The Freebird Rule

[The Brain]

With The New Day winning the WWE tag titles at Extreme Rules we have the latest in a list of teams that are now champions under the Freebird Rule. If you're reading this you probably know what the Freebird rule is but in case you don't it's when a team consisting of more than two people become champions and any combination are able to defend the titles. The Fabulous Freebirds started this trend back in the 80s (hence the name) and since then Demolition, The Wolfpac, The Spirit Squad, among others have benefited from it. I've never been a big fan of the Freebird rule and I'm surprised fans just accept it without seeing it as controversial.

From a kayfabe point of view the Freebird rule seems completely unfair as the challengers don't know who to prepare for. Also I'm not crazy about someone, Xavier Woods for example, being credited with a tag title reign when he was never in the match to win the belts. Plus as a fan I would like to know who I'm going to see wrestle. Although since matches aren't announced ahead of time much anymore I guess that doesn't matter as much.

I don't know how the Freebird rule was received when The Freebirds introduced it over 30 years ago. Maybe it was met with great controversy at first but became accepted as time went by since it's bee around for most fans' entire lives now. I admit the Freebird rule does add some interesting storyline elements which should matter more than any kayfabe complaints but I've just never been a fan of the rule. It's not something I completely hate, just something I don't really like. What do you think of the Freebird Rule?

 

[klunderbunker]

Much like many other things in life, the Freebird Rule made sense when it started but over time it's lost some of the original meaning. The idea was the company could put Freebirds vs. Von Erichs on the card and figure out which combination to use up to the last minute. You could have any combination or even a singles match and still deliver what you promised. Now that works when you have a white hot angle like Von Erichs vs. Freebirds, but having it done with someone like the Spirit Squad where the fans didn't care either way and everyone not named Kenny was on the same level, the impact is lost.

Unfortunately, the New Day is the same way. What difference does it make if it's Woods/Big E., Kofi/Big E. or Woods/Kofi? None of them are leaps and bounds ahead of the other combinations and no one is tearing the barricade down to kill any of them, so the Freebird Rule is kind of just tacked on as a bonus that no one was asking for. It's nice, but if it wasn't around, no one would notice.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

I'm a fan of the Freebird Rule.

It adds just enough intrigue to make me want to watch a tag team match. Demoltiion did it on a limited basis as Ax was basically not able to wrestle as much anymore, so it was mostly Smash and Crush with Ax at ringside.

With The New Day, it doesn't seem as exciting mainly because no one really cares about them, however as a heel tag team, it can work and draw heat where needed, and that's the job of the Freebird Rule.

As far as generalities go, I'm a fan of anything that goes back and acknowledges something past 2010.

 

[Navi]

I had completely forgotten about this rule to tell you the truth, but I do agree it's a tad unfair to the opposing team. And when you really look at it, Woods hasn't done much wrestling at all. I've only seen him in the ring a couple of times, mostly he's just being annoying standing around outside.

This was brought up by me on the live discussion thread, and it was pointed out to me that he does win their matches for them. I'm presuming because of his shenanigans. So I guess if you're going to follow that logic, Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury should be co-WWE title holders. Considering the amount of times they've helped Rollins win.

Furthermore, when The Shield were still together and Rollins/Reigns won the tag belts, Ambrose never fought in their tag title matches. I remember Ambrose/Rollins doing a lot of tag matches at the time, but never when the the titles were on the line. He just stood outside and watched.

But I guess New Day is special, and we'll see what happens going forward. I have a feeling this is just a transitional run until Jey Uso comes back, or until the Lucha Dragons take the titles off them. I still don't expect to see Woods in the ring much, he strikes me as more of the cheerleader/manager type.

 

[Nate DaMac]

Furthermore, when The Shield were still together and Rollins/Reigns won the tag belts, Ambrose never fought in their tag title matches. I remember Ambrose/Rollins doing a lot of tag matches at the time, but never when the the titles were on the line. He just stood outside and watched.

You remember incorrectly. Ambrose and Rollins literally never teamed up once without Reigns while Reigns and Rollins were Tag Champs. Also, the Freebird wouldn't have made sense since Ambrose was the US Champion the entire time they were the Tag Champs (he won it from Kofi earlier that night.)

As far as it not making sense from a kayfabe point of view, New Day are heels and The Authority favor heels. It's not a stretch to see why they would allow them to defend the titles like this.

I'm a fan on them Freebirding the titles.

 

[Soulblazed]

With teams such as The Spirit Squad, The Freebird Rule wasn't used in a way which brought intrigue, plus benefited The Spirit Squad in the long run..

Now, as far as The New Day is concerned, The Freebird Rule can be used to their benefit IF the psychology behind it makes sense..Now, I didn't watch Extreme Rules yet, but since Big E and Kofi won the titles, then I see it like this-Woods can interject himself mid-way into a tag title match, while Kofi or Big E takes a rest on the outside, or better yet, attacks the non-legal tag partner of the opposing team..That'd be good psychology and it'd use The Freebird Rule in a good way which'll benefit the heel New Day stable.

Another example is that for a tag title match, either Big E or Kofi will no-show, with Woods walking down the ramp alongside, say, Big E for example. Mid-way through the match, Kofi could run down the stairs in the crowd, jump over the guard-rail and tell Woods "I got this. Now it's your turn to take a rest".

OR..The New Day can also say that since they're using The Freebird Rule(yea, they'd actually call it "The Freebird Rule"), then it's their right as a trio to wrestle against tag teams which consist of only 2 people (such as Kidd and Cesaro) in handi-cap tag title matches. That's another way for them to get more heat as a heel stable..

Also, it's high time New Day changes that muted ruckus "gospel music" entrance theme they got going on..It sounds iike complete shit..Instead, they could have some ACTUAL gospel music along with a heel gospel-voiced "pastor" who accompanies them to the ring and who extols the "righteous" stable of The New Day, etc

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think The Freebird rule is fine, it doesn't really make sense that a team can switch round members who defend the titles, but done right it can add an extra element to a match and get some heat for the heels, as the faces are unable to prepare properly as they don't know which members they will be facing.

The rule would work best in a team where the members are all vastly different- I'm not totally sure how Xavier Woods wrestles as I can't remember every actually watching him in a match, but Kofi Kingston and Big E are total opposites, with Kofi being the high flyer and Big E relying on power and strength. The story could be that this gives The New Day the advantage in that opponents think they are going to wrestle the smaller Kingston and Woods, but at the last minute Big E steps in meaning the challengers game plan is useless.

The Freebird rule doesn't get used that often, but I think it's a nice nod to the past and offers something different to the usual tag-team formula. I wanted to see other teams use it in the past- The Shield (Reigns, Rollins, Ambrose), The Dudleyz (Bubba, Spike, D'Von), X-Factor (X-Pac, Credible, Albert) and The Radicalz (Benoit, Guerrero, Saturn, Malenko), but WWE didn't want to utilise it at that point.

 

[Mustang Sally]

On a two-man team, if one gets hurt and can't continue during a match, the surviving partner is left to fend for himself against the two opponents, right?

In the Freebird system, if one guy can't continue, can the third man take his place? If so, that's totally unfair, as it's an option the two-man team doesn't have.

So, what would happen?

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

On a two-man team, if one gets hurt and can't continue during a match, the surviving partner is left to fend for himself against the two opponents, right?

In the Freebird system, if one guy can't continue, can the third man take his place? If so, that's totally unfair, as it's an option the two-man team doesn't have.

So, what would happen?

My understanding is that the Freebird Rule means that The New Day can choose beforehand which 2 out of Big E, Kofi and Woods will defend the titles. If they chose Kofi and Woods and one of them was injured in a match, I don't think that Big E would be able to replace him mid-match.

BUT, it would allow Big E and Kofi to continue t defend the titles in future mathes while Woods was out injured, depending of course if Kingston had been able to retain the titles.

 

[Glacier]

I used to love when the old WCW announcers would get crazily
excited and start shouting "Freebird Rules! Freebird Rules!"
whenever there was a 3 man tag group approaching the ring.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I've always been a fan of The Freebird Rule. It's a great tactic for stables with more than 2 members, especially if heels use it. This creates that much more of a struggle for the faces if they had mentally been preparing for two specific members of the team in a title defense, only to have to face another guy instead of one of the two they expected. It allows for switching things up too, which I like. Not seeing the same two guys defending the belts in each title defense keeps it interesting. I'm glad that WWE went this route with The New Day and really would want to see it implemented more often. Imagine if they had done it with The Shield!