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Career shutouts for Cliff Lee after 3-0 win over Marlins on Wednesday

Heel Turns: Celebrating good (tag) teamwork

Posted by Achilles Heel On September 27

After a rush of action, with WWE, CHIKARA and TNA all hosting events within days of each other in Southeastern Pennsylvania, we’ve got a little lull in live action. There isn’t even a pay-per-view for another week or two. So Achilles Heel is going to keep it short and sweet this week.

The Greek god of wrestling is pleased to see a renewed emphasis on tag team wrestling. WWE has put the tag team belts on the wonderfully dysfunctional and entertaining team of Kane and Daniel Bryan. After neglecting its tag team division for so long, WWE is also building up teams such as Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara, the Prime Time Players and the newly formed team of Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow.

TNA features a major feud involving tag teams, with champions Christopher Daniels and Kazarian defending their belts in outstanding matches against Kurt Angle and AJ Styles. Ring of Honor recently completed its tag team tournament, with Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs winning the titles. CHIKARA, of course, took it to another level with its three-day King of Trios tournament, which was won by the Spectral Envoy (Frightmare, Hallowicked and UltraMantis Black).

Achilles Heel has always been a fan of tag teams. It gets more wrestlers on television and can create interesting dynamics.

For too long, some wrestlers viewed tag team wrestling as a negative predicament. Of course, you couldn’t blame them for feeling that way if the company they were in treated tag teams as an afterthought. It seems as if the tide is turning, with more wrestlers correctly viewing tag team wrestling as an opportunity.

Think about how wrestling in a tag team benefited Edge, Jeff Hardy, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, just to name a few. Achilles Heel is glad to see more wrestlers and promotions embracing tag team wrestling.

*****

HALL OF FAME PARTNER: While we’re talking about tag team wrestling, why isn’t Tony Garea in the WWE Hall of Fame? Garea won the tag team championship five times with a diverse array of partners: the 600-pound Haystacks Calhoun, Hawaiian Dean Ho, Larry Zbyzsko and Rick Martel (twice).

Garea, a long-time agent/producer with WWE, spent the overwhelming majority of his in-ring career in WWE. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

*****

NAME GAME: I don’t know how good the tag team of Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow will be, but I already love their name: Rhodes Scholars.

*****

RAHWAY RING: The closest place to see live action in the next 10 days is at the Rahway Rec Center, where Ring of Honor will be holding an event on Sat., Oct. 6.

Jay Lethal will challenge Kevin Steen for the Ring of Honor World Championship. The tag team titles will also be on the line in a triple threat match, with newly crowned champions Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino defending their championship against Rhett Titus and B.J. Whitmer and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin). Haas and Titus lost to Corino and Jacobs in the tag team tournament finals at Death Before Dishonor X on Sept. 15

In yet another tag team match, the Briscoes will battle Ring of Honor Television Champion Adam Cole and Eddie Edwards. Team 3.0 (Scott Parker and Shane Matthews) will make its Ring of Honor debut against the Bravado Brothers.

*****

TNA’S TRIPLE THREAT: Ring of Honor isn’t the only promotion with a triple threat match for the tag team titles coming up this month. At TNA’s Bound for Glory on Oct. 14, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian defend their titles against Kurt Angle and A.J. Styles and the team of Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez. Bound for Glory is headlined by TNA World Champion Austin Aries defending his title against Jeff Hardy.

*****

FIT FOR A KING: It was wonderful to see Jerry “The King” Lawler give an interview via satellite on RAW. Achilles Heel continues to send prayers and positive thoughts in the King’s direction.

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SOUTHERN NIGHTS: CHIKARA will make a southern swing through Alabama and North Carolina on October 6-7.  The next opportunity to see CHIKARA in Philadelphia will be Nov. 30.

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REPLACEMENT WRITER: When PhillyPhanatics.com needed a replacement writer for columnist Eric Fisher, they hired a buffoon to make the point that the NFL’s replacement refs weren’t as good as the regular officials.

It’s understandable that they didn’t turn to Achilles Heel to replace Fisher. I would have written circles around Fisher, which would have negated the point of the column.

*****

TAG TEAM GOLDEN: The skits involving Daniel Bryan and Kane continue to make me laugh. On this week’s RAW, the two were involved in a series of skits at a diner. Kane got the big punch lines, although Bryan was very good as well.

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CZW IN PHILLY: Combat Zone Wrestling will hold a pair of television tapings on Oct. 12-13. On Fri., Oct. 12 (7:30 p.m.), CZW will tape a show at the VOGT Rec Center at 6700 Cottage St. in Philadelphia. The next night (7:30 p.m.) CZW will tape a show at the Flyers Skate Zone at 601 Laurel Oak Rd. in Voorhees, N.J.

*****

EDGE AND DREAMER: Continuing our tag team theme, Edge and Tommy Dreamer will be at Dave and Busters on Columbus Blvd. in Philadelphia from 2-5 p.m. on Oct. 7. You can get an autograph and have your picture taken with Edge, one of the great tag team and singles wrestlers of the past 25 years, for $100. You can get Dreamer’s autograph and a photo for $25.






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1 Response

  1. Heel Turns: Philly fans lower their standards | Philly Phanatics - THE online community for Philly sports fanatics Says:

    [...] COUPLE: After last week’s Heel Turns, which focused on tag team wrestling, one loyal reader asked me what type of tag team [...]

    Posted on October 4th, 2012 at 9:53 pm

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