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The Dying Art of Tag Team Wrestling

Posted in In My Head by Tyler at 11:16, Oct 05 2005

By Wacko Bob

Wrestling has always had its place for any single stars. And they always get there written into the pages of wrestling history. And like we see in the WWE they always have a Hall of Fame to recognize these single stars.

Tag Teams in wrestling its not nearly the same. Even though they are in a lot of ways just as popular as the major single stars they seem to be missed at the same time in the history books too. Tag Team is one if the things that makes stars too and in some cases are the bigger superstars over the single superstars.

Now when we see Tag Teams they are only seen for the most case as a short term Tag Team and looked at more to build superstars to become singles wrestlers. Team like The Worlds Greatest Tag Team, La Resistance, and Billy Kidman and Paul London are teams most recent to go through all this. Even though Shelton Benjamin is achieving a lot of success his name alone seems to not be as big as his tag team name was with Charlie Hass as The Worlds Greatest Tag Team.



But now lets go back in time to the 70's to really get started.


One of the biggest Tag team names was The Moondogs and there have been different versions of this team to. They would go on to be one of the greatest heel tag teams in the WWWF. They would break apart a lot but in most cases would be looked at as popular jobbers. The Wild Samoans were a team even bigger then The Moondogs and are still looked at as one of the most popular tag teams even in the history of the WWE. Sika and Samu would do singles wrestling and would be lower level mid carders at best. And here lies in the truth about the importance of why tag teams are a must needed force in wrestling.


Tag teams can make stars out of new wrestlers and at the same time give rebirth to fallen stars. Stars that seems to have fallen and doing nothing. Like in 1988 when Rick Martell and Tito Santana would form Strike Force they would make that name big because they were two names almost forgotten about and now they were a team that were still big names and that made the team name big and to some Strike Force was the bigger name in there careers. After the split Tito Santana would not do much more as far as an impact would show and Rick Martell would become the model.


La Resistance as a team was over the top together and they were Frenchmen that hated America. Now them on the other hand are a team that should not have been broken up as they need there tag team more so then a singles career. Splitting them up was the wrong move with the draft lottery in the WWE moving Ren? Dupree to Smackdown and he would fall out of the spotlight and his partner now known as Sylvan on Smackdown would do the same as well. RAW and Smackdown would have a trade putting Ren? Dupree back on RAW but Sylvan would go to Smackdown rite when you would want to think they would get back together. Again this is why Tag Teams seem to be forgotten in the history books.


One of the greatest if not The Greatest Tag Teams in the history of wrestling are The Road Warriors. They would a name as a Tag Team that would be as big as single stars names like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. Attempts to split them up would always be short lived as they would need to be together because they would always draw. And they would be looked at as a team that would always say "Tag Teams do count in wrestling" and still says today when ever they are talked about.


Tag Teams would make a starting point for Major singles stars in wrestling. Names like Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Ric Flair, Bret Hart and Bradshaw just to name a few are proof of this.


Tag Team names like The Midnight Express, The Rock N Roll Express, The British Bulldogs, The Fabulous Ones, The Fantastics, The Hart Foundation, The Steiner Brothers, The Smoking Gunns, The New Age Outlaws and countless others would become big in the sport and if these teams did break up only a few would go on to achieve success on there own.


Short term Tag Team seem to be it in the WWE today. After they rise up then they split up. Or now they just get released from there contracts. With MNM as there only real pushed Tag Team today this is what really makes the point to the question if tag team wrestling a dying art. Because MNM could just as well wind up getting broken up too in an attempt too make singles stars out of them.


It seems that in the last 5 years America's Most Wanted have become the only steady Tag Team in wrestling today. And its already been proven with then as well that even though they have potential to be great singles stars they still need to be together as a tag team because that's bigger for them. AMW has become the only hope to the forgotten art of tag team wrestling and they are the biggest names today in tag teams too. Even with The Dudley Boys still together now known as Team 3D.


The truth is Tag Teams over the years never gotten the over all respect that they should have gotten. If they do get the same respect then you would already see The Road Warriors in the WWE Hall of Fame and The Wrestling Hall of Fame. (whoever run that if it does exist) Because Tag Team wrestling is here to stay as long as wrestling is still around.


If you look at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame you see rock groups in there all the time and they always get inducted today. Michael Jackson was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a member of the Jackson 5 before getting inducted as a solo artist. I think the same should be done for the Tag Teams in the wrestling Hall of Fame because like the Dudley Boys and The Road Warriors that's where they always drew the best and in the case of The Road Warriors they drew just as well as a tag team that Hulk Hogan did as a singles superstar.


Will Tag Team wrestling get back on tract or is it now looked at as a stepping stone to just help make new single superstars? Only time will tell! But time could be running out too!



Thought are welcome!

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