Splitting up factions and tag teams.

[agent817]

NOTE: I am putting it in this section because this can apply to not just WWE, but also TNA, WCW, ECW, or any other promotions.

When do you think is ever a good time to split up factions or tag teams? I look at how long current factions have been around and some of them have been around for about three years. Examples are The New Day and The Wyatt Family. Of course with the latter it can be argued that some members have broken away from them or got drafted to other brands and some other guys were brought into the group. Then you have the NWO, which lasted a good three years, even with the Wolfpac splitting and then both factions emerged as one big unit with one part being an elite group over the B-team.

As for tag teams, earlier this decade there had been teams that were split up for no real reason. Like the Hart Dynasty for example.

So at what point should factions/tag teams split in your opinion?

[Main Eventer]

I think it comes down to 2 key things.

1: Has the team reached their peak. If not then you can still make money from them.

2: Can the members survive as a singles star. A lot of times WWE will break up a tag team and proceed to do nothing with either member. Deuce and Domino, Hart Dynasty, The Basham Brothers, etc.

[MolotovMocktail]

To add to that, if it's clear at least one of the two has a serious shot at being a major star. I don't think anyone knew Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels would reach the heights they did at the moment their respective teams were broken up, but if it's clear there is a big talent discrepancy and the team is holding back one of the wrestlers, it's time to go in a different direction.

[Hit Girl]

It's usually a bad idea, and has probably killed a lot of careers.

[thegame415]

I think something interesting, and often done, is to have teams also go after singles titles. The brood is a unique example. They could challenge for the tag titles one week, then be in singles matches the next.

I feel like this is what New Day should do. Remain together, but go after other titles, have singles feuds.

[froggyfrog]

If done properly it can elevate everyone involved. It is risky though. I think Edge and Christian is a good example of a team that did everything they could. If they stayed together longer they may have gotten stale. By splitting when they did both guys got a boost. Edge more so than Christian, but obviously they both went on to have singles success.

The Dudleyz in 2002 is an example of not doing it correctly. Sure you could make the argument that they had done everything they could as a team, but as singles their potential was much lower than it was when they were together. It's no surprise they got back together sooner than later. Of course Bubba would have a great TNA singles run years later, but I'd argue he wasn't ready for that in 2002.

[Ted Sheckler]

If I was booking a wresting show a tag team splitting up would happen maybe once every two years if that. I don't follow much mainstream wrestling but I follow TNA spoilers and it seems every taping they're putting a team together, splitting them up, having them feud and then rinsing and repeating. Not only a TNA thing either I'm sure WWE, ROH and all of the indies are doing it as well.

This is a little harder to do when you're a bigger company but if you're an indy and have a tag team that is getting stale simply stop booking them for six months. Have them lose a big match or suffer "injuries", disappear for six months and then return for a revenge angle in which the heels who hurt them get what is coming to them. This costs an independent company NOTHING all you have to do is sit your guys down and tell them what is going on.

I would split a team for two reasons:

1. One guy is showing so much potential to be a top star that he's outshining the other guy and making him look bad. At that point a story line in which Wrestler B attacks Wrestler A makes total sense because Wrestler B would obviously be jealous and the audience would get it because they'd picked up on it. They'd then be pissed about it and spend their money to see Wrestler A prove that he is the better wrestler.

2. Perhaps if one of the wrestlers in the team wants to leave the company or whatever you split them up, have them feud for a few months and then have the guy who is staying beat the dude who is not staying. This isn't ideal because a "losing tag team splits up" match would probably be more interesting and sell more tickets

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2017 23:07:46 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

I think something interesting, and often done, is to have teams also go after singles titles. The brood is a unique example. They could challenge for the tag titles one week, then be in singles matches the next.

I feel like this is what New Day should do. Remain together, but go after other titles, have singles feuds.

Just a random question pertaining to our JCP fans.
While Ricky Morton had the feud with Flair, what did Robert Gibson do?
Just asking, because I don't remember. Did he just team with random fan favorites or did he wrestle as a singles guy?

[Reflecto]

Feb 18, 2017 16:46:30 GMT -5 Main Eventer said:

I think it comes down to 2 key things.

1: Has the team reached their peak. If not then you can still make money from them.

2: Can the members survive as a singles star. A lot of times WWE will break up a tag team and proceed to do nothing with either member. Deuce and Domino, Hart Dynasty, The Basham Brothers, etc.

Even beyond those, there's still an equal question there beyond it.

If the team has reached their peak, you have to wait until the sweet spot for "right past their peak" for when to do it- when it's just close enough to past the team's peak that it would be a shocking betrayal, but not enough so that the team wouldn't matter if they broke up. Too early, you get a team like the Hart Dynasty that still had some legs. Too late, and you get something like, say, London and Kendrick's breakup where it didn't really matter (and it's not a hot take to say that the New Day probably got to this point right now.)

It also helps when they break up by a betrayal and not just "it's draft time, split them up"- the only time a star was made directly by their team being split up in the draft instead of a betrayal was Shelton Benjamin, and even he was back in the WGTT within two years. Most of the other bad ones WWE broke up a team in the 21st century where it bombed- Deuce and Domino, Bashams, etc.- were split not by a betrayal, but by the draft separating them- and that ties into the problem. (Factions can be weirder- like how Braun Strowman went from laughingstock to bonafide star in large part because the draft separated him from the Wyatt Family.)

[Deleted]

During the Monday night wars they benefitted from having tag teams and groups that had been together forever so when they split up it meant something then Russo fell in love with creating teams just to split them up.Watching a lot of Russo's stuff and hearing his interviews when he was a kid he loved big moments but he never realized why those moments were big because they were built up over along time and didn't happen every second of every show.

Theres no perfect science about splitting up groups atleast the Shield had peaked and all 3 guys went on to big things while the Wyatts have been together for 4 years have broke up a few times but they never really accomplished much so them breaking up didn't have much impact on me.