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For those of you who have read my columns in the past (the distant past in this case) you would know that my favorite division in wrestling is and always have been the tag team divisions. This includes any of the major or independent promotions, for some reason it has always stuck with me. Even as a youngster, twenty five years ago, sitting in the old Richfield Coliseum near my old home town of Cleveland, OH (I will miss you Lebron), I can remember waiting for Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and the Ultimate Warrior to headline the event, but I always bought the t-shirt of Demolition, The British Bulldogs and so on. I still “mark out” whenever I watch old videos and “ohhhhhhhhh What a Rush……” wails through the TV speakers.
So it is because of all that, that I was very much looking forward to the finale of the recent TNA tag tourney. We had already seen some really good matches coming up to this week but Beer Money against Ink Inc had my attention. There was a nice ebb and flow to the bout, the four men all worked hard, as did the announcers, the run ins…really everything. My real problem occurred right at the last second, you know the part where the ref counts 1…2…3!
See, it isn’t that Beer Money shouldn’t be tag champs, it isn’t like they won’t have a great match at the PPV with the MCMG, and I understand that 3D and Ink are intertwined in a more than decent storyline. My issue is twofold. One; Beer Money had the chance to put over two relatively new performers in Ink Inc. Beer Money is no longer the up and coming team, in fact, other than 3D they are the most veteran and recently most decorated. This was a chance for Ink Inc to become household. Ray could have been used much better at the PPV to cost them the titles and the feud would have continued however TNA wanted.
The second issue is simple. Imagine what Ink Inc and MCMG could have done in the ring together at Victory Road. Not to mention it could have gone to some sort of stipulation like a ladder match or ultimate x match. I think TNA really did a disservice here to the fans of tag wrestling. I don’t know what may have happened, none of us do, but this match could have been the next TLC match waiting to happen. The match that was spoken around the water cooler the following Monday. “Did you see the pay per view last night?” “…yeah, Sting was great”…”Of course, but man the guns and ink really brought the house down…” But that won’t happen now.
However the Ink/3D angle turns out, we will have good matches. Maybe a great tables tag match, maybe a single between Jesse and Ray, maybe a singles match between Devon and his brother…who knows. But none of those matches including the one that is actually occurring between Beer Money and The MCMG is going to compare to what the x-division’s current best could have done. I hope I am wrong and Beer Money and the Guns bring the house down, anything for tag wrestling to thrive in TNA, but I just don’t see it.
By the way fans – on a total side note – I bought some merch from TNA last week. It is well worth it. Don West’s brown bag special. Twenty bucks plus tax gets you a signed Don West bag, 4 DVD’s and a t-shirt. I bought two so far and ordered a third. The last one had two slamiversary DVD’s and two documentaries with a TNA shirt. The other had a Hulkamania shirt and 4 really good pay per views – when they say it is 100.00 worth of stuff for 20 bucks they mean it. Have a great week wrestling fans!
