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New MSWA Tag Team Champions Crowned!

Posted: Nov 18th 2010 By: CMBurnham

Over 7 months passed between the point where Aerial Assault were stripped of the MSWA Mid-South Tag Team Titles and new champions were crowned. In the intervening time, many people thought that MSWA had given up on tag team wrestling. Now a new era has dawned in the company as 4 teams arose to present challenges for the revived titles.

October 17 saw the announcement that new champions would be crowned and 2 tournament matches were held on that day. The first match saw The New Age Syndicate defeat Greatness on Demand to advance. The twin brothers used a typical brand of chicanery to gain a win when Shawn Sanders was pinned, but referee Mark Wilson declared that Damon Windsor wasn't legal to make the pin. As Windsor was forced out of the ring, Shawn traded places with his brother Scott Sanders, who rolled up SWCW Cruiserweight Champion Rage Logan upon entering the ring for the victory. With that win, NAS moved one step closer to taking hold of the titles they had desired for 5 years.

In the other tournament match, The Canadian Red Devil and 3rd Rail faced off against SWCW Tag Team Champions Bleach, Ink. This match was made all the more interesting as it saw former MSWA Tag Team Champions Rail and Draven Cross across the ring from each other. Although not as experienced in tag team competition together, Rail and the Devil made a good tandem. This was proven when the Devil locked Draven in the Crossface. Korvin Sage pulled Mark Wilson from the ring and argued. This distracted Wilson from being able to recognise that Draven tapped out to the Crossface. Later in the match, another submission move came into play as the Devil had Sage trapped in an STF. Draven vaulted into the ring and tried hit a baseball-slide dropkick on the Devil, but ended up kicking his own partner in the face. Draven was then poked in the eyes by the Devil. As he was temporarily blinded, the Devil threw Sage towards him and Draven, thinking it was the Devil, picked his partner up and gave him a spinebuster. Rail then charged Draven and knocked him out of the ring, allowing the Devil to utilise a one-finger pin to advance to the finals.

Impressively, GoD and Bleach, Ink were given a second chance in the tournament, facing each other on Halloween afternoon for the right to advance to the finals. Both of the other teams came out to watch the proceedings, intent on gaining as much information as they could from the match. The other two teams both knew that they only had this chance to make it back into the tournament and they weren't going to waste it. Ultimately, it came down to Sage making one little mistake and getting caught in a Black Hole Slam-type move which allowed GoD one more chance to win the belts. Rage and Windsor entered the ring after the match and engaged in a brief staredown with both the other teams. The Syndicate backed down and exited while GoD and Rail/Devil remained in the ring celebrating with the crowd.

The next two weeks were very strenuous for all parties as the anticipation built for the match. All three teams arrived prepared this past Sunday and the fans were certainly interested in finding out who the new champions would be. When the match started, it quickly became obvious that the Syndicate wanted nothing to do with 3rd Rail. The long standing issue between the NAS and the South Side Soul Assassins had left-over feelings and every time Rail was tagged into the match, the Syndicate either removed themselves or dropped off the apron to ensure that they could not be tagged in. In what was certainly a moment of relief for the twins, the 3rd Rail/Canadian Red Devil team would be the first to be eliminated. The Devil had both twins locked in a simultaneous Sharpshooter, but could not get them to tap and was eventually kicked off of it. The Syndicate then hit the False Coffin on the Devil to gain the win and make it a standard 2-on-2 match. Now, the twins called on everything they had learned over the past 5 years of competition. The MSWA Tag Team belts were the belts that they wanted the most and yet continually had been denied the opportunity to take. They had promised each other that they would not be denied yet again. But fate seemed to have other plans. Even though the NAS rallied from behind and kept meeting everything the NAS threw at them, a combination Samoan Drop/Blockbuster saw GoD win the match and fill the tag team titles for the first time since April 21st.

Winning the belts is easy. Now GoD has to hope they can defend it every time soneone makes a challenge. Besides the NAS and Rail/Devil, various combinations of Impact, Inc. could pair up to allow for challenges. Bleach, Ink could easily make a reappearance. And The NorCal Shoot Club have been asked about by fans since their one appearance in MSWA. Might they also be returning? At this point, no one has any solid indication about the talent that could be focusing on the newly revived belts. But the best thing about the whole situation is that there are tag team champions now for the first time in over half a year. GoD put themselves amongst the immortals with this win. Now they get to show just how superhuman they are by being fighting champions.