WWE lets tag teams fall into obscurity

The reason many folks may not have realized Kendrick and London had held the tag belts for 334 consecutive days in relative obscurity is the fact that the tag team division has basically been allowed to wither on the vine by the WWE, which has opted to concentrate on singles feuds and put tag matches out to pasture. In doing this they?ve done the fans, especially the younger fans, a real disservice in depriving them of a whole different genre of professional wrestling as comparing tag team and singles is like comparing apples to oranges.

With that said, I?m hoping their emphasis on the dropping of the belts by Kendrick and London and the winning of the Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (RAW) by the reunited Hardy Boyz has signaled a new emphasis for the tag division seeing recent years has seen the belts put on anybody and everybody. It?s kind of sad really when you consider there aren?t any tag teams in WWE now which even bear mentioning in the same breath of the likes of Harlem Heat, the Hart Foundation or the Steiner Brothers.

While WWE has been letting down the tag division, TNA (Total Nonstop Action on Spike) has been trying to revive the division as, in the same week as the Kendrick and London loss, we had the Dudley Boyz (Buh-Buh Ray and D-Von) become the first triple crown winner, adding the TNA strap to past reigns as WWE and WCW champions. They won the championship in an electric cage match at Lethal Lockdown against Konnan?s Latin American eXchange (LAX), which is one of the better new tag teams in wrestling.

As for Kendrick and London, they fell just three days short of tying Toru Tanaka and 2007 Wrestling Hall of Fame Inductee Mr. Fuji for third at 337 days as tag champs back in the 1970s. Second place is held by Jimmy and Johnny Valiant, also back in the 1970s at 370 days. The record for holding any major tag team belt is 478 consecutive days when Demolition (Ax and Smash) held the strap in the late 1980s.

While Demolition holds the record for longest title reign, the question of whether they were the best tag team ever is up for debate as everyone has their own favorite, with your favorite likely reflecting when you became a wrestling fan.

For me, my top team is the Minnesota Wrecking Crew of Arn and Ole Anderson, who came along before the days of pyro and heavy metal theme music. These guys just came out and beat up the competition without ever cracking a smile.

Honorable mention has to go to one of the more famous tag teams, that being Hawk and Animal, the Legion of Doom. These were the first of what I call theme wrestlers as they came out dressed like characters out of the movie ?Road Warrior,? thus their original name which had to be changed to Legend of Doom due to a potential lawsuit by the movie makers. A combination of costume and music along with their high impact moves made them a very famous team.

Of course, for many of you here in Warren County, the Midsouth roots are still strong and no mention of tag teams can be finished without mentioning Ricky Morton and Robert Gipson, the Rock n? Roll Express, or Michael Hayes, Terry Gordie and Jimmy Garvin, the Fabulous Freebirds. And, as a marriage of old and new, the very last match I watched here in McMinnville, held at Jake?s Auction a few years ago, featured one of the Moondogs (Spot I believe it was) teaming up with none other than Gypsy Joe to win the Lonestar tag titles.

Hopefully, we will see a return to the old days of tag rivalries and maybe we can add some new names to the great tag lists.