Showing posts with label Tag Team. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tag Team. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

The WWE Is Ruining... The Viking Raiders

The Viking Raiders were brought up on such a whim that the WWE didn’t even know what to name them. I think they were The Viking Experience initially, which is just so painfully bad. Then they went to the Viking Raiders, because War Raiders actually made sense and was what got them over in NXT so it had to switch from that. It also initially had to change from War Machine which is definitely the best of the names. On top of that, they went from being Rowe and Hanson to Erik and Ivar. Those are also incredibly stupid names.

On top of that, they didn’t have a plan for them to relinquish the NXT Tag Titles so they just forfeited them instead of actually losing to a team. You would think that this meant that they needed them to look strong as they dominated the Raw’s tag division, but they mostly fought local talent so it’s not like they were protecting anything important.

In October they won the tag titles from what will go down as possibly the least memorable tag team champions in history, Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode who have gone on to become Baron Corbin’s cronies. Jesus, that was depressing to write.

And The Viking Raiders continued to face jobbers on Raw, mostly local talent and The OC. They had a completely meaningless tag title run for three months until Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy tagged up for the first time ever and beat them for the titles. That’s a ridiculously talented team, but Rollins and Murphy could go down as the second least memorable tag team champions of all time.

They were immediately shuffled to the back of the line so Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens could challenge for the titles, so as of this writing, I’m not sure where they go from here. Everybody seems to be in awe of AEW’s tag division, but WWE could easily create just as impressive of a division if they wanted to.

I just realized that I got to the end of this article and still have no idea on what to do with the Viking Raiders. Like, they would be cooler if they turned heel and just became these irate bruisers, but all that would do is make them a poor man’s Authors of Pain. I think the only thing that can really help them is an overhaul of the tag division where they actually infuse talent and cohesive pairings in there. Still, Viking Raiders aren’t particularly my cup of tea, so I would rather see a dominant run go to AOP or Street Profits. Still, these guys have the skills to put on good matches, so maybe WWE should let them do that?

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Aiden English
AJ Styles
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Tuesday, January 28, 2020

The WWE Is Ruining... Heavy Machinery

Ah, Heavy Machinery, we hardly knew ye. This is something I said repeatedly when they were ripped away from NXT far before their time. WWE weirdly decides that some guys are ready before they’ve put the finishing touches on their act, and Heavy Machinery needed some more seasoning before being done in developmental.

They were starting to have good matches, and they got “Steaks and Weights” over, but there was no other substance to them. If you think about wrestlers that were brought up to the main roster after a brief stint on NXT TV, it’s just an awful group. Scanning the list, I’m finding such luminaries as EC3, the entire Riott Squad, and Apollo Crews spring to mind. And really, if you didn’t hold a title in NXT, the results are fairly grim outside of Baron Corbin, who I can’t remember holding a title on the main roster, and he’s their best example of someone rising above.

They had a lot of fluff, but they weren’t allowed to develop their stuff, so instead of people giving them a “Holy Shit” level of excitement, they came out to an “Oh, that’s cool,” level of excitement, and that won’t carry you very far.

So now, Otis is in a jokey love angle with Mandy Rose, and those always make superstars, while Tucker...exists. They’re kind of in the title picture, because all tag teams are kind of in the title picture, but the WWE doesn’t put a lot of effort into the tag division, so I don’t have high hopes.

If anything, I’d like to see them come back to Full Sail and get a bit of an edge. They’re big dudes, but they’re seen as more jokers than badasses, and it’s fine to have fun, but people should be scared that they are going to literally rip your limbs off and squash you like a bug. With that, and the natural charisma that Otis has (Tucker isn’t as bad as most people seem to think, just not on that same level), they could actually create a viable tag team that could carry the belts for six months while putting on a variety of interesting matchups.

Otherwise, they can steal the Big O’s catchphrase of “More Weights Equals More Dates,” and they can start dating both members of Fire and Desire.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Aiden English
AJ Styles
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Friday, January 24, 2020

The WWE Is Ruining... The Street Profits

WWE, why do you keep doing this? You take something both beautiful and wonderful from NXT, and you immediately stop doing what made them great. I understand that things must evolve, but their initial evolution was to be shills for other wrestler’s t-shirts, match reviews, and doing a parody of a Weekend Update, which is already a parody.

But at least they were able to showcase in tag matches. With WWE’s incredibly deep and talented roster, it is never hard to find opponents for the Street Profits. That is why they have been able to match up with The OC, The Viking Raiders, and....nope, those are the only two teams they have faced. The good news is that they are 2-0 against The OC in regular tag matches. Their only other tag match against a single team was losing to The Viking Raiders in three minutes.

And this is what makes it so tough to care.

Luckily, I have a solution, and that solution is drawing near. The Royal Rumble is the perfect time to turn Montez Ford into a star. Now, I am a total mark for Montez, but even I can’t quite justify him winning the Rumble, but how cool would it be if he got into the Rumble early and was one of the last four guys in there? The crowd would almost definitely be fully behind him unless Matt Riddle is still in there and needs to eliminate Brock Lesnar. It would be a star-making moment.

But then he loses and goes back to his tag team, but he’s now a star in a tag team instead of one half of Street Profits. I know none of this has touched on Angelo Dawkins, but I think anyone can see that Montez Ford is the star of the team, and Angelo is plenty good enough to keep them as a team for the foreseeable future. The next night on Raw, you have The Street Profits challenge and defeat The Viking Raiders to capitalize on that momentum.

After that, you have NXT tag teams come up and challenge them week after week as opposed to them facing the same two tag teams over and over again. You just let them put on entertaining matches with The Forgotten Sons, Imperium, and maybe even The Time Splitters if you really want to blow people’s minds.

Then, they are your champions going into a tag team ladder match at WrestleMania where again, they can set the world on fire. At that point, have them drop the belts to a top team, and get them chasing after the belts again.

Boom, Street Profits are STARS.

And please stop having them parody things that only boomers watch.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Aiden English
AJ Styles
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Tuesday, December 3, 2019

The WWE Is Ruining... Sonya Deville

Let me list all of the memorable things that Sonya Deville has done since joining the main roster.



Now that that is out of the way, I wonder if there is any way WWE could improve on their usage of her. It seems to me that this is another case of WWE bringing someone up without having a clue of what they are actually going to do once they get on the main roster. She never had a chance to build a loyal fanbase in NXT, so now she is just in limbo as she’s good in the ring, can string together sentences fairly well, but nothing really stands out about her.

She’s still very young at just 26 years old. But they need to hit a major reset button considering she has lost 90% of her matches the last two years.

I will give the WWE credit for at least being close to taking the right steps. Her tag team with Mandy Rose, Fire and Desire, is a good way to get them more experience and they are probably worthy of a tag title run. I mean, I personally think that it should take something very special to take the titles off of Asuka and Kairi Sane, but they aren’t very special in the WWE’s eyes, so F+D could get a run where Mandy Rose is the mouthpiece, and Sonya is the workhorse in the ring. It’ll give them both a chance to develop into singles stars down the line.

That way, WWE could actually highlight their diversity and have someone worthy of becoming a star for the company.


Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Aiden English
Akam
Aleister Black
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Monday, December 24, 2018

The WWE Is Ruining... Curt Hawkins

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today, we look at Curt Hawkins who needs to look to the past to find his redemption.

Curt Hawkins has been on a bit of a losing streak. The last time he didn't lose was back in February of 2017 against Dean Ambrose. He didn't win the match, but he at least got a no contest, which is basically like winning a title when it comes to Hawkins. In October 2016, he did beat something called Chase Silver in a dark match, but I'm not even sure if we can count that. But earlier in that month, in his very first match since resigning full time with the WWE, he beat Apollo Crews. He has not won in any sort of match since.

As rough of a go as Hawkins has had, it has been even rougher for his tag partners. Since signing with the WWE, he has teamed with Zack Ryder, Caylen Croft, Vance Archer, Tyler Reks, and Val Venis in 2014, five years after he was released by the WWE. So three of those guys retired, two in their relative physical prime, one was released by WWE although he has had success in the tag division overseas, and one guy probably wished he got released, because the WWE has done everything they can to choke off his self-made popularity. It is not a great idea to tag up with Curt Hawkins.

So what should the WWE do? Well, as bad as tag teaming has been for his partners, one of them actually did manage to stick around the WWE and even start a podcast with his former partner, so let's get Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins officially back together. Are they going to immediately be one of the better tag teams on the Raw roster? No, but they will be a tag team that makes sense, and that should put them in title contention when you have a team like Chad Gable and Bobby Roode as champions. Their main objective will be getting heel tag teams over, but as a tag team, they are strong enough to get on the occasional hot streak and threaten the champs. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's a huge step up from where they are right now, and if you actually let these guys show their personality, they have the chance to build a real fanbase and become a very interesting tag team.

There is no reason not to do it, so I do not expect it to happen anytime soon.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Alicia Fox
Andrade "Cien" Almas
Bobby Lashley
Bobby Roode
Charlotte Flair
Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Ember Moon
Jinder Mahal
Kane
Karl Anderson
Killian Dain
Kofi Kingston
Luke Gallows
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Randy Orton
Scott Dawson
Shinsuke Nakamura
Tyler Breeze
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Tuesday, November 13, 2018

The WWE Is Ruining... Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today, we are definitely not talking about nerds. Instead, it's time to talk about Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, two guys who really need a tag team name.

I know it's hard to remember this now, but Anderson and Gallows actually debuted as total badasses when they came out in street clothes and annihilated The Usos. That's pretty cool. Then they started tagging with AJ Styles. That is also cool. They won most matches, and when they lost, it was usually DQ. This could also be classified as cool.

Then about two months after their debut, they stopped winning matches. It was not cool. They stopped winning, and people stopped caring.

Inexplicably, they won the tag titles at the Royal Rumble, but even that was mitigated since it was relegated to the preshow. Also, even though they held the belts, they still lost to Roman Reigns in a handicap match. Eventually, they lost to the Hardy Boyz at WrestleMania and have gone back to their losing ways for the last year and a half. Currently, they are in one of their better stretches as tehy have not been seen for over two months.

So what to do with Gallows and Anderson? It's actually super simple. Put these guys in a stable. You align them with any combination of New Japan guys that you want. Finn Balor (with him being on Raw, probably won't happen anytime soon), AJ Styles, even Shinsuke Nakamura would all make sense aligning with Anderson and Gallows. Hell, you could bring up Ricochet as part of the group to give him an early boost.

The big thing with Gallows and Anderson is they are probably not going to carry the division, but they should be occasional champs. The problem is they haven't been showcased in the right way to demonstrate their personality, and they seem to be completely worthless without the belts. If you put them in a stable, they can accompany other guys and make their presence felt with distractions on the outside. As these past months have shown us, just being present would be a huge upgrade for them.

Also, Gallows and Anderson are meant to be bullies. They were able to do that with a numbers game where the Bullet Club cheated all the damn time. This way they can be important without needing the straps, and they can have a purpose without being in the title picture. Also, looking at those names above, what are their gimmicks? AJ Styles would prefer if you didn't threaten his family, Finn Balor smiles, and Shinsuke...is Japanese. Ideally, you end the Samoa Joe feud by having Joe continue to mess with Styles until Gallows and Anderson come out and totally destroy him to help out their buddy. A month or two later, have them help out Shinsuke, and bam, you have a fearsome foursome that is the most threatening thing on Smackdown.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel with Gallows and Anderson. You have a perfectly good wheel waiting to be used. But they could still use a different name.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Alicia Fox
Bobby Lashley
Charlotte Flair
Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Kane
Kofi Kingston
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Randy Orton
Scott Dawson
Tyler Breeze
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Monday, October 1, 2018

The WWE Is Ruining... The Revival

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today, I continue the series with Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder. Before we get started, I think we need to recognize F...T...R. In the words of Flip Gordon, Forever The Revival.

 I will admit that I got very nervous about last week's Raw in writing this column. The Revival got a tag title match against McZiggler, and they had me believing that they might actually win the thing. It was a great match and definitely the highlight of Raw. Hell, it may have been the highlight of the last six months of Raw, but unfortunately, they fell short. Now, I say unfortunately, as that's how I feel in the grand scheme of things, but fortunately for me in writing this article as otherwise, I really wouldn't have had much to say.

 Since being called up, the WWE has done close to nothing with them. I really think last week was by far their biggest moment. They couldn't even beat the B Team, they've had their asses kicked by a bunch of old dudes on the 25th Anniversary of Raw, but WWE can't take total blame as The Revival has had terrible injury luck since getting called up, and it's tough to give a big push to a team that can't wrestle.

 But that last word is key: Wrestle. These boys can flat out put on amazing matches, but they just haven't had the chance to do that. Honestly, when I looked up their win-loss record, it's actually pretty decent, but they manage to make every win as unimportant as possible. They also do them no favors by putting them against teams that are pretty bland wrestlers. B-Team, Gallows/Anderson, Bray/Matt Hardy are all fine, but can you name any memorable matches that those teams have put on? Hell, if you take out matches at The Hardy Compound, the only memorable matches any of those guys have had are the ones that are laughably bad from Bray Wyatt. 

 So, my simplistic and novel solution is put The Revival against actual tag teams. The Raw roster should work perfect for them as The Revival could put on great matches with AOP, and I would very much like to see them take on a reunited American Alpha. Plus, a fun one in my head is Revival vs. Lashley and Lio Rush. And although it may not be on the level of the previous options, Breezango could definitely put on a fun match with them when Fandango gets back. And considering the depth of talent in the tag division of NXT, there are plenty of options for future opponents as well.

 If you're looking for a bold move for The Revival, I have a plan. Give them another shot at the tag titles and have them win it. Then, with Dean Ambrose needing some gold, he tags up with Seth Rollins to take on The Revival. Obviously, The Revival wins, and Ambrose blames Rollins for the loss as he's just concerned about his singles title instead of helping Dean get gold, and yes, The Revival is the reason for The Shield to breakup.

 I'm not saying you have to do that, but giving the 15 minutes to wrestle matches, even if they can't immediately be for the title, just seeing these guys wrestle as a well-oiled machine will get fans behind them, and they'll be the bad guy tag team that we boo vociferously, but we do it for the fun of booing, as we all secretly love everything they do in the ring. 

 FTR - FOREVER THE REVIVAL


Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Bobby Lashley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Tyler Breeze
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Thursday, March 26, 2015

The Bushwhackers Were Stupid Awesome

The Bushwhackers will be inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame this week, and that actually caused some controversy. Not that the WWE Hall of Fame makes any sense but teams like Demolition or The Hart Foundation may have deserved to be inducted first. Those people said The Bushwhackers were stupid, and they were right. The Bushwhackers were stupid...stupid awesome.

The Bushwhackers may have never won the Tag Titles, but they never needed them. They weren't there to fight and prove they were the best, they were just accidentally good at getting in fights with other wrestlers. It didn't matter if they won or lost, because you were never sure if they even knew the rules.

Their finishing move was a battering ram where they used the head of their teammate as a battering ram to the gut of their opponents. The battering ram is literally the worst finisher in the history of pro wrestling, but it's still awesome. But The Bushwhackers weren't designed to make sense, so that their heads were so hard that they could absorb any punishment and knock the wind out of their opponent makes enough sense to an 8-year-old to be cool.

And that is why we are here. I loved The Bushwhackers. I would be disgusted by them as an adult, but as a kid, there was no tag team I loved more. Butch once licked my head. Is it the greatest moment of my life? I mean, yeah, getting married was cool, but any asshole can get married. Very few can get licked by a Bushwhacker.
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