Dear WWE – Bring Back Tag Team Wrestling
After watching The Hardy Boys take on Miz and Morrison on Tuesday night, I just kind of threw up my hands and thought, “Why don’t we get more tag team matches like this anymore?” Today in WWE, the tag team is usually used as mid card fodder, and only on certain occasions is booked like it means something, like Tuesday night, albeit on the third rate show.
I started to think of the guys who are on top today like Edge, who made his name as a tag team wrestler, and even the Undertaker, who got his break as the replacement for Sid Vicious with the Skyscrapers in the NWA. A look further shows that while Dave Batista and HHH weren’t necessarily known as tag team wrestlers, they were part of a team with Evolution and DX. Being a part of a tag team is a great way to get over, and if the teams get over big, guys can become singles stars. So why don’t we have more today?
When I was growing up, there were so many heavily pushed teams like the British Bulldogs, the Hart Foundation, the Midnight Express, the Rock & Roll Express, and the biggest of them all, the Road Warriors. Today, you don’t see the focus on tag teams, and if you do, it’s on tag teams who get over, not because of how they get pushed, but because of how good they are together. The Motor City Machine Guns come to mind, and their ship has seemingly sailed.
Memories
If you look at TNA, their top tag team for a long time was America’s Most Wanted. Together, they were over with the fans, and were pushed high on the car. Apart, they were dreadful. Well, maybe dreadful is a strong word. But it wasn’t until James Storm was put in another tag team with Robert Rude, that he got over as much, and Chris Harris is in ECW looking like someone who is going to be looking for a job soon.
At least Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. look like they’re going to be given at least a modicum of a push. But you know that the second either guy gets over, they’re going to be split up and pushed for five minutes, until they are deemed a failure. Too bad the WWE screwed up London and Kendrick so much because a feud between the four of those guys would be a great way to showcase tag team wrestling. And when that was over, they could’ve worked with the Hardys. But I have a feeling that before too long, Rhodes and DiBiase Jr. are going to on their own, trying to make it up that ladder to the reach the WWE glass ceiling.
