by Daniel Johnson
The WWE tag team scene has been hot and cold for years. Things like The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family, Team Hell No and some of The Usos matches have been awesome? What hasn’t been awesome? Well, enough stuff that it can’t be wrapped up in a nice sentence or two. However, one bright spot could be the duo of The Big Show and Mark Henry if WWE can pull it off.
The Big Show recently said he has four years left in him. Mark Henry says he has two. Each man has improved incredibly since Show debuted in 1995 and Henry debuted in 1996. Don’t get me wrong neither man is exactly Bret Hart or Ric Flair in the ring, but sending them out with a killer run where they demolish the competition would be a nice way to wind down these two big boys. However, because of their poor booking thus far, little acknowledgement of any of their past work together and WWE repeatedly turning either man heel at the drop of a hat when a monster heel is needed there is reason to believe WWE will blow it.
On last night’s WWE Monday Night Raw, Show and Henry technically won their match against The Wyatt Family, but it was only after the heels got disqualified when Rusev punked out Mark Henry. This in itself isn’t bad booking. The WWE creative team are obviously big on Rusev and if they want to push him as a major singles star Henry is a logical choice to be fed to him. As a veteran of the Olympics representing the United States it kind of makes too much sense to ignore and not have him square off with 1985’s anti-American evil Russian.
Yet, booking one thing well can sometimes hurt the booking of another person and this is absolutely true in this case. WWE’s tag team division is not as hot as it was even two years ago when the promotion had as many as eight clearly defined teams at one point. Still, aside from wrestling The Wyatt Family, Show and Henry have other teams they could work with and mesh well with. The Usos for instance have shown to be giving sellers, which is important for any David/Goliath match, which them facing Show and Henry would undoubtedly be. Likewise, Goldust is giving some of his best in-ring performances ever and Cody Rhodes is arguably even better. Perhaps, if there gimmick is made just a little less stupid (okay, a lot less) then feuding them with Show and Henry could be quite fun. Also, there are always those guys WWE has nothing for and just throw in a tag team for the heck of it who sometimes put on great matches regardless. How long until that latest Dolph Ziggler push dies anyway?
Aside from Show and Henry just not being booked that well to begin with, it also isn’t very reassuring when WWE seems to care so little about the team that they can’t remember this team has happened before. Yet, JBL will throw out a, “Their just not quite used to being a team yet,” to completely no sell their history.
Show and Henry feel like a team because they are both hulking monsters with similar move sets. It is a good sign that WWE seems to show some interest in using them more as a team due to them actually getting some promo time and hyped up as a team by the commentators. However, the failure to acknowledge their past may give some reason to believe WWE cares not about their future either.
Lastly, and what perhaps will be the final nail in the coffin of this team or anyone like it is that the WWE backstage crew is big on having a monster heel to run through the competition…the singles competition. Luckily for the Show and Henry, Brock Lesnar is around, Rusev is picking up steam and apparently Kane has switched characters so much that WWE will have him be a businessman one night and a demon the next. Still, Brock won’t be around forever, there is still some question as to how far Rusev can go and no one wants to see Kane as the company’s only monster in 2014 and beyond.
The future holds limitless possibilities. Show and Henry are unlikely to be around forever though and this last hurrah as a team has potential if WWE doens’t blow it. Which they probably will.
Categories: Smooth Runs
The Johnson Transcript 
Leave a Reply