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Tag Team Decline


Mr Wrestling X

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Owen/Jarrett would've been an awesome team in USWA or SMW. Would think Owen/Jarrett vs PG13 would've been really great.

(insert team here) v. PG-13 would have been great.

 

Seriously, PG-13 is one of the greatest tag teams of all time.

 

No shit, man. I LOVE that match in ECW where they manage to heel the crowd so well that the ECW "smart" crowd just went so mark that they wanted to riot.
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Owen/Jarrett would've been an awesome team in USWA or SMW. Would think Owen/Jarrett vs PG13 would've been really great.

(insert team here) v. PG-13 would have been great.

 

Seriously, PG-13 is one of the greatest tag teams of all time.

 

They're on the list yes, but not towards the top :)
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Owen/Jarrett would've been an awesome team in USWA or SMW. Would think Owen/Jarrett vs PG13 would've been really great.

(insert team here) v. PG-13 would have been great.

 

Seriously, PG-13 is one of the greatest tag teams of all time.

 

They're on the list yes, but not towards the top :)

 

Are there ten teams better than them? Maybe but I'm not sure of it. Are there 20 teams better? I'd say almost certainly not. PG-13 deserve a retrospective at some point.

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I like PG-13 (though I'll admit that I'm not as well-versed in them as some people), but my problem with them, and it acts as a ceiling with me, is that I just don't buy them as being able to kick anyone's ass. Their look was just so, cheap, small-time? I don't know... indy? I just can't believe in them as a threat to very many people. It's one thing for, say, Lane's kicks to look shit and not buy into a specific part of what they do, but with PG-13 it's, like, the entire thing... maybe I'm alone in that, I don't know.

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There has been some really good points raised in this topic. It hasn't gone unnoticed by the wrestlers though. I see a lot of tag teams that show similarities to greats of the past. Naturally, wrestling in itself is an art based on influence and innovation. WWE has rejected many core elements of wrestling, particulary in the last 10 years. A couple of years ago, when Matt Striker was commentating on WWECW he took a cool old school approach, using his knowledge of wrestling around the world to highlight the legacy of the art. I cannot remember the last time a WWE commentator said "Shades of Insert Name" when a wrestler performs a well known move. We get it from time to time in TNA and ROH, but its something that is missing from several of the bigger promotions.

 

Jim Ross would often compare newer tag teams in the early 2000's to tag teams and/or wrestlers of the past. At one point it was pretty much a given that in any Jeff Hardy match, there was going to be at least one comparison to Shawn Michaels. Triple H's flying knees are still occasionly referred to as "Harley Race-like" but a few years ago, Triple H was all but regarded as the Harley Race of his generation. I've heard that Trips considers this a real compliment.

 

But back to tag teams...I think some of the decline could be contributed to the end of the territorial days. Take the Road Warriors for instance, their reputation came from wrestling in different territories throughout the 80's, by the time they set foot in promotions like JCP/WCW and WWF they were household names and extremely over. It was exactly the same with the original Midnight Express, The Rock 'n'Roll Express and of course, The Fabulous Freedbirds. Its safe to say that in some cases, the major promotions contributed to the fall in popularity of some of these tag teams. Hawk and Animal never really made it that big in the WWF, but that can be contributed to WWF not fully utilising the gimmick that wrestling fans had come to know from the Roadies' stint on the circuits.

 

As far as I can tell, tag team wrestling is still a big deal in Japanese promotions. Interestingly enough, the current IWGP Tag Team Champions are Karl Anderson and Matt 'Giant Bernard' Bloom. In the case of Matt Bloom, WWE never really gave him a chance, his team with Test in 2000 had a lot of potential, but they were quietly pushed out of the main tag team picture which consisted of the Hardy's, Edge and Christian and The Dudley's. He then went on to form a career killer of a stable with X Pac, before doing the comedy thing with Scotty 2 Hotty. His last gimmick as 'A-Train' was probably the best chance he had of being a WWE main eventer, but again they blew it with him. The fact of the matter remains, Bloom is now one of NJPW's top 'Gaijin's', he's won the New Japan cup, the G1 Climax Tag League twice, had several notable victories over 'Ace's' and he's been in two highly successful championship tag teams , first with Travis Tomko and now with Karl Anderson. It would seem that tag team decline has its roots in the American promotions.

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Owen/Jarrett would've been an awesome team in USWA or SMW. Would think Owen/Jarrett vs PG13 would've been really great.

(insert team here) v. PG-13 would have been great.

 

Seriously, PG-13 is one of the greatest tag teams of all time.

 

They're on the list yes, but not towards the top :)

 

Are there ten teams better than them? Maybe but I'm not sure of it. Are there 20 teams better? I'd say almost certainly not. PG-13 deserve a retrospective at some point.

 

It doesn't matter what ten or twenty teams I choose, though, does it? I mean, you can use all of the distinctions in the world you want to ensure their supremacy over whatever team or teams I chose. I'm just not that contrarian, man.

 

Instead of me pimping teams that are better then PG-13 without a doubt, how about you pimp...say about twenty excellent matches of theirs.

 

EDIT:

So I don't look like a complete dick, here is the list:

 

1. Arn & Tully

2. Rock & Roll Express

3. Fantastics

4. Midnight Express

5. Jumbo & Tenryu

6. Choshu & Yatsu

7. Misawa & Kawada

8. Misawa & Kobashi

9. Misawa & Akiyama

10. Kawada & Taue

11. Footloose

12. Can-Am Express

13. Doc & Gordy

14. Orient Express

15. Hardy Boys

16. Dudley Boys

17. Edge & Christian

18. Benoit & Malenko

19. Windham & Hennig

20. Freebirds

21. Hansen & Brody

22. The Funks

23. Hansen & Gordy

24. Tenryu & Kawada

25. Jumbo & Taue

26. Owen & Davey

27. Faces of Fear

28. Harlem Heat

29. The Enforcers

30. British Bulldogs

31. Hart Foundation

32. The Rockers

33. Rose & Somers

34. Inoki & Fujinami

35. Adonis & Murdoch

 

I could list more, but yeah, you'll have fun disputing that.

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Owen/Jarrett would've been an awesome team in USWA or SMW. Would think Owen/Jarrett vs PG13 would've been really great.

(insert team here) v. PG-13 would have been great.

 

Seriously, PG-13 is one of the greatest tag teams of all time.

 

They're on the list yes, but not towards the top :)

 

Are there ten teams better than them? Maybe but I'm not sure of it. Are there 20 teams better? I'd say almost certainly not. PG-13 deserve a retrospective at some point.

 

It doesn't matter what ten or twenty teams I choose, though, does it? I mean, you can use all of the distinctions in the world you want to ensure their supremacy over whatever team or teams I chose. I'm just not that contrarian, man.

 

Instead of me pimping teams that are better then PG-13 without a doubt, how about you pimp...say about twenty excellent matches of theirs.

 

EDIT:

So I don't look like a complete dick, here is the list:

 

1. Arn & Tully

2. Rock & Roll Express

3. Fantastics

4. Midnight Express

5. Jumbo & Tenryu

6. Choshu & Yatsu

7. Misawa & Kawada

8. Misawa & Kobashi

9. Misawa & Akiyama

10. Kawada & Taue

11. Footloose

12. Can-Am Express

13. Doc & Gordy

14. Orient Express

15. Hardy Boys

16. Dudley Boys

17. Edge & Christian

18. Benoit & Malenko

19. Windham & Hennig

20. Freebirds

21. Hansen & Brody

22. The Funks

23. Hansen & Gordy

24. Tenryu & Kawada

25. Jumbo & Taue

26. Owen & Davey

27. Faces of Fear

28. Harlem Heat

29. The Enforcers

30. British Bulldogs

31. Hart Foundation

32. The Rockers

33. Rose & Somers

34. Inoki & Fujinami

35. Adonis & Murdoch

 

I could list more, but yeah, you'll have fun disputing that.

 

The Road Warriors don't make your list of "Better than PG-13" but a team like Owen and Davey Boy do? Guh?
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It's funny that for all the shit he takes for his booking, Dusty Rhodes was pretty much the only one to book tag teams (actual teams as opposed to two top singles together) as main eventers in the last 30 or so years. Hell, even the US tag team titles were treated seriously for a few years, which is more than WWE can say about their titles.

Bill Watts did too. Not just in Mid-South, but if you look at his PPVs from WCW, he put Gordy and Williams or the Steiners in the main event on numerous occasions.

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I think that in today's current wrestling climate, where tag teams are no longer brought in on team contracts and are signed as individuals, the best possible way to book tag teams would be the buddy system. For example, in WCW, it was known that Luger and Sting were best buds. They could wrestle as singles or as a tag team and they were taken seriously in both roles. In 1998, Jericho and Eddy formed the best one month tag team of all time as heels.

 

Hell Rey and Eddie were an awesome tag team when feuding with MNM but it didn't feel unnatural at all putting them together because of their history together. Currently in WWE, tag team matches are based on the feuds and not on friendship. When Truth turned on John Morrisson, was there ever a moment in the last 5 years where you ever got the sense that these guys were friends? While Truth has been a great heel, it wasn't like Eddie turning on Rey where the crowd believed Eddie was insanely jealous of Rey at the time and it drove him over the brink.

 

Since Mark Henry and Sheamus are heels and Christian and Orton are faces, they create two makeshift tag teams. Instead, a wiser move IMO would be to have Sheamus enlist his fellow Euro Drew McIntire or have Christian team with someone other than the guy he has faced for the last 4 weeks. On the flip flop, there has to be someone that Orton could have to watch his back in certain situations. Really, if I were the WWE, I would have a buddy system where every single guy on the roster has a buddy who they have on-screen friendships and are seen actually interacting as friends. This also allows for future turns/feuds but also gives you credible tag teams without having guys stuck in the tag team role.

 

Becuase i am insanely bored and stuck in suspended comp-making limbo, I looked at the WWf roster and here are some of the makeshift buddies I could think of based on current heel/face alignments (I think) and completely ignoring what show they are on and injuries ...

 

Sheamus/ Drew

John Cena / Zach Ryder (Clearly playing off the popularity of Ryder's internet fame and Cena's cameos)

Randy Orton / Evan Bourne

Alberto Del Rio / Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero in a three way tandem)

Christian / Chris Masters

R-Truth / Mark Henry (Two evil black dudes, duh)

John Morrison / Alex Riley (Miz's jilted lovers)

Punk / Wade Barrett (Ditch the loser factions)

Kofi / Ezekiel (2 happy black dudes, duh)

Daniel Bryan / William Regal (Teacher /Student Dynamic here)

Rey Mysterio / Yoshi Tatsu (Little Engines that could)

Cody Rhodes / Goldust (Brotherly Love)

Jack Swagger / Brodus Clay (Just because I like Brodus and I think he fits with Swagger better than ADR)

 

You could probably dissect these and tear them apart but it only took a glance at the WWE Superstars page and see how you can have several relationships / feuds entertwined and not kill off any singles pushes. You also have a superior / inferior guy similar to the system that All Japan uses. Dylan made the comment that he didn't think that the All Japan guys could be called legit tag teams but you could probably say the same about any of the above. However, you have multiple matchups and even matches that could headline house shows / TV tapings without losing anything in your main feuds.

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Cody finally understanding what it feels like to be a "freak" like his brother is a great angle to set up a Dr Doom Cody Rhodes/Goldust team.

 

I really liked it when a few years back they had Cryme Tyme as Cena buddies, usually taking on Ted Jr, Cody and JBL or Jericho. Those were some quality six man tags that ran the house show loop and a couple of TVs that people forget about that were quite good.

 

With all the PG-13 talk lately, how awesome woulda babyface Cena/PG-13 combo have been?

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