Squash in Egypt

It’s no secret that the WWE’s Tag Team Division is all but gone and only a small select number of teams left, and those that are still there have been vastly undermined, underrated, under-pushed and kept within the confines of the Lower Mid Cards. I’ve watched the WWF from the late 80′s to the present day and during the so called "Attitude Era" I saw a rise in quality and quantity of the Tag Team Division. I grew up watching feuds between teams and stables like the

Dudley Boys
Hardy Boys
Edge & Christian
Test & Albert
Farooq and Bradshaw
D’Lo Brown and Chaz
The Oddities
The Insane Clown Posse
D-Generation X
The Brood
The Headbangers
The Brothers of Destruction
The Rock n’Sock Connection
Too Cool w/ Rikishi
The Raddicals
The Hollys (Hardcore & Crash)
The Right To Censor
The Outlaws

These teams competed week in and week out in both tag team and singles competition, bringing with them a multitude of memorable matches and feuds. These teams, numerable and skillful as they were brought high class prestige to the Tag Team Titles in the WWF in addition to the Singles Titles many of these competitors held such as the Intercontinental, European, Hardcore and Light Heavyweight Title. These teams gave many years of work and dedication and made the Tag Team titles worth a great deal, almost to the point where it was on par with the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

So what happened? During the Invasion Angle when WCW and ECW Superstars were merged in with the WWF rosters, it resulted in 2 different sets of Tag Titles. Along with the above Superstars we were able to see a small number of parings within the Alliance such as Chris Kanyon and Chuck Palumbo, and later on Kanyon with DDP. During this time the Undertaker and Kane became the first team to hold both belts, which later led to them being unified into 1 Undisputed Title set.

But something happened after the Invasion ended. With all of the Superstars now merged in with the WWF there should of been an entire circuit of Tag Teams but instead, the Division began to go down slowly but surely. In the coming years after the WWF transitioned into the WWE the number of Tag Teams continued to go down until we’re brought to the present day. Now, when you tune in to Raw, Smackdown or ECW the only existing teams are:

John Morrison & The Miz <- Compete on all 3 Shows regularly
Cryme Tyme <- Vastly under-pushed for their popularity
The Colons
Brian Kendrick & Ezekial Jackson

Jesse & Festus <- Haven’t appeared on TV for months
Priceless
Hawkins and Ryder <- More then likely will be released

On 3 different brands, there are 6 Tag Teams and 2 Tag Title Sets. John Morrison and The Miz have all but squashed every team in the entire Division multiple times, as a result of the WWE’s push to make them appear to be the best in the company.

The Colons are decent enough Champions though they appear weak for always struggling to overcome the opposite team. Brian Kendrick has potential as a singles wrestler but his gimmick is overdone and his partnership with Ezekial Jackson leaves many questions.

Cryme Tyme, arguably the most popular team of wrestlers in the WWE presently, are given small pushes into the Title circuit but are immediately squashed by Miz and Morrison, or they are essentially ‘screwed’ out of the match by underhanded tactics or outside interference.

Hawkins and Ryder had potential but were stuck with a poorly run stable and will probably be released soon after another Squash Match with The Big Show or Vladimir Kozlov

Jesse and Festus had momentum but they haven’t appeared on TV in months. More then likely they will be released or re-packaged.

Priceless are the only other team aside from John Morrison and The Miz who are actually presented as a serious team. While I disagree with them even being on the active Roster much less the flag ship show, they are given a heavy push and tend to dismantle the opposing team.

So where does this leave us as the Fans? We’ve gone from seeing the birth of the TLC match amidst a feud between The Dudleys, The Hardys and Edge and Christian, to seeing Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase Jr squash randomly paired teams, the same can be said about John Morrison and The Miz.

One of the primary differences between 8-12 years ago and now is that teams used to be presented as Teams. When Scotty 2 Hotty and Grand Master Sexy came out you knew they were a Tag team from the way they interacted with one another. When you saw fireworks raining down from the rafters to the stage with a shrill whistle you knew that Tables would be brought out and D Von Dudley would "Testify" When the lights went out and you heard an echoing whisper and flames would ignite on the Stage you knew to expect Gangrel and the Brood to rise up with a chalice of "blood"

Now, you hear a car horn going off and you’re not sure if John Morrison is coming out, or if he’s coming to the ring with
Apparently my question was partly cut off:

A horn goes off it could be John Morrison on his own or with The Miz.

You hear the song, "I hear voices in my head" you don’t know if it’s Randy Orton "Legend Killer" or Randy Orton "The Legacy Babysitter"

What do you think of the Tag Team Division and what would you do to change it for the better?

"Legend Thief Stopper" The Insane Clown Posse made their debut in the WWF signing with The Oddities at Summerslam in exchange for Vince promoting their rap videos. You can look for yourself on their profiles:

You’ve made some good points there, so good that I actually did read it all

Well I have to say, slowly but surely the WWE tag-team division is regaining some sort of greatness. Obviously it’s nothing like it used to be, and probably never will be again, but thinking back a year or two ago it was much worse than it is now.

The main problem in WWE is that only the main titles (WWE and WHC) are having story-lines and feuds written around them. When it comes to mid-carder titles like the IC, US and tag-titles, there are sporadic matches between random guys just thrown together, which are never followed up. This lack of interest by the WWE writers has rubbed off on many of the fans, and caused them to believe these titles are essentially worthless.

I like the fact that the Colon brothers are now a tag-team, they have an obvious chemistry in the ring which really, we’re struggling to see in any other WWE tag-team.

That being said, I think Morrison and Miz make an extremely entertaining team. What I don’t like about the fact that they’re together is that Morrison has enough talent to be World Champion. The Miz has greatly improved since he first began in the WWE, however he still isn’t anywhere near as good as Morrison.

Now a potential tag-team/stable was the Hart Foundation 2.0 which was used in various indy’s and FCW as well. It consisted of D.H. Smith (who’s in FCW,) Tyson Kidd (a.k.a. TJ Wilson) and Natalya Neidhart. There were various other wrestlers who got involved with it including Teddy Hart and Jack Evans but the three I mentioned are the main ones. I hear that DH Smith is being selfish, and has decided that he wants to be in the "Legacy" as opposed to being in a stable with Tyson and Natalya. It’s decisions like this on the part of the wrestlers that are completely killing the division.

As you said Cryme Tyme are arguably two of the most popular wrestlers today, are great wrestlers, and make fantastic entertainment. So why is it that the writers are choosing to throw any two singles wrestlers together in order to create a tag-team, when we have a perfectly good one right in front of us?

I think that the WWE tag-team division has improved since last year, however they aren’t going to get any better unless WWE put some real thought into who is being a tag-team, instead of putting any two guys together. Because unless this is done, the tag division is essentially dead in WWE.