Tag Team Turmoil

Money Inc. wanna be's at Wrestlemania 26

Think back to the 80's.  Wrestling was going global, thanks to the efforts of Vince McMahon and the WWF.  Besides big name single stars like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, we had a ton of great tag teams.  The British Bulldogs, the Hart Foundation, the Killer Bees to name a few.  Over in the NWA we had the Road Warriors, the Rock n Roll Express, and the Midnight Express.  Again, just the tip of the iceberg.  

In fact, tag team wrestling was so big back then, the NWA held a 24 team tournament.  Most of those involved were actual tag teams, not just a couple of guys paired up together.  And who can forget the first two Survivor Series pay per views.  We had a 10 team elimination match on both those cards.  

Fast forward a couple of decades and the tag team scene is on life support.  At least in the WWE.  Cody Rhodes for example, who is now a coholder of the tag team titles, hasn't even been in the WWE for three years and has already held the tag team titles with 3 DIFFERENT partners.  Then there's Kane, he's held the tag team gold with six different partners over the last 12 years.  Edge has been a tag champ with 5 different partners.  You get the point I'm trying to make.  Big Show is another multiple tag team champ with 4 partners in the WWE and 3 partners in WCW.  

Today's tag teams are mostly a couple of guys that seem to be lost in the shuffle.  Mark Henry and Evan Bourne, I'm looking at you.  Same goes for Drew and Cody.

I thought with the introduction of the Hart Dynasty, we might actually see a return to tag team wrestling. Real tag team wrestling.  Not the champs getting beat by a singles wrestler in a cage match.  I mean, come on, they have the word DYNASTY in their name.

I don't watch a whole lot of TNA, but I do know their tag team ranks are a bit more robust.  They seem to have some good combinations.  I like Beer Money and MCMG.  

The days of the classic tag teams are obviously over.  I just wish the E would give the division a little more love.  Right now, you've got the Hart Dynasty, the Usos, and the Dude Busters (remember them?) who seem to be "legit" teams.  Then the pairings of Cody & Drew (could they be the next Chuck & Billy?), Vladamir & Santino, and Bourne & Henry (maybe Power & Glory 2.0)  

One other pet peeve about tag team wrestling.  It seems like they split many of the teams up in a matter of a year or two or three.  Look at Cryme Tyme, MNM, Morrison & the Miz, The Colon Brothers, ShowMiz, JeriShow (you get the point)  Then there's the "you guys are enemies, now we're going to make you team together" booking that annoys me too.  Cena and Otunga are the most recent pairing I can think of.  I'm sure in the coming weeks, we'll get a Daniel Bryan-Miz tag team match too.

Okay, sorry for the rant.  I just miss the days of the British Bulldogs, the Rockers, the Hart Foundation, Midnight Express, Road Warriors, Demolition, etc...