The State Of Tag Team Wrestling

Last Friday on Smackdown Shad Gaspard put a beat down on his partner, JTG, effectively marking the end of one of the WWE’s few remaining tag teams, Cryme Tyme.

While it may further Shad’s career as a singles performer, it also goes to show just how unimportant tag team wrestling has become in the major wrestling promotions. Over in TNA, Matt Morgan took out his partner, Hernandez, and is now claiming he will defend the championships on his own while teams like the Motor City Machine Guns and Generation Me are lucky to get one televised match a month.

The opening contest of Wrestlemania 26 saw the WWE tag team champions, The Miz and The Big Show, successfully defend their titles in a five minute squash over the makeshift team of R-Truth and John Morrison. This is what the tag team scene has become, more or less nothing than a way to kill some television time.

Years ago, tag teams were abundant in both WWE and WCW and they were often filled with young talent who would eventually go on to singles stardom. It was tag team wrestling that introduced us to legends like Bret “The Hitman” Hart and “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels. While The Hart Foundation and The Rockers were both incredibly popular and successful teams, the most important thing they did was give these future superstars a chance to hone their craft and become household names.

A look at the history of tag team wrestling shows so many legendary names. The Road Warriors. The Steiner Brothers. Demolition. Harlem Heat. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. The Rock and Roll Express. The Midnight Express. I could go on and on.

They just don’t make tag teams like they used to.

Maybe most wrestling fans don’t care, but I can remember a time when tag team wrestling was important and I miss those days. Instead of traditional tag teams doing battle night in and night out, we now get treated to random superstars thrown together, often with little chemistry between them, and we hope for the best. ShoMiz may not be the worst thing ever, and JeriShow was actually pretty great, but this fan longs for the days when an established tag team earned the right to call themselves champions.

The Hart Dynasty are a perfect example of what is wrong with tag teams in the WWE these days.

Since coming onto the scene last year we’ve gone months without seeing Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith do much of anything. They finally seem to be getting a well-deserved push, but why has it taken the WWE so long to see their potential? They have the combination of size and speed, the look and the talent to be a top team in any promotion.

Ring of Honor seems to at least value tag team wrestling, with great combinations holding their title belts over the past few years. The Briscoe Brothers, The Kings of Wrestling, and The American Wolves have garnered all sorts of attention on the independent circuit for their top notch matches and undeniable chemistry. In many fans' eyes, they have been the go-to promotion for great tag team wrestling and it’s a shame that the big two don’t seem to have any intention of following their lead.

Much like everything else in the cyclical world of professional wrestling, one can only hope that tag team wrestling eventually becomes an important part of the WWE and TNA once again because these days it is in about as bad of shape as it can get.