TNA Question 13: I’ve posted 20 questions on WWE, TNA and the Indies, inviting readers to answer. Now, I’ll be posting some reader response and commenting on what I think the answer is to each question. Feel free to continue to post responses on any question after the one I’ve already answered (I’ll be going in order). The awesome Andy Wheeler replied to all 20 questions over on Pulse Wrestling. No one knows more about the WWE mindset than Wheeler, so be sure to give him a read. Let’s get going with the next TNA question:
“The champs are Booker and Steiner. Anyway, TNA's tag division is only ever good when they have one awesome team (Beer Money, AMW) that takes on all comers. If I ran TNA, I'd give the IGWP belts back to New Japan and create X-Division tag belts just to showcase the Guns. But no, it's much better they do their MST3K announcing act. TNA's right.” – Brad Curran
“Well I'm sick of Team 3D, but I'm liking the Tag Team scene. Beer Money is the best team in the world IMO, and The British Invasion have been the breakout tag team for TNA this year. Once The Mafia is out of the way, I expect to see more teams like The Guns, Bashir/Kiyoshi, and maybe some others get a chance” - G
We’ve got one person sick of Team 3-D and one complaining about Booker and Steiner. I think that is at the core of the problem. Team 3-D and Booker/Steiner are both older teams who are past their prime, but over with the crowd despite bad matches. Having one of these teams in the divisions makes fans that might not otherwise care about the TNA tag division take notice and, ideally, get into some of the other teams. Unfortunately, because both are from the same period of success, they are redundant in drawing fans (both appealing to the same group of fans). Because having one is the same as having both and because their matches are so poor, both teams being around is a huge drag on the remainder of the division.
“I think it's a combination of all the teams in the division, how they're used, and the overbooking. Booker & Steiner are the champions despite neither having had a good match in a long time, Booker not caring, and Steiner being quite immobile. Beer Money are incredibly over, great in the ring, and good on the mic, but are usually matched against much weaker teams they have to carry and/or the crowd doesn't care about, are often in overbooked matches, and recently have had to take a back seat to lesser teams/groups like Booker/Steiner, Team 3D, and the World Elite. Team 3D insist on having the same gimmick match full of tired brawling, sad weapon shots, tables, and unnecessary blood they've done for the last decade plus which ends up being bad unless they're in there with guys like Beer Money because they don't want to work hard most of the time, they're in terrible shape, they must always be one of the top two teams in the company no matter how stale they are or how better or more over the other teams in the division are, and they constantly try to relive the late 90's/early 00's, making stuff happening now and in the company they currently work for seem less important. The British Invasion are playing third fiddle to Eric Young who fails in his current role, their gimmick hasn't really evolved past evil foreigners, Brutus Magnus is still fairly green, and they're saddled with Rob Terry as their third man. Motor City Machine Guns are among the best and most versatile wrestlers in the company, are over with the crowd, good on the mic (Shelley moreso than Sabin), charismatic, and marketable, yet they're far removed from the title picture, given little credibility, and haven't been used regularly in a wrestling role for about three months despite having been in many of TNA's best matches this year, and far worse workers have been getting ring time weekly. Lethal Consequences are babyfaces with unlikeable characters, are a team with one good worker and one fairly green one, TNA's never given a reason why they're a team, neither have anything in common, and they're used in a glorified enhancement role lately. They have the stuff for a good-great tag division, especially if they tweak an act or two, but they aren't showcasing the right parts, have put the focus on the weaker ones, are less concerned about strong in-ring match ups, and recently have had too many countless brawls that have now lost all meaning and too many pointless gimmick matches.” – Calvin
This is pretty much a perfect run-down of what’s wrong with the division. So, now, let’s get rid of either Steiner/Booker or Team 3-D (irrelevant which) and see how the division would stack up then. Beer Money immediately improve without one of the teams as the percentage of the time they feud with the weaker team is reduced. They can also then be the top team in the division and raise everyone up a notch towards their level, as Brad suggested above. The British Invasion could then work with better teams more often as well, even if not in a tag title feud, and Brutus Magnus would improve in the ring based on working with a great partner and other top wrestlers. The open spot in the tag division lets The Motor City Machine Guns come out of their MST3K role and rise to being one of the top four teams in what’s suddenly a loaded division with three top teams that can work and a fourth that’s over enough to make marks pay attention. Lethal Consequences are a terrible team because Lethal is one of the best workers on the roster and should just be in the X-Division, but Creed could stick around for an enhancement talent face team, while Koyishi and Bashir could serve the same role on the heel side… and just like that, TNA would have a tag division that lives up to its potential.
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