5 IMPACT Tag Team Wrestlers Who Proved Us Wrong
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Throughout the years of the company Impact have had a very mixed run when it comes to their tag team division. There have been periods where it felt like the division was really hanging on by a thread, however there have also been times where the tag team division felt like it was carrying the company.
When you look at a tag team you always tend to have someone within the team who is waiting to break away and show what they can do on their own (assuming they haven’t already). We have seen so often when it comes to tag teams, that they can very often be put together only in order for them to just be broken up. This reasoning is normally done to propel one of the team towards the main event level.
Strangely however not everything follows plans and not everything plays out how you may think it was going to. Sometimes the best results are those that surprise us. When we look at a specific wrestler of a tag team and say “they need to break out, they have so much potential” we obviously have high hopes for them. However lets have a look at 5 cases where the other wrestler was the one who broke out, grasped the gold ring and showed they where just as important.
5. Chris Sabin
One of Impact’s best loved tag team throughout their history is The Motor City Machine Guns. The team was born in 2006 (however didn’t appear within TNA until 2007) and lasted in the company until 2012. While their run was slightly patchy due to various injuries to Sabin and Shelly, The Guns were always fan favourites. This also helped given that both Sabin and Shelly were long-time members of the company by 2007 (Shelly off and on) that they felt like a true home grown team that everyone had been on a journey with.
With Chris Sabin being one of The X Division pioneers, everyone knew just how good he was in the ring and he was so versatile in every style of wrestling, Alex Shelly propelled more on the character front which we saw with The Paparazzi Promotions (a group led by Kevin Nash). This meant the two where made for each other with Shelly excelling on the persona and Sabin in the ring. It’s not to say either where bad at the other job, you just knew where their strengths where.
Alex Shelly handled most of the promo work and because of showing so much skill and character on the mic, fans always saw a good singles run in him, sadly we never really got to see that. As time has moved on (especially when The Guns returned at Slammiversary 2020) we’ve seen Chris Sabin be the one to progress himself as a singles star. We know how good Sabin is in the ring, however character is something he’s always been a little rough with, over this past year however he has been one of the highlights of Impact Wrestling every week. We may still get that Alex Shelly run, however Sabin hasn’t waited to see and it’s been a joy to watch.
4. Josh Alexander
When Josh Alexander arrived at Impact Wrestling in April 2019, he instantly began to tear Impact Wrestling apart as one half of The North. Ethan Page was already part of the Impact roster and had shown how versatile he could be in the different characters he had played, when The North came together we saw Page be the one who would often let his mouth do the talking, where as Josh would let his actions do the talking in the ring.
During The North’s run in Impact Wrestling, many fans (as they always do) were always looking at one of the team and thinking if there was anything beyond the team? Ethan page was someone who seemed like he had all the tools to be able to rise to the top and many compared him to Bobby Roode with his great mic stills and excellent and character work, with high praise like that you really felt the sky was the limit for someone like Ethan Page.
If we look forward 1 year however from the break up of The North, it’s Josh Alexander who has taken the bull by the horns and gone on to greater things. While Page departed Impact Wrestling for AEW and continued to remain within the tag team scene, Josh Alexander has elevated himself to the main event picture in Impact Wrestling. With many backing Page for a big push (it still may happen), its a credit to Josh that he’s proved people that they shouldn’t have overlooked him and he also had all the tools to stand along side the talent at the main event scene.
3. Deaner
In early 2019 we saw the Impact tag team division get a new addition in the for of The Deaners. We saw the return of Cody Deaner to Impact Wrestling after nearly 9 years away from the company and along side him we saw Cousin Jake make his debut. The Deaners had a fun going persona to them and were always a good laugh while on screen. While The Deaners had that element of comedy about them however, it never felt too far and they were always a welcome addition to the Impact tag division as their matches were always top notch.
Throughout The Deaners run, many where looking at Cousin Jake as a real prospect for the future. If you’re looking for the perfect breakout from a tag team this would be it, the young up and coming talent working alongside the experience of Cody Deaner to get him ready for that push. That’s what many Impact fans were expecting anyway. We are now seeing a little push for Jake towards the X Division title after a year, so maybe something may finally be brewing?
If you look at the last year though you have to say that currently Deaner has been the one to emerge and show that he’s got more to him and was the one that was hiding in a tag team. After The Deaners broke up at Final Resolution 2020 when Deaner turned on Jake (to create the perfect split) When we talk about unleashing monsters (which we expected from Jake), Deaner is the one, who has propelled himself after joining Violent By Design (with Eric You and Joe Doering). Deaner has showed incredible character work lately and truly what he can do in the ring too, this rebirth of Deaner was really unexpected but has been really welcoming. Never count anyone out as a surprise can always be around the corner as Deaner has shown
2. James Storm
Many of you may be thinking to yourselves, James Storm had a more surprising run after Beer Money than what Bobby Roode did? Well that is a fair argument given what Roode accomplished, however if you cast your mind back even further to the early days of TNA, we had a little old team consisting of “The Cowboy” James Storm and “The Wildcat” Chris Harris called America’s Most Wanted.
America’s Most Wanted were on the first ever NWA TNA show and along with XXX, together they helped cement the tag team division to what we see today. Both Storm and Harris worked amazingly well together in and out of the ring and complimented each other so well. While the fans always loved AMW you always knew there was more beyond the walls of just being a tag team. In the years that would follow, TNA believed this to be the case too.
AMW lasted until the end of 2006 when Storm turned on Harris by smashing a beer bottle into his face. TNA had big plans to push Chris Harris as a top level babyface talent and be the one to break out. We saw him placed into a number of main event matches and at times, it really looked like he was on the fringes (competing in the KOTM match at Slammiversary 2007) of becoming a top guy. Sadly by the beginning of 2008 Harris was released from TNA.
Storm however went on to become part of one of the best tag teams in TNA history with Bobby Roode, that being Beer Money (even surpassing AMW if you ask me), from there he would also be pushed into the main event picture several times and win the world title on one occasion. With the success we’ve seen from James Storm in Impact Wrestling, it’s very ironic that it was Chris Harris who initially got the companies backing. Credit to the cowboy though on never giving up, we got many more fantastic years out of him after being told “you’re not the one we’re after right now.” He went on to reply, “I am, sorry about your damn luck.”
1. Eddie Edwards
At Genesis 2014, Impact Wrestling saw the debut of Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards. Now going by the name The Wolves, this was a very good pick up for Impact when they needed a boost (especially in the tag team division). The wolves very quickly became Impact tag team champions and were a major part of what held the tag team division together throughout 2014.
As we often see with a tag team, you normally have one wrestler who has that little bit extra in the charisma/promo cabinet, when it comes to The Wolves it was Davey Richards who oozed that. Many were wanting a Davey Richards solo run and Impact themselves even teased it at the end of 2014 when James Storm wanted Richards to join The Revolution. The Wolves however remained together until early 2017 when Davey did end up turning on Eddie leading to a feud between the two, ultimately resulting in Richards departure in mid 2017
Since loosing his tag team partner, Eddie Edwards had to find his way on his own. Given that he was also (with all due respect) the one who took the back seat outside of the ring, you wondered what may happen. Four and a half years on and Eddie Edwards will go down as an Impact legend, he’s been able to completely reinvent himself, maintain 5 star matches and cut a great promo when he needs to. For someone who didn’t have many peoples backing, was the one who people didn’t have faith in to be a singles competitor, he certainly has their respect now.
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