Columns - Online World of Wrestling

WRESTLING COLUMNS

The Could Have Been Tag Team...
October 5, 2005 by Dean Foy

There are a lot of great tag teams to have come and gone; Legion of Doom [pre-Heidenrich], New Age Outlaws and The Dudley [now Deadly] Boyz. But what I feel would have been a great tag team was defeated before really getting started.

It was June 26 2000, WCW Monday Night Nitro, where, in my eyes, was the next big thing in tag team wrestling.

I am of course talking about Sean O'Haire and Mark Jindrak.

In their WCW debut, coming straight out of the WCW Power Plant training facility, O'Haire & Jindrak defeated Rey Mysterio & Juventud Guerrera of the then-Filthy Animals with a Press Slam by Jindrak and a Seanton Bomb by O'Haire on Guerrera.

On June 29 2000, on WCW Thunder, they defeated the same team of Mysterio Jr & Guerrera, in the same fashion, proving that their win three days prior was no fluke.

They then continued to show great promise in matches with Jamie Noble [James Gibson/Knoble] & Billy Kidman, The Great Muta & Vampiro, and KroniK [Bryan Adams & Bryan Clark].

Only once had they lost a WCW Tag Team Title by pinfall, but this did not come without underhanded tactics from the Filthy Animals. They had always lost their Tag Team Title matches via Disqualification.

They then joined the collective group of WCW Power Plant graduates, the Natural Born Thrillers, along with Shawn Stasiak, Chuck Palumbo, Johnny the Bull, Reno and Mike Saunders. This is where they got some real spotlight

It wasn't until September 25, on Monday Night Nitro, when they won their first WCW Tag Team Title in a Tag Team Battle Royal, defeating the teams of KroniK, Harris Brothers, Jung Dragons, Rey Mysterio / Juventud Guerrera, M.I.A and 3 Count.

They defended their WCW Tag Team Titles against such opponents as Jim Duggan / Elix Skipper, Mike Awesome / Crowbar, Boogie Knights, Booker T / Sting, Rey Mysterio / Billy Kidman and 3 Count.

During their first [and only] WCW Tag Team Title reign, they lost the titles to the M.I.A, but won back the titles in the same night, so WCW ignored this title change.

O'Haire & Jindrak's near 2-month reign came to an end on November 26, 2000 in Germany to Alex Wright & General Rection [Hugh Morris / Bill DeMott]. They had 2 attempts to win back the WCW Tag Team Titles, but came up short on both attempts.

This is where it went sour...

On the February 14, 2001 edition of WCW Thunder, the team of Sean O'Haire and Mark Jindrak were split up, and turned on each other. Another team did the same, The Perfect Event of The Main Event: Chuck Palumbo and The Perfect One: Shawn Stasiak, with Sean O'Haire teaming with Chuck Palumbo, and Mark Jindrak doing the same with Shawn Stasiak.

The team of O'Haire and Palumbo became victorious with their near enough meaningless win of the WCW Tag Team Title, whereas Jindrak & Stasiak just faded away.

I personally believe, if Sean O'Haire and Mark Jindrak were kept as a tag team, and as WCW Tag Team Champions, that the team would still be alive today. I doubt they would be the World / WWE Tag Team Champions, but I think they would have gone down in history as a pretty damn good tag team.

As both Sean O'Haire and Mark Jindrak are no longer with the WWE, I think it would be a perfect time to reunite the tag team that should never have had broken up in the first place.

by Dean Foy..

Deborah Forjone wrote:
First of all, I also think that Jindrak had amazing potential but his whole gimmic with Teddy Long has been done in the early 90's with Lex Luger. Think about it

1) same style gimmic
2) went down to the ring in almost the same music
3) same gawking in the mirror at themselves
4) having a knockout finisher( forearm smash, left hand punch)

Oviously he only needs to be himself and be picked up by TNA

Ian Wilz wrote:
I agree 100% that they were a great team and would've been even better if they stuck together but a little known fact to most peopel is that Jindrak and O'Haire actualy didn't like each other very much at all. I think they actually wanted to be split up as they didn't get along.

David Berkovits, wrote:
I too, followed Jindrak from his early days coming up in WCW: from the power plant, the natural born thrillers, etc... I strongly agree with your assessment of his physical in-ring ability. The perfectly executed dropkicks and other high flying moves were simply incredible to see done by a 6 foot 6 specimen like Jindrak. However, once he came over to WWE, things definitely changed - mainly Jindrak had to start from the bottom again. While anyone could notice Jindrak's special ability in the ring, anyone could also notice his lack of special ability on the mic. Unfortunately, mic skills are a top priority in WWE, maybe even more so than wrestling ability. This is where Jindrak always struggled. I can't recall one decent promo or conversation ever uttered by 'The Mark' since he joined WWE. And while he was occasionally abused during his Team Angle years, that was probably the best opportunity he was ever given. Another MAJOR problem that needs to be addressed here was his finishing move... the devastating, miraculous single punch! Even though most wrestling matches feature maybe 50 punches from each man, Jindrak's simple punch would knock people unconscious. While most finishing moves are rarely done and easily identifyable (F-5, Angle Slam, Superkick, etc..) Jindrak's 'punch' would come with no warning, no buildup, and if you blinked twice, or had the TV on mute, you would be completely baffled as to what just happened in the match. I remember thinking, "did he have brass knuckles on""" as that was the only logical explanation I could come up with of how a simple punch just knocked a person unconscious. But no knuckles, just a superhero-caliber punch! The majority of the blame here falls on the creative/writing team, as they easily could have developed Jindrak into a mid-card type of wrestler, competing for either the US or Intercontinental belt. With the opportunities Jindrak was given, there was no possible way for him to truly live up to his potential. As for the future, hopefully he will take some time to improve on his mic skills, and maybe he'll resurface in TNA, where both the fans and managemnt recognize superior wrestling moves and ability, which Jindrak certainly posssesses.

P.S. What the hell happened to O'Haire""

Adam Veltri wrote:
I always wondered why these two were broken up as well. Their chemistry seemed so much better than when they exchanged partners with Palumbo & Stasiak. I think WCW was very high on Chuck Palumbo's wrestling ability and they also noticed that O'Haire was more over than Jindrak so I believe these are the two reasons of why they were paired together. Jindrak went no where after this in WCW as they really didn't put any effort in getting his team with Stasiak over, nor did they have any desire to with one team representing the Natural Born Thrillers probably being enough. It's a shame that the WWE didn't put them back together when they were both doing nothing on the roster and tag teams were lacking. I'm curious if they the two ask the WWE to put them back together when they were both there. If they may have suggested it, who knows what may have happened. It is even more amazing that O'Haire was let go all together as he showed a lot of charisma with that devilish type of character before being paired with Piper. This is just another creative blunder!

Ryi Mysterio wrote:
Dean, I couldn't agree with you more. O'Haire & Jindrak where the vest young tag team I,ve seen in along time, I dont know what it was they just had that X-factor about them when they where together. I used to tune in to WCW worldwide every Friday when they were on. They were a great, exiciting young team and, like you, I would love to see them together again

wrote:

If you have any comments, reactions, rebuttles or thoughts on this column, feel free to send them to the email below,
If your email is intelligently written, they will be posted underneath this messege..
We at OnlineWorldofWrestling want to promote all points of view, and that includes YOURS.