Announcing icon and current WWE talent department employee Jim Ross has had a lot to say about tag teams lately. After Elimination Chamber, he stated on his blog that he hoped that Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater, the newly crowned WWE Tag Team Champions, would be able to bring the tag team division back to prominence.
I took this as an impossible gauntlet to the Corre crew, as if it was only on the talent to get the belts and division over and not the bookers at all. How was that sentiment rewarded? With the Corre losing their tag belts to the mongrel team of two guys lined up to feud for the WWE Championship. Yeah, because that’s never been done before and because that’s a great way to get the Champs and the division over.
[adinserter block=”2″]That made Ross change his tune a bit, saying in a Tweet midday Wednesday that the WWE tag team scene “needed work” and that he hoped it was coming. That was a lot of chatter coming from one guy who has influence in the company for one week, but it’s chatter that fans like me welcome. I’ve stated before how much a healthy tag team division can help a fed. It’s the best breeding ground for future main eventers. Sting, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Scott Steiner, Booker T, Edge, Christian, Jeff Hardy and The Miz were all members of successful tag teams. Even if you don’t get main eventers from those teams, you might end up having an iconic tag team that gets over as a unit, a team like the Road Warriors, the Midnight Express or the Dudley Boys.
Not only that, but people do like tag wrestling. Some of the biggest pops in the salad days came for tag teams. I mean, what more memorable matches were there in the early 2000s than the TLC tag series? Not a whole lot, lemme tell ya. Even certain former fans have lamented the lack of tag teams nowadays. I know he might not be the most objective source, but current St. Louis Rams linebacker James Laurinitis (son of Road Warrior Animal and nephew of current WWE VP John “Johnny Ace” Laurinitis) has said the reason he doesn’t watch wrestling anymore is because of the lack of tags.
The WWE is so obsessed with creating new stars, yet they’re ignoring the best ways to create them. Ross knows this. I mean, the guy has been around wrestling all his life, calling the action for several different feds and seeing several different guys and teams rise and fall through the ranks. He might know a thing or two about how important a healthy tag division would work. So, here’s a crazy idea, why not let him book one?
Yeah, he doesn’t have lead booking experience. However, he’s been a talent scout for almost as long as he’s been with the company. If he knows how to scout out talent, and he’s spent a career calling that talent in the ring, he might know a thing or two about how to put them in the right place to succeed. WWE seems like it’s so compartmentalized in its booking anyway, so why not hand over the keys to a tag team division to Ross?
[adinserter block=”1″]Give him between eight and twelve guys to work with, guys who seem shiftless and directionless otherwise. There are a bunch of them on the roster right now, most of them working on Superstars. Ross maybe even scouted them out himself. I’d have to imagine that the lower-card guys would be thrilled to be working with a legend, and Ross would be involved in an endeavor that, judging by how much he’s written about it in the last few days, he’s passionate about.
Right now, he has a lot on his plate. Being a talent scout and development agent can be hard work involving a lot of travel. However, development doesn’t stop when the prospect leaves Tampa and FCW and leaves for the road in WWE. The current bookers and failed TV writers don’t seem to understand that. If you get over, you get over. If not, then forget about you. But having a guy who’s worked in the development side booking might work to the talent’s advantage for obvious reasons.
It’s clear that Jim Ross cares about tag team wrestling. Even if the current “sports entertainment”-minded administration doesn’t care about it, they need to focus on building it so that they can cultivate the stars of tomorrow. Ross would be a perfect fit building a tag division, booking it and making it relevant once again.
Tom Holzerman is a lifelong wrestling fan and connoisseur of all things Chikara Pro, among other feds. When he’s not writing for the Camel Clutch Blog, you can find him on his own blog, The Wrestling Blog.
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