Tag Team Friendships

[Rathen4]

Am I the only one that thinks it's odd that highly experienced tag teams (The New Wave, the Melbourne Blondes etc) don't have a loyalty or friendship with each other in the relationship area? Or are there relationships present and I've just missed them? Surely if you were a 100% A* experience team, you'd have built up some kind of friendship or something with your partner? Or am I completely naive and wrong and they all secretly hate each other? I realise that being in a tag team doesn't mean automatic best buds forever, but for these long running well established successful teams wouldn't you expect a little something?

[20LEgend]

Absolutely agree often think this about New Wave and I think you should make a thread about it down in the suggestions forum, because I can think of a lot of big tag teams who are friends in real life.

[Rathen4]

<p>I'd have put a suggestion in but I don't know enough about things to give real life examples to back it up, so it'd be a really empty suggestion with no basis other than "I'd like this" - and I don't really like those suggestions!</p><p> </p><p>

Glad to see I'm not the only one though :fistbump:</p>

[Bigpapa42]

<p>The defaut C-vers is pretty skimpy on the relationships. But I think its for good reason - a ton of relationships can really skew how things develop over time. </p><p> </p><p>

As for long-time or legendary tag teams being friends, I'd say its hit or miss. They are some examples of it, but many just seem to be "regular friends". The way I look at it, the relationship forming in the game means they are tight, close. Not just friendly and get along well, or even travel together, but are literally life-long friends who might be houses next door to each other, etc.</p>

[Rathen4]

Very fair point, depends on what would be defined as a "strong friendship" or "loyalty". I'm aware of why there's no chemistry in the default data, too, and can appreciate that it'd be very easy to go overboard.

[James Casey]

It's essentially as BP says, real lifetime friendships as portrayed in the game's relationships are seemingly rare in wrestling - possibly because it's such a political, backstabbing business

 

And it actually seems to me that even the legendary tag teams aren't necessarily great friends outside the ring - Demolition, for example, aren't still doing reunion tours. The Hart Foundation were brothers-in-law, but Bret's autobiography implies that while they had team chemistry they weren't close outside the ring. I believe Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty get on okay nowadays, but from what I remember there was a long spell where they were barely speaking. The Road Warriors might have been an exception, but they trained together and were teammates for well over a decade before Animal took medical leave, and then reunited until Hawk passed on.

 

Indeed, going back to the first paragraph, I wouldn't be surprised to find tag teams - especially post-split - where the overriding relationship between the two members is an Adrenaline Rush-esque dislike, or even hatred. It might just be a case of the most prominent examples distorting the field, but time and again teams seem to split with one member enjoying noticeably greater success than the other: the Harts, the Rockers, Doom, the Brainbusters, MNM, the British Bulldogs, the Smoking Gunns, even the Hardys, Edge and Christian and the Steiners - all teams where one member ended up at the top of the card, while the other faded away or got caught in the midcard. That's going to breed resentment in a lot of cases.

[Bigpapa42]

Very fair point, depends on what would be defined as a "strong friendship" or "loyalty". I'm aware of why there's no chemistry in the default data, too, and can appreciate that it'd be very easy to go overboard.

 

Very true as well. Defining the level of "friendship" is no esy thing. I just look at what effect it has on the game. Either a "best friends" or a "loyalty" relationship is pretty big and can have a notable effect. With best friends, if you release or fire one, the other is very upset, sometimes to the point that they want out, too. With Loyalty, the loyal worker will turn down better offers to stay with the person they are loyal to. That's why I look at the real equivelent as being a really strong, bonded relationship between the two individuals, rather than more typical casual friendship.

 

It seems to me that a lot of real world mods tend to go overboard with relationships. I can kinda understand why, but given what an affect those relationships can have, its not always a good thing. Just because one worker said in an interview or autobiography that they liked and got along with another does necessarily mean "best friend" applies... would that worker have wanted to quit a given promotion if the other was released? If no, then its probably not a relatinpship of that level....

[Gigas]

<p>of course some tag teams do have good friendships already like Demon Spite/Demon Anger, Fate is loyal to Chance etc.. Grease Hogg and Lead Belly..</p><p> </p><p>

Dont think it should be all and I think the ones they have are represented well.</p>

[alphadraighon]

I agree in principle, that it makes sense that people who have worked closely together for a long time could form a friendship. But while I agree that it could happen, it doesn't always seem likely. Also, two people who work well together don't necessarily have to like each other.

 

The most famous example of this that I can think of are actually outside of the world of pro wrestling, but are still good examples: First, the comedy/magic duo of Penn & Teller. The pair have worked together for something like 20 years, and work very well together. However, they don't actually like each other, and don't spend any time together outside of work.

 

I could see this being the case with tag teams. I like the idea of that such a relationship could develop over time, but I could see it also bogging things down with all the extra relationships.

[The-619]

I was actually thinking about this the other day and I think that it would be more realistic if tag team partners or wrestlers who have worked together in some form for a long period of time would have some sort of relationship.

[Remianen]

The defaut C-vers is pretty skimpy on the relationships. But I think its for good reason - a ton of relationships can really skew how things develop over time.

 

Also, a ton of relationships can make the game run MUCH slower. We saw this with mods being made for 08. Plus, there is such a thing as a business relationship. If you recall, Sammy Bach and Teddy Powell were a highly experienced tag team but the moment Sammy got a singles opportunity in the big time, the relationship was no longer good for (his) business.

 

The-619, a business relationship is a relationship. It's just not noted by the game (and for good reason). That's like saying someone who had worked for the same promotion for a long time should have a relationship with the owner or (long time) booker. It's a business relationship, nothing more, nothing less. The game doesn't have to tell you that. Furthermore, if it did, the DB would be overloaded (because there are as many business relationships in TEW as there are entries in the contract file). That's precisely why relationships start at 'strong friendship'. Everyone has people they work with or are friendly with. That doesn't necessarily mean all those people will get bailed out of jail when they call in the middle of the night (as an example), which is one of the things a 'strong friendship' would lend itself to, no?