[Wrestling] The lost art of the tag team

Like practically everything else that's gone wrong in professional wrestling, you can blame the demise of tag team wrestling on the WWF.

I would probably say that quality tag team wrestling started its downward spiral in roughly the 1998-1999 period. Bischoff started the trend by crapping on the WCW tag titles, breaking up all the tag teams into singles competition, and moving those competitors into singles competition. While it did promote some breakout stars (Booker T, Scott Steiner), it did lead to some serious missteps (Rick Steiner, Stevie Ray).

Then the WWF took it one step further and started using their tag team titles to further the angles for singles matches at the pay-per-views. In fact, a quick review of the WWF Tag Title lineage in the most recent PWI Wrestling Almanac reveals a few teams holding the title that were made up of rivals during that period (ex. Rock & Chris Jericho, Steve Austin & Undertaker). It seemed like almost every other month, two individuals that were facing each other in the main event of the next pay-per-view were thrown together in a tag team to face the tag champs, and through some nutty shenanigans they would end up winning the titles. Oh, those wacky mismatched tag team partners! They're champs, but they hate each other ... o, the calamity!

The WWF did seem to care about tag teams back when Edge/Christian, the Hardys, and the Dudleys were fighting each other almost every show for the titles ... but three teams do not a credible division make. The last great go-around that tag team wrestling seemed to have in the WWF was when the Guerreros, Haas/Benjamin, Rey/Edge, Angle/Benoit, Booker T/Golddust, Christian/Chris Jericho, and RVD/Kane were around.

Now, the tag team scene is a shambles, and you have to go to the indies (particularly ROH) for quality in tag wrestling. The best WWF has to offer is the Heartthrobs, Hurricane/Rosie, MNM, Animal/Heidenreich ... um ... Benoit & Booker T, maybe? I know I'm leaving out an important team, but really, does anyone in the WWF creative team care about tag teams, when they have the Diva Search to worry about?

At least TNA is making some attempt to garner some interest in their tag team division. They have probably the strongest roster in the pro ranks to date. The Naturals, AMW, 3 Live Kru, Team Canada, Simon Diamond/David Young, Phi Delta Slam, Disciples of Destruction, Batts/Clark, the upcoming NAO reunion, and Apolo/Siaki (although I'd think Apolo/Shocker would be more interesting) ... this is a tag division I generally like to watch. In fact, there are enough teams that have been formed on a regular basis amongst the singles competitors (Styles/Hardy, Bentley/Shelley, Raven/Sabu, Abyss/Trytan) that they could return full-circle to the days of old-school and hold a tag team tournament, like the old Crockett cup ... hey, the Chris Candido Memorial Cup, BOOK IT!

I love a good, solid tag team. The chemistry, the tandem moves, the tandem finishers, the drama of face-in-peril (tm, Ricky Morton), the blind tags, the commentary on the strategies involved (cutting of the ring, goading the opponent's partner into distracting the ref) ... it all makes for probably the most dramatic moments in wrestling. But let's face it, the days of the Rock-n-Rolls versus the Midnights, and the Bulldogs versus the Hart Foundation, making five star matches in a Sportatorium built to hold 500 people, are over. All we seem to be left with is whatever two heatless superstars the WWF has that they can throw together, to compete in a division that's treated like nothing.

And the most telling part of this whole thing? I've watched Raw almost every week for the past three or four months and I can't tell you who the tag champs there even are.