2006-03-16 - Hot Tags -- Travis Scott Bowden begins his countdown of his 10 favorite tag teams, and discusses the buildup to WrestleMania 22

During my occasional (cough) downtime at KFR Headquarters, I peruse the WrestlingClassics.com message boards as reminder of what I love about the art of professional wrestling. (What’s an old-school mark to do nowadays?)

I recently participated in a board poll asking for tag-team favorites. Similar to my list of my favorite top-10 heels featured in past columns, sentimentality was key: I don’t consider these teams to be the all-time greatest—simply my personal favorites.

As part of a three-part series, I’ll review the teams I’ve lived and died with as a fan—not surprisingly, many during Saturday mornings and Monday nights in Memphis.

Like Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) in the pre-George Scott era, Memphis was a strong tag-team territory for a number of years. Some of the greatest teams in the world were developed in Memphis, with the influence of teams like the Fabulous Fargos in the ’60s, and Phil Hickerson and Dennis Condrey in the ’70s greatly influencing teams who went on to set the standard for tag-team wrestling in the ’80s and ’90s.

One of the most disheartening trends in today’s product is the lack of dominant—or at the very least, established—tag teams. The last hurrah in tag wrestling on a national stage ended around 2001 in WWE. Up until that point, the company had been on a fairly consistent hot run of worthy champions over the previous five to seven years: the New Age Outlaws, the Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection, The Hardys, Edge and Christian, and The Dudleys. The Former Fed’s rich tag heritage, of course, goes back even further, with the likes of the Valiant Brothers, the Wild Samoans, Tony Garea and Rick Martel, and Mr. Saito and Mr. Fuji all wearing the tag straps. These wrestlers were committed to the tag style and most mastered its psychology, which is unique to the business.

Sadly, it seems that most of the boys now view tag wrestling as a step down. The World tag titles are usually reserved for two singles wrestlers who the company has no other use for at the moment. Recent examples include Kane and Big Show, Road Warrior Animal and Heindenrich, William Regal and Tajiri, William Regal and Eugene, and Hurricane and Rosie. The company has also watered down its rosters with the RAW/SMACKDOWN! brand split, so the tag team ranks are suffering as a result. MNM is the lone tag jewel in the company today, but their push always seems to run hot/cold. If given a dominating run with the tag straps, MNM could be one of the hottest acts in wrestling. (Melina as their manager clearly doesn’t hurt.) Hell, I don’t even know who the tag champs are on the SMACKDOWN! side right now, and the only reason I’m aware Big Show and Kane hold the straps on RAW is because I noted that it was ridiculous to have both tag champs lose in televised single bouts last week, further cementing the tag ranks as second-rate. (By the way, is it me, or does Kane seem really off his game lately?)

Given the resurgence of the WWF’s tag ranks in the mid-’80s’ expansion years—when it was truly an honor to wear tag gold—it’s not surprising that the first team I cover in my countdown emerged during those years. My last few years as a teenage mark were spent marveling at the production of post-Backlund WWF wrestling. A huge fan of tag wrestling in Memphis, I closely followed the exploding tag scenes in the NWA (JCP/WCW) and WWF during the mid- to-late ’80s. Hell, even the AWA appeared strong for a while, with the Road Warriors holding the World tag titles for Verne Gagne’s promotion from August 1984 to September 1985. But it was under the expanding tent of Vince McMahon’s promotion that tag teams especially flourished: Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch, the British Bulldogs, Barry Windham and Mike Rotondo, Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, the Killer Bees, and Demolition all competed during this red-hot time for the promotion.

One WWE team, to me, stood out as the best during those years:

10. Bret “the Hitman” Hart and Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart, managed by Jimmy Hart—aka the Hart Foundation: A perfect blend of style and substance (Bret) mixed with brute force (Neidhart) and a suitable mouthpiece (Jimmy), the Hart Foundation reminded me of another successful tag team with different styles: Freebirds Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts. The Hart Foundation was a solid team, capable of having entertaining if not downright hot bouts with just about anybody. Ironically enough, it was then-WWF booker George Scott—the same one who shifted MACW away from tag teams years before—who was partially responsible for the team coming to fruition. The story goes Bret was so disgruntled with his singles push in the Fed that he asked Scott to pair him with Neidhart. (Bret also claims to have come up with the Hart Foundation moniker; however, Jimmy Hart claims that he saw a kid with a sign that read “Jimmy Hart’s Hart Foundation,” and he approached McMahon with the name.) Scott initially nixed the idea before changing his mind.

The trio quickly gelled—inside the ring and outside. Bret and Jim developed some strong tag-move combinations that were the rage at the time, while Hart interfered with reckless abandon, usually at the finish when the Harts appeared doomed to defeat. (Jimmy, of course, had mastered the art of tag-match interference in Memphis.) Always extremely fluid and sound fundamentally, Bret developed the Hitman gimmick/persona that would ultimately lead to the singles push that would make him World champion in both the Fed and, later, WCW. Neidhart, who wasn’t a bad talker from his Memphis days, blossomed on the mic, adding a manic, nervous energy that complemented the cool, collected Hitman. The original Hart Foundation was a near-perfect tag formula.

9. Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee: Longtime Memphis rivals Lawler and Dundee put aside their differences in 1978 following a red-hot feud that saw the two exchange the NWA Southern title numerous times, Dundee and his wife lose their hair, Lawler’s manager Mickey Poole lose his hair and the King lose thousands of dollars and a car.

Lawler “retired” following a bout in which he regained the title from Dundee—an angle designed to bring the King back as a babyface and spark attendance months later. Lawler returned to action after heels “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant and the Samoans attacked him during a pre-card concert featuring the King and Jimmy Hart (a former marginal pop star who had yet to make his managerial debut). Eventually, Lawler asked Dundee to be his partner against “Handsome” Jimmy and “Luscious” Johnny Valiant—with the two teasing a split in the early going. To fans in Memphis, the King and the Superstar appeared to be unbeatable—much like WWF fans years later marveled at the Super Powers, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.

I know Ricky Morton is often credited as the greatest babyface to sell for a heel. The typical formula for a typical Rock ‘n’ Roll Express match: the heels get the heat on Morton, who sells his ass off. With the crowd at a fever pitch (a couple of missed tags by a blind referee will do that), Morton finally makes the hot tag to partner Robert Gibson, who cleans house. Morton was outstanding in the role; however, babyface Dundee was a close second. Many times as a singles wrestler, Dundee would take a beating the entire match, with flashes of a comeback that were squashed by the heel. Eventually, Dundee would be whipped into the corner and respond with a flying bodypress off the turnbuckles to get a quick pinfall. When Lawler and Dundee were a team, Dundee would scoot under a heel’s legs and tag the King, who would promptly enter the ring, pull the strap down (signifying his Popeye/spinach-like comeback) and clean house. Great stuff.

Lawler and Dundee held the AWA Southern tag titles three times between 1978 and 1979, before losing them to the one of the greatest Southern-style heel tag teams of the time: Wayne Ferris and Larry Latham, the Blonde Bombers, eventually managed by Sgt. Danny Davis. Ferris, of course, went to become WWE’s Honky Tonk Man and Latham (Larry Booker) went on to become Moondog Spot. As good as Latham and Ferris were, I’d have to rank their manager, Davis, as probably the best worker of the trio. Davis in 1981 formed a successful tag team with Ken Wayne: the Nightmares.

Lawler and Dundee's bout with the Bombers in Tupelo, Mississippi, is perhaps the most famous brawl in tag-team history. (Announcer Lance Russell was brilliant here as well: "Get the damn camera down here. We gotta helluva fight goin' on down here!" Russell will be celebrating his 80th birthday during Saturday's Memphis Wrestling TV show. Happy birthday, Banana Nose.) The subsequent chase to regain the straps from the Bombers was captivating, with the Mid-South-Coliseum packed in the weeks following the concession-stand melee. Lawler and Dundee eventually split to feud again after the Superstar earned an AWA World title defense against Nick Bockwinkel…a shot Lawler felt was rightfully his. This time, because the team had supposedly become close friends, the feud between Lawler and Dundee was viewed as hotter than ever in the eyes of the fans.

In 1996, I had the honor of managing Lawler and Dundee in a series of bouts with Flex Kavana (who would later become the Rock in WWE) and Bart Sawyer. In an interview with Dave Brown at the WMC-TV studios, I crowed, "I know how Phil Jackson feels now. Because when it comes to dynasties in professional sports, the Chicago Bulls don't have anything on Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee!" OK, maybe that was just a slight exaggeration.

Although the two stars split following the title loss to the Bombers, the team often reunited, especially when Lawler needed a tag partner in an emergency situation. The usual Lawler promo for this occasion: “When need a tag partner, you always try to think of the guys who have given you your toughest matches. And no one’s given me tougher matches than Bill “Superstar” Dundee!” Of course, Lawler on occasion substituted Dundee’s name with guys like “Handsome” Jimmy, Austin Idol and Nick Bockwinkel, but that’s just nitpicking, isn’t it?

During one of these reunions in the late ’80s, with Verne Gagne’s AWA nearly in shambles, Lawler and Dundee were allowed to win the World tag titles for the first time in their careers, defeating Doug Somers and Soldat Ustinov for the title in Memphis. (I say “title” because tag champ Boris Zhukov had already bolted Verne’s sinking ship in favor of the WWF. Somers was a suitable replacement, but the new team showed up with only one tag belt, making the long-awaited Lawler/Dundee title win somewhat anti-climactic.)

8. Bobby Eaton and Koko Ware: Eaton undoubtedly deserves recognition as one of the greatest tag-team wrestlers of all time, as both incarnations of the Midnight Express he was involved in (first with Dennis Condrey and later with Stan Lane) took tag-team wrestling to new heights. But the groundwork for those teams was established years before in Memphis, as Eaton teamed with Ware to form Ebony & Ivory, a hot heel team in the early ‘80s managed by Jimmy Hart. The two had outstanding tag bouts with teams like Steve Keirn and Terry Taylor, Dundee and Keirn, Taylor and Jacques Rougeau, and the Fabulous Ones, Keirn and Lane. Those who’ve only seen Ware sleepwalk through his Birdman matches later in his career wouldn’t believe how outstanding his work was during this time period. Not only that, but Hart was in his prime as the hottest heel manager ever in Memphis. An amazing—yet underrated—combination, Ware and Eaton were the masters of heel double-teaming.

Next Week: The Countdown Resumes

KFR Mailbag

Hey, Scott. love the column.

Just wondering if you think that WWE could be setting us up for a big swerve come WM22? Do you think Vince would have the guts to turn Cena heel at the ppv?

I think it could work with Vince coming out towards the end and helping Cena go over on HHH. Of course this would just be recycling the Stone Cold-Rock match of WM17 but it’s not like they haven't rehashed storylines before. I could stand a face HHH chasing a heel Cena. The crowds already hate Cena and are willing to accept a face HHH, maybe. Who knows? They might have Flair win the Money in the Bank match and challenge the winner right afterward. Keep up the good work.

-Riverking79

Bowden: Amazing—we certainly think alike, Riverking. (And kudos to you for that.) I’ve considered both swerves. If anything, these scenarios give the fans one of those great WrestleMania moments that’s talked about for years. As far as the Cena turn goes, I was thinking more along the lines of the Rock heel turn at the 1998 Survivor Series when the People’s Champ became the McMahons’ corporate champion instead of Austin or Mick Foley.

That said, I think WWE might be committed to Cena’s babyface push at the moment. I would think, traditionally, the money would be in a heel turn as part of the buildup to the match, but WWE hasn’t always stuck to that formula—such as the sudden Austin heel turn you mentioned and pulling the trigger on the Austin/Hart turn at WrestleMania. The buildup has been OK—but the bout would have meant more if Edge hadn’t beaten Cena, giving the title bout a breath of fresh air. (I’ve said previously, they should have made it a Triple Threat with Edge defending against Cena and Triple H—I think there would be more intrigue as to what the finish will be. The way it stands now, most marks have to believe Trips will be crowned king once again. To avoid having two Triple Threat title bouts, I would have kept Angle vs. Rey a singles bout, and had Orton work with Foley, especially given the history between the two. Some speculate to make up for the lackluster buildup surrounding the title bouts, the company will book an angle between Austin and Hulk Hogan at SATURDAY NIGHT’S MAIN EVENT to set up the real marquee matchup at WrestleMania. Honestly, I have no idea, but I'd be surprised if that happened. But I'll be damned if this WM card doesn't need something and I ain't talking McMahon vs. Michaels. Yeah, McMahon and Michaels will probably be good, but the buildup is wearing thin—how many opening segments of RAW are going to be devoted to this program? If they went ahead with Hogan vs. Austin at this point, it'd be awfully rushed and not nearly the money-maker it could be if they waited. As far as Flair goes, he may very well win the Money in the Bank bout, perhaps starting one final year-long program where he chases the WWE/World title. I doubt even WWE Creative, which often defies logic in their booking decisions, would have Flair not only survive but win a ladder match with a group of younger wrestlers and then cash in his title match later that day. The company could really get some mileage by having Flair tease his retirement for a year, with a World title shot in his back pocket.

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