What makes a great tag team and why David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty aren’t one.

After watching Raw and Smackdown this week, it seems that the WWE are trying to push Mcgillicutty and Otunga as a good tag team. They even had them beat the rising star that is Zack Ryder. Personally, I have a lot of issues with them. Just because they have a tag team finisher does not mean they are a good team. In fact they look as if they have nothing at all in common. To me, they are not worthy of the WWE Tag Team Championship. At least McGillicutty had the fact that they both came from wrestling families and were involved in NXT season 2. To me, Otunga and Mcgillicutty have nothing in common. So why aren’t they a good team? And if not, what makes a good team worthy of the WWE Tag Team Championship?

What makes a good team

• People with similar personalities or something majorly in common
  

Some wrestlers have similar personalities or characters, or just something generally in common which make them a good team. An example of that is the self-proclaimed ‘World’s Greatest Tag Team’ Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin. They had a big thing in common in that they were both athletic technical wrestlers. Other good examples of that are teams like the APA, Chris Jericho and Christian and The Hart Dynasty, all of which had similar characters and interests and therefore became a good team. I don’t think Otunga and McGillicutty have anything in common. One is a famous person’s husband and the other is the son of a brilliant wrestler.

• Odd couples

Teams who have nothing at all in common but are still an impressive team. Also their completely polar opposite personalities make for good television. Great examples include Charlie Haas and Rico, Goldust and Booker T, and of course The Rock ‘N’ Sock Connection. Otunga and McGillicutty are not an odd couple, because neither have massive personalities on screen.

• Gimmick tag teams

These are teams that are completely devoted to the gimmick that they share. These teams are popular with the fans but eventually get stale and lead to a break up, which means that they have to take on an entirely new gimmick in order to become relevant. Great examples of this are La Resistance, who all basically faded into obscurity after their break up and taking on new gimmicks. Other examples of gimmick tag teams that have won the gold include Too Cool, The Spirit Squad and Deuce and Domino. Although some gimmick tag teams just don’t make it to the gold, including recent teams such as Cryme Tyme and The Highlanders. Otunga and McGillicutty don’t really have a gimmick.

• Family tag teams

These are teams that are either real life brothers such as The Hardy’s and more recently The Uso’s, or teams that are storyline brothers such as Edge and Christian, The Dudleys, The Basham Brothers and of course The Brothers of Destruction. It also extends to family relationships in general. Los Guerreros were uncle and nephew. But there are also storyline family relationships, such as Hardcore Holly and Crash Holly who were storyline cousins. I’m not even gunna bother saying why Otunga and McGillicutty don’t fit into this category.

• People who are good friends in real life

The Internet wrestling community know that these two individuals are real life good friends, and that translates into a tag team. Brilliant examples include Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio, and Triple H and HBK. Even if they are friends, it’s not exactly a big well known friendship like the ones I have mentioned.

What doesn’t make a good team

• Two main eventers who are feuding who win the belts together

WWE seem obsessed with this storyline, but personally I hate it. It has lost it’s originality a bit in recent years, due to how many times it has happened to John Cena. He has had the same type of reigns with HBK, Batista and The Miz. It also happened with teams like The Rock and Chris Jericho.

• Two main eventers who randomly decide to dominate the division together

This has happened a lot too. Two main eventers decide to take the tag team division. Even when there is no competition, they do it anyway. This has happened with Chris Jericho and The Big Show, Rated RKO and with Steve Austin and Triple H back when there was a brilliant tag division.

• Two people randomly thrown together and given the belts just because there’s nothing else for them to do

This really annoys me. Although sometimes I’d prefer it just so some wrestlers actually have something to do. A brilliant example of this was Drew McIntyre and ‘Dashing’ Cody Rhodes. Why they won the belts I will never know. They had nothing in common, really. This is where David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty lie. They have nothing in common and are only in a team in order for them to be on television.

In order for me to accept them as a good team, they need to show me why they are a team. They do not get any time on television to talk; they haven’t explained why the Nexus broke up. They are just kind of together, for no reason whatsoever. They have done well to develop some in ring chemistry with the tag team finisher and such. Now they just need on screen chemistry.

Tagged: APA, Batista, Blog, Booker T, Charlie Haas, Chris Jericho, Christian, Cody Rhodes, Crash Holly, Cryme Tyme, Dashing Cody Rhodes, David Otunga, Deuce and Domino, Drew McIntyre, DX, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Edge and Christian, Goldust, Hardcore Holly, HBK, Kane, La resistance, Michael McGillicutty, Rated RKO, Rey Mysterio, Rey Mysterio's mask, Rico, RKO, Shawn Michaels, Shelton Benjamin, Stone cold steve austin, Ted Dibiase, The APA, The Big Show, The Brothers of destruction, The Dudley Boyz, The Hardy Boyz, The Hardy's, The Hart Dynasty, The Highlanders, The Miz, The Nexus, The Rock 'N' Sock Connection, The Undertaker, The Viper, Too Cool, Triple H, WWE, WWE NXT, Zack Ryder

Posted in: Wrestling wisdom