From the Vault: Tag Team Wrestling on Life Support

8/16/06: It's great that WWE is convincing some that they are taking interest in reestablishing tag teams, but they haven't convinced me...

Case in point? The Bashams...

The Bashams were a sweet team, brought in, given the tag gold, then dropped into obscurity. Soon perhaps they will reappear in ECW...

Case in point? La Resistance...

Two different pairs, Rene Dupree and Sylvan Grenier, and Sylvan and Rob Conway, broken up so that the talent can pursue singles aspirations.

I guess once you reach the tag belts, there isn't much more to accomplish as a team...

But the problem is, teams get the tag belts almost immediately upon their formation. There is no chase...

Murdoch and Cade won them almost immediately, then after they lost them were split up. WWE.com did a cool little article about how they realized they were the most successful together when they were paired again, but the initial idea was to push Murdoch towards the IC title.

WWE is very short sighted when it comes to tag teams, which is ridiculous, because they have had plenty of workers who could use the seasoning that tag wrestling for a while would have given.

Gunner Scott and Chris Benoit could have had a long tag title reign. Now Scott is off the main roster. That time with Benoit in tag matches would have given him time to become something.

Bret Hart was on the verge of getting released before he and the Anvil teamed up. How far would Shawn have gone if brought in as a singles wrestler... Probably not very. He needed the time and experience of being a tag wrestler to prepare him. He also needed the heat generated when the team broke up.

Snitsky and Tomko could have been a new team in the vein of the Powers of Pain or Skyscrapers. Now Tomko is gone and Snitsky is with Val Venis. How does that make sense?

Viscera and Charlie Haas? Why, cause Charlie knocked Lillian off the mat?

And still, I prefer these makeshift teams to makeshift star teams. They are trying to find something for these guys to do.

That's much better than Rey & RVD, RVD & Booker, Edge & Benoit, or whoever else winning the tag belts. Only one thing bothers me more than two singles wrestlers coming together to embarass established tag teams.

One single wrestler embarassing established tag teams. The Rock defeating both Dudleyz in a Tables Match?

That type of stuff happens often in the WWE. Had Kane and Big Show stayed together, their dominance would have been a good chance to breed some teams without the belts having to be in the picture. Right now, every time a new team is introduced, they go straight for the champs. They either win them, lose them, and break up, or they lose and dissapear.

The belts are never featured. They don't Main Event free tv, and they seldom make PPV. Despite two real feuds for tag belts, neither one will be decided at Summerslam.

And now they are talking about breaking up the Spirit Squad...

Imagine if the WWE had broken up the New Age Outlaws after their first title reign... After all, they were just two crap guys thrown together. They caught lightning in a bottle once, and if they don't see the same flare, they immediately split the team up and look to do something else.

The WWE is looking for Attitude Vol. 2. This is why John Cena becomes more like Steve Austin, every other babyface champ becomes The Rock, and Tag Teams can't last.

A lot of people shit on the New Legion of Doom, but hell, it got Animal a payday and got Heidenreich something to do that was over. They released Heidenreich and repackaged Animal as the gay biker from the Village People. They could have had a real tag team for KC James and Idol Stevens to go over en route to London and Kendrick.

It's not impressive to dominate the tag division, because every new team that appears does. When there is a tag team feud, all other teams are off TV, much like the Women's and Cruiserweight Divisions.

I thought the reason for breaking up the Mexicools was to move Super Crazy to ECW. I was wrong. There was no reason. So what the hell are the two of them doing? Absolutely nothing.

When writers need filler for their shows, they break up a tag team. However, these tag teams aren't well enough established that their feuds even make a PPV. How did they blow off the Mexicools break up? It certainly wasn't on PPV. It wasn't even an extended feud on TV.

I am certainly not convinced that introducing tag teams renews a commitment to tag team wrestling. If tag team wresting is alive anywhere, it's on TNA.

WWE has so many developmental guys that would benefit from starting in a tag team. They have so many guys with absolutely nothing to do that could be put together in a way that makes sense.

However the only real tag team feud in years has been McMahons vs. DX, neither of which will still be together by this time next year.

WWE is like MTV. Despite what you want to see, they can get over what they want to get over. WWE does not want to get tag team wrestling over.