Should Tag Team Matches Be Treated Like Main Events?

[LeviCook]

My question is pretty simple. Should Tag Team matches be treated like main events? When you look back on all of the great tag teams in the past, the main thing you always look at is the quality of matches they had. I feel that as a Tag Team the wrestling aspect is focused on a lot more in comparison to singles competitors. During the Attitude Era we saw a lot of exciting and over Tag Teams; The Dudleys, The Hardys, Edge and Christian, Etc. Every time you look back at these teams you always hear about the great ladder matches they had or the great TLC matches they had. So i was thinking, would making matches like these help improve the Tag Team division? It would allow Tag Teams to have more exciting matches and get the attention on them. As well as maybe make people take notice of the division altogether. If you act as if the division is worth something, people will believe it. WWE's Tag Team Division has seemed nearly dead for the last couple years and is finally starting to come back to life. Would this be a good time for them to capitalize? This thread was inspired because of the TLC PPV. Obviously you have Daniel Bryan, Kane, and Ryback vs The Shield, but i feel as if this isn't seen as a tag team match simply because the focus is on Ryback. But anyway, in the future it would be nice to see. Let me know what you think.

 

[Papa Pillman]

I think that if a company has:

A) built two tag teams that are good enough and over enough that the wrestler's don't feel out of place at the top of the card; B) a legitimate feud has been built between them that people have a reason to be invested in; and lastly C) those teams have had a show-stealing match(s) together that prove they can produce main event quality outings when they work against each other- then its not out of place at all for them to headline, in fact it makes perfect sense for them to main event.

I remember a couple years back around the time that TNA was in talks with Paul Heyman about him possibly taking over their booking, a report came out indicating that Heyman felt that the program that was going on between Beer Money and The Motor City Machine Guns should have been the company's main event feud. At the time that didn't sound illogical at all.

I think that TNA could have definitely main evented a PPV or two earlier this summer with the match-up between Kaz and Daniels against Angle and Styles. AJ and Kurt have enough drawing power, and the matches they had were so hot that it wouldn't have felt out of place as the feature attraction.

Team Hell No could also fit in a main event spot, but the bigger question would be finding suitable opposition. None of the other tag teams in the company are more than upper-mid carders at best. Now if they were paired against a team say along the lines of Punk and Lesnar that could possibly be a match that could main event, but it doesn't necesarily fit to the quandry of thread when you consider that the opponent wouldn't be an actual tag team, but rather a one time pairing of random main event level stars. That has actually been done in the recent past with Cena/Rock facing Truth/Miz at last years Survivor Series; however, the disapointment that Vince had with the buyrates for that event(insert "Blame Miz" joke here) may have soured the WWE on going back in that direction for a while.

As for the indy's its actually not that rare of an occurence, mostly because the majority of top level Indy feds have more of a commitment to tag team wrestling than the national brands.

 

[Bone For Tuna]

Generally speaking, I think usually there should be something on the line in the main event and it should be of some importance. Two dudes wrestling, or four dudes or whatever is what it is, but add a title or some kind of stipulation and now people really have something to care about. Having said that, I don't think the tag divisions nor the tag titles in either WWE or TNA are anywhere near the top of their list of importance right now. Maybe on an episode of Impact, Main Event or Smackdown, but not PPVs or even Raw, even though Daniel Bryan is the best thing on Raw! ROH has done it before and it's worked. It worked usually because the talent involved was among the best in the company, but also I think partly because there isn't so much gold floating around in ROH as opposed to the other companies. Same thing can be said for PWG and even Chikara to some extent. I think it works better on the indys and there is so many good teams out their right now it's unbelievable.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I feel that as a Tag Team the wrestling aspect is focused on a lot more in comparison to singles competitors.

You have an interesting theory but it's hard to agree with this one statement. I've never been crazy about tag team matches at the top of the card because I've always appreciated the one-on-one aspect of wrestling, the same as in boxing. Two people in the ring..... with no one to rely on but themselves. If there's a part of this sport that focuses on the wrestling aspect, it's two guys in a high-stakes match, not four.

That said, we may yet see tag teams in the main event if performers like the Road Warriors come into prominence again. Obviously, there have been very few teams that make as big a bang as Hawk and Animal. Today, it's more like two guys thrown together and called a tag team.

For instance, Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd.....a high-flyer and a technical marvel.....but why are they together? Was there a long-range plan for these two or was it just a pairing to give two lower-card performers something to do? Who knows?

How about Santino and Zack Ryder (a team I wanted to name "Send in the Clowns")? Did you get excited about the few matches they did together?

I think it's terrific the company is making an effort to bring back tag team wrestling, but before we see it in the main event, there's going to have to be some experimentation and careful planning in the development of these teams. Just throwing guys together seldom creates much excitement. After some exciting teams are formed, they've got to start developing some compelling storylines, because that's what it takes to make us want to see tag teams at the top of the card of a PPV.

Of course, they sometimes hit gold. I thought pairing Daniel Bryan and Kane was one of the stupidest ideas ever. I was wrong.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

As far as I remember DX was the last tag team on the main event scene, but the other teams that were feuding with them lasted to this day. I mean Legacy split, Hart Dynasty split and it's hard to push a team without others to pass the torch and to make them relevant.

I say that the Prime Time Players have all the tools to be the next good tag team, but they need to be evil and they need to target a big babyface. We don't want to see Sheamus with the World Championship, at least more than 50% of the fans was tired of him so give him a storyline with those two, make him get destroyed because of the numbers and in that way introduce a tag team partner to challenge them, someone like William Regal and make the Prime Time Players dominate, they can say that Regal was the person who was holding them back in NXT and that Sheamus was handed everything so they decided to do something for themselves and they will do it until the board of directors decides to give them a title shot or something down the line.

It will be interesting to do, but that can work for any team, they need to feud with a big babyface with the likes of Orton, Sheamus or John Cena. I also can't wait to see McIntyre and Mahal kick Slater from the group and go on to be an intense tag team.

 

[#MrScissorsKick]

My question is pretty simple. Should Tag Team matches be treated like main events?

Yes and no. Good question though. Problem with this is the WWE isn't deep as it once was in the tag-team division. Team Hell No is the obvious high main card, because they've been champions for a while. Then....who? However I see The Rhodes Scholars and The Prime Time Players as possible main eventers, but not yet. Rhodes Scholars is still fairly new, and the Prime Time Players are most likely the biggest "threat" to team Hell No. Mysterio/Cara are a team that work real well together. If the WWE can elevate the 3 teams of the Prime Time Players, Mysterio/Cara and Rhodes Scholars to the main event, then I believe the WWE has the talent to have tag-team main events. Until then, I'd say no. It's just about timing to be honest. Tag-Team contenders weren't built over night. It takes a while for the teams to work together consistently. Look back in 2003 on RAW and SmackDown. You had teams of: Team Angle, Los Guerreros, Dudleyz, etc. Look forward to today's division of tag-teams, none of the current teams had the establishment of becoming a dominant team as they did back then. Hell No is probably the closest to those teams, but they'd be mid-card back then.

 

[HBsam31]

I agree with what Sally said about maybe first starting with just getting some storylines going in the tag division. While I agree the teams have somewhat improved, it is pretty much still just win a number one contenders match, get a title shot, repeat. It has just been recent that the teams have even interacted with each other outside of the match that they were having. I think Team Rhodes Scholars vs Team Hell No has the potential to be a great feud with some good back and forth promos, but I still couldn't see that match on a main event level. Not Yet. I would love to see the tag division be good enough where they could have an occasional main event for the tag belts, but they are not there yet.

 

[Snitsky4GM]

I feel that in wrestling the main event spot is something that should be earned. I have always felt that what ever feud, story line, or wrestler has done the best should be put as the selling point for the event. The main event spot should be something that is up for grabs and not just given to say John Cena just because he is John Cena (sorry for pulling the Cena card).

I have no problem with Cena being the main eventer, he does a great job at creating excitement, but just like everybody else he will have a stale spell from time to time. If Cena is stale in the month or so leading up to a PPV while Team Hell No is really hot at the time I say give Team Hell No the main event slot. I know I am throwing out specific names, but this is just meant to be a way how I feel the main event slot should be handled. It creates some competition to strive to do their best rather than maybe just enough.

I don't feel like the tag team division has gotten enough heat behind it to be a main event match right now, but it a hell of a lot closer than it was 5 years ago.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Throwing a bunch of random guys together and putting them in gimmick matches isn't going to make the tag division any better and it isn't going to push those guys to main event status.

The reason teams like the Hardys, E&C, and the Dudleys worked so well in those matches is because of their chemistry and the storylines the teams were involved in. Even then, none of those matches ever main evented PPVs, and rarely did they main RAW or SD. They also got very lucky, each of those guys went on to main event and solid upper midcard guys once they went their separate ways.

Even if you take time to build legit teams and put them in interesting storylines, tag teams simply don't draw as well as singles wrestling, so they shouldn't be main eventers. Only on rare occasions like Cena/Rock teaming together, two big name draws, should tag wrestling main event.

 

[lady e]

Some of the greatest match ever were tag team match. Look at the four horsemen, they had many tag matches worthy of main event. Barry Windham and Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes
and Lex Lugar, for one.

 

[King Patrick Star]

If by “Should Tag Team Matches Be Treated Like Main Events?” you mean, Hell No vs. Rhodes Scholars for the Unified WWE World Tag Team Championship as the Main Event for Raw, Smackdown, Main Event, or Saturday Morning Slam, then sure, why not. It can’t hurt to have a Tag Team Main Event. Holla!! Holla!! Holla!!

If by “Should Tag Team Matches Be Treated Like Main Events?” you mean, Hell No vs. Rhodes Scholars for the Unified WWE World Tag Team Championship as the Main Event for Elimination Chamber, Extreme Rules, Money In The Bank, Night Of Champions, Over The Limit, or Hell In A Cell, or TLC, then maybe. I have to think about it a little more.

If by “Should Tag Team Matches Be Treated Like Main Events?” you mean, Hell No vs. Rhodes Scholars for the Unified WWE World Tag Team Championship as the Main Event for Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, or Survivor Series, then absolutely not. No one dreams about becoming World Tag Team Champions. Everyone dreams about becoming World Champion.

Now, unless the Tag Team match you have in mind is CM Punk and Big Show vs. Ryback and Sheamus for both the WWE and World Titles, I can’t see the Tag Team Division, or the Tag Team Champions themselves Main Eventing a PPV. Now, John Cena and Randy Orton vs. Triple H and Undertaker vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock in a Triple Threat TLC match at WrestleMania with the Streak on the line, that’s a different story.

Did anyone else notice that there are only 11 PPVs scheduled in 2013??

 

[Martin Gabriel]

The tag division can be a big draw if there's a good group of men in the division. I remember that episode of SmackDown earlier in the year where Daniel Bryan and Kane ran pretty much the whole show. It was fucking excellent. I don't think that's exactly what we need to see out of the tag division, but I'd like the tag division to be enough of a big deal that maybe bigger matches would deserve television main events at least. Though that would require more versatile teams.

So far, we've got a few teams that while are functional, aren't super well-rounded. PTP is charismatic, but green (especially O'Neil); The Usos are exciting, but a bit generic on the microphone; International Airstrike is REALLY FUCKING EXCITING, but don't have very deep characters.

Team Hell No is able to have main event importance because their characters have a lot of depth, their dynamic is interesting and they're both very talented workers. Rhodes and Sandow are also both strong characters who have a lot of talent in the ring. Notice that Mysterio and Sin Cara are just a notch below Rhodes Scholars, perhaps because they're exciting workers with a flashy appeal, but their characters and relationship haven't been fleshed out at all. A main event player usually needs to be at least functional in the ring and have a character that both stands out and can be adapted to new storylines. If the tag division is going to near the main event level, it needs more teams with both depth and talent. Or some kind of niche role.

 

[LascoX]

Any type of match can be a main event if developed properly and is build around strong wrestling tallent. There is no reason a tag match can't be a main event. Often in the days when Hogan was in the WWF the strongest match on the card was matches featuring in ring artists like The Hart Foundation, The Rockers , The British Bull Dogs and L.O.D. but still you had a singles match as the main event that was prior on the card. In Harts Book he talked about how Vince would end the evening with a tag match because the wrestlers could tear it up and leave the crowd on a high at the end of the evening. Officially the ending tag match wasn't the main event but it was the one the people went home talking about the most. I agree that at the heart of wrestling is the one on one encounter but if done properly a tag match can bring down the house. Look at the wars the Hardys and E&C had as well as either of them with the likes of the Dudlys. Currently on the scene there isn't really a solid pairing to make a good PPV main event in the tag division but at least the tag scene is better then it was the past few years. WWE has stepped up the caliber of the tag division over the past year which in my book is a good thing. I can see a good tag match main eventing raw or smackdown. When it comes to PPV's however traditionally it's the Singles Heavyweight and WWE Champions that deserve the top spot on the card.