Where Did Tag Team Wrestling Go???

   I guess I am going to show my age here because I have to dig deep to find enough quality tag teams to talk about. Seriously everybody, where did great tag team wrestling go??? As a fan of the territories that used to exist, I can tell you that I was PRIVILEGED to grow up watching the greatest tag teams in wrestling history.  Yes there was still wrestlers that were considered singles wrestlers that made good tag teams but your great ones were pure tag team specialists.  

  I recently watched the documentary Rock n Roll Express Never Dies and it is a must have for any fan of theirs or just a fan of territories period. They were probably the greatest tag team in wrestling history yet WWE has not recognized them into the HOF as of yet which is truly a shame. Their feuds with the Midnight Express were epic and have never really been duplicated. The Midnight Express were great heels, they drew major heat wherever they went. The 2 teams fought all across the US selling out $80,000 & $100,000 gates which was almost unheard of in their day. The Fantastics were brought about a few years after the other two teams and just like them had a great chemistry about them, and that is one thing we dont see a lot of today. Yes, we have The USO's in WWE & The Wolves in TNA but what other tag teams do we really have that are entertaining and have that "it" factor that qualifies them as a tru tag team???

  The Fabulous Ones were a favorite of mine growing up. They had the look that drove the women wild in the stands yet the guys still liked them because they were tough and had memorable feuds with The Moondogs & The Sheepherders. They had great team work and were very charismatic. I've had some people tell me they weren't great on the mic but back in that time you didn't have the great talkers like The Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin. You know why???? Because we were treated to wrestling matches for the bulk of the show and not 75% talk & 25% wrestling matches. They like everyone else in their time held their own on the mic and kicked tail in the ring.

  What else do we have today? The Ascension???? Really??? A less than stellar mockery of The Road Warriors. The L.O.D. were not technical wrestlers by any means but they brought in a unique look at the time and gave you that indestructible feel. Once again, not great on the mic but decent and they had Precious Paul Ellering for a mouthpiece. I think that WCW & WWE both made a great attempt a while back to revive the dead tag team industry with teams like The Steiners, Doom, Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson in the WCW & WWE brought us The Dudley Boys, Hardy Boys & Edge & Christian. The Midnight Express, Fantastics & RnR Express were being faded out of existence in the major companies and they tried to bring in young talent. WWE had some great matches with their three teams I listed but this was during the attitude era with hardcore matches like Tables,Ladders & Chair matches.I would say that the WWE had better overall tag teams in that era then WCW did because you have to throw in The APA and The New Age Outlaws into the mix as well. WCW had better singles matches and singles put together as tag teams like Lex Lugar & Sting but even that died out.


  One last thing to leave you with, there used to be a real flow to a tag team match.The same also goes to singles matches as well really.The hero would always start out well and take control but the heel would always do something  dirty to make the fans mad to take control and give the hero a beating for a while. Now if the teams were great as most of them were they would sell that beating to the crowd and get them riled up against the heel and then that second or third wind would come up & the hero would make the hot tag and his partner would clean house until they built up to the finishing move being executed and you didn't see a kick out at two. Once the finisher (whether it was a simple double dropkick or clotheline or move off top rope) was executed it was done & the crowd was on their feet counting with the ref and the pop would be huge. Show me one match today where we get a build up, singles or tag team. You can't really! There are some matches that hold your attn no doubt but the suspense is not really there. We as fans can practically call a matches end ourselves.


  A lot of today's young stars don't seem to have the same appreciation for the fans either. There are some exceptions like John Cena who makes a lot of make a wish foundation requests come true. When you went to an event back in territory days you could go meet the stars at a table & have your pictures or programs signed. You do not get that now. They wanna sell merchandise and that is it. Disappointing to say the least but it is what we have now.


  In closing, I just wanna say that I hope the WWE finally gets off their high horse and takes off their blinders and recognizes the great tag teams of the past. We as fans want to see The Rock n Roll Express, Midnight Express, The Fabs, The British Bulldogs, The Freebirds and so on and so on in the HOF. They DESERVE their spots there as does Ivan Koloff. Please, please PLEASE hear what we are asking for & make it happen!

  I hope you enjoyed today's article and will pass it on & share with friends. Please like & comment as well as I love hearing other's points of views on my topics especially with the territorial days.