The Lost Art of Tag Team Wrestling

Through the course of wrestling history, eras have come and gone, and the overall product continues to adapt.  While some change is for the better, some change has turned for the worst.  When looking at wrestling of today (particularly in WWE), a glaring hole is present in what was once a focal point of professional wrestling.  This is none other than the use (or lack) of tag-team wrestling.

In the 1980s, teams such as The Legion of Doom, The Steiner Brothers, and British Bulldogs took the wrestling world by storm.  As the 90s came around, Harlem Heat, The Dudley Boys, and The New Age Outlaws sprung up, and helped provide legitimacy within tag-team wrestling.

When looking at the WWE today, it is clear that what was once a mainstay of wrestling, has become heavily neglected.  One of the aspects that shows this neglect is simply the lack of tag-teams.  When looking at the WWE roster, tag-teams are hard to come by. The Usos, Goldust & Stardust, Miz & Mizdow, Los Matadores...and then what? With this lack of tag-teams comes a lack of importance in the titles.  Rather than seeing heated rivalries like years past over the titles, we are left with no real competition. The lack of tag-teams results in constant rematches, as well as no apparent hierarchy. In decades past, there was typically a visible sense of where each tag-team stacks up in the pecking order. You had teams that are perceived as legitimate threats for the Tag-Team Titles, those who were somewhere in the middle and could occasionally pull an upset over a Championship caliber team, and those at the bottom who were typically used to put the better teams over.

Another existing problem is the trend of singles wrestlers being thrown together almost randomly, typically when it appears the creative team has no direction for each individual as a singles competitor. Often times, these makeshift tag-teams soon develop animosity toward the other, which leads to a split of the tag-team and a resulting singles feud. While this can be done effectively at times, it's a tactic that's become very predictable (present example being Miz and Sandow). In addition to this, pairing two singles wrestlers often lacks the feeling of a "team" identity, and instead feels like exactly what they are...two separate and distinct wrestlers teamed together. Although one benefit of this method does add more depth to the tag-team division, it doesn't provide a long-term fix given these teams don't typically last very long.

While the tag-division can't be fixed overnight, there are certainly steps that the WWE can take to help put the luster back in tag-team wrestling. With proper hype given to incoming teams, and focus on their desire to become champs, this may generate more interest in the titles and the tag division.