - usual veteran tag team

 

Dudleys and 2 Cool have their boring feud up top for the tag titles. Haas/Kidman vs. Rey/London makes waves in #1 contenders spots providing the more exciting action. The other teams have their fun developing themselves since they are more complex pairings.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

Perhaps WWE could do itself a favor and not have all tag matches follow the same exact formula as well. Part of that problem is it's hard to build a good, in depth story that a tag match is capable of doing with only 3-5 minutes to do it. I think the structure and formula of a tag match needs to be overhauled so that it isn't just trading moves, face in peril, tease to hot tag, get hot tag, count out about 30 seconds before finish involving outside interference and/or ref bump.

 

Tag team wrestling has a lot more storytelling to be had, but WWE doesn't tap into it enough. My two favorite matches of all time are tag matches and part of that is because there can be multiple layers of stories and psychology going on at once. I'm not saying WWE should copy what the Japanese or Lucha promotions are doing in regards to tag team wrestling, but they should at least look outside the box a little in regards to structure.

I couldn't have said it better myself

[Guest netslob]

Rico and Shannon and Yang AND ORLANDO *Edited for extra genius* = "The Fourth Street Posse", it's inregards to Ricos Las Vegas origin. Rico has taken Mattitudeless Shannon and Tajiriless Akio and have made them a part of his crew. Orlando is there because he wants to sex-up Moore, but Rico is protective of his bitch yet keeps Orlando around since he's an asset to the group. They dress up like card sharks (Rico does so very extravagantly) and their names match a suit - Rico is "Diamond", Orlando is "Spade", Moore is "Heart" and Akio is "Clubs", they have the symbol on the back of their jackets and tights. The group is organized as such - Yang/Shannon: "High Risk", Orlando/Rico: "Wildcard", and their moves are "Double Down", "House Wins", and "Royal Flush"...

 

that wouldn't work , dude...you don't refer to a black guy as "Spade".

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

They need to establish these tag teams and a good way to do that is a long tournament.

 

Put together some teams and start establishing them before they win titles. I'm gonna try to come up with some teams without roster switching.

 

RAW:

We already have: La Rez, Hurricane/Rosey, Flair/Batista, Edge/Benoit (for now), and Christian/Tomko (I guess)

 

Create these teams:

Johnny Nitro and Grandmaster Sexay (in Too Much mode. G.Master that is. Not Nitro.)

Chuck Palumbo and Val Venis

A-Train and Rhyno

Steven Richards and Lance Storm (as an Odd Couple-like team)

 

For SD

We already have: Bashams, Dudleyz, Rikishi/S2H, Akio/Sakoda, Holly/Gunn, and Stamboli/Nunzio

 

Create:

Kidman and Paul London (The Shooting Stars...except London would put Kidman to shame with his SSP)

Spike Dudley and Shannon Moore (The Underdogs)

Rico and Orlando Jordan (Orlando could claim that he's not a homophobe and even agree to tag with Rico to show he's cool with him)

 

Thing with SD is you need to leave a few people for the cruiser division too.

[Guest Trivia247]

Kidman and Paul London (The Shooting Stars...except London would put Kidman to shame with his SSP)

Just imagine their finisher spot of Two SSP's almost at once

[Guest JMA]

This shouldn't be too hard.

 

RAW

 

La Resistance

 

Hurricana and Rosey

 

Edge and Chris Benoit

 

Matt Hardy and Rhyno

 

Christian and Tomko

 

A-Train and Chuck Palumbo

 

Val Venis and Grandmaster Sexay

 

Aaron Stevens (new member of Evolution) and Batista

 

Silent Storm - Lance Storm and "Hitman" Chris Cage

 

Steven Richards and Tommy Dreamer

 

Doug Basham and Johnny Nitro

 

Smackdown!

 

The Bell Brothers - Mike and Mark Bell

 

Shooting Stars - Paul London and Billy Kidman

 

Kyo Dai - Akio and Sakoda

 

The Full-Blooded Italians (FBI) - Johnny "the Bull" Stamboli and Nunzio

 

The Dudley Boyz - D-Von and Bubba Ray Dudley

 

Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty

 

Dudley Moore (j/k) - Spike Dudley and Shannon Moore

 

Matt Morgan and The Damaja (Danny Basham)

 

The Young Stallions - Matt Capotelli and Johnny Jeter

 

Rico and Orlando Jordan

 

Joey Matthews and Jamie Noble

[Guest Trivia247]

The Young Stallions - Matt Capotelli and Johnny Jeter

 

Suddenly during their match the aging Paul Roma and Jim Powers makes a Run in and beats them down for Gimmick Infringement