It has been many years since WWE’s tag team division has had any real focus. While we’ve had entertaining teams throughout the years, especially over the last several years with The New Day, the division has always seemed like an afterthought on television when it comes to booking.
That’s for good reason. It’s been well known in the industry for years that Vince McMahon is not the biggest fan of tag team wrestling. This despite the fact that some of his biggest stars of all time started out in tag teams — names like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, Edge and many more.
Former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. recently shared a story on his podcast (Wrestling With Freddie Prinze) about why McMahon dislikes tag team wrestling.
“I connected with Harry (David Hart Smith) a lot and I really want to get him and TJ (Wilson) over,” Prinze said (via Fightful), looking back on when he was trying to pitch the tag team division to have more importance. “I worked hard to do it. I failed those boys. I never got over that. I failed The Usos too.
“Tag team wrestling is tough. I remember Vince, I was working so hard on building up a tag team division and Vince said, ‘Freddie, I gotta pay four guys for one fucking match.’ I kind of went, ‘Oh.’ I had never looked at it like that. It’s show business. I was in charge of the Colon Brothers, I named Primo, that was my name. It kind of changed my perspective on things and the way I approached storylines. I couldn’t pitch for as much anymore.”
Are Tag Teams The Future For WWE?
When looking at the current landscape of WWE, one of the names who could be a major singles star of the future is Montez Ford. Will he follow the same path as a Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart before him?
The Street Profits, Ford’s team, are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the current tag team division. However, with tag teams split across two brands with two divisions, it oftens feels like the teams are left spinning their tires, so to speak. They’re seemingly having the same matches week in and week out.
Will Ford be able to rise above McMahon’s distaste for tag team wrestling and come out a star in the long run? That remains to be seen.
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