How to save Tag Team Wrestling.

[TheKingofKings20222]

Ok, so it appears that the WWE is FINALLY starting to re-vamp the Tag Team division, but it still needs a A LOT of work if it is to ever get back to it's glory days. Lets take a look at all the Tag Teams in the WWE currently,

Kane and Daniel Bryan
Prime Time Players
Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio
Primo and Epico
Kofi and R-Truth
Camacho and Hunico
The Uso's

Now, while this is a good amount, some of these teams are not permanent Tag Teams. Kane and Daniel Bryan will not last past their current storyline, Kofi and R-Truth won't last much longer now that they lost the Tag Titles, and Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio will only last up until Wrestlemania when they feud with each other.

There is a reason why Tag Team Wrestling has lost so much, and that reason, is because the WWE treats Tag Teams as two weak wrestlers teaming up together. How many times have we seen a big superstar like John Cena, take out a tag team like they were nothing? WWE needs to be more realistic when it comes to Tag Teams. Look back in the attitude era, how many times did you see Tag Teams get squashed but just one man? Yes, it happened back then, but not nearly as much as it does nowadays. Tags Teams back then were how they were meant to be, two superstars teaming up to become a unit. The APA is a prime example. There wasn't a single superstar who could match the APA in a 2 on 1 fight. Superstars would even come to them for protection! Thats how it worked, the numbers game was the most powerful factor in that time.

When a tag team goes out and gets squashed by one man, it makes them look weak. Tag Teams need to be built up as a strong unit. The only time a Tag Team should be squashed is if they are going up against a superstar who has more experience, or is twice their size. (EX. Epico and Primo VS Big Show)
But if the Tag Team is made up of experienced people who have or could have a good singles career then they should always come out on top, (EX. Kane and Daniel Bryan VS John Cena)

You can argue that if a team beats down a main eventer that it makes the main eventer look weak. That's not true. How does losing a 2 on 1 beatdown make you look weak? Tag Teams should not even be used outside of Tag Team wrestling unless it is used to further a storyline, (EX, Legacy and HHH)

Bottom line this is how you save Tag Team Wrestling.

1. Make your Tag Teams credible

Don't just throw random people together. Make sure they have chemistry. Have matching ring gear, Work together in the ring, make them become not just partners inside the ring, but good friends outside the ring as well.


2. DO NOT make your teams look weak

Avoid squashing your Tag Teams. Make it to where the Tag Division is not a place to mess around in. You always need someone to watch your back. No one wants to walk into a 2 on 1 fight, and 9 out of 10 times, a person will NOT win a 2 on 1 fight, therefore Tag Teams need to be tough.

3. Focus on Tag Team wrestling only

Do not bring tag teams into outside storylines. Don't have them fighting main eventers in singles matches, make them wrestle as a Tag Team taking on other Tag Teams. The only time a singles match should happen is if a superstar is taking on another superstar from a different Tag Team to further their feud. Tag Teams shouldn't just be about forming a union. They need to be focused on one thing, winning the Tag Titles.


4. Make the Tag Titles more prestigious

This is one of the hardest things to do. To help a title regain so much lost prestige, is something that requires A LOT of work. Look back in the Attiude Era. Edge and Christian, The Hardy's, and The Dudleys were CONSTANTLY feuding with each other over the tag titles, to them, the Titles were everything. They wanted them so bad that they would do whatever it took to get them. The be the Tag Team champions meant that they were the best. Thats how it should be now. Don't just throw the titles around, that will not gain prestige. Make tag teams work hard, make them want the Tag Titles.


Thats how to save Tag Team Wrestling. Thoughts?

 

[AjStyles]

The thing about the tag team division, much like the drowing divas division, is not focused on as much as it should be.

If the WWE would stop focusing on just the main eventers and creating champion vs champion matches, and invest more time and effort into the tag division, it wouldn't really take all that that long to make the tag team titles relevant again.

Another thing is that WWE needs to stop throwing two people into a random tag team unless its part of a program like Daniel Bryan and Kane. Now, however, there are some singles competitors that are struggling in the midcard who have really nothing going for them, the tag team division could be used to not only boost itself but help launch their careers and pave the way for future main eventers.

I see quite a few tag teams that would work well from some of the midcarders.
However, it can't just be thrown together out of nowhere, that wouldn't make any sense, see how DX and Rated RKO were formed, they were formed as part of program and were very successful and after their split-up they went on to have legendary careers.Now granted no way in hell would that work out every single time or for that matter ever again,I'm just saying it coul work out nicely as long as WWE dosen't jump the gun.

 

[TempestH]

I think tag teams SHOULD be used outside of tag team wrestling on occasion. Being a tag team success and being a singles success shouldn't be mutually exclusive, especially when most singles guys end up in tag matches anyway. If two singles guys form a random alliance, like Sin Cara & Rey Mysterio currently are, it gives them a reason to team up aside from, "We're both faces and the two other guys are heels".

Tag teams who are have a unified identity, like The Usos or The Colons, don't have much upside as singles stars. But you could have Jimmy Uso job to a random monster heel. This avoids having someone with actual potential as a singles star, like an Alex Riley or Yoshi Tatsu, being jobbed out repeatedly and losing credibility.

Other tag teams, like Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel, or Titus O'Neil and Darren Young, where both members each have discernable identities, could easily be inserted into singles feuds. Gabriel & Kidd, despite being a team, are used in lots of singles matches. Hunico is primarily a singles guy while Camacho only wrestles when needed. If you put one member of a tag team in a feud for a singles title, the partner can be used as an ally or a cornerman to either run interference or make the save from a post-match assault.

 

[Irig]

I agree with op's point. I think wwe will use Kane and Bryan to make it relevant and bring in other tag teams to limelight. They already are trying it can see that on this week's raw. But i have my doubts as to what will happen after they split which will eventually happen someday.

 

[willdefrangesco]

I think they should have Kane and Bryan hold onto the titles for a few months, continuing tension between them, until they snap and are stripped of the titles. Then, like in Smackdown in 2002, have a tag team tournament to determine the new tag team champions. Throw in the current teams, Kofi/Truth, PTP, Gabriel/Kidd, etc. and have drawings to make new teams, (not random, because WWE never does that) and have new teams form like McGillicutty and McIntyre, Alex Riley and Ted DiBiase, etc. and at a major PPV, Survivor Series or Wrestlemania, have the title match. This could start new rivalries for 'Mania, and give us the people we want to see, instead of having them on Superstars or NXT each week.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

Yeah, I agree that the Tag Team division is weak despite its recent increase in Tag Team focus. It does need to return to the Demolition days when a Tag Team was hugely relevant in both threat and prestige. Nowadays, far too many Tag Teams win the Tag titles, defend it successfully for probably two matches and then after they lose the titles, split up to feud with each other for a short while. It's a redundant pattern that is ultimately pointless. What the WWE needs to do is establish teams and then make the teams feud with other teams chasing the Tag titles. They can polish a decent story around it and then make the teams fight...ahem...fight for the titles through three PPVs with wild stipulations reminiscent of 2000. The Tag titles look like the easiest titles for any Mid-Carder to start with and boom, the resume already says he's a former Champion. It's fruitless. The challenge needs to be there. I don't want to see temporary alliances that win one match and then get a title shot, win the titles, lose the titles and then split up. I want to see teams fight for the titles for years. I want to see real constant Tag Teams like the Road Warriors, Demolition, Bodydonnas, etc. They also need to make it so that even Main Event superstars that team up for a lengthy period of time lose cleanly to a legitimate Tag Team. That would BOOST Tag Team wrestling as some serious form of competition rather than what we're seeing right now. They had that magic with the Dudley Boyz, so why not bring it back when it needs to matter? Tag Team wrestling should be just as important as singles wrestling.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

All the Tag Teams need to be a lot tougher then what they are now. The teams of Kane/Bryan and Truth/Kingston can all hold there own as singles wrestlers and can all be genuine title contenders. These Two teams are not going to be tagging forever and WWE need to get the rest of the the teams to a level where you can actully believe they can hang with anybody on the roster.

 

[bonesaw]

Back in the 1980's and early 1990's, many pro wrestlers had great careers being full time tag team wrestlers. (LOD, Steiners til 98, Rock -n- Roll, Midnight Express, Freebirds, Bushwhackers, Demolition, etc.) All the wrestlers today want to be top dog World Champion, Biggest Star of the Company. Not everyone can be the Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan of the company. Does that mean a if your'e tag team can't get over, or can't become big stars and make lots of money? Of course not. Go watch NWA in 1985-1988 when the Rock-N-Roll Express was feuding with The Four Horsemen. Rock -N- Roll was more over than just about all of the top babyface singles wrestlers. Same with LOD until their later years. If some guys would suck it up and swallow their pride, it may actually make their career. Where would Christian have been without the Edge/Christian tag team?

I have thought about possible WWE tag teams a lot lately...

Team#1 -How about Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez? ADR is not going to win a World Title anytime soon. He has no potential interesting singles feuds on smackdown. Ricardo is very entertaining, and many people don't know this but he was a wrestler for FCW. They could be a top heel tag team.

Team #2- I like the idea they've had of Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio as a team. Rey is getting more and more physically broke down, and tag matches may allow his career to go a little longer. Plus, those two are exciting to watch and could break up and have a great feud.

Team #3-(Crazy idea, would be great or a total flop)
I just don't like Kofi and R-Truth as a tag team. I don't know why, it's just nowhere near as great as Awesome Truth was. HOW ABOUT an Odd Couple Tag Team of HEATH SLATER and R-TRUTH? R-Truth could turn heel, and tone down the little Jimmy shit. They're both funny on the mic, and both can wrestle. Also, neither is ever going to be a main eventer. They may get so over that they could be a top babyface tag team.

Team #4 -
William Regal and Wade Barrett! Two tough british guys with a smashmouth style. Regal has been one of the best mat wrestlers for years, and Barrett definitely has a bright future. This one wouldn't last for too long, but would be great while it lasted.

Team #5
This one will never happen, because Ryback is headed straight to the top.

Mason Ryan and Ryback! The two most jacked dudes in the company. Who could stop them?

 

[XXJJ]

Biggest thing is they need to improve their storylines. Even when they were champs I dont think I ever heard Epico and Primo cut a promo.

They need to have 4-5 good teams that are over with the crowd. Kane/DB are a good tweener type tag team. They should face both heel and face teams. I think Rey and Sin Cara can become a very popular tag team. Turn Zack Ryder into a tag team wrestler with someone. Ryder is over enough that he can get fans to care about his team.

They still need a couple of really good heel teams for those guys to feud with. I'm still not sure about PTP, Epico and Primo and the Usos. I think they all have potential but they really haven't been given much in terms of storylines.

 

[Guyzwitgunz]

I think the tag teams they have are satisfactory for now, they just need to be booked properly. Small high flying guys like Epico and Primo should be feuding with other lightweight teams like The Usos or Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel, not Kane and Daniel Bryan (for example) who they would get dominated by.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

1. Make your Tag Teams credible
2. DO NOT make your teams look weak
3. Focus on Tag Team wrestling only
4. Make the Tag Titles more prestigious

Thats how to save Tag Team Wrestling.

Obvious points are obvious.

I love tag team wrestling, but I also understand why WWE has allowed it to suffer in the last few years. It is by far more difficult to book tag wrestling, especially in a landscape that did away with territories, and no longer encourages guys to come through the "minor leagues" together. It used to be that guys found each other in wrestling school, or came up as friends and stuck together. That's how you build great chemistry and get good teams in the division. Look at most of the greatest long-term teams in wrestling history. Edge & Christian, Legion of Doom, the Hart Foundation, the Dudleys, Hardy Boyz, etc.

We don't have those today. The few they do have just aren't that good (Epico and Primo?). But that's not the end of tag wrestling, if WWE is willing to put some time and effort into the teams they do have. But they suffer from the same thing every other mid-card guy does: under-exposure and lock of continuity.

They are making great strides right now. We are seeing tag feuds in and out of the title picture, and that is the first key to success: getting us to care about more than just the champs and their immediate opponents. People talk about the Prime Time Players all the time. Love them or hate them that's more than you can say of most teams of the past five years. Kane & Daniel Bryan are more over than just about anybody on the roster, and that along is enough to make me care about the division, and every team they may face. The Usos are the best wrestling team in the WWE; why they are under-used is beyond me.

I'm not going to list all the teams and why they should be pushed. There are dozens of these threads in the non-spam section. Not realize that tag wrestling will only get better as the rest of the product gets better. It's the same guys writing material for their division than in the other mid-card divisions. And as I said, it's a lot harder to book tag teams than singles guys. The Miz only has to worry about the Miz. But tag teams have to worry about two guys, making sure they have chemistry, making sure those two people work with the other two people in the ring; there's a lot more going on. Quite frankly it's easier to give the belt to two mid-card nobodies and have them face the job-squad every month. It's easier, cheaper and affords them more time to work on other things. And that's why you haven't seen anything decent in the division for years; until recently anyways.

 

[Just Do It]

Modern fans need to be re-educated as to how good it can be and be given reason to care through decent teams, matches and angles. I don't think this is an art - its a science. It's not hard in my opinion.

 

[spaldoni]

If they want to make the tag team division work then they should bring in some people like Arn Anderson and Road Warrior Animal to run it. Wrestlers like them who know tag team wrestling and could work with the current tag teams. The tag division can work. I would love to see the WWE tag division grow to what it was in the 80s.

 

[theBec2101]

I think they are working on it now. I like the recent events happening in the division so far. I always said they need to put some superstars in the division to make the value go up. And with Rey and Kane and even D. Bryan, I have no complaints. I do wish they would make factions and stables and try to dominate the all the titles, like DX and Evolution did.

 

[tripleddd]

First of all there needs to be a core of tag teams 6 would be enough and with that have a tag team match on Raw and Smackdown every week. That may include bringing some of the younger talent through - the other thing is to throw in a couple of singles guys together as well a few odd combinations like Kane and Daniel bryan for example. Finally have the tag teams relevant by making them a SERIOUS PART OF THE MAIN EVENT AND GIVING THEM GIMMICKS for instance the APA drank beer played cards smoked cigars and fought

 

[CRuckVoV]

The thing is the WWE makes:
Established Tag Team < Established Singles wrestler
For months if not years they've been jobbing out established teams to singles guys in handicap matches. I mean Ryback by himself burns tag teams all the time, even with all the shilling for the tag division by the announcers, it all comes off as a joke when they finally make a tag tournament all the actual tag teams are beaten by thrown together singles wrestlers