Friday, August 31, 2012

Smackin' It Raw: WWE's Tag Team Division



WWE's tag team division has been pretty bad for a very long time now but it seems like they are trying to make it better now although very, very slowly. So I have decided to take a look at the tag teams in WWE right now as well as a couple of people who could make decent tag teams.

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth: The Tag Team Champions and thus the cornerstone of the division. I'm not a fan of tag teams that have just been slapped together and its painfully obvious that what these guys are. WWE has transition Kofi to a tag team wrestler these days since before R-Truth he was teaming with Evan Bourne in Air Boom with the hope that they could revitalize the tag division. I think Kofi meshed much better with Bourne and they made a much better tag team, they even had half of the four things that ever tag team should have, a team name and matching attire, they still didn't have a team entrance theme or a team finisher though unless you counted Kofi hitting the Trouble In Paradise followed by Bourne's Air Bourne. How sad is it when your team feels so slapped together that all I can talk about is one of the partners old tag teams instead. Maybe if they keep Kofi and Truth together for a while after they lose the titles and they keep competing for them then I wouldn't feel as though they are so slapped together.

Darren Young & Titus O'Neil, The Prime Time Players: The possible future of the tag team division. The Prime Time Players have nearly everything you need to be a successful tag team, the only thing that's missing are those tag titles. WWE should put the titles on these guys ASAP and build the tag division around them as the dastardly team that cheats at every opportunity to keep the titles.

Jimmy & Jey Uso, The Uso's: The Uso's are the guys who SHOULD be the face of the tag team division in my opinion. Being twin brothers they have been a team their entire lives and work better together then anyone else on the roster. On top of that despite the fact that WWE has done them no favors at all since they first got on the roster in terms of building their credibility these guys are still over with the fans. When they come out and do their song and dance at the start of their entrance they always get the people going. One thing that can really push these guys over the top as huge fan favorites is if WWE would bring in their father Rikishi in a managerial role for them though that may not be something Rikishi wouldn't be interested since his wrestling days are still not behind him.

Epico & Primo: These two are another team that work very well together. WWE may be hesitant to put the tag titles back on them any time soon because they didn't seem to be all that over when they were champions but guess what happens when you don't put your champions on TV for weeks at a time, they don't get over. Epico & Primo are both great wrestlers and can put on a great match with any team in the division and I think they deserve another shot at the tag titles or at the very least a nice feud over the titles to get the fans behind them more. Rosa Mendes being in their corner only helps them as she is a perfect fit for the duo and fairly good mouth piece as well.

Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel: Kidd and Gabriel were a tag team that were just getting their footing a few months back before an injury sidelined Gabriel but in a shocking move by WWE's part once Gabriel returned they paired the two up again and they are once more finding their footing. These guys can really be a huge fan favorite team with their wrestling styles which compliment each others very nicely. They are also seeming to take the opportunity given to them and make a go for it as well since they have been asking fans on Twitter and Tout to suggest tag team names for the duo with them sending a Tout out themselves saying they may go with “International Airstrike.” It might not roll right off the tongue but hey its something at least. Also helping them out is the fact that both guys are experienced tag team wrestlers with both holding WWE tag team gold in the past, Kidd with DH Smith and Gabriel with Heath Slater.

Camacho & Hunico: These two have been paired together for a while now but haven't been much tag team and have seemingly yet to even consider going for the tag team titles. Why not? They aren't doing anything else and both guys are pretty decent wrestlers if nothing else they can be one more team that adds a bit of depth to the tag division with them challenging for the titles in triple threats or fatal four ways. Maybe they can be a team that  another team has to face to become number one contenders. Hell why not make them number one contenders and give them a run for the titles, they have worked together well enough so far why not throw them in the thick of the tag division.

Now as I said before I am not a fan of two guys who have nothing else to do and are slapped together as a tag team. That said some times that scenario gives birth to great tag teams take for example The New Age Outlaws, Beer Money, The Rock -n- Sock Connection, The Hollywood Blondes, Booker T and Goldust, The Big Show and Chris Jericho or The Miz and John Morrison. Its something that has been proven to work before but it takes the right combination of guys to do it. Here are a couple of guys who I think could breath some new life in the tag team division and certainly their careers if they were teaming together including a few that we have already seen together in the past.

Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga: These guys have been a tag team that were slapped together  before due to The Nexus ending and  they worked pretty well with one another even if they weren't the most over with the crowd. After losing the tag titles they just simply went their own different ways. Why not bring them back together again? Since John Laurinaitis has been gone Otunga has been doing nothing and McGillicutty has been toiling away on NXT it will only help both men to get back together. One of the biggest problems with them before is that they were deeming boring by Jerry The King Lawler, well since then Otunga has really come into his own as an annoying heel that everyone hates while McGillicutty has been coming into his own as well on NXT having great matches. Put them back together and hide their weaknesses by having Otunga do most of the talking while  McGillicutty does most of the wrestling.

Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins: These two broke into WWE as a tag team called The Major Brothers and later graduated to The Edgeheads, Edge's lackeys to help keep the world title around his waist. During this time they captured the tag team titles before going their separate ways. Once again like McGillicutty & Otunga these two didn't have a falling out when they split up. With Tyler Reks requesting and being granted his release that leaves Curt Hawkins without a tag team partner again. Zack Ryder has been struggling quite a bit as of late himself so why not pair the duo up once again. When they were a tag team before they were nobodies and although you can make the case that Hawkins still is a nobody they have both improved leaps and bounds from where they used to be and now both have their very own distinct personalities. Hawkins can get a bit of rub off of Ryder and they can be a nice addition to the tag team division.
 
Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara: Mysterio and Sin Cara are very easy to pair up together and although Sin Cara has been labeled as a huge future superstar ever since he arrived in WWE he hasn't really done much of anything to prove himself. Putting him with the very well established and beloved Mysterio can do wonders for Cara. WWE has been talking about these two having a match at Wrestlemania to set a new record for most masks worn at any public event since last year until both men got sidelined for this this years Wrestlemania but if they can both stay injury free it seems like a it might be the way for them to go for next years Wresstlemania and if they are already a tag team, maybe even champions at the time it would be easy to make the match happen with them even saying they want to do so to set the record.
 
Drew McIntyre & Jack Swagger: Here we have a classic case of two guys who aren't having anything done with them. Whenever McIntyre and Swagger are on TV you can be pretty sure that both are going to lose whatever match they are in, at the moment they are nothing but a couple of glorified jobbers. They were once so much more though and that is where these two can come together. Think about it Swagger was once a World Champion while McIntyre was a Intercontinental champion and pegged by Vince McMahon himself as the future of WWE. So what went so wrong for these guys? Both have complained as of late after loses that “they are better then this!!” so it seems like it would be easy to pair them off. They can both be put in an embarrassing match together with some other wrestlers and leave together citing they are better then this and just like that you have a new tag team who are out to prove they are indeed better then what they have been given.

Christian & Trent Barreta: This one may seem like it comes from out of nowhere and it kinda does but here's how I rationalize it. There is a old tried and true tradition of sticking a young wrestler with an experienced veteran in a tag team. Doing so gives the younger guy a huge rub instantly just by the association with the veteran. This is something that has worked time and again. As for why I picked these two here's why. Christian has always been a great tag team wrestler and has won the tag titles a total of nine times, seven with Edge, and once with Chris Jericho and Lance Storm. Trent Baretta was also in a pretty entertaining tag team with Caylen Croft before called The Dudebusters. Though they were entertaining they never really got a fair shake and Croft was soon released. It would be pretty easy to pair Baretta and Christian together as well since Baretta's current character can be compared with Christian's earlier in his career when he was more of a goofball teaming with Edge. Christian can just take Baretta under his wing saying that he sees a lot of himself in Baretta and we're off to the races with them.

Michael McGillicutty & Ted DiBiase: Dibiase and McGillicutty are a coulple of third generation wrestlers who really have nothing else going for them at the moment. Teaming them up seems like it could work pretty easily. The only thing I would change here would be having McGillicutty changing his name and going by his real name of Joe Hennig. WWE have said almost every time McGillicutty steps into the ring that he is the son of Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig and grandson of Larry “The Ax” Hennig so why they don't just have him going under his real name makes no sense to me, even if they keep the first name and call him Michael Hennig instead it wouldn't be so bad. They can recycle DiBiase and Cody Rhodes gimmick when they were Legacy of them thinking they are better then everyone else because of their pedigree and  that they should be entitled to more then other because of it. I can easily see these two working well together and helping both men make it to the next step in their careers.


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