Mr. Nerfect
08-14-2006, 07:13 AM
Actually, it's not going to be quick. This is probably an incomplete list, as I've left out some minor tag teams like Funaki & Scotty 2 Hotty, The Gymini, Jim Duggan & Eugene, Val Venis & Snitsky, etc. But anyway, here is a list of the major keystones of what could be a tag team revival:
RAW Tag Team Division:
The Spirit Squad
When news came that Kenny, Johnny, Mikey, Nicky & Mitch were breaking up, my first reaction was "Yay!", but only now has it occurred to me the greatness still left unexplored in this tag team. The Hardy Boyz are set to return to RAW. Can you imagine the matches? Mikey vs. Jeff Hardy: Spiriton vs. Swanton? There is so much potential there. The Spirit Squad could do some fantastic things if they disbanded, namely Kenny and Johnny respectively, but Nicky and Mitch would arguably be lost. It's not worth damaging great heel main eventers for the sake of pushing Kenny and Johnny, who have already been pushed to the top in a way. With Doane and Jeter behind their first names the sky is the limit, but right now they are in need of being humbled in the Tag Team Division. Doane and Jeter will still be as talented in six months time, when the main event scene clears up a bit.
The Hardy Boyz
With Jeff Hardy confirmed as returning to an already stacked RAW, Matt Hardy should follow pursuit. The Spirit Squad vs. The Hardy Boyz in a Ladder Match. That alone could restore some credibility to the World Tag Team Championship.
MNM
Hear me out. Johnny Nitro is scheduled to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Kane. Then what? They can't push him to the main event, yet. His value to the IC Title scene isn't that academic (his title run was only to establish him as a singles guy, really), thus being used to restore credibility to a broken Tag Team Division seems logical. Bring Joey Mercury back to RAW, and give them the simple goal of feuding with The Hardy Boyz. Melina can explain that her boys feel they are the greatest tag team of all-time, and the reunion of yesteryear's greatest tag team, The Hardy Boyz, has put all hiccoughs behind the record-breaking three-time WWE Tag Team Champions. The Spirit Squad vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. MNM in a TLC Match? That is a tag team revival.
Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
The Attitude era had Edge & Christian, The Hardyz and The Dudleyz leading the way. They also had The APA. A tag team who wasn't one of the leaders of the division, but they seperated the upper-class tag teams from the lower-class. They didn't look strange with the belts. Cade and Murdoch are deceiving high-risk competitors, and they are getting a tag team "Goldberg-push". A few feuds on Heat can help establish depth in the Tag Team Division.
The Highlanders
The "Too Cool" of this era's Tag Team Division. Give them a run with the belts to appease the fans, but from then on, they are tag team jobbers. I like Rory and Robbie, but they are realistically a comedy gimmick in a division which requires some level of seriousness.
SmackDown! Tag Team Division:
Paul London & Brian Kendrick
This is obvious. London & Kendrick are easily in the best Top Ten Tag Teams of all-time. No, that is not an exaggeration. It seems a waste to leave them out of the "TLC" feud on RAW, but challenging these guys is going to get the best results long-term. RAW's Tag Team Division has always been the weaker of the two. Putting the best tag team in the WWE on the weaker show makes it seem a lot more balanced, and it allows things to even out a bit. London & Kendrick have a lot to offer the Cruiserweight Division, but the Tag Team Division takes priority at the moment.
The Pit Bulls
The WWE has made it pretty clear they want these two back together when Kid Kash is off suspension. I don't blame the WWE. Jamie Noble and Kid Kash work well together, and they're just starting to click image-wise as a tag team. Let these two grow together, and let them feud with Paul London & Brian Kendrick. That's a budding garden bed for tag team wrestling, and it almost seems the start of new era, unlike RAW's Tag Team Division, which seems to be riding the past (a mistake of the Attitude era and its tag teams). What seperates Jamie Noble, Kid Kash, Paul London & Brian Kendrick as tag team competitors from failed tag teams like The Hurricane & Rosey (for example), is that The Pit Bulls and WWE Tag Team Champions seem to be new fish in a new pond, not new fish in an old pond. It works, and these two teams should definately be leading a new era for the Tag Team Division.
The Mexicools
"What? Didn't these two break-up?". Yep, but they should get back together. What are they doing as singles competitors. Whilst some may argue Super Crazy has the opportunity to be Cruiserweight Champion, one has to question (and this is nothing against the Cruiserweight Division), is it worth it? Especially considering Psicosis is doing nothing. The Mexicools are a great tag team, and the fans will welcome them back. Six talented cruiserweights in the Tag Team Division, now that is grand.
La Resistance
RAW gets MNM back together, SmackDown! gets La Resistance back together. Ah, the irony. Trade Matt Hardy to RAW for Rob Conway, and stick Conway and Sylvan (once again going by Sylvain Grenier) back together. The former three-time World Tag Team Champions would be fresh on SmackDown! (like the former three-time WWE Tag Team Champions would be fresh on RAW), and they have plenty of talented workers to have even better tag team matches with than they were having on RAW. It seems like step backwards for Conway & Grenier, but in reality, it is a step forwards, because now they actually get to contribute constructively to a show rather than being jobbed out under the guise of "developing their own character".
KC James & Idol Stevens
Believe it or not, I see these two as a lowr ranked tag team on SmackDown!. They just don't click well together, but with time and patience they can grow into seperate singles characters. It may be an interesting angle to run, two guys come into the WWE, fail to get over as a tag team, they feud, one gets a push out the gates, the other has to re-invent themselves. Kind of like Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty, only without The Rockers backstory. I don't see them as jobbers, so to speak, but rather as a tag team that probably won't be first, second or even third preference to be WWE Tag Team Champions.
On SmackDown!, you could kind of have Sylvester Terkay and Elijah Burke team-up, but I think they're better off with their alternating singles thing.
So how does that sound? Is putting together a lot of the past teams that have gone through the WWE's tag team halls, largely unnoticed, due to a lacking support of other great tag teams, the way to go? The Hardy Boyz, MNM, La Resistance and The Mexicools all reforming could go a long way to helping the World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship.
RAW Tag Team Division:
The Spirit Squad
When news came that Kenny, Johnny, Mikey, Nicky & Mitch were breaking up, my first reaction was "Yay!", but only now has it occurred to me the greatness still left unexplored in this tag team. The Hardy Boyz are set to return to RAW. Can you imagine the matches? Mikey vs. Jeff Hardy: Spiriton vs. Swanton? There is so much potential there. The Spirit Squad could do some fantastic things if they disbanded, namely Kenny and Johnny respectively, but Nicky and Mitch would arguably be lost. It's not worth damaging great heel main eventers for the sake of pushing Kenny and Johnny, who have already been pushed to the top in a way. With Doane and Jeter behind their first names the sky is the limit, but right now they are in need of being humbled in the Tag Team Division. Doane and Jeter will still be as talented in six months time, when the main event scene clears up a bit.
The Hardy Boyz
With Jeff Hardy confirmed as returning to an already stacked RAW, Matt Hardy should follow pursuit. The Spirit Squad vs. The Hardy Boyz in a Ladder Match. That alone could restore some credibility to the World Tag Team Championship.
MNM
Hear me out. Johnny Nitro is scheduled to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Kane. Then what? They can't push him to the main event, yet. His value to the IC Title scene isn't that academic (his title run was only to establish him as a singles guy, really), thus being used to restore credibility to a broken Tag Team Division seems logical. Bring Joey Mercury back to RAW, and give them the simple goal of feuding with The Hardy Boyz. Melina can explain that her boys feel they are the greatest tag team of all-time, and the reunion of yesteryear's greatest tag team, The Hardy Boyz, has put all hiccoughs behind the record-breaking three-time WWE Tag Team Champions. The Spirit Squad vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. MNM in a TLC Match? That is a tag team revival.
Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
The Attitude era had Edge & Christian, The Hardyz and The Dudleyz leading the way. They also had The APA. A tag team who wasn't one of the leaders of the division, but they seperated the upper-class tag teams from the lower-class. They didn't look strange with the belts. Cade and Murdoch are deceiving high-risk competitors, and they are getting a tag team "Goldberg-push". A few feuds on Heat can help establish depth in the Tag Team Division.
The Highlanders
The "Too Cool" of this era's Tag Team Division. Give them a run with the belts to appease the fans, but from then on, they are tag team jobbers. I like Rory and Robbie, but they are realistically a comedy gimmick in a division which requires some level of seriousness.
SmackDown! Tag Team Division:
Paul London & Brian Kendrick
This is obvious. London & Kendrick are easily in the best Top Ten Tag Teams of all-time. No, that is not an exaggeration. It seems a waste to leave them out of the "TLC" feud on RAW, but challenging these guys is going to get the best results long-term. RAW's Tag Team Division has always been the weaker of the two. Putting the best tag team in the WWE on the weaker show makes it seem a lot more balanced, and it allows things to even out a bit. London & Kendrick have a lot to offer the Cruiserweight Division, but the Tag Team Division takes priority at the moment.
The Pit Bulls
The WWE has made it pretty clear they want these two back together when Kid Kash is off suspension. I don't blame the WWE. Jamie Noble and Kid Kash work well together, and they're just starting to click image-wise as a tag team. Let these two grow together, and let them feud with Paul London & Brian Kendrick. That's a budding garden bed for tag team wrestling, and it almost seems the start of new era, unlike RAW's Tag Team Division, which seems to be riding the past (a mistake of the Attitude era and its tag teams). What seperates Jamie Noble, Kid Kash, Paul London & Brian Kendrick as tag team competitors from failed tag teams like The Hurricane & Rosey (for example), is that The Pit Bulls and WWE Tag Team Champions seem to be new fish in a new pond, not new fish in an old pond. It works, and these two teams should definately be leading a new era for the Tag Team Division.
The Mexicools
"What? Didn't these two break-up?". Yep, but they should get back together. What are they doing as singles competitors. Whilst some may argue Super Crazy has the opportunity to be Cruiserweight Champion, one has to question (and this is nothing against the Cruiserweight Division), is it worth it? Especially considering Psicosis is doing nothing. The Mexicools are a great tag team, and the fans will welcome them back. Six talented cruiserweights in the Tag Team Division, now that is grand.
La Resistance
RAW gets MNM back together, SmackDown! gets La Resistance back together. Ah, the irony. Trade Matt Hardy to RAW for Rob Conway, and stick Conway and Sylvan (once again going by Sylvain Grenier) back together. The former three-time World Tag Team Champions would be fresh on SmackDown! (like the former three-time WWE Tag Team Champions would be fresh on RAW), and they have plenty of talented workers to have even better tag team matches with than they were having on RAW. It seems like step backwards for Conway & Grenier, but in reality, it is a step forwards, because now they actually get to contribute constructively to a show rather than being jobbed out under the guise of "developing their own character".
KC James & Idol Stevens
Believe it or not, I see these two as a lowr ranked tag team on SmackDown!. They just don't click well together, but with time and patience they can grow into seperate singles characters. It may be an interesting angle to run, two guys come into the WWE, fail to get over as a tag team, they feud, one gets a push out the gates, the other has to re-invent themselves. Kind of like Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty, only without The Rockers backstory. I don't see them as jobbers, so to speak, but rather as a tag team that probably won't be first, second or even third preference to be WWE Tag Team Champions.
On SmackDown!, you could kind of have Sylvester Terkay and Elijah Burke team-up, but I think they're better off with their alternating singles thing.
So how does that sound? Is putting together a lot of the past teams that have gone through the WWE's tag team halls, largely unnoticed, due to a lacking support of other great tag teams, the way to go? The Hardy Boyz, MNM, La Resistance and The Mexicools all reforming could go a long way to helping the World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship.