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Frustration Overwhelming Brotherly Bond

Posted: May 6th 2010 By: CMBurnham

They've been together longer than any other tag team in the state of Oklahoma. They've held 3 IZW Tag Team Titles, including a brief reign at the beginning of this year. They're twin brothers. And now, it seems possible that it all is coming to an end for the New Age Syndicate.

For over 5 years, the Syndicate has pursued one thing that seems to constantly elude them: the MSWA MId-South Tag Team Titles. Scott Sanders and Shawn Sanders began their career in MSWA. Those titles are the mecca for them. And every time it seems like they're about to grab them, something happens. A feud of over a year's worth of time against the South Side Soul Assassins never brought them the belts. Frequent absences by The Forsaken and Aerial Assault never allowed them to have the belts. And now, MSWA has held the belts up for the better part of 3 months.

It would seem only logical that the NAS would be entered into any sort of tournament that MSWA management is putting together to determine new champions. But recent disagreements might undermine those happenings. Things began crumbling apart a few weeks ago after the titles had been held up. The NAS had stolen the belts from Montego Seeka and Ky-ote Joe and were forced to give them back. This was a move that both men believed would just be temporary. But when the titles were declared vacant, things took an entirely new twist. Seeka took some time off to prepare for the birth of his daughter. Joe looked for a new partner and found someone that the NAS knew very well: 3rd Rail. Although Joe and Rail had never tagged together before, some unfortunate miscommunication led to a loss for the Sanders twins. And for the first time, it seemed like the bond that brothers (and especially twins) share might not be strong enough to overcome this mistake. Dissension was obvious. The question was "How bad was it?"

A few nights later, at a special Friday night show, Ky-ote Joe again notched one up agianst the Sanders', pulling a victory against Shawn in a singles bout. But that was balanced out in a 6-man tag later in the show, when Shawn teamed with Impact, Inc. members Jermaine Johnson and Bernie D to take a victory over Joe, Rail and MSWA Oklahoma and IZW Champion Kevin Morgan. Scott was absent this night, but Shawn seemed to be once again focused on what was going on and looked prepared for the next Sunday show.

On April 11, the Syndicate found themselves again together, but facing strong competition in the form of Kevin Morgan. They believed that the 2-on-1 odds would help them, but the unexpected interference from Dominator led to a DQ loss. Even though it wasn't either man's fault, the frustration could still be seen as this meant the team wouldn't be bringing home the big bucks that night.

One week later, another major miscalculation on the part of the twins. Once again, Ky-ote Joe was 1/2 of their opponents, but this time, he was joined by Dustin Daniels. Daniels' inexperience and lack of size brought some overconfidence to the Sanders' equation and again, an error on the part of one of them led to a bad blow from one to the other and a loss for both. Tempers boiled. Rage threatened to explode. But still the team held it together, believing that the title belts could be theirs and that once that happened, everything would be OK.

Two weeks later (this past Sunday), the Syndicate came out, angry and demanding to speak to MSWA owner Bad Boy. They were very vocal in the idea that Bad Boy was denying them an opportunity to compete for the belts. Shawn Sanders admitted that they messed up, but still denied that it was their fault. They wanted the titles and Bad Boy came to the ring to address that situation. The NAS threw the issue of Bad Boy's persistant absences in his face, but he brushed that aside and said that the reason the Syndicate hadn't gotten a chance to take the titles was because they had done nothing to earn it. He then proposed a Handicap Match against long-time nemesis 3rd Rail. If the Sanders' could beat Rail, they would earn a slot in the forthcoming tournament for the titles. If not, they wouldn't get a slot and would have to get in line behind all the opponents that did earn slots in the tournament. The Sanders saw this as a chance to redeem themselves and guarantee an opportunity at some glory and didn't want to pass it up, so they accepted. It might have been a mistake, looking back on that now.

The twins didn't have to wait long as the match was up 2nd on the card. The Sanders' came to the ring, kendo sticks in hand and awaited the arrival of "The Monster" 3rd Rail. Rail arrived and the beatings commenced. To their credit, the NAS knew their opponent well and focused on his weak areas. But Rail knew the Sanders' twins weaknesses as well and even though he was outnumbered, he wasn't outthought. After a long and tiring match, things began to break down and Scott Sanders took hold of Rail from behind while Shawn grabbed a kendo stick and prepared to bring it crashing down on the head of Rail. But Rail sidestepped the blow and the weapon collided with the head of Scott Sanders. Rail collected the pin, but the more interesting story occurred after the match was over. For the first time since debuting as a tag team, Scott Sanders and Shawn Sanders stood just about ready to start pummeling each other. It became much more of a war of words, as Scott asked what had happened and Shawn blamed Scott for the error. Eventually, Shawn grabbed his jacket and stormed out of the area, leaving a slightly shaken Scott to collect his stuff and make his way up the aisle and to the back.

Both men are certainly proud. And while they've had disagreements like any sibling pair has, they're both trained professionals and the physcial potential is what makes this all the scarier than just a normal domestic issue. Shawn Sanders seemed to completely hate his brother, issuing a statement that this was Scott's fault and he had messed up way too often. The brothers went to the back seperately and neither man was willing to communicate his feelings after the match was over.

Families fight. It's what they do. There isn't much that can be done about it. But most families also learn to set aside little squabbles and move on. Hopefully that can be done here, but it seems somewhat unlikely. Because these personal family fights are more fearsome than a scaffold match over a possible title shot. At this point, it seems clear that the time off may be exactly what the NAS need. Or perhaps this is the "phoney war" segment of the conflict that could explode in the ring. And when the real fights begin to break out, everyone needs to stay away from the peril of being unexpected casualties.