Progress Report: Unified Tag Titles

[klunderbunker]

So we're approaching Mania time and in particular Wrestlemania 26. As tradition tells me, 26 tends to come after 25, so I got to thinking about what happened last year and one thing stuck out: the Unified Tag Titles were created. Instead of having one set of champions for one show, we have one set for the whole company. What I want to know is simple: has this new system been a success or a failure? Would you rather them have two sets on specific shows again, or would you prefer them to keep it the way it is now?

 

[Ferbian]

Actually I prefer the Unification of the titles, simply because, WWE simply doesn't have enough tag teams to continue to put on good feuds without having to put some randoms together to make a contender team *cough* JoMo and R-Truth *cough*

Also taking into consideration that there wouldn't be any way that we wouldn't have the tag team title feuds spin around in circles over and over and over and over and.. you get the idea.
And with the titles seperated, to even try and make the title feuds remotely interesting, they'd have to change the title holders somewhat often so that the 2-4 teams on the different shows (including randoms) wouldn't be feuding with the same team for the title again, because lets face it, it doesn't work for tag team titles as good as a repeating title shot for a singles title.

 

[Undertaker the 5th]

I think this is a success. People are more interested now in days to see The Miz or John Morrison in the title picture than Croft and Barreta/Hart Dynasty/Cryme Tyme, etc. It also gives them the opportunity to be on both shows. Good way to make the Miz or whoever is fighting against them more popular. If they separate the titles and make real teams compete people will not be interested. Trust me as a regular fan and not and internet smark, I always skipped those matches.

 

[LascoX]

Since WWE is not utalizing the tag division properly in the fist place they might as well keep them unified. The tag division has been treated like the red headed bastard step child of the WWE for a long time now. At times I think the tag strap is going the way of the cruiser weight belt (another improperly used strap that ended up on the shelf). I think Morrison and Truth added a good dimension to thier team last night on Raw and actually looked like a team. I agree with the other posters who noted that there isnt that many tag teams on both shows so again the belts might as well stay unified. So to answer the main question asked, yes I think the unified tag belts have been a success , but mainly because WWE's mishandeling of the tag division has rendered the companys tag division ineffective when they have a lot of potential to make it a really good and revelent division.

 

[Dan E. Inferno]

The unification of the tag titles has been a big success in my opinion. Things got off to the worst start last year when the unification match didn't even make the final card for Wrestlemania. Then, because of Miz and Morrison going their seperate ways, Carlito and Primo had a very forgettable reign as champs. However, since Jericho and Edge shockingly won those titles, the unified tag titles have become more worthwhile than the world/WWE tag titles had been for some time.

Jericho and Big Show did a great job as champs. Jericho was being used on every RAW and Smackdown and whenever he was on RAW, he was usually getting in the guest hosts' face, therefore being at the centre of a high profile segment. They also had a suprisingly good match against Rey and Batista at Summerslam, I believe. I have to admit it would be nicer to have seen some better quality title defenses because when they were defended, the matches were usually throwaway matches against the likes of MVP and Mark Henry and Cryme Tyme. Nonetheless, it was good to see the tag champs making such a big impact in WWE every week.

The JeriShow vs DX feud also did wonders for the titles as that meant four of the biggest names in the company were fighting over the tag titles. Now Big Show and Miz are continuing to keep the tag titles important and the titles look set to be featured at Wrestlemania this year in what should be a decent match at Wrestlemania 26. So, I believe it's been a resounding success and the tag titles should remain unified unless there is a sudden influx of new teams which would warrant two sets of titles.

 

[Via Armbar]

Tag team wrestling has changed, that's obvious. Gone it would seem are the days of matching attire, tandem finishers and collaborative gimmicks. Now we have wrestler A and wrestler B, both of which don't have angles going for them at the moment, being put together to give such said wrestlers something to do. There's also the two main event guys who are having an upcoming match and somehow win the tag titles. It's clear that tag team wrestling as we knew it is no longer. Whether that's a good thing or a bad one is up to personal tastes.

Personally I like how the use the tag titles. The champions are allowed to appear on any show, giving whichever team is holding the belts to double their television time. This will be a tremendous advantage for up and coming wrestlers if they win the titles. They've also been giving the tag titles much more credibility then they had in past by using the champions in main events and the big story lines going on. You would never of had London and Kendrick face off against DX on Raw before. Vince loves putting on tag matches as the main event on Raw before pay per views, this allows the tag champs to stay relevant by facing two main eventers. Not to mention you have a built in feud when the tag team breaks up.

So to me, they are doing far more good then bad with the way they are booking the tag team champions. They're accomplishing multiple things at once and letting multiple storylines evolve at once by using one team. Of course we miss the tag teams of yesteryear, but they have evolved with the times. There aren't many people getting into the business looking to be in a tag team. They are focusing on developing single stars, which the unified tag titles could potentially aid in.

 

[ccotreau1]

I think that the WWE unifying the tag titles was a good move on their part. They can put together a team of mid-carders that otherwise have no storyline to go for the titles. And also it gives them a chance to test some of those guys that they are gonna make Main Eventers, see how they handle the pressure kind of deal.

 

[D-Man]

Any means of consolidating a duplicated concept in order to bring prestige back into it is a good idea, in my book.

Just like the duplicate world titles, duplicate midcard titles, duplicate women's titles, and duplicate brands, a duplicate set of tag team titles is a redundant concept that does nothing more than give the WWE a reason to keep more talent under their payroll and not allow a competitor to have a leg up on competition. Let's face it: After Vince purchased WCW, many wrestling superstars were out of work. Aside from the fact that Vince brought them in to gain viewers and give them what they wanted, Vince did not want them to float towards a strong promotion and become competition again. But this came with a price. Now Vince's roster was too large and he wasn't able to squeeze them all into a title picture consisting of four major title spots (i.e. world title, midcard title, 2 x tag titles). So he decided to use his other program to create another company within a company, and thus watering down his product. As a result, the tag titles faded away and nearly had the notoriety of nothing more than paperweights. The backlash on the internet was tremendous.

So, finally, Vince decided to shed some light on the division and give it the attention it was lacking. Therefore, he unified the titles again. Now, the tag team that holds the titles can include themselves on any of the WWE's television shows. In addition, the WWE decided to combine star power and put together tag teams that did not consist of a combined gimmick. This gave each tag team double the star power and attention that were were getting before. What seems like a unique concept is basically just the WWE going back to square one, where they were originally more successful.

So, to answer KB's question, I say that not only has this unification been successful and they should continuethis way, but I feel that other titles can benefit by this change. After all, what good is a world championship when it's no longer unique?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I've pretty pleased overall with the progress of the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. The titles gained a lot of momentum after being put on JeriShow, who were the most interesting tag team of 2009 in my opinion. Much of their success can be attributed to Chris Jericho but the Big Show did play his part quite well. They actually made the tag teams in the WWE at the time seem as though they were legitimate competitors and you wanted to see what happened.

Dropping the titles to DX was a mistake in my view. DX didn't do jack with them, they didn't seem to care about the titles very much and the titles did lose some steam.

While ShowMiz has gotten some heat by being compared to JeriShow, I'm enjoying the team very much. The Miz is one of, if not the, best young heels in wrestling today and the fact that he's going around carrying three championships just does something for the guy. You can't help but be a little impressed with the guy once you see that he's literally draped in championship gold. The Big Show's role for the team is similar to his role in JeriShow and, let's be honest, the Big Show has been more interesting in the past 7 or 8 months than he has in the last 7 or 8 years.

It's great to see the titles are actually going to be part of WrestleMania instead of being relegated to the status of a dark match like last year. I'm looking forward to the match with Morrison and R-Truth and I'm hoping that this means only brighter things for the tag team scene in the WWE.

 

[billm75]

I think if they're truly unified titles, we need new belts. ONE for each member of the tag team. It's ridiculous to see these guys walking around with two belts, when we know there's little to no chance of the belts ever being split again.

That said, I think if they can keep throwing together guys: ShowMiz, Jomo/RTruth, Show/Y2J, MVP/Mark Henry, etc but actually KEEP them together and let them cut some promos as a team, you might see a rejuvinated tag division. Cryme Tyme is terrible, The Hart Dynasty is a shame and what the hell exactly are Croft/Baretta doing? They're like 2 college douche bags out looking for a rumble. At least give them a gimmick. "They hang out playing guitar hero together". Whoopty-shit!

 

[MWRedskins]

Cryme Tyme is terrible, The Hart Dynasty is a shame
disagree with the hart dynasty being a shame, they just aren't used, in a way like Dibiase and Rhodes were for a time being, if they were champions, they would be good ones, what with great wrestling skills and good heel heat, they would be amazing, Now to answer the real question, YES, the unifying of the tag team belts was good for this reason only, the lack of teams in WWE. look at the champions, ShoMiz was just thrown together one night and now are tag team champions over teams like the Hart Dynasty and the team "I" wanted to see win, the Stright Edge Society, but the unifying of the tag team titles has made the belts more wanted, guys like Jericho and Edge wanted them so they can be on both shows and do what they wanted.

 

[Rated_R_Edgehead]

I like that the titles have been unified and have been unified for over a year, I mean since before last year can you really remember any good storylines for the tag titles, I really can'tand it must have been from years ago, last time was possibly when the hardy's had them.

But I really like what they're doing now and I think it would be wise to have morrison and truth win at wm 26, then they could build up some heel teams and it would be all good!

 

[The_Evil_Empire]

I like the idea because it's a good way of trimming the fat of the company. Why have two tag titles that nobody cares about? It made sense two have one set of belts and pick out a few of the good wrestlers to carry them.

That being said, I'm a big fan of tag team wrestling. But I'm kinda oldschool in that I like my champions to be a legit tag team. Miz/Morrison, the Colons, Legacy, Hawkins/Ryder, etc. Sure, not all of them are phenomenal, but they are tag teams. I'm even ok when WWE decides to split tag teams to make two big singles stars. We have Miz and Morrison because of it. But I get annoyed when there are legit teams out there being overshadowed by mash-ups that have no real reason to be tag teams. Edge and Jericho were great, because they wanted to legitimately bring back honor to tag belts and prove that they were the best there is. Then Edge got injured so they had to improvise. I was ok with JeriShow, because it wasn't intended. But Jericho and Edge has to happen at Mania, so the tag belts just get screwed? Edge could have cost Jericho the titles to somebody like Hart Foundation or Legacy or anybody that deserves the belt.

WWE figured they would just put together ShowMiz because it has worked for them so far. But the issue is that they have no reason to be tag team champions. And Morrison/Truth have no reason to be contending for the belts. None of them want to spend their careers in that division. Morrison and Miz left the division to be singles stars. I was even ok with DX having the belts because they're a real team. But now at Wrestlemania we have two makeshift teams of good guys smashed together for the hell of it. I don't want either of these teams to win, because it means they won't be going for their own singles pushes. Hart Foundation deserves the push, and they could win these belts and feud with real tag teams.

Has the Unified Belts idea been successful? I think so. For the most part it's been entertaining, but it hasn't been real tag team wrestling. There's been entertaining storylines, but no real teams that have any desire to be a team. I think the time is now to get the belts off these makeshift teams. It's been a year and the belts have been held by the best names in the business. Tag Team wrestling doesn't have to be about the biggest storylines. Just give Hart Foundation the belts and let them compete and defeat other tag teams and establish themselves like Miz/Morrison did. Because with ShoMiz or R-Mo we're just waiting to see when they lose the belts.

 

[Notorious718]

At first, I wasn't happy about the unification of the tag team belts. But then upon realizing the lack of REAL tag teams in the entire company, it makes sense. Also, the concept of having the champs appear on any show for as long as they hold the belts is excellent especially if the champs are rookies. It gives them exposure that they otherwise would not have as singles competitors.

It's great to see the tag team belts be represented at Wrestlemania as it shows that WWE is serious about making them mean something.

 

[thepalaceprince]

Absolutely the unified tag titles have been a complete success. Personally I wish they would actually unify the belts come up with a cool design and just have one set of belts. But besides that Im happy with the results especially having jericho and now the miz on both shows. Its great and if truth and wisdom take the belts at mania this could be very good for them especially john morrison who in my opinion has gotten much better on the mic and can only improve from getting a chance to speak and wrestle on both shows. So yes the unified tag titles have been a success lets just hope they dont break them up

 

[FromTheSouth]

I was hoping the unified tag belts were the sign of the end of the brandsplit. I think the WWE roster has become bloated, and I think that combining the rosters and purging the waste that gets on our TV's week in and week out would have been awesome.

I do think the belts have elevated themselves. The division is still where it is, but whomever is feuding for the belts is doing a good job of holding them sacred.

They are doing a good job of keeping singles stars on TV. John Morrison, R-Truth, The Miz, and Big Show have been given a huge role on the show lately, and it seems good for them.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'd say that the new system with the Unified Tag Team Championships has been a success because the belts are so much more important now that the title holders gain access to both Raw and Smackdown. I hope that the titles keep on being used this way. Unfortunately, they might get split back up at some point. The title holders still come out holding both sets of belts, if WWE plans on keeping the tag team belts unified forever, then they really should create a new set of belts. If the belts do get split into two sets again then I hope it does not happen until there are enough teams on both brands for the belts to mean something. I'd prefer that things stay the way they are because the belts can be used to give the title holders twice as much exposure by letting them go to both brands.

Since this thread IS titled as a "progress report", I also thought I'd give a few quick thoughts on each team who has held the titles so far. The Colons were my least favorite Unified Tag Team Champions because I never cared for them to begin with and they only won it so that Miz and Morrison could go on to better things. Due to Edge's injury, Edge and Jericho didn't last long enough to live up to the epic awesomeness they could have been as a team. JeriShow had a fantastic run and were my favorite Unfied Tag Team Champions so far. They brought back some much needed importance/prestige to the tag team belts. DX didn't really do much when they held the titles, but the fact that a legendary duo like them held the belts added a bit of prestige in my opinion. ShowMiz so far have been alright but I doubt they will be anything more than a ripoff of JeriShow with Miz in Jericho's place.

It's been a great 11 months for the Unified Tag Team Championships and I definitely support their unification since the belts haven't been this important in years. Hopefully this year the Unified Tag Team title match makes it onto the show at Wrestlemania 26 unlike last year's dark match.

 

[Phoenix]

Much like everyone has said so far, the Unified Tag Team Championships have been a great success for the past twelve months. It's brought up the prestige of the tag division somewhat because it's not like at Night of Champion 08 where both belts no-one cared about but they have been on a better roll since being unified at Wrestlemania 25. While it was nice at first to see the Colon be the first to hold it, their reign was lacklustre and meant nothing, much like the reign DX (except the latter was to say they held the belts once in their career as DX). The belts got their stock raised thanks to Jericho and Big Show, something we thought was doomed to fail the moment Show was announced as Jericho's partner at NOC 09.

That being said, the main problem I feel is that the division has still lacked from true competition. Out of the five holders of the belts, two of them were legit teams, three were thrown together and one of them grew into a team. Outside of them the division has seen about six new teams come in (Legacy, Hart Dynasty, Cryme Tyme, Barreta/Croft, MVP/Henry and Punk/Gallows, seven if you include Morrison/Truth), some of which thrown together but some of the grew for us like MVP/Henry and Punk/Gallows. While it's nice to see competition grow again for the division, the problem I see is legit teams who can't seem to draw are getting overlooked on star power against combined teams and out of the teams listed, only three of them competed for the titles on PPV whilst the rest have fought on Raw/Smackdown.

But aside from my rant, the unification of the belts has been a success and the tag division is slowly regaining growth again. But they need make use of the competition that is available because while we have seem some thrown together teams be a success, the lost art of teams and stables is dropping. So I would say for progress, the title is a success but the division still needs some growing time.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

To be honest, I think the unified tag team titles have been a huge failure and here's why.

Carlito & Primo, Jericho & Edge/Big Show, DX, and Miz/Show have been our unified tag team champions. I don't think they have raised the prestige of the titles one bit. It is just a way for upper midcarders to stay relevant and nothing more. All Jericho and Big Show did was have boring matches with MVP and Mark Henry before losing to DX who did nothing with them and then dropped them to Miz and Show who are feuding with two upper midcarders in Morrison and R-Truth.

Meanwhile you have established tag teams like the Hart Dynasty and Cryme Tyme who seem to be twiddling their thumbs. I'm not a fan of Cryme Tyme but I thought they would at least have one title reign in damn near four years. How is the Hart Dynasty supposed to grow if they have nothing to show for it. It also boggles my mind that Legacy haven't won the titles in a year and a half. I would even like to see Punk and Gallows have a reign but they probably will put the titles on Morrison and Truth just because they can be on both Smackdown and RAW which I don't see as that big of a necessity.

I would feel about better about the titles if they would at least put it on Legacy, Cryme Tyme, and Hart Dynasty instead of just putting it on teams that were formed two minutes ago. Does Miz really need to have the tag team titles? He is already U.S. Champion and one of the best out there. That's the reason why the midcard has sucked lately because everybody else is teaming up and going for the titles.

You already have four teams that have been together for a while and want tag team gold. They could use one more face tag team but I digress. Put it on those teams first and if you want to give it to Miz and Big Show then so be it. Next thing you know, Cryme Tyme and Hart Dynasty will be released and you will be complaining again that there aren't enough tag teams. Hello, you had plenty. You just never used them.

 

[Da Prophet]

Having 1 set I think really works better than 2 and only having 3 teams.And with the added factor that the champs can appear on any show is great.We can see Miz 3 nights a week(RAW,SMACKDOWN,NXT)The only timw when they didn't really work was when DX had the titles.But that is just cause they didn't really do anything with them.So over all WWE puting them together was the right decision as it can push talent like the Miz on all shows!

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Plus...but not saved and brought back to previous levels.

They probably will never put as much focus on the tag division as they did in the past, but they certainly would be in a worse position right now if they had them still split. People complain about them not having proper feuds and such, and that's justified, but you don't take something that doesn't have a foothold and spread it thinner. The best thing they could have done was unify the titles. And you know what, since they've done that, they've actually been on ppvs! Yeah, as surprising as that sounds, tag titles being on ppvs. It's something that for a while there, we weren't seeing, but now we are.

When it comes to "prestige", well, I think people are putting on their rose glasses. People say DX and Legacy and JeriShow feuding for the titles isn't good enough, yet if you remember, the Bodydonnas, the Headbangers, and Men on a Mission were tag champs. Not exactly NAO or LOD, right? Now, I'm not the biggest fan of random people thrown together in tag teams, especially when they don't have a team name and they're just "Brian Kendrick and Paul London" and we have to refer to them as Londrick on our own, but at the same time, it isn't like this is new. Austin and Dude Love were tag champs. Owen and Yoko were kind of random. Waltman and Holly are former tag champs. Etcetera.

I think it's a slow rebuild but they're doing it. I think overall, they've done nothing but advance it, rather than run into any demotion situations, even if the advancements at times seem like slow crawls or baby steps. Progress is progress. You can be upset that it isn't to the level or rate that you want it to be, but you can't call it a failure if it's seemingly done nothing but improve on the situation.

 

[Tastycles]

People love to have a cry about the tag team division, because it used to have good teams in it. That's bollocks. Tag team divisions have only ever been good during periods of wrestling boom, and that's because the main event guys were hot enough not to need constant influx. The British Bulldogs stayed together, because you could have Hulk Hogan feuding with Andre the Giant for a year. Edge and Christian stayed together because The Rock and Austin could keep on fighting forever. Tag team wrestling has always been a means to an end.

The unification of the belts, and most importantly the reign of Jerishow elevated the WWE tag division to a point it hadn't been in for years. For the first time since the influx of WCW stars in 2002, the WWE had its tag title defended on 5 PPVs in a row, which is huge. People can whigne about it if they want, but given the choice of DX vs Jerishow on PPV or Deuce and Domino vs The Highlanders on Heat, I think I know what I'd prefer to see.

 

[Mr. TM]

I have been a huge fan of the Unified tag team championship since Wrestlemania when the Colons originally won it. There just are not enough legitimate tag teams in the WWE to have two sets of titles around, anow now, you get to see one tag team on every brand.

Now who is going to be able to surpass a team like Big Show and Miz? Not Cryme Tyme, Not The Harts, not anyone. So that to me makes the titles something to build up to be able to win. When Jerishow had the titles, theyh loved the titles, and fought for them. That elevates the title. And now, when there is a tag team that gets legitimatly built up enough, they will ge a chance to win.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah, definite plus. I'd argue that they are the third most prestigious title in the company. Case in point - three titles are being defended at Mania and they are one of them.

We saw two of the biggest names in the history of wrestling hold them, DX. Edge and Jericho, two of the best in the world. JeriShow, multiple world titles. Miz is one of the top midcarders.

Fact is, we saw the belts main event the December PPV, and everyone who has held them since the Colons has either been a star already or been given the belts to help build their path to superstardom (Miz). The challengers at Mania are both getting big upper-midcard pushes.

It's clear that these belts mean a lot. If we didn't have them then teams that don't cut the mustard would hold irrelevant titles.