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

Texas, Inc. Takes First Step Back To Tag Team Glory

Posted: Apr 7th 2009 By: CMBurnham

Texas, Inc. have made it clear that they once again want to be the dominant tag team in the state of Oklahoma and they took the first step towards reclaiming that dominance by becoming the first MWA Tag Team Champions this past Friday.

Tim Rockwell & Bernard Funk were 1 of 6 tag teams entered into a Tag Team Trifecta competition, where each team would have to compete in a qualifying match and the winning teams would face each other in a Triple Threat Match to determine the first champions. MWA commissioner Raymon Downey held a random drawing in the ring, pulling names of teams out of a hat. And Texas, Inc's opponents in that first round match were a team they were very familiar with: The Dawn of Extreme.

Ty Thunder and Crucifer had recently become a thorn in Texas, Inc.'s side in ComPro. Despite repeated post-match attacks and spike piledrivers, DOX has refused to back down and saw a great opportunity to make a huge name for themselves by outdoing the veteran tag team and possibly claiming their first tag team title. That just wasn't going to be the case because, while DOX just had to contend with Funk & Rockwell in ComPro, in MWA they also had to handle the presence of Big Stevie Caballero (who was banned from the ComPro ring until the beginning of May after recent events). Texas' experience and Caballero's presence (and interference) resulted in a decisive victory for Funk and Rockwell and they moved on to the finals.

In the Triple Threat final, Texas, Inc. faces the Old School Express and the Muscle Club. In an interesting show of strategy, Funk and Rockwell spent 85% of the match on the outside ring apron, refusing to be tagged in. This could have been a costly tactic in their part, since this was a one-fall encounter and it's not possible to win if you're not legally participating. But these kinds of rules have never hampered the Texas veterans before and with fresh gold in their scents, it wasn't going to stop them this time.

As should be expected, the match didn't end without controversy. Rockwell and Jason Jones were the legal men in the ring when all 6 men decided to throw caution to the wind and ended up battling each other. Action spilled outside the ring, but some stayed inside and that's where Rockwell found Mark Sterling. Rockwell hit the grapevine DDT, then rolled him over for the pin and the referee counted 3. Problem is, Sterling wasn't the other legal man. It was Jason Jones, who was busy outside the ring battling to try and get back in. And Jones threw a fit at ringside, protesting to referee Jeremy Evans, ring announcer Mike Iles and whoever else could hear him that he was the legal man, not Sterling. But it all fell on deaf ears as Funk and Rockwell were proclaimed the first ever MWA Tag Team Champions and began their journey back to the top of the Oklahoma tag team mountain.

Success on Friday in Spavinaw didn't guarantee success the following night in Tulsa as Texas, Inc. found themselves on the opposite side of the ring once again from Dawn of Extreme. This time it was a 6-man tag with ComPro Champion Draven Cross on the side of Texas and Brandon Groom helping out DOX. The action was hot and intense. While the majority of this match centered around the point that Cross wanted nothing to do with Groom, eventually those two men battled their way to the back. This allowed Thunder and Crucifer to set up an amazing double-team move and pin one of the new MWA Tag Team Champions in the ring.

Despite this loss, Funk & Rockwell still believe that they are the #1 contenders to the ComPro Tag Team Titles. Next week on April 17, they will have a chance to double thier holdings by defeating TAP Tag Team Champions The Innovators. And discussions were overheard recently that they might be bringing themselves back to SWCW, where they also hold the distinction of being the first Tag Team Champions. Could Texas, Inc. break their previous record and hold 4 tag team titles at the same time? The answer to that question may be determined sooner than anyone realises.

Tags: Texas, Inc., MWA, Tim Rockwell, Bernard Funk, Raymon Downey, Dawn of Extreme, Ty Thunder, Crucifer, Stevie Caballero, Old School Express, Mark Sterling, Jason Jones, Jeremy Evans, Mike Iles, ComPro, Draven Cross, Brandon Groom, TAP, Innovators, SWCW