Let's Talk About...The Decline of The WWF Tag Team Division

[King Kamala 0]

It seems like we were steering a bit away from the subject at hand in the Survivor Series '92 thread in the 24/7 subfolder so I thought I'd use our semi-off topic banter as the basis for this week's "Let's Talk About..." thread.

 

The late '80s and early '90s produced some of the greatest tag teams the WWF has ever seen but by the middle of the '90s, the luster of the tag team division was gone not to recover until the beginning of the next decade. Was it the result of one departure or team breakup or just the culmination of numerous events?

 

If I had to point to a specific event, I think it would be when The Steiner Brothers left in mid '94. The Quebecers seemed to follow suit not long after. While The Headshrinkers were pretty decent champs, they seemed to feud mostly with makeshift teams.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

There isn't really one event that we can point too for this. The first major change occurred over the course of the 1991 when the three top teams of the late 80s (Demolition, The Hart Foundation & The Rockers) all broke up and were never really replaced. LOD was around by that point, but after losing the tag titles in early 1992 they limped out of the promotion a few months later as well. The loss of those teams devastated the tag division. Sure the teams were still around, but they didn't have the star power that the former teams had with the exception of Money Inc and you can't build a solid division around heels with no credible challengers. The Steiners, Heavenly Bodies, Headshrinkers & Quebecers helped in 1993 but three of the four were split up the next year and the remaining one (the Bodies) got buried.

 

There just wasn't any talent after that until the Dudleys, Hardys and Edge & Christian started getting pushed in late 99/early 2000. So we either got a bunch of terrible teams with no heat (MOM, Godwins, New Blackjacks, Bodydonnas, etc.) or two single guys being put together (Diesel/HBK, Yoko/Owen, Owen/Bulldog, etc.). The same thing happened again with the breakup/departure of the Dudleys, Hardys and E&C. There was nobody to replace them and those that showed promise (Haas/Benjamin, London/Kendrick) were mishandled.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

I think 1997 really got hurt when you had teams like Shawn Michaels/Steve Austin and Dude Love/Steve Austin coming together to hold the Tag Team Titles while able teams had to stand around with nothing to do because everything was revolving around the main event scene.

 

In late 1997 they could've had a solid, deep foundation for the tag scene through 1998 but Russo either didn't care to push people (I still think Recon/Sniper could've been cool gimmicks if pushed at all) or just was too focused on the ME scene.

1: Owen Hart/Davey Boy Smith

2: The Headbangers

3: New Age Outlaws

4: Legion of Doom

5: Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon

6: The Godwinns

7: The New Blackjacks (Bradshaw & Windham)

8: Miguel Perez Jr & Jose Estrada Jr

9: Sniper & Recon

 

Talent and overness can be argued but there were at least three teams that could've carried the division (NAO, Headbangers, LOD) along with teams like The New Blackjacks/Sniper & Recon playing the role of enforcers and intimidators sticking their nose in at various points.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

While the workrate wasn't really comparable to the TLC Era, the Tag Team Championship was featured prominently in 1996 while Sunny was coming up. You had the Godwinns, the Gunns and the Body Donnas, and the wildcard team was the New Rockers, who I really liked. I really wanted Leif and Marty to have a run, but their gimmick turned out to be short lived (read: Jannetty's run was, once again, short-lived).

 

Personally, I loved Davey Boy and Owen as champions, even if they weren't a legitimate tag team. Their matches with Furnas/LaFon were very good, especially the "Royal Rumble RAW" match for the Tag Team Championship.

[Maztinho 0]

I blame the lackluster 90's in the WWF because of the success of the Outsiders in the WCW. That's what allowed make-shift teams of mainevent caliber workers to win the tag team title, because of Nash and Hall teaming up after attaining great success.

 

While main event acts becoming a team had happened in the past (MegaPowers, Savage/Warrior) it never lasted long.

 

The Outsiders gave the writers the idea of pairing up main eventers who needed something to do, and then felt they needed to put them in title matches. Which totally undercut tag team wrestling as a whole.

 

If Mankind and Austin can team up for a month and be contenders, then who is going to buy Snow/Blackman as a real threat to them?

 

The shift from tag teams being a way to hide one workers weakness, or the sum is greater than the parts became any two great parts can get a title shot.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah I quite enjoyed Bulldog and Owen as a team. They carried an otherwise shoddy tag division in late 1996 and into 1997. Even then though it was mostly a trial run for the wacky "tag partners who have problems" angle (though these guys never split exactly) and later became the old Russo chestnut of "tag partners who hate each other."

 

In that Survivor Series thread I pinpointed the Steiners loss to the Quebecers on Raw in 1993 as the exact moment when I gave up on the tag division for a long time. After that it seemed like they just put the belts on anyone including makeshift teams. What does it say when Marty Jannetty never won the belts while in the Rockers, yet he and The Kid held the titles briefly in early 1994? Or that Shawn Michaels finally got a tag title run with Diesel in a reign designed only to split the duo? Or Yoko/Owen getting the belts since both guys had jobbed out of the title scene and needed something else?

 

Sure, in 1996 they tried out some teams like the Godwins, Bodydonnas, and Smoking Gunns (who weren't really new per se). None of these teams were really over though and the matches and angles were nothing special.

 

Regarding the revival of the division from 1999-2001....what killed the division was the initial draft lottery. It seemed like they specifically wanted to break everyone up. E & C were already broken up I guess, but they put them on different shows. The APA went to different shows for a while, with Bradshaw floundering in his initial Raw push and Simmons doing nothing on SD. Matt and Jeff ended up on different shows with varying results. The Dudleys being split was awful and did neither any favors.

 

That said, tag wrestling did survive and thrive to some extent in late 2002/early 2003. Raw at least had that awesome TLC match, but that was an exception. SD had a terrific tag scene but it was a mirage on some levels since Eddie and Chavo were really the only actual team. Benoit and Angle were reluctant partners who feuded shortly after this, and Edge/Rey split as well with Edge getting hurt in 2003. After that tag wrestling really never recovered in WWE.

 

Personally I think it's foolish to not have a good tag division. Money is drawn up and down the card, not just by the main event. The 1980s saw a great tag division and that stuff helped the company draw money. The Attitude Era saw a renewed focus on tag wrestling and that helped draw money. The periods where WWE has drawn the biggest money typically have a big time main event scene with a solid IC (or now US too) title division and a great tag division as well.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

My only problem with the way the division has been booked in recent times is that the heels win way too ofter. Some new upcoming tag team (not really Priceless, more like Hawkins and Ryder or La Resistance) immediately win the belts. They keep them for a long time and then lose them. They split up and then get released from the company.

[Timmy8271 0]

Did Hawkins/Ryder actually ever defend the titles once? I have a bigger problem with heels getting the titles and then being squashed night after night to main eventers. A great example of this is the Spirit Squad and Cade/Murdoch.

 

As for the question, What really killed the division is Bret Hart becoming a solo star. In the early 90's, he was the glue to a lot of those matches.

[cabbageboy 0]

This illustrates a problem I have with the tag division booking of late. I am sick of seeing tag champs being used as jobber fodder for the main eventers. Stuff like UT squashing Hawkins and Ryder, or Cena beating Team Priceless by himself. It makes it hard to ever take these guys seriously again.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I do agree that tag teams seem to get used as jobbers way too often. If the champs face one guy in a handicap match, they should go over, not have trouble beating the guy and end up jobbing. It's stupid.

 

Also, Bulldog/Owen was one of my favorite tag teams of all time. Their match against HBK and Austin (where they lost the belts) was a classic. They were a fun team because they were always teasing a breakup, but kept winning anyway.

[King Cucaracha 0]

While the workrate wasn't really comparable to the TLC Era, the Tag Team Championship was featured prominently in 1996 while Sunny was coming up. You had the Godwinns, the Gunns and the Body Donnas, and the wildcard team was the New Rockers, who I really liked. I really wanted Leif and Marty to have a run, but their gimmick turned out to be short lived (read: Jannetty's run was, once again, short-lived).

 

I always enjoyed the angle with Sunny basically being a golddigger, going with whoever the champs were. That worked well. But at the same time it really highlighted how weak the division was at the same time as aiding it. She was the focus of the division, everyone else was completely in her shadow. Bodydonnas, Godwinns, Smoking Gunns. Phineas got a bit of a boost out of it maybe and maybe it helped Billy on the way to becoming a valuable heel character, but both of those would have lead to tag team splits and not benefited the division at all.

 

The problem now is, it really seems like the majority of teams are put together with a view to splitting them up in the future and potentially making another singles star out of it, as opposed to creating and keeping a team. Every team breaks up eventually, but think of how long the classic tag teams went before doing the break-up angle. Now, the chances of any team staying a team for 2/3 years or more is slimmer and slimmer. I'm counting the days until Carlito turns on Primo already, how are you supposed to get behind them in that case?

[cabbageboy 0]

The amusing payoff to that whole Sunny angle in 1996 was that finally a team won the belts that didn't give a crap about her (Bulldog/Owen) and that essentially was it for her. From that point it was just nothing but guest ring announcing and cameos.

 

It went like this if I recall: Sunny with Bodydonnas, Gunns beat them for the belts, she runs off with them. They tease her hitting on Phineas during this time, but it's a ruse. Then finally I think the WWF realized this angle wasn't really working all that well and Bulldog and Owen kicked the crap out of the Gunns. If I recall that match simply ended with Davey Boy powerslamming one of them and that was it. Odd finish for a tag match.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I'd like to offer something, but first: I wholeheartedly agree with two things. Slapped-together teams piss me off, as do teams being put over in handicap matches.

 

What could work and kind of serve as a buffer, would be stables. I've always liked stables, and think they add a great dynamic. Plus, it means reasonably legitimate tag teams. To illustrate, one of my favourite matches ever was Taker-Austin vs. Kane-Mankind vs. New Age Outlaws vs. The Rock & Owen/DLo from Raw in August 98. When Shamrock attacked Owen and DLo subbed in, it was a smooth transition and not just a replacement.