Before I begin with my thoughts, I want to re-introduce myself to the Internet wrestling fans in the world. My name is Steve Goforth and some of you may still remember my column “Chair Shots to the Cranium”. For others of you, this may be the first time you have taken a Chair Shot from me. I hope to gain even more readers and continue to entertain those of you who remember me. My column has been in existence for almost 4 years. I have not written a column in over a year because my interest in wrestling dwindled considerably due to lack of variety and the same boring storylines in WWE. Over the last several months, my interest in wrestling has risen again and I’m very excited about some of the new talent I’m seeing out there and I’m also excited to see TNA continue to move forward and get a TV deal with the Spike Network.
What I’m not excited about is the lack of exciting tag teams in the wrestling world today. Why has tag team wrestling regressed over the years? There are not many true tag teams out there these days. When I say “true tag teams” I mean 2 guys formed together to make one team, not two singles wrestlers coming together to do a tag team match. That seems to be all we see lately. The tag team titles are usually defended at every major PPV event, but we didn’t see that at SummerSlam or at Wrestlemania. I can remember days when the tag team division was a very entertaining part of professional wrestling. You had teams such as the Legion of Doom, Midnight Express, Rock N Roll Express, Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, The Iron Sheik & Nikoli Volkoff, The Hardy Boyz, Edge & Christian, The Dudley Boyz, The New Age Outlaws, and so many other tag teams out there that I’m failing to mention that are just as good if not better than the ones I have just named.
Today, we are entertained by The Hurricane & Rosie as the RAW champs and Road Warrior Animal teamed up with Heidenreich as the Smackdown champs. This is a pitiful situation. First of all, Heidenreich teaming up with one of the greatest tag team members in history is utterly ridiculous. Heidenreich is Sid Vicious reincarnated!! A tremendously stupid character with no future whatsoever! Not only is his character absurd, they team him with a legend like Animal and disgrace the Road Warrior/Legion of Doom legacy?? There is not a legendary wrestler alive that can help elevate Heidenreich’s career to new heights.
These two current “champions” are supposed to be the best tag team wresters in the world today? If this is the best they can do, they need to go ahead and bury the tag team division forever. I refuse to believe this is the best the wrestling world has to offer. I’m excited to see what the new tag team of Cade & Murdoch has to offer in the RAW division. They will add a much needed change to the Tag Team world. MNM over on Smackdown seem to be an ok tag team. I think they have the ability to flourish if they are put in the right storylines. The Heartthrobs are another ridiculous tag team that needs to be exterminated from the tag team ranks.
If the wrestling world wants to resurrect the tag team division, they need to start all over again. Go out and recruit some good tag teams from the Independent ranks and bring them along in the business and give them a chance to lift the division back up to great heights again. I have read and seen a lot of good tag teams on the Independent circuit that will pump new life into a dying legacy. It’s the only way we will see the tag team division grow and become the great form of wrestling entertainment it once was. The WWE needs to stop forming singles wrestlers into tag teams and having them win the tag titles. Let new teams debut together as a team and stay that way unless one of the two wrestlers in the team seems to stand out more than the other, then break them up and create a new singles superstar. Perfect examples of this were when The Rockers were split up in order for Shawn Michaels to become one of the greatest singles wrestlers of all time. Another example of this was when Barry Windham and Lex Luger were split up so Lex could become a member of one of the most elite groups in wrestling, the 4 Horsemen. If that were to happen, replace the team with another up and coming team so that the tag team division always has depth.
It seems WWE is trying to revive the tag team ranks by bringing Cade and Murdoch. I believe they will do good things. Lance Cade was once known as Garrison Cade during his run in the WWE back in ’04. Trevor Murdoch is formerly known as Stan Dupp in TNA as he teamed up with Bo Dupp (Otto Schwanz) in the earlier TNA PPVs. Murdoch is a product of the Harley Race Wrestling Academy. There are many more tag teams who can make a big impact. It’s up to the WWE and TNA to find them and bring back the great tag team division again!
Please feel free to email your thoughts and opinions about my column to Chairshots2head@yahoo.com. I try to reply to each and every email I receive. Also, be sure to visit my official website at www.chairshots2cranium.com.
