Speaking of the tag team division

An interesting point that came up on Dave and Buck’s last mailbag was the lack of featuring tag teams and wrestlers not wanting to be part of that. Here is a wrestler’s eye view of that situation.

First I will reiterate that when it comes to creative minds always expect there to be varying opinions from those minds. So this is not to say that anyone is wrong, just that if I had a chance to run things I would approach it from a different mind set.

Here’s the deal, if as a wrestler you resist being placed in a tag team, then you may be cutting your nose off to spite your face as the old saying goes. There are and have always been performers that may not stand out as singles and be considered to be pushed, but when placed with the right partner in a team can spark fan interest and be far more important to their company, even a top draw.
You can go back to the Rock & Roll Express, Midnight Express, Heavenly Bodies, The Andersons, The Scott Brothers, right up to The British Bulldogs, Team 3-D, and so on that do great business for their companies as a unit, but when or if pushed as singles didn’t make that kind of splash. It’s about the chemistry and tag team wrestling is different then singles in its psychology. I personally was a stronger draw for promotions in tags, and have no hesitation in being proud of that. It’s not like it’s a disease. There are and were top singles workers who when put in tag teams didn’t have what was needed to make their team stand out.

The Charlotte territory and the Southeastern territories in general for years were very often based on teams and did great business. The worst case is that when promoted properly, and given creditability they are strong mid-card support. Do I think that WWE is missing a good bet but discounting the value of teams, simply, yes!

There is an argument that had Chris Harris decided to stay with TNA, and they in turn had handled the team of Harris and James Storm correctly they would still be valuable to the company and Chris would still be collecting a steady pay check. Naturally all these ifs would have to be made into positives. Part of making a team work is knowing your roll. With most of my very talented partners such as Roger Kirby, Nelson Royal, Danny Miller, Whitey Caldwell, etc I realized that I was the younger, more baby faced looking member, and it would be easier for me to let the heels get their heat on me. The exception to that was my time with Scott Casey who was younger and handsome so I became the mature veteran of the duo. Too often your opinion of where you fit is not realistic, and that can hurt your chances of steady employment.

It’s not if tag teams can be valuable, they can. It’s if a company teams the right tandems and if that company gives the tag teams a spotlight to make the fans believe they are important. By turning their back on the possibilities of tags and cruiserweights any promotion is doing itself a disservice instead of increasing their chances of adding depth and dimension to their company and events.

To wrap this week up I listened to Stuart Carapola’s audio “Looking at some pro wrestling pet peeves” last Monday and Stu is now my new favorite best wrestling fan. Sometimes I think only those of us who have walked the walk might notice these things, but my man Stuart was right on the money. The biz needs to take these things to heart and have more of an eye for DETAIL.

Train hard and master your craft.

There won’t be a column posted next Thursday because it’s Christmas Day, and hopefully I will have on up either New Years Eve or day depending if someone at the site is sober enough to post it. I hope all of you who tolerate my weekly musings and occasional rants have a great Christmas. God bless you all.

Till Next Time,

Les