The Navigation Log 4.08.07: Tag Teams
Posted by Matt Short on 04.08.2007
With 20 teams showing up on Raw and new GHC Tag Team Champions why not compare main stream wrestling's tag team divisions with NOAH's? Also, is CM Punk turning Japanese?
This week seems to be tag team week in the world of wrestling. First in Ring of Honor Jay Briscoe recaptured the ROH Tag Team titles for his team despite Mark Briscoe almost killing himself early in the match. He went on to defend that title with Delirious as a substitute partner. Then on April 1st, while there were no tag titles defended at Wrestlemania 23 the GHC Heavyweight Tag Title changed hands as Jun Akiyama and Takeshi Rikioh beat Takeshi Morishima and Muhammad Yone to kick off the NOAH Spring Navigation. Then the next night on Raw there was not one, but TWO 10 team battle royals and saw the Hardys crowned as the new World Tag Team Champions.
I've always been a huge fan of tag team wrestling. When it's done right it can provide twice the drama of a one-on-one confrontation. I can't remember where exactly I heard this from (and if someone knows, send it in) but the quote pretty much says that a match's story is between two guys. The more wrestlers that are added to a match the greater a story can be told. Of course it all depends on how skilled the guys you put into the match, but in theory when you put four or six of the best guys into a match you can get a great match. Of course it doesn't always work, because you run the risk of a match becoming nothing more than a huge clusterfuck of random spots and all around badness.
With my own love of tag teams in mind and the small belief that whenever WWE does something with its tag titles it could mean a rebuild of the division, I figure why not compare things a bit.
NOAH's shows are comprised mostly of tag team matches. While it can get repetitive, it does allow as many guys on the roster to get into the ring. This gets accomplished by not just having traditional tag matches, but also six-mans. Aside from getting as many people as possible onto a card, it helps showcase top foreign talent take the audience isn't familiar with. As was the case with KENTA vs. Bryan Danielson last year the two started against each other in a few tag matches to let people know that there was a history between the two of them. Another example of using these matches to tell a story jumped out at me back before the tournament to crown new Heavyweight Tag champs, KENTA was opposite Akitoshi Saito in a six-man. When they were in the ring together they beat the snot out of each other and the crowd was eating it up. Everyone figured there would be a singles match, but instead Saito announced that he was going to choose KENTA as his partner for the tournament. This is an example of a good bait and switch.
Teams in NOAH sometimes strike me as random to be honest. Two guys can be put together for the sake of just seeing what happens. Other guys team regularly, for example Kentaro Shiga, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and SUWA was a common trio. Nigel McGuinness and Doug Williams are regulars, though they don't always team together. Keeping in mind that in Japan pro wrestling is considered a legitimate sport, throwing together a team at any given moment to challenge for the belts can make sense. Ricky Marvin and Kotaro Suzuki just appeared and challenged the Briscoes and the match was made. No one questioned it was just accepted.
Compare this to how we view tag wrestling in the West. We love regular teams. There's always talk of a promotion's tag team division. Right now one could argue that the WWE doesn't have a tag team division. They have belts and they are defended, but there isn't an array of teams to challenge. Yes, there are multi-man matches but think about how many tag matches feature advancement of an actual tag team division. If Cade and Murdoc win a match against Cryme Time on Raw, what will that do for the picture of the over all tag team division? Odds are nothing as we'd be lucky to see these teams get a title shot.
A division needs more than just teams. With the right booking, you could stick two guys together and make them into a legitimate threat. Monday night proved that the WWE doesn't have any lack of teams. But put them into matches, use them! You can't get a team over with just jobber matches. If there's an actual tag team division then you have lower ranked teams to feed to new guys, push them to the top and look credible. Doesn't it make more sense to take a fresh, new team and give them in ring experience as opposed to just squash matches? Deuce and Domino could have used the extra work before they were put on a PPV.
TNA does a slightly better job than WWE of pushing tag teams. They have a few teams that they can work with and actually go about putting them into matches. Maybe they're not good matches, but they're there. LAX has turned out to be an excellent team since they first got their push and have done everything from good formula tag teaming to great wild brawls. The problem I see most with it all is that teams get funneled in as champions one at a time in TNA. It's similar to WWE, but goes on for a longer period of time. LAX's feuds have been longer than a month, which already outstrips anything London and Kendrick have had to deal with. Here's the problem though: while one team is fighting with the champs the rest of the division isn't doing much of anything. The Naturals have evaporated from television, Serotonin seems to just be hanging around doing nothing but job duty, and VKM is doing god knows what with the Christy Hemme. Team 3D is taking up the entire scene as they challenge LAX. One might think that here you could shake things up by throwing in a multi team match, but everyone just has to sit around and wait their turn.
NOAH's tag system isn't perfect by a long shot. I sometime wonder if having nothing but tag matches on some shows that have nothing to do with title contention actually diminishes the importance of the matches. But then you can argue the same thing about US mainstream, aside from a commentator planting the seeds with something like "a strong showing here could put them into title contention!" The first thing that should be accomplished in a tag team match is to entertain those watching. But when you have an entire division it should have something to work towards.
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CM Punk has been getting some attention lately for his move set. In particular, people have been focusing on him using Go2Sleep. This is KENTA's signature move and might I say is one of the nastiest looking finishers out there. Punk however has gotten a little flak because his move set right now looks so similar KENTA's that he's just out right ripping it off.
I'll admit up until he first used G2S I wasn't sold on it. Then I thought that's getting a little out of hand. How dare anyone use someone else's moves in professional wrestling! But thinking about it more, its not as bad as people think. Yes, Punk looks a lot like KENTA in some regards. Not completely though. Aside from the strike combo and G2S his style and overall ring performance are nothing like KENTA's. In the long run it'll end up being a good thing for Punk to use this move. It's something that WWE watchers haven't seen before, looks nasty, and allows Punk to stand out on ECW. That and people need to remember that in wrestling everyone uses each other's moves. You don't see people getting upset with Jamie Noble using Tiger Bombs or even The Rock using the Sharpshooter. I look at it more as an acknowledgement and a tribute.
And one last thing on tag teams: Don't get your hopes up that this is a new direction for the division. Yes, giving The Hardys the titles is resetting the entire division but they still need to push teams to be viable contenders. We'll see where this all goes, but I'm thinking nowhere.
Oh and Wrestlemania. Good show, I thought. MITB was great, though the quality hasn't quite been getting better each year like you'd expect. Kennedy's entrance was amazing and the crowd was completely eating up his self-introduction. MVP vs. Benoit was exactly what I expected if a little short. The Title matches were extremely good, and Batista vs. Taker surprised a lot of people. That will probably get recognized as the sleeper match of the event. And Battle of the Billionaires was fine. No real strong feelings on it one way or the other. Good overall show, hope they can keep this up for the coming months.
Short Takes
-Question: Why are Deuce and Domino heels? Didn't anyone on WWE creative read The Outsiders? They're even billed as from The Wrong Side of the Tracks, they should be these poor kids looking to prove themselves to the rich kids. This is where the Mean Street Posse would have been useful.
-The NOAH title switch? I'm not happy with it. Mainly because I don't like Akiyama or Rikioh. Akiyama I dislike just because he's got natural heel heat to me and I want to boo him. Rikioh just flat out sucks.
-I mentioned King of Europe before right? Well to explain more, any tournament set up by Doug Williams is OK by me.
-If booked right Lashley vs. Snitsky could be interesting. I only worry about the fact that someone in that feud is going to have to talk. And since Snitsky's famous most for "It wasn't my fault" and using as a pick-up line "You know, I once killed Kane's unborn baby," they might need to get managers for these guys.
That's all for this week. I think next week I'll review a match, but its a toss up of Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi or KENTA vs. Marufuji from a couple of years ago. The days are getting closer as well to ROH's Japan tour and I'll be grabbing those tickets the day they come out. That is if I don't get deported for skipping classes is semester. Love and peace.
