• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

What ever happened to good old fashioned tag team wrestling?

Posted: Aug 7th 2009 By: mikeiles

The first tag team wrestling match in the United States was held in 1901 in San Francisco. The promoters there introduced tag team wrestling as a way of improving the sport?s entertainment value. The innovation didn't become especially popular outside San Francisco until the 1930s.

Start a debate about the best tag teams of all time and you might get such answers as The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello & Roy Heffernan), The Kalmikoffs (Ivan Kalmikoff & Karol Kalmikoff), The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Gene Anderson & Ole Anderson), The Assassins (Assassin 1 & Assassin 2), The Brisco Brothers (Jack Brisco & Jerry Brisco), The British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith), The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal), The Rock-N-Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson), The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey and later Eaton & Stan Lane), The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton), The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, Buddy Roberts, and later Jimmy Garvin), The Von Erichs, The Midnight Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Janetty), Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner), The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley & Devon Dudley, now known as Team 3D), The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) Demolition (Ax & Smash), Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy) and probably many more.

But now it seems that tag team wrestling is merely an afterthought.

WWE and TNA still have tag team wrestling. TNA uses "true tag teams" (Team 3D, Beer Money Inc., The British Invasion, The Motor City Machine Guns), while WWE seems to be going the other route and using "make-shift" teams holding their straps. At the time of this story, Chris Jericho & The Big Show are the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions. They aren't a "long term" team. It used to be guys like Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, etc. were considered "tag team specialists". There wasn't anything wrong with that either. Anderson held World Tag Team Titles 6 different times with 4 different partners (3 with Tully Blanchard, and 1 each with Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Eaton, and Paul Roma). Eaton won World Tag Team gold 3 times with 3 different partners (Dennis Condrey, Stan Lane, & Anderson), but held numerous other tag team titles. Guys like Edge & Christian and The Hardy Boyz came along and got that label and suddenly it is a bad thing. There is no reason as to why. Some have speculated that maybe Vince McMahon doesn't like tag team wrestling.

It has also trickled down to the indys at least here in Oklahoma. Of the 12 active feds in Oklahoma, three of those feds do not have tag team titles and three feds have their tag team titles vacant.

Maybe it is the fault of the promoters. They feel there are too many wrestlers on the card and by eliminating a tag team match they eliminate 2 wrestlers from the show.

Maybe it is the fault of the teams themselves by not wanting to travel outside their comfort zone. There are several good teams in Oklahoma such as BLK-OUT, Impact, Inc., T. M. S./ Revolution, Nemesis, The Good Ol' Boys, Texas, Inc., The Old School Express, The Jet Setters, El Matadors, Team SuperBad, The Saints of Twilight, Crazy Beautiful, High Society, and a few more I am probably forgetting. With the exception of a few, they all stay in their home fed.

Maybe it is the fault of the wrestlers feeling as if they will be "stooping to a new low" by being involved in tag team wrestling. In my opinion, Arn Anderson, Ricky Morton, Robert Gibson, Bobby Eaton, Hawk, Animal, and so many more had a nice career being known as a tag team wrestler.

As mentioned earlier, tag teams have a place in wrestling other than a throw together match. Let's all hope that sometime soon, tag team wrestling makes the hot tag and makes a comeback.

Tags: Ivan Kalmikoff, Karol Kalmikoff, Assassins, Assassin 1, Assassin 2, Brisco Brothers, Jack Brisco, Jerry Brisco, Rock-N-Roll Express, Ricky Morton, Robert Gibson, Midnight Express, Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey, Fantastics, Tommy Rogers, Bobby Fulton, Fabulo