Hawkins and Ryder...Tag Team Champs Or Tag Team Chumps?

Brett and Brian Major, collectivly known as the Majors Brothers...the "twin" brothers from Long Island, New York (I'm not sure if they are twins or not, that's why I put that in quotes). They made a name for themselves on ECW. Then came last year's WWE Draft and they were sent to SmackDown!.

I was exceited for them because there are many people that don't have calbe that couldn't get the chance to watch these two in action. They weren't the hottest team ever to hit the scene—but they were able to hold their own quite well in the ring; in singles and tag team action.

I was saying to myself "This is good for them, they'll be on national TV getting allot more exposure to people who couldn't previously watch them. I bet they'll hold the tag titles within a year." Well that most certainly did happen...sort of.

Last year at Armageddon, Edge returned to screw the Undertaker out of the World Heavyweight Championship. Due to his relationship with GM Vickie Guerrero he was thrown right back into the title picture where at the next PPV, he won the title with the help of two Edge look-alikes. Who were these two people who helped Edge win the title? They were the Majors Brothers...but not for long.

Shortly after helping Edge win the World Heavyweight Championship, Brett and Brian Major were renamed Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. They became part of La Familia with Edge, Chavo Guerrero, Vickie Guerrero, and Bam Neely who came in the picture later as Chavo's bodyguard. An overnight heel turn for two very popular young wrestlers. But why did they do it?

I'm not WWE writer or anything, but it seemed fairly obvious that they wanted to win the WWE Tag Team Championships. Who else better to learn from than Edge? Now some people would say "Why Edge? He's a singles wrestler."`

Whoever says that is either one of two things. No. 1: They are a very young wrestling fan who just started watching the last two or three years. Or No. 2: They're a complete idiot. Need I remind you that Edge is a 12 time Tag Team Champion??

Who else better to learn the ropes from? The only people I can think of that even come close to that amount of tag team championships are Bart and Billy Gun (aka Kip James), The Hardys and last but not least...The Dudley Boyz aka Team 3D with an amazing 20 World Tag Team Championships under their belt.

At the Great American Bash this year, Hawkins and Ryder won a Fatal Four Way Tag Team Match to become the youngest WWE Tag Team Champions in history. I wanted Miz and Morrison to retain—but that's a different story.

I was happy to see a "passing of the torch" of sorts, and was looking forward to seeing them on TV a lot and seeing a bunch of title defenses on SmackDown! and on PPV. What do we get instead? Half the air time Hawkins and Ryder have been getting for a while was pushing Vickie Guerrero's wheelchair around like they were her servants or being Edge's lackies.

I could probably count on one hand the number of times Hawkins and Ryder have actually DEFENDED the tag titles...but I honestly can't remember them defending them at all, maybe once. These two young men are very good athletes and need to be better utilized. If you're going to give them the straps, give them the air time and credibility that goes with them!

Here's what I would do if I were writting the storylines for these two. I would put the Harys back together from time to time 1st of all. Yes I know that Matt is the ECW Champion and Jeff is the No. 1 Contender for the WWE Championship at No Mercy.

Matt will beat Mark Henry to retain the ECW title. Then Miz and Morrison will start a fued with Hardy, setting up for a title match at Survior Series—Morrison VS Hardy. The Miz will try to interfere in the match, but just like at Night of Champions, Jeff Hardy will come down to even the score. Later on in the main event, Jeff Hardy will finally win "the big one" and become WWE Champion for the first time in his career.

Jeff will keep his storyline with Triple H, but also cut a promo about how he got his start as a tag team wrestler, and talk about Ryder and Hawkins and how they need to defend the titles more often.

Ryder and Hawkins will retaliate saying that Jeff isn't a tag team wrestler anymore, and that they could beat the Hardys any day of the week. This would build towards the next PPV setting up a WWE Tag Team Championship match between The Hardys and Hawkins and Ryder.

The Hardys will be looking to prove that they still have it (as we all know they do) and Hawkins and Ryder will be looking to prove that they are the standard bearers for the tag team division on Friday nights.

I would put Hawkins and Ryder over the Hardys, giving them the huge push that they need right now. This wouldn't damage the Hardys as it was a tag team match and they still have their respective World titles.

I would also have them start fueding with Miz and Morrison. They beat won the titles from Miz and Morrison (never actually beat them as it was Jesse who was pinned in that Fatal Four Way match) in the 1st place, but Miz and Morrison never got a rematch. This would be a very good fued that I would play out over two months, maybe a little more.

Taking nothing away from their athletic ability...I think that Hawkins and Ryder are more Tag Team Chumps right now than Tag Team Champs. They need to start wrestling more and defending the titles WAY MORE OFTEN to be considered bona-fide tag team champs in my opinion. What do you think?