WWE Tag Team Royal Rumble

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

So what if WWE held two Royal Rumble matches at their annual January PPV? And what if one of them was specifically for tag teams, with the prize being a shot at the WWE tag team titles at WrestleMania?

Great idea, Mike.

Here are the rules:

1. Two teams start in the ring.

2. A new team enters every two minutes, until all 15-20 teams have been introduced.

3. Standard over-the-top rules apply. Once you go over, you are eliminated; both members of the team must be eliminated individually.

4. The final team (or team member) remaining becomes the #1 contender to the WWE tag team titles at WrestleMania.

So now we have the rules, all we need are the competitors. Because this is the ROYAL RUMBLE match, we need a great cast of both contemporary and classic teams returning for the retro pop. What's a Rumble match without a great mix of current talent and big surprises?

I already have my list of 21 teams (one extra because you have to have a set of champions that don't compete), but I'm not going to blow my entire load at once because hey - this is a forum. Discussion is important or something.

For starters, here's the list of current WWE tag teams and NXT call-ups on the horizon:

-The Prime Time Players
-The New Day
-Luke Harper & Erick Rowan
-Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow
-Los Matadores
-The Usos
-Lucha Dragons
-The Ascension
-Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley
-Wesley Blake & Buddy Murphy
-Enzo Amore & Collin Cassidy
-The Vaudevillians

So let's hear it. Reasonable suggestions (or ridiculous suggestions, I'm not your fucking mother, I don't care) for tag teams to participate in the first ever WWE Tag Team Royal Rumble!

 

[NSL]

-The Prime Time Players
-The New Day
-Luke Harper & Erick Rowan
-Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow
-Los Matadores
-The Usos
-Lucha Dragons
-The Ascension
-Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley
-Wesley Blake & Buddy Murphy
-Enzo Amore & Collin Cassidy
-The Vaudevillians

So let's hear it. Reasonable suggestions (or ridiculous suggestions, I'm not your fucking mother, I don't care) for tag teams to participate in the first ever WWE Tag Team Royal Rumble!

That's a great starting list. If this were a real thing, I could actually see them adding a 4th to New Day, and giving them 2 slots, so let's count that as 1, bringing the total to 12.

You can count out Reigns and Ambrose, since they would be in the "main" Royal Rumble.

Not knowing how Goldust will return, you can pencil in him and Stardust, bringing the total to 13. Noble and Mercury would be in there, because every Rumble needs bodies, no matter the quality. That's 14. Considering this is Vince's company, there would be at least 1 team of randomly paired guys, and then there would be 2 guys who are feuding as another pair.

I'd put Owens and Cesaro (if they're still feuding come Rumble time) as the latter, and really anyone can be the former. Fandango, R-Truth, Barrett, Swagger, Neville, Bo Dallas...Basically anyone that is a singles guy that doesn't stand a chance at winning the main Rumble. I'm at 16 now.

The New Age Outlaws are all but guaranteed to collect a paycheck.

That means there'd need to be 4 "classic" teams to flesh it out. That's where guys like Booker and RVD come in.

 

[johnbragg]

I love the creativity. Actually I love it so much that I'd argue for this match shouldn't be an undercard match, it's the main attraction of the night. (That night could be a Sunday PPV, could be a special edition of RAW, could be a WWE Network special on some other night.)

Winning this mega-match (I'm not sure I call it a Royal Rumble--I think it's distinct enough that it gets its own name). "Tornado Match" is taken, but heck, WWE could just redefine it. (I half-remember TNA having a "Gauntlet for the Gold" that was just a ruyal rumble/battle royale).

Also, if you make this a stand-alone event and not a Royal Rumble warmup, you can use more improvised-teams. Pair up rivals, or just pair up wrestlers arbitrarily and give them 10 seconds backstage to greet each other, tell the audience that the Management has paired them up, and put over winning The Big Tag Team Thing as a major accomplishment.

Maybe, as a humourous aside, two jobbers flip a coin to decide who picks out the team t-shirt.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I like this idea a lot!! You have 12 teams listed. I add 3 more surprise teams, a Legends Team, a "TNA" Team, and an "ROH" Team. I'd go with the Dudley Boyz, Hardy Boyz, and The Addiction. Great idea, Killam!!

 

[TheBadGuy92]

I like the idea, but were you thinking about holding it at the RR itself? You could make something this big into its own PPV maybe the February ppv right after the official RR so they can still get their shot at wrestlemania and you can have a team like Reigns and Ambrose enter as a team if neither of them won the RR. I like it, id wanna see surprise teams. it would be fun to watch! great idea!

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

This concept should get its own separate Network special event, ideally between two PPVs that are 4-5 weeks apart.

As far as the teams go:

-- Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose
-- The Usos
-- Luke Harper & Erick Rowan
-- Lucha Dragons
-- The Ascension
-- Prime Time Players
-- Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow
-- The Vaudevillians
-- Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady
-- Dudley Boyz
-- Hardy Boyz
-- Finn Balor & Hideo Itami
-- Cesaro & Tyson Kidd
-- Los Matadores
-- Blake & Murphy
-- APA
-- Sami Zayn & Neville
-- Stardust & Wade Barrett

This is fantasy booking. Some of the above wrestlers are injured (Jey Uso, Erick Rowan, Hideo Itami, Tyson Kidd, & Sami Zayn), signed with another company (Hardyz & Dudleyz), or past their prime (APA). Also, some of the teams above don't necessarily have to team together all the time (Reigns & Ambrose, Zayn & Neville, etc.). Still, I don't see why this couldn't be a one-off Network special, similar to Beast in the East & Elimination Chamber.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I've heard the idea before and I like it. I think a team should be eliminated when one guy gets eliminated as opposed to both guys getting eliminated. The other change I have is for this to happen any time but the Royal Rumble. The Rumble itself is a long match throwing this in there almost kills the rest of card. Which leads me to conclude that Killam is suggesting this because he hates women and doesn't think the Divas have a place in the wrestling ring.

 

[Really?]

I don't think it is a bad idea. It simply is not at all realistic. The problem with it is that if you have 20 "teams" you are eating up 40 plus minutes of a three hour PPV. No, making the RR PPV 4 hours isn't goiing to happen. The deal with Mania and now SS is that they will be set apart from the others. So, with 40 plus for that match and 60 plus for the main Rumble that is an hours and forty plus gone out roughly 165 minutes. That leaves less than 65 minutes for your title match and undercard feud matches as well as video packages and promos. Oh, and, Vince is not letting 40 plus minutes go to titles he doesn't really seem to care about.

Then, on top of that, there is the simple fact that you are taking 40 guys out of the main Rumble match. Realistically, there just won't be enough guys to do the 30 man Rumble match with 40 guys in a tag Rmble match.

I'm all for Fantasy booking and all, but, be mildly realistic in the conceivability of the idea.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

It's a great idea ! Except don't have it at the Royal Rumble ..have it at an unimportant PPV like Fast Lane or something. Leave the - Royal Rumble - name to the match and PPV it belongs to....keep the match concept but change the name. Like Tag Team Ravage Assault Match or Annual Tag Team Conflict Invitational ...

Then with it's own main event feel for the PPV , new teams could form just to fight for the tag team championships or whatever prize awaits at the end.

Big Show - Mark Henry - World's Largest Tag Team
Neville - Finn Balor
The Miz - Bo Dallas - BoMiz ...
Wade Barrett - Kevin Owens -
Rusev - Sheamus
Ziggler - Ryback
Chris Jericho - Randy Orton
John Cena - Roman Reigns

The gimmick match that would set it apart from other PPV's. Like Survivor Series, Royal Rumble , Elimination Chamber. This tag team war would be very entertaining and would skyrocket the tag division in a hyper bright super nova light.

 

[gmanversion1]

Love the idea.

They did have a tag team royal rumble on Raw YEARS ago, but that one had 1 elimination take out the whole team

Maybe they could make it a wild card thing to promote team work. Have all teams but the last two left would go for the gold. A "well working team" would win, but you could end up winning with your worst enemy

 

[FromGlasgow]

I like having the Royal Rumble just once a year it feels like a special event, Introducing more than one per year would water it down a bit or replacing the regular royal rumble with the tag team one would just put a limit on which wrestlers can compete at the event. Maybe another tag team battle royal would be good I remember they had one at wrestlemania a few years ago.

 

[MMK]

This would have been a great idea....in the 80's.

Most of the tag teams you listed are jobber teams and even the supposed main event teams would have been considered midcard at best during tag team wrestlings hay day. I just don't see it working at all in todays day and age. Heck, we can barely get a decent Royal Rumble for the singles wrestlers these days. I cant remember the last decent Royal Rumble. They've all been shite for years now.

But back in the 80's and early 90's this would have been a great idea.

British Bulldogs, Brain Busters, Bushwackers, Bolsheviks, Conquistadors, Colossol Connection, Demolition, Hart Foundation, Islanders, Killer Bees, LOD, Money Inc, Mega Powers, Nasty Boys, Natural Disasters, Orient Express, Power and Glory, Powers of Pain, Rougeau Brothers, Rockers, Rhythm and Blues, Steiner Brothers, Strike Force, Twin Towers, Young Stallions