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Are We On The Verge Of A Tag Team Revival"
May 9, 2005 by Shawn S.

As all WWE fans have noticed, two new tag teams have recently made their debuts on RAW and SmackDown! respectively. In the red corner, we have Romeo and Antonio, The Heart Throbs. In the blue corner, we have Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro, MNM.

You may remember a March 17 article by Langdon Beck, titled 'The Art of Real Tag Team Wrestling'. In that there is a list of 6 qualities that are essential for a 'real' tag team. To refresh your memory, they are...

1. A name (I assume this is an actual name, not just 'Wrestler X and Wrestler Y') 2. Matching or similar attire 3. A combined entrance and/or weight 4. Double team moves and/or finisher 5. Long term partnership 6. Chemistry

Now let's evaluate these two teams.

The Heart Throbs (formerly the Heart Breakers in OVW), are made up of Antonio Thomas and Romeo Roselli. Their gimmick, well, think Too Cool and Billy and Chuck thrown in a blender, and what comes out the other side is the Heart Throbs. They made their WWE debut on the April 18 edition of RAW, as the first team to respond to an open challenge by then tag team champions, William Regal and Tajiri. Gyrating and grooving their way to the ring, they left Regal and Tajiri literally scratching their head in disbelief. The Heart Throbs more than held their own during the match, eventually losing by pin fall, but they sent a message to the rest of the RAW roster, sending Tajiri to the mat with a double team STO. They later made their PPV debut at Backlash, as part of the 5 team Tag Team Turmoil match, won by The Hurricane and Rosey. Now let's see how the Heart Throbs rate as a 'real' tag team. They have a name, a matching attire, a combined entrance, double team moves and finisher, they look like they'll have a long term partnership and they have chemistry. They've got all the qualities of a 'real' tag team!

MNM are made up of Johnny Nitro (who had a brief run on RAW in early-mid 2004) and Joey Mercury, along with the lovely Melina Perez as manager/valet. Their gimmick is that they are, as I say it, 'professional party people'. With movie star looks, they claim to get into all the Los Angeles A-list parties, partying with the all the rich socialites that I personally can't stand. They made their debut on the April 14 edition of SmackDown!, gate-crashing the first 'Carlito's Cabana'. They then proclaimed that they wanted a shot at the WWE Tag Team titles, being held at the time by Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio (who was being interviewed by Carlito), and promptly attacked him. The next week, they got their shot. This was even more anticipated now that MNM had graffiti-tagged Eddie's low rider. Mysterio had it won, but Melina interfered, preventing a 619. With the referee distracted, Mercury and Nitro executed 'The Snapshot', a combination flapjack/DDT, and picked up the win.

Only Christian, Gail Kim and Carlito had done what MNM had just done. They won a title in their first match. The next week, they retained their titles when Guerrero finally abandoned Mysterio.

I'm sure everyone will agree when I say that MNM have the aforementioned qualities of a 'real' tag team.

In conclusion, I believe that, along with La Resistance, The Basham Brothers, The Dudley Boyz and the imminent promotion of The Thrillseekers and/or the Shane Twins to the big time we will a tag team division that is off the hook!

by Shawn S. ..

Andrew Betts wrote:
i agree theses 2 teams do qualify as "real" tag teams i must say the Heart Throbs are hallarious i must say i reall laughed at their promo on "heat" but apparently 1 of them was kind of mouthing off last week so he treated to a "Reagal" thrashing i know bad pun but for those who saw the guy had a huge welt under his eye but just the same they are a great team i think last weeks match with Reagal and Tajiri might have humbled them a bit. Now on to MNM a very solid team although i don't really like their tights or the fur coats they wear now then Melina i like her enterence the King would have a heart attack if he saw that on raw but that's a whole nother ball of wax any way they make great heels but hyping up the Snapshot as an inovative finisher is a stretch i seem to remember a little known team simon & swinger used that same move only it was called The Problem Solver it just seemed to flow better any way that's neither hear nor their the main issue with some time invested these to teams will be th future of tag team wrestling for years to come

L.A. wrote:
Hopefully we are on a verge of a tag team revival. Tag teams have been a big part of wrestling. I remember great teams like the Midnight Express, Rock N Roll Express, The Steiners, Demolition, The Road Warriors, The Hart Foundation and The British Bulldogs. Tag team wrestling was still at it high back in the early part of 2000 and the late 90s with the Acolytes, New Age Outlaws, and who can forget the "Rock and Sock Connection." The TLC serious with The Hardyz, Dudleys and Edge and Christain produced some of the best matches every seen. Hopefully the WWE will take notice of past success and put tag team wrestling on the match. Its a great way for young talent to gain stardom i.e. Shawn Micheals, Brett Hart and JBL are prime examples. Im not sure if this would work but I think if they made the tag titles exclusive to Smack Down or Raw it would make tag team wrestling more exciting and also if the were to cut out match with big name stars single tagging with each other against other big name single stars. Im tired of seeing match with Cena and Big Show vs. Kurt Angle and JBL.

Darron wrote:
The answer is no, Vince had a steallar division two years ago but choose to crap on it and dismantle it so this shouldn't be any different. The Dudleys are on the last legs of their careers, The Bashams are terrible in the ring and have no decent gimmick except for being JBL's Cabinet or whatever they are doing now, The Shane Twins haven't even been brought up to the main roster yet even though they are ready to go and La Resistance has ran it's course already.

MNM is a fun team to watch but without credible tag teams to face it will only a matter of time before their gimmick dries up like every other team in the company right now.

By The Way: Melina is hot!!!

Denis Dowdy wrote:
I must agree that the teams of the Heart Throbs and MNM are helping make a tag team revival in WWE. I didn't get a chance to catch the Heart Throbs debut on RAW but I was able to watch it later int eh week froma tape from a friend and I was impressed with the young team. But I made sure to catch MNM's debut and I have watched ever since because I am a huge fan of Mathews (or Mercury as he now known) and I am a ever growing fan of Nitro and the lovely Melina. Hopefully the WWE will actually get all the tag teams on one side and make that brand the holders of the true tag team titles. Imagine the matches possible with the teams of MNM, Heart Throbs, Dudley Boyz, Basham Brothers, La resistance, The Super Heroes and Dean & Maven. The possibilities are endless.

Ben Sandford wrote:
I think you definitely have to get the feeling that there's some sort of revival going on here. I would personally like to see one set of tag team titles that is fought on both shows, or on one show with the Hardcore title being fought for on another. But I digress. As I type this I am watching Heat (Being from Australia Velocity and Heat are played at 2:00 and 3:00 on Sunday) and I have just seen the SATs (Joel and Jose Maximo, but if you are on this site you probably know that) on Velocity. One of TNA's best tag teams, with one of the coolest double team finishing moves I have ever seen (spanish fly- double blockbuster suplex of the top), came to WWE... And had to job to The Bashams. Let's get something straight, I really respect the Bashams as wrestlers, it's not their fault that they haven't been pushed hard enough in their careers, I just think it might have been nice for a change to let the new guys put on a good match. So in closing, Yes, the tag team division is heading towards a revival, well, until the draft at least when they split them all up again. Regal & Tajiri, The Hearthrobs, The Superheroes, MNM, The Dudleys (when they come back at the ECW PPV), The Bashams, La Resistance (minus Dupree), Maven & Dean and the SATs mostly fit in to the rules you've set down for a tag team, and unless they all get put on the same show and the titles get unified, they're just going to go to waste. Sorry for being so cynical.

Ian Wilz wrote:
I agree that the WWE is well on their way to a revival of the tag team division. I like the debut of 2 more REAL tag teams. One thing I want to see though is the ridding of random superstars teaming up. This means the teams of Regal/Tajiri and Maven/Dean need to go. Maven/Dean can stay if they get a look where they look like a team or something.

I also dont see what is with all these people ripping on the Bashams they are very talented in the ring and are a REAL team. I actually wish they would get out of the cabinet sometime.

With teh draft coming up I think that Rene DuPree (who relaly hasnt done anything on SMACKdown) should go back to RAW and reteam with Silvain Grenier. After returning to RAW DuPree and Grenier turn on Conway. This leads to Nick (dropping the Eugene) gimmick saving Conway and reuniting the Lords of the Ring from OVW.

On Velocity recently we have seen Shannon Moore and Scotty 2 Hottie teaming up and they have been pretty impressive. The only thing needed is for Scotty to finally drop the current gimmick and get one like Shannon Moore has and going by Scott Taylor. I think they would make a decent team.

Yes teh SATs (Maximos) have been on Velocity recently but I would like to respond to what Ben said. The SATs are NOT one of TNA's best teams, infact they havent even been in TNA for well over a year and even when they were there they were never one of TNAs best tag teams. The SATs are a couple of spot monkeys.

Even though Matt Cappotelli has been wrestlign singles dark matches recently I still think he should be brought up with Johnny Jeter as the Thrillseekers and feud with MNM.

The WWE also needs to bring up the Bombers (Tolands).

We still have th ereturn of the Dudleyz to look forward to and teh debut of the Shane Twins.

Rumor also has it that Gangrel will be back soon teaming with Seven (Mordecai) although i would still rather see Seven/Tomko as teh Disciples but Gangrel/Seven as a new brood would be cool.

With teh recent aquiring of NWA-Wildside as their 2nd developmental fed they have some decent teams down there that may show up.

WWE has also recently signed the Outlaws and Jason/Jonny Riggs from UPW.

wrote:

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