TNA Is Worth Noting: The Disgruntled's Real Tag Team Championship History

IF ONLY I RECEIVED HATEFUL EMAILS AND TWEETS (@mainventzombie).

I am not saying that Impact is not a World Championship.

I am leaning to saying that it is not, but The Pride and The Powerful and the Lucha Bros both had a cup of coffee there. And when it comes to Total Nonstop Action, the Dudleys had shown they had showcased the importance of three championships already.

As I reviewed that statement in my last blog, it turn out my assumption was false. It surprised me how little contract disputes have not booked Ring of Honor into corners (and that is post Gabe Sapolsky). Sadly, it did not surprise me WWE just forgot to book these titles after they consolidated their titles with a admirable history. Admirable, unless you see it as an Attitude Era Redux. After  Carlito and Primo held them, only The Miz was established in the time of TV-PG.

21st to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

TNA Tag Team Champions: The World Tag Team Champions of the World (2) [Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian] - 6/28/12 to 10/14/12

Ring of Honor's tag team renascence has a few months before it begins. I had forgotten that The Colons (Primo and Epico) were even WWE champions for three months. Sandwiching their reign was Kofi Kingston and midcard weight R-Truth and Evan Bourne. The NWA had seeming dominant world champions, but it seemed like that was a result of not booking the championship rather than defending it successfully.

No IWGP?

If you tag with Karl Anderson, the West will want you back. But, there has never been a time when New Japan tried to show that their belts were more important than the Ring of Honor version. Having their World Champion defend his title successfully against the ROH's is why I considered that belt to be part of American wrestling. I cannot recall when the tag team title was booked in the same manner.

22nd to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

TNA Tag Team Champions: Kurt Angle and AJ Styles - 6/10/12 to 6/28/12

This is definitely a match up question. Would you rather have two multiple-time world champions or Kofi Kingston and a mid-card weight?

23rd to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

TNA Tag Team Champions: The World Tag Team Champions of the World - 5/13/12 to 6/10/12

Magnus and Samoa Joe - 5/12/12 to 5/13/12

26th to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

ROH Tag Team Champions: The Briscoe Brothers (4) - 12/23/2011 to 5/12/12

Before Nick "Magnus" Aldis and Samoa Joe were champions, the belts belonged to Matt Morgan and Crimson. ROH had Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) as champions during the majority of Joe and Aldis's reign, but their last reign had a stipulation where they could lose the titles via disqualification. They lost them to The All Night Express (Rhett Titus and Kenny King) who would vacate them over a contrast dispute. It just was not the ideal conclusion to WGTT's run with the company.

27th to Last Real Tag Team Champions:

ROH Tag Team Champions: Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) - 4/1/11 to 12/23/2011

The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero) - 9/19/2010 to 4/1/11

29th to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

Unified WWE Tag Team Champions: The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd and Davey Boy "DH" Smith Jr.)" - 4/26/10 to 9/19/10

Until the creative genius of Team Hell No and the need to establish The Shield, this was the end of WWE's most recent attempt at giving tag team championship its due. Of course, before the conclusion and establishment of this double championship's time, main event talent was the only talent featured.

30th to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

Unified WWE Tag Team Champions: ShoMiz (The Big Show and The Miz) - 2/8/10 to 4/26/10

Degeneration X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) - 12/19/2009 to 2/8/10

33rd to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

ROH Tag Team Champions: The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) - 6/28/09 to 12/19/09

Chris Jericho is listed as having two reigns as a unified champion as he was forced to replace his original partner, the injured Edge, with The Big Show. That team never truly won the titles.

34th to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

Unified WWE Tag Team Champions: The Colons (Carlito and Primo) - 10/27/2008 to 6/28/09

The Colons did unify the WWE Tag Team Championship and the World Tag Team Championship to allow for the highlighting of WWE's Tag Team Division.

to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions: The Edge Heads (Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder) - 6/20/08 to 10/27/08

John Morrison and The Miz - 12/30/2007 to 6/20/08

37th to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

ROH Tag Team Champions: The Briscoe Brothers (5) - 4/17/07 to 12/30/07

Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Matt Hardy's partnership focused on Hardy wanting MVP's US Championship. The tag team was a method of adding drama to the other title.

38th to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions: Brian Kendrick and Paul London 5/21/2006 to 4/17/07

This reign was nearly a year long while WWE's other championships was being used to justify The Spirit Squad having a role in the main event picture. The main event revolved around Vince McMahon, so the World Tag Titles were definitely no held in high regard.

39th to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny "Nitro" Morrison) - 12/27/2005 to 5/21/2006

In the end, it may have been a means of solely putting over Nitro and Melina over, but they were the most over and commanding tag team of 2005.

40th to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions: Rey Mysterio and Batista - 12/13/05 to 12/27/05

MNM (2) - 11/1/05 to 12/13/05

42nd to Last Real World Tag Team Champions:

World Tag Team Champions: Trevor Murdock and Lance Cade - 10/5/05 to 11/1/05

Do we really want to document the Heidenreich version of the Legion of Doom?

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Is Roman Reigns the New (and Adjace) Zeus?

This one may get out a week later than I like. Credit was increased on a card I’m still using, so that necessitates me to spend to build credit. It wasn’t eBay that took up my free time at work. It was my attempt to come up with a tattoo idea of a self-destructive take on the Japanese lucky cat figurine. For those counting at home, that is cat tat number eight (5 tats, 8 cats…and that’s what happens when you don’t let your kids have pets Dad).

I’d rather go “Hollywood Shuffle” with the money I technically don’t have, but I’ve yet to come up with or receive any ideas on how to further promote “Main Event of the Dead,” my screenplay for a pro-wrestling based zombie-comedy. If you want to help out in getting my project to the point where I feel it’ll get resources from Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, send me an e-mail at russthebus07@gmail.com.

What I have come up with is perhaps the final chapter in my “The Social Impact of No Holds Barred” homage. It kind of sucks because I think a Tumblr (check out the NHB archives Tumblr “Rip ‘Em System”) should seem infinite. And if I don’t get this written by Monday 8 pm Eastern, it may be irrelevant. That would mean WWE creative is finally doing a good job, so I may not need to be so hard on myself.

I sent out a tweet last week to the lesser of the host (in terms of wrestling fandom) of the “Cheap Heat” podcast, Peter Rosenberg [@Rosenbergradio]). This was the first time I ever used the term “adjace” (the “hip?” way of saying similar but inferior, derived from adjacent).

Is pushing Roman Reigns after The Shield folded like pushing Jim Neidhart when the Hart Foundation disbanded? @Rosenbergradio #adjace

Too bad the Anvil’s Twitter account isn’t verified. He’d have liked the love he got from the response.

@BDKiiing: reigns is not good. He has the look, that is all. Hack wrestler. Charisma vacuum. Needs a mouth piece

@BDKiiing: no. Anvil was a better wrestler and more charismatic. 

@Rosenbergradio: No def not

Sorry if that is underwhelming Mr. Neidhart, just enough for me to be angry that I made it a drunken bedtime tweet. Stupid e-mail notifications. I suppose I should have said that it would have been like pushing Marty Jannety instead of Shawn from the disbanding of The Rockers to be #adjace.

See the conclusion to this blog series at Rip 'Em System Tumblr.

Pintereset - Rob Sydell

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End ROH's Relevance. A Conclusion to the Disgruntled's Tag Team Champs

When I originally wrote my series of blogs about who "The Disgruntled Real World Heavyweight Champion" is/was, 35 years of wrestling was covered within five blogs (1983 to 2018). With my current blog series about the tag team championship, 19 years had been covered in five blogs (1983 to 2002). The number of champions proclaimed in this series is the same as its predecessor (88), two belts are still recognized at that point (WWE World Tag Team Championship and the current incarnation NWA World Tag Team Championship), and the Ring of Honor and WWE Tag Team Championship are about to be introduced. This makes me wonder, if I should backtrack from the best tag team champions currently (January 28, 2019. I am leaning towards The New Day.), but there may even be more variables to consider.

Can TNA/Impact still be looked over? Has New Japan's influence come into play like it eventually did with the original World Heavyweight Championship? I shall not forget All Elite Wrestling.

I guess we are going into spoiler territory, but let me get to the idea of the "End is the Beginning is the End". That sounds more fun than transcribing my review for the too bad for Netflix Streaming "Skeleton Crew".

Championships that Will Qualify for the List:

• National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship - When WWE was building up Kane to be the ultimate babyface jobber for Triple H, he was the tag team champion with The Hurricane. Too prove how strong he was, Kane successfully defended the championship in a four-team TLC match only to lose the belts with his partner the next week. Because of its history of being fought over in WCW, the NWA title was still "relevant" and was getting coverage when it was shown on TNA. Christopher Daniels and Donovan Morgan became the inaugural ROH Tag Team Champions two days before America's Most Wanted captured the NWA title, but AMW was going to be the more memorable team. Here is hoping for a reunion like the Rock 'n' Roll Express on NWA Powerrr.
• Ring of Honor Tag Team Championship - The title got its legs when WWE was trying to establish the WWE Tag Team Championship on Smackdown. If you consider that WWE all but forgot about tag team wrestling when the Alliance angle first gave them multiple championships, there will definitely be points when ROH can claim to have the more worthy championship.
• WWE Tag Team Championship - If you are a fan of history, this has the lineage of the World Tag Team Championship.
• WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship - It all depends of the booking when it comes to which WWE Tag Team Championship is more meaningful.
• All Elite Wrestling Tag Team Championship - Their first tag team champions, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky ended up defeating all of what had to be the most stacked tag team division at the time. The recognition may just be a blip because losing the championships to a team that is building for a Mega Powers Explosion may take some luster off the belts.

The Current (1/29/2020) Real Tag Team Champions: The Smackdown Tag Team Champions: The New Day (Big E., Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) - Reign began on January 22, 2020:

It has been established for nearly two years that the dream opponents for The New Day was the six-person team of The Elite. That version of The Elite does not feature Adam Page.

The Last Real Tag Team Champions: 

AEW Tag Team Champions: So Cal Uncensored (Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian): 12/13/2019 to 1/22/2020

The ROH Tag Team Champs lost the belt to a non-established tag team in Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal. I would refer to Super ACH when it comes to why Lethal got that spot.

2nd to Last Real Tag Team Champions:

ROH Tag Team Champions: The Briscoe Brothers (Mark and Jay) - 7/20/19 to 12/13/19

Since December of 2012, Ring of Honor had the titles only be won by established tag teams, most of whom would end up becoming champs in the WWE or AEW. WWE then goes to abuse the tag teams by letting their talents put over singles competitors.

The Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tango Loa) - 4/6/19 to 7/20/19

Villain Enterprises (PCO and Brody King) - 3/15/19  to 4/6/19

The Briscoe Brothers (2) - 12/14/2018 to 3/15/19

So Cal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) - 10/14/18 to 12/14/18

The Briscoe Brothers (3) - 3/9/18 to 10/14/18

The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Saban) - 9/22/17 to 3/9/18

The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) - 4/1/2017 to 9/22/17

The Broken Hardys (5) [Broken Matt and Brother Nero] - 3/4/17 to 4/1/17

The Young Bucks (2) - 12/18/2016 to 3/4/2017

12th to Last Real Tag Team Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions: The New Day (2) - 9/18/2015 to 12/18/16

The WWE only had a single tag team championship at the time. Once they needed to establish a faction, The Shield, they realized that tag team wrestling was important again.

13th to Last Real Tag Team Champions:

ROH Tag Team Champions: The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) - 4/4/15 to 9/18/15

The New Day had traded their tag team titles to try and get The Prime Time Players over. WWE was not quite ready to pull the trigger on Kingston, Woods, and Big E.

14th to Last Real Tag Team Champons:

reDRagon (Kyle O'Reily and Bobby Fish) - 9/21/2014 to 4/4/15

15th Last Real Tag Team Champions:

WWE Tag Team Champions: The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) - 3/3/14 to 9/21/14

ROH's champs were the Young Bucks, but I would say it was after Wrestle Kingdom 9 (1/4/15) that they put themselves on the map.

The New Age Outlaws (3) - 1/26/14 to 3/3/14

Cody Rhodes and Goldust - 10/14/13 to 1/26/14

The Shield (Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins) - 5/19/13 to 10/14/13

20th to Last Real Tag Team Champions:

Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) - 10/14/2012 to 5/19/13

This is WWE's best example of rivals becoming champions, so it deserves to remembered for that and bringing back tag team relevance after the two previous championships were merged.

Pinterest - Jason Courville - jscourville

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No Holds Barred: Mr. America vs Roman The Shockmaster

The original title of this blog was suppose to be “Why Mr. America Should Have Starred in No Holds Barred.” It wasn’t my wittiest blog title, but it allowed me to jump right into the subject matter instead of transitioning from a rant about how the readers need to demand local promotions (from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Paducah, from St. Louis (Illinois Side to Cleveland) to start booking me because that’s the only thing which will motivate me to hit the gym and get into better shape.

I’ve never liked salad, and I’m not going to start. There have to be better vegetable options that aren’t starchy. If it can be freeze-dried, it isn’t that good for you. Perhaps I am too self conscious. No one should judge me for throwing a tray of Annie Chun Seafood Snacks over half my plate to balance it. After 12-years around the wrestling business, I’ve observed initials are never bad, thus MSG has to be good.

Sorry for the minimal rant, but it could have been a lot worse, like three story-line terminations bad. Eric Rowan isn’t established enough to be taken off TV and now Ryback’s push won’t end with him doing the favor for Alexander Rusev.

With an inability to know who to protect and who to direct towards Japan to understand true strong-style, it’s no wonder that they cannot build there next superstar. Maybe it’s because they’re out to create the next super hero for the kids. Why else would they keep Roman Reigns in a SWAT team outfit instead of wrestling gear? If John Cena cannot be sold to the yuppie guppies in tights, why make their other guys wear them? And why must WWE make it apparent that Dean Ambrose has peaked? Did Vince McMahon want to tease the IWC by not letting him return to Lycra?

If Daniel Bryan wasn’t childlike compared to the present and future franchises, would the under TV-14 have gotten behind the “Yes” movement? Of course, I maybe discounting the beard.

So why am I suggesting that Hulk Hogan have dawned the pseudo-Steve Rogers cowl if the last thing we need is a Super Hero? Because full-blown heroes are over. And could you have imagined the pop the Hulkster could have gotten with that gimmick if he had already established it?

And “No Holds Barred” could have gotten the PG if you had a masked crusader who wasn’t as brooding as Michael Keaton was in 1989. You might still need to cut the attempted rape scene, or not, because limiting them to attempted rapes are what super heroes do. And I’d suggest cutting the visual of dookie from the limo driver. Then again, CM Punk craps himself on Smackdown, and the show still got the TV-PG.

You can argue that Marvel would have brought up a lawsuit then, but I thing they would have appreciated “No Holds Barred” taking the attention away from their wretched, soon to be released, “Captain America” film. Hell, they would have probably wrote him in as a heavy for Red Skull for the first Chris Evans flick..

“Captain America 90:” a film which I need to watch because the disdain cannot be as great as legend claims. “Cyborg” wasn’t as bad as everyone claimed and every wrestling fan (with Netflix streaming) should see “Heatseeker” from the same director, Albert Pyun. I call dibs on penning the remake of that classic, provided the success of my pro-wrestling zom-com, “Main Event of the Dead” (e-mail russthebus07@gmail.com for ideas on how to promote the project or for screenplay treatments [so you’ll know what you’ll be promoting]).

A problem with “No Holds Barred” is that Hulk Hogan is playing Hulk Hogan. There is no disconnect between him and his character. If anything, the Uber-Brother has been neutered. Which may explain why Joan Severance couldn’t seduce him in the script. If Hogan had played a super hero, it would allow his in ring character to have range that Rip did not. I’m not up for an argument about Hogan’s range as a performer, so “Main Event of the Dead” inquiries only when it comes to the above e-mail.

See the conclusion to this blog series at Rip 'Em System Tumblr.