I've had this blog idea in my mind the last few days and it's funny because just last night a perfect example occurred. When an established tag team breaks up the fans question which one will get the push, the most famous is that of the Rockers. When Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty broke up no one expected to see Shawn rise the the ranks and become the legend that he is today and no one expected Marty to end up disappearing. Ultimately fans remember Marty for being underrated and mis-used. So when tag teams now break up we ask ourselves who will go on to big things and who will not be so lucky. In this blog I'm going to look at tag teams that broke up and those who were meant to get a push ended up getting overshadowed, in a way, by their tag partner.
The perfect example of this happened last night at Ring of Honor's Manhattan Mayhem IV where Eddie Edwards won the World title. He had teamed with Davey Richards as the American Wolves and when they broke up and focused on singles careers Davey was the next pick to be World champion, so it was very surprising to see Edwards win the World title.
El Generico & Kevin Steen
When the team broke up at Final Battle 2009 many expected Kevin Steen to go on to big things. His heel character was amazing and his ring work was just as great. Now Generico is one of the best wrestlers going today as a commentator once said "I've never seen Generico have a bad match" but the one drawback to Generico is his promo skills, he can't cut a really good promo that makes sense which is his gimmick and why Steen worked so well with him. So image the surprise when Steen lost a match to Generico and left the company. Steen seemed like a natural pick to be a top heel in the company and could of been a great champion but now he doesn't have a chance. And while Generico may not be the next world champion in terms his promos his ring work suits it and if he doesn't get a run as World champion then he should surely have a run with the TV title.
BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs
Jimmy & BJ teamed in 2005 and we're the ROH tag team champions in an odd choice as the two were just thrown together. However they worked really well together. Now ROH seemed to use Whitmer nearly all the time before the team and many believed that when they broke up that Whitmer would go on to a big push, he was a big part of the CZW vs. ROH feud and seemed like he could get a chance in the main event however he would go on to do very little of substance and ultimately leave the company, whereas Jimmy would get a bit more of a chance. After the feud between the 2 ran it's course it ended with Jacobs being injured, he would return and become part of a faction called the Age of the Fall which was a big deal. Jimmy would then be part of the main event picture and would often end shows with the feuds he was in, and while he never got the world title he would of been a good choice. It's strange to note that Whitmer had every thing that was needed to be a top performer but it seemed that something just didn't click or he was extremely unlucky. Jacobs should of been a proper main eventer and had a run with the ROH world title but regardless of that he still got more of a push than BJ.
America's Most Wanted
Chris Harris and James Storm were the first break out team from TNA and became multiple time tag team champions. Now at one time during their tag run Storm was injured and Harris wrestled as a singles guy, during which time he got a push for the NWA World title. So when the team broke up we expected Harris to get a proper push for the World title. Harris would get to be in the King of the Mountain match for the title and a match with Christian Cage, who was an established main eventer. But after that Harris got an awful feud with 'Black Rain' and then disappeared from TV. During that time James Storm went from feud to feud and was always on the Pay Per Views in a match. He is now a part of the team Beer Money which has become one of the greatest tag teams going today. Harris would get signed by WWE and become a full blown joke in wrestling. Who would of imaged that James Storm would become the wrestler he is today and Chris Harris would end up disappearing.
John Morrison & The Miz
The team was thrown together as they had nothing for either of them. Morrison had had several runs with the Intercontinental title and the ECW title, so he was more of an established star then the Miz who was awful at the time. The two together were a great team and made each other better but that didn't chance the fact that when they split up Morrison would go on to get a big push and maybe even a World title run. So as we head into Wrestlemania where is Morrison, still trying to establish himself as an main eventer and coming up short and Miz we'll he's the WWE champion. The Miz would grow and grow as a performer getting better and better, he became one of the most hated guys in wrestling so to see him as WWE champion was a great thing. Now I won't go into how his title run has gone down but the fact is that he is the main guy on Raw right now and will likely remain there for a while. Hopefully Morrison can eventually break out into the main event spot as the company needs new faces in that spot and Morrison has been so close for so long now. It's safe to say that no one expected Miz to be the WWE champion before Morrison.
So there you have it. This was harder to make then I expected, I thought it would be easy to find examples of this but turns out that it wasn't.
Would like to say thank you if you've taken the time out to read this and let me know what you think.
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