High Road/Low Road 9.21.07: Cade and Murdoch
Posted by Chad Nevett on 09.21.2007
Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch are rapidly becoming one of the best teams WWE has. Are they good as a team or would they be better split up? You decide in this week's High Road / Low Road! Also, Uncletrunx celebrates one year with 411 in his usual grumpy manner!
Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road! A brief explanation of the column: Uncle Trunx takes the Low Road (negative view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related "stuff" while Sat takes the High Road (positive view).
Sat: I just wanted to start of by congratulating Uncle Trunx on his one year anniversary at 411.
Uncle Trunx: Has it been a year already? Doesn't time fly when you're having fun! If I'd known, I'd have brought cakes.
The Results for Splitting Up The Hardys:
High Road: 57%
Low Road: 19%
Both Roads: 24%
E-Mails:
These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.
JBBTHWK Writes:
Wow Totally Nonstop Angle. Is it me or can the Booking Committee go one year without totally building the entire company around one man, I mean the 1st 3 & a half years of TNA it was the All Jarrett All the time thing. now it's Angle. What will it take for these guys to shape up and stop building the company's show around one man. as for who this Former World Champion is, it could very well be, Mr. Monday Night, Rob Van Dam. no one seems to be taking that into consideration, at least not from what I read. now as for the whole Jailhouse Jones, I mean Pacman, situation, how asinine can you get? do you realize how bad it'll hurt TNA's credibility if this constant Police-car riding moron, and yes he is a moron if you've watched the Bryant Gumbel interview, if he were to I dunno, miss No Surrender due to being arrested? I mean the way TNA is booking i'm surprised they didn't hire Michael Vick to do an Angle with Rick Steiner. oooh, too soon? TNA has failed to capitialize on Money Matches, I mean who in their right mind didn't want to see James Storm & Chris Harris go at it one more time after the 2 awesome matches they had? and then poof the feud was over I'm guessing because Angle got jealous they did better than he did in the ring. TNA needs to shape up and fly right in the Business world otherwise the statement that TNA at the moment resembles WCW at the end, will be very very true.
Uncle Trunx: It is extremely risky to build the whole promotion around one man. An injury can then wreck your whole setup. As for Pacman Jones, I think I said all that needed saying a few weeks ago.
Sat: I have to agree with Uncle Trunx. An injury can ruin everything and that is a possibility with Kurt Angle.
Stephen Straka Writes:
When you need to analyze splitting up the Hardys, you can't just focus on splitting them up brand-wise but splitting them as a team period. As a single's competitor, Matt was involved in a very nice feud with Rey Mysterio for the Cruiserweight title and is now having an even better feud with MVP. Meanwhile, Jeff had an aborted heel turn and a couple of IC title runs that didn't really mean much at the time. Granted he had a good feud with Johnny Nitro but that feud wasn't the same quality as Matt's plus it ended up expanding to a tag team feud and the original single's battle wasn't really resolved. Compared to Matt, Jeff has been pretty much languishing as a single's competitor. He is at his best when teaming with Matt; unfortunately keeping the Hardys as a team right now keeps Matt from achieving greater glory on his own. I took Both Roads for this reason: Jeff needs to team with Matt to truely be successful but if they keep teaming, Matt is held back.
Uncle Trunx: It's ironic; Jeff is the guy who seems to get a million chances and a million pushes which he repays with walkouts and being suspended, while Matt is a true professional and languishes in the mid card. I'd love to see Matt make the step up now, it really would be justice for him to rise above his brother.
Sat: It is surprising that the WWE keeps pushing the lazy guy over the hard working guy. I really have no idea why that is.
Brett Sullivan Writes:
Very good article as always, as for the topic this week I tend to sit in the middle on this being a huge Hardys fans as their late 90's early 2000's matches like the T.I.T and TLC's are what got me back into watching wrestling, so I've followed both careers closely.
The Hardy's have done just about everything in terms of tag team wrestling especially with the current state of the WWE's tag division over all brands. While you could get the Hardy's some sort of record maybe longest title reign or most title reign's that's about all thats left for them personally, however as a team they can definitely elevate the other teams, look at Cade & Murdoch how many people cared about them before their recent feud with the Hardys and since that has been over once again the Tag Champs appear on Heat more then RAW. If the WWE ever gets serious about a tag division again the Hardys are needed to give some credibility to the titles, matches and the division in general.
However, personally for both brothers in particular Matt they still have a lot more to achieve as singles competitors.
It appears from an outside view that for whatever reason Jeff has been deemed by those in power as the one to push his singles career reads much better then Matt's
4 x Intercontinental Champion
3 x Hardcore Champion
1 x European Champion
1 x Light-Heavyweight Champion
As well as an unforgettable ladder match for the Undisputed Title against the Undertaker.
While for Matt
1 x European Champion
1 x Hardcore Champion
1 x Crusierweight Champion
even if you add the fact that Matt has won the WWE Tag Titles without Jeff to his list of accomplishments it still doesn't come close to Jeff's.
and don't forget Jeff spent 3 years away from the company.
Things can change in the future, but as of right now it just seems that Matt only gets elevated when Jeff does and sometimes not even then, look at Summerslam this year Jeff gets suspended so the WWE is forced to remove the Jeff-Umaga match from the card and what happens a Matt-MVP US Title match that was penciled in also gets scrapped for a beer drinking contest.
The Hardys have done the feud thing already and it bombed back in 2001. I doubt it will be different this time especially with the creative team worse now then it was back in 2001.
The Hardy's need to be separate and together at the same time and having them on different brands achieves that on the same brand they will be too close together to breakout as singles competitors but with the tribranded PPV's and having ECW as a neutral brand there are plenty of chances for them to re-unite when needed for example Matt-MVP feud continues as does the on again off again Jeff-Kennedy feud which has been stalled due to consecutive suspensions to Jeff & Kennedy. These two storylines culminate with a Jeff (IC Champ) & Matt vs MVP (US Champ) & Kennedy, winner takes all ladder match.
Uncle Trunx: As I said above, I really hope it's Matt's time to shine. Surely his loyalty needs rewarding above that of Jeff, who seems to be a magnet for trouble?
Sat: The Hardys can really do nothing as a team, while I think that Matt Hardy has the potential to be a star, while Jeff is somebody who is definitely going to ruin things for Matt. Plus, I think that when the Hardys do team again it will be mean something.
Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
High Road:
Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch need to be a team because both of them struggled when they were separated for a few months. Both guys were stuck on Heat during their separation and none of them made an impact. As a team, they have made a huge impact because they have become three time World Tag Team Champion and they defeated the Hardys on two different occasions.
Low Road:
I would've agreed with you until last week's Raw. Until then they were becoming a really good tag team, making the division fun again. Then Triple H single handedly buried the tag division, to the point that it will take months to rebuild and Cade and Murdoch have lost all value as a team.
High Road:
One of the major problems with Cade and Murdoch was that they were never getting any heat. They would walk out for their match and the fans would not care. But, that all changed when they faced the Hardys. First, they got a favorable reaction from the fans when they become good guys and then they got massive heat after they turned on the Hardys. These guys have managed to solve their biggest problem by beating one of the most popular teams of all time. I expect these two to continue getting heat from the fans.
Low Road:
They get a reaction, sure. However, it's hardly the sort of heat that really great teams get: The reaction they get is about a hundredth of the reaction that, say, the Road Warriors or Hart Foundation got. Cade and Murdoch are, or rather were, a good, solid, entertaining team who were starting to look really good. Now thanks to a swift mauling at the hands of Triple H, they and the rest of the division is worthless. That's about a years work undone in about five minutes.
High Road:
I became a huge fan of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch when I found out that they are always watching tapes of wrestling backstage. This is huge because this shows that they both respect the business and they are willing to learn. I think that this is one of the main reasons why they won the tag team titles from the Hardys.
Low Road:
I also appreciate those who are willing to learn and to better themselves. However the team has run its course – if it wasn't apparent before last Monday that tag team wrestling is a quick ticket to obscurity, it's certainly clear now. For Cade and Murdoch to make an impact, they need to be singles competitors; remaining as a team is a great way to work on in ring skills but in the modern WWE it'll never be a road to glory.
High Road:
Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch have been heels since their arrival as a team in the WWE. They had been doing a decent job at that and have improved greatly since turning on the Hardys. One of the fears that I had was that down the road, they are probably going to have to turn into faces. Well, we found out that they can do a decent job as faces when we saw them turn faces for a few weeks against the Hardys. Because Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch can be heels and faces, they are now a huge asset to the WWE because I don't think it would be possible for the Hardys and London and Kendrick would be able to do this.
Low Road:
Again, it's great to see that they're able to work either face or heel; I feel that if they're to retain any shred of credibility, they need to split and possibly even feud with each other. I normally consider the splitting of a tag team into a feud to be lazy booking but for these two, given how bad the tag team scene looks at the moment, it might be the best way to keep them credible.
High Road:
Another thing that Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch have going for them is that both of them were trained by two of the best wrestlers in the business. Lance Cade was trained by Shawn Michaels and Trevor Murdoch was trained by Harley Race. This has to help Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch because the WWE will be more likely to get behind these because of who they were trained by. Plus, because they were trained by two legendary wrestlers it means that they have a respect for the business.
Low Road:
I agree, having the backing of a legend is bound to be good in the long run. However, their glory will come when they are no longer a team. I think it's now beyond dispute that tag team wrestling in WWE is a dead end, as the entire tag division can be sacrificed to make one man look good. I know I'm going on about it a lot, but Triple H mauling the whole tag division truly does show how little WWE values tag team wrestling and how much better off Cade and Murdoch will be once they split up and compete as singles wrestlers.
High Road:
This is a pretty obvious High Road, but I think that it needs to be mentioned. One of the things that the WWE is notorious for is they have a tendency to throw two random guys together and make them a team. The problem with this is that they never seem like a team. This is not the case with Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch because they look and seem like a team.
Low Road:
Yes, and we can see how much good it's done them. The Rockers looked like a team, but Shawn Michaels has done so much better as a singles wrestler. The same will be true of Cade and Murdoch.
High Road:
The WWE must expect good things from Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch because they were chosen has the team to defeat the Hardys. The Hardys are probably one of the best tag team of all times and one of the most popular teams of all time. So, whoever beats the Hardys is going to get a huge rub. I think that this speaks volumes about what the WWE thinks of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch because they could have picked the World's Greatest Tag Team or Paul London and Brian Kendrick to beat the Hardys, but they chose Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch.
Low Road:
Again, before Monday I would've had to agree. As it is, they've been chosen as kings of nothing, the best of a group who all added together couldn't bring Triple H down. The valuable rub they got from the Hardys is now rendered worthless.
High Road:
When Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch debuted, they were not having that any great matches. But, I noticed that they have been improving in the ring for awhile. First, they had a few good matches with DX and then with the Hardys and now with Paul London and Brian Kendrick. It is still hard to find out if they have turned the corner, but I think that they have. Only time will tell.
Low Road:
Indeed; only time will tell and while it's good for them to learn their craft in a tag team, they'll need to be singles competitors if they're to be remembered as greats. That, sadly, is the reality of modern WWE.
Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?
High Road/Low Road Plugs
Make sure to read all of the columns here at 411.
E-mail us your reasons for taking the High Road or the Low Road and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road at satuncletrunx@gmail.com. Your reply will be included in next week's column.
