How would you fix tag wrestling in 2018?

[HMARK Center]

I think it's safe to say that in a lot of promotions today that tag wrestling isn't the highlight that it once was. There's a host of reasons why this is the case, like how much harder it is to break into the scene as a tag act, and I will certainly point out that there are still many good to great tag teams and matches happening out there today (hell, they might be the most redeeming part of modern WWE main roster shows), but on the whole it feels like tags simply don't get the type of shine, prestige, and highlights like they used to.

That said, is there a potential way to change the wider tag scene now that could bring some of that back?

I'll start with this: either change or more strictly enforce tag team match rules, to make them more clearly distinct from singles matches.

Too often today I think people often view teams as "two singles guys who couldn't cut it on their own", but a great part of the psychology of wrestling should be that a duo that teams regularly should almost always best a cobbled together team, even if it's two main event level guys. For that to work, it needs to be made clear how and why tag work is so different from singles work, and how navigating the more complicated tag scene makes for different stories to tell.

Here's an example of a rule change I think could be interesting if a promotion wanted to try it: place a strict limit on the number of times a partner is allowed to break up a pin or submission attempt. Once that number's been exceeded, your partner has to win or lose on their own, and if you help them out it's an auto-DQ.

If nothing else, it'd give a greater explanation for how two midcarders who are a regular team can beat two non-regular teaming main eventers, because they're more used to planning and strategizing around the unique environment.

Anything else that could work? Doesn't have to involve rules, could just involve booking, roster management, etc.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Fix it? I didn’t know it was broken

I agree with you, the rules should be enforced. f*** you cant keep running in to save your partner and don’t receive a dq.

There’s also a problem that needs to be addressed that bookers apparently do from Vince on down. Tag teams are not a commodity because you have to pay two of everything. That needs to be fixed, good tag teams deserve the extra cost.

Also I hope PWG sets the example again with the DDT tournament and make it mean something, once they do that the other companies will follow.

I wish they would also kill the jr tag division in japan and just have one.

[Hypnosis]

Dec 14, 2018 13:17:13 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

I wish they would also kill the jr tag division in japan and just have one.

*Every NJPW opening match*

"3K! 3K! 3K!"

[cuppacoffee - slight return]

Dec 14, 2018 13:02:17 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Here's an example of a rule change I think could be interesting if a promotion wanted to try it: place a strict limit on the number of times a partner is allowed to break up a pin or submission attempt. Once that number's been exceeded, your partner has to win or lose on their own, and if you help them out it's an auto-DQ.

Totally agree.
In theory, this isn’t even a “rule change.”

In WWE, at least, it’s a rule they actually have already, but are mostly happy to lazily forget. It was used to really good effect in a match between Undisputed Era and Moustache Mountain on NXT a few months ago.

[cuppacoffee - slight return]

Also, potentially side-tracking a little - if tag wrestling needs fixing, what broke it?

My opinion (fwiw): The Rockers (not deliberately, but as a result of their break-up angle).

Every promoter for the last 26 years has been looking for a Shawn Michaels. A tag team is all too often seen as a vehicle to get to a star-making, “Jannetty-through-the-window” moment.

[Deleted]

announcers shouldn't talk about other matches and angles during tag matches

[HMARK Center]

Dec 15, 2018 6:16:51 GMT -5 cuppacoffee - slight return said:

Also, potentially side-tracking a little - if tag wrestling needs fixing, what broke it?

My opinion (fwiw): The Rockers (not deliberately, but as a result of their break-up angle).

Every promoter for the last 26 years has been looking for a Shawn Michaels. A tag team is all too often seen as a vehicle to get to a star-making, “Jannetty-through-the-window” moment.

I'd certainly put that on the list; it feels like very often teams are put together just for the "shock" of splitting them apart in a short time, hoping to catch the lightning in a bottle that was Michaels' turn, or even how well Bret's single push went once the Hart Foundation split. The idea of a Road Warriors-like team sticking together for literally multiple decades feels sadly outdated now.

And yeah, to be clear I don't think tag wrestling is totally dead or anything, but in theory most promotions, when stripped down to their basics, have a main title for main eventers and a set of tag titles for teams that (again in theory) are meant to be seen as equally prestigious, but that's simply not the case very often anymore. For example, outside of some rare exceptions it's tough to imagine today another run like the Rock n' Roll vs. Midnights feud that could absolutely main event all over the place.

I'd also add as another reason that since many bookers don't want to hot potato their main title, they'll more easily pass around their tag belts to get the crowd excited over a title change. Even that, though, could be better explained by announcers - the added chaos of having 4 (or 6, in the case of trios belts) people in and around the ring at the same time makes it more difficult to retain for more than a handful of defenses in a row, whereas singles champions can just focus on one opponent at time and not have to plan around a partner breaking up pins or blindsiding you.

[Deleted]

Dec 15, 2018 6:12:24 GMT -5 cuppacoffee - slight return said:

Dec 14, 2018 13:02:17 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Here's an example of a rule change I think could be interesting if a promotion wanted to try it: place a strict limit on the number of times a partner is allowed to break up a pin or submission attempt. Once that number's been exceeded, your partner has to win or lose on their own, and if you help them out it's an auto-DQ.

Totally agree.
In theory, this isn’t even a “rule change.”

In WWE, at least, it’s a rule they actually have already, but are mostly happy to lazily forget. It was used to really good effect in a match between Undisputed Era and Moustache Mountain on NXT a few months ago.

If you read results up until 1986, you will occasionally see one that says (for example): "British Bulldogs defeat the Hart Foundation by DQ when Neidhart tried to make the save for his partner a second time."

That was the rule: you got one free save.

I would like to see this brought back. Maybe up it to 2.
Newer fans may equate this with the ROH Pure title rule where you were allowed 3 rope breaks.

It gives them a sense of strategy. If you and your partner are in sync, you know when to hold off on saving them unless really needed.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

It would require a bunch of promoters treating the tag titles as being on equal footing as the promotions' main title.

Another thing I think that 'damaged' the prestige of the tag titles was the act of throwing two wrestlers at random together and putting the belts on them. Sure, there were some teams that worked (like BookerDust) but more often than not, it showed that teamwork didn't really matter. Teams that tried hard to work together were portrayed as mooks how couldn't work alone.

That's why the whole Dudleys-Hardys-Edge/Christian time was so amazing...

[efarns]

You need two people who are committed to the concept of being a tag team. They have to pay their dues long enough to become a draw.

[Deleted]

End the concept and make all tag teams compete in Tornado matches.

[kingoftheindies]

I think tag team wrestling is okay right now but I have noticed that a lot of tag teams try to copy what the Jacksons and the Crists do in their matches.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Dec 15, 2018 6:12:24 GMT -5 cuppacoffee - slight return said:

Dec 14, 2018 13:02:17 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Here's an example of a rule change I think could be interesting if a promotion wanted to try it: place a strict limit on the number of times a partner is allowed to break up a pin or submission attempt. Once that number's been exceeded, your partner has to win or lose on their own, and if you help them out it's an auto-DQ.

Totally agree.
In theory, this isn’t even a “rule change.”

In WWE, at least, it’s a rule they actually have already, but are mostly happy to lazily forget. It was used to really good effect in a match between Undisputed Era and Moustache Mountain on NXT a few months ago.

Yeah, the problem is that they don’t really talk about that being a rule. I had no idea it existed until Lance Storm mentioned it on Figure 4 Daily after the NXT match