How to book Tag Teams?

[The Celt]

I'm not good at booking Tag Teams at all.

 

Instead of the extra players involved giving me more ideas, they less to give me less for some reason.

 

Anyone out there who enjoys booking tag teams what to throw out what they do?

[bookerman]

You can kinda look at tag teams like doubles teams in tennis. You could have two relatives, two complimentary wrestlers (one quick the other power), a young up and comer and a veteran who has been around the block(Magnum TA and Mr Wrestling II), two young guys looking to make a name in the business(Gen Next in RoH), two veteran guys who have had some singles success but are better as a team (think Arn and Tully), two big guys who come out and beat the crap out of people (Road Warriors, MVC), two smallish guys who are tag team speacilaists (Rock and Roll Express). Lots of options.

 

Typically, you want some high end tags with good experience and/or good chemistry on the face and heel sides. Then you need 3-4 teams that are coming up or are midcard teams. Ideally, you'd have 10 teams, 5 face and 5 heel. The top tier teams on each side would be capable of main eventing if needed against either another tag team or against each other. The next tier would be solid teams that are worthy opponents for teams on the other side. The last team or two on each side would be a new combination that you're working on getting experience for. You either go the exclusive tag route (where they only wrestle tags) or talented singles wrestlers paired together.

 

Hope that helps. Bigpapa42 is the tag expert and their are some others who will be able to help you along as well.

[Phantom Stranger]

What bookerman says is pretty good as far as the mechanics goes. Is that what you want, or are you after storyline ideas, program philosophies, that sort of thing?

[soxfan93]

Actually, I would like some help in this area, too. I'm having a hard time getting both partners over. For example, in my 2001 WWF game, D-Von Dudley has 72 USA Popularity, while Bubba Ray is at 64. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did.

[Remianen]

Actually, I would like some help in this area, too. I'm having a hard time getting both partners over. For example, in my 2001 WWF game, D-Von Dudley has 72 USA Popularity, while Bubba Ray is at 64. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did.

 

Bonuses. If you look at the dirt sheet, you'll notice the various bonuses handed out. Those are on an individual basis but affect the match overall. Also, in angles (matches too, I believe), the partner with higher star quality ALWAYS gets more overness from a segment (that's part of what SQ is for, after all). If they wrestle singles matches at all, that will also lead to imbalances.

 

As for how to book teams, I don't see it as being all that difficult. I have a bunch of teams who I see as teams and they'll rarely (if ever) wrestle singles matches. They're a team and they work as a team. The thing most people don't get is that tag team experience works as somewhat of a modifier when it comes to match quality. That little dirt sheet note about (+) for tag team experience, gets larger as the team becomes more experienced. Two 'meh' workers can put on pretty good matches as a team if their experience is over 90. One problem is, most folks aren't willing to let a good worker "languish" in a tag team but that's a problem that exists in reality as well. It's why you won't see any Road Warriors/3D type teams anymore. Everyone's looking for the next Bret or Shawn (or Sammy Bach, if you prefer).

 

Here's the "easy" way to get good to great results booking tag teams.

 

1) Put together your teams (whether by chemistry or skillset)

2) Keep them together. I'll say it again. Keep. them. together.

3) Put them in matches as a team.

 

You'll find your results begin to ramp up noticeably once your teams break 78 experience.

[Boltinho]

yeah... tag ex[eroence is awesome.

 

Once you get guys high up then theor matches skyrocket. As well as the fact that theyve probably got popular due to the time spent working solidly together. And you get a good feeling of accomplishment from having built them up.

 

My advice would be to make tag feuds for 3 or 4 teams. Assume you want a big blow-off matc with them all in the ring (TLC or a gimmick is great here) and then just list all the possibilities.

 

team A vs team B

team A vs Team C

team B vs Team C

 

A vs B

AA vs BB

BB vs C

A vs BB vs CC

 

etc etc

 

and then its just a big fat list of matches you can have where the 3rd team (and managers and allies) can interfere building tension

[soxfan93]

Bonuses. If you look at the dirt sheet, you'll notice the various bonuses handed out. Those are on an individual basis but affect the match overall. Also, in angles (matches too, I believe), the partner with higher star quality ALWAYS gets more overness from a segment (that's part of what SQ is for, after all). If they wrestle singles matches at all, that will also lead to imbalances.

 

It must be the bonuses then. Bubba has 67 SQ, while D-Von has 64. Also, Bubba has wrestled two singles matches, and D-Von has had one; neither picked up a win.

 

Thank you for the great tips in this thread. It will certainly help me out.

[bookerman]

Not to game the system too much, but if you do 3 and 4 way tag matches all the teams gain experience. That just gave me the idea of having a 4 way each show as sort of a promotion system. 4 teams in it and as teams improve/gain experience, they start winning more, until they've either moved out of the the 4 way and into regular tag matches/feuds or shown themselves unable to get over and the tag partners feud and get new partners.

[James Casey]

I like to have a mix of teams. as noted above - brawler/speed, brothers, monster/loudmouth, technician/allrounder, power/power...

 

The 'best' tag teams of all time (in American male-oriented companies, before anyone objects) have tended to be two guys who don't necessarily have the X factor needed to break the top of the singles division - at least at that point in their career. Although there are many exceptions you only have to look at teams like the Midnights, RnR Express, LoD and New Age Outlaws to see what benefits you can get from a long-term pairing of two guys who, individually, might not stand out in the company.

 

Teams can help the individual guys get over - tag experience is a huge leveller in terms of match quality. I'll generally get as good results for a midcard tag match between two established teams as I will for a tag match between four random main eventers. In the meantime, those repeated matches will see your guys remain visible, build experience and skills (some of my tag guys have jumped seven or eight points in key stats in ten months, just from facing each other) and if the time comes they're ready for a singles push, they'll be like a new signing.

 

And the beauty of tag teams is that there doesn't have to be a reason for a feud between teams. I find them much easier to book than singles in that regard, because the varying personalities of team members make recycling feuds that much simpler - and simple feuds can be livened up by those personalities.

[Winter8905]

I developed my Tag division on the 2010 Gandi mod.. I brought back Jeff hardy and had him mainly Tag with Matt again... stuck the tag titles on them and had a feud with them and the Motor City Machine guns...... Idea was for MCMG to prove there worth and to prove they are the future of tag tam wrestling and that the Hardyz were past it.

 

Over 4 moths I built up MCMG by having them beating other tag teams like London/Kendrick, Harlem Thunder (Booker T/ Shelton Benjamin) and Celtic Warriors (Shamus/Red Vinny) until they got up the card enough to compete properly against the Hardyz for the title..

 

Hardzy would defend the title every month against other teams while MCMG were beating the other teams. MCMG and the Hardyz would attack each other/ confrontations to keep the feud going at the start without facing each other very often etc.

 

Occasionally Hardyz would face MCMG with Hardyz winning... MCMG getting closer each time.

 

After half a year MCMG and Hardyz were roughly on the same level of the card. with MCMG 2 time tag champs and still in a great feud the Hardyz. Unfortunately Jeff got Injured for 5 months and I had to end there feud :/

 

Matts been jobbing to the main eventers... while MCMG are now helping push London/Kendrick up the card and giving Harlem Thunder/ Celtic Warrior small feuds... exchanging titles.

 

....................

 

Tag teams are good for developing and pushing Young wrestlers.. Like I had Shamus tagging with Red Vinny.. Red Vinny had 1 pop when he first came which gradually grew as he tagged with shamus and he developed well aswell. Vinny is now around lower mid card/midcard and a tag team champion.

 

Tagging young guys with people like Chavo/Regal/Finlay would be a great way to develop them too.

[The Celt]

What bookerman says is pretty good as far as the mechanics goes. Is that what you want, or are you after storyline ideas, program philosophies, that sort of thing?

 

Yeah, as far as gimmicks go I don't have a problem, and while I appreciate people pointing out the different combos you can have I think I've a grasp on that too. It's solid storylines that I can't quite think up for tag teams for some reason.

 

So if anyone could talk to me about that, that'd be cool.

[Phantom Stranger]

Yeah, as far as gimmicks go I don't have a problem, and while I appreciate people pointing out the different combos you can have I think I've a grasp on that too. It's solid storylines that I can't quite think up for tag teams for some reason.

 

So if anyone could talk to me about that, that'd be cool.

 

As anyone who's read TCW knows, I'm all about the tag teams.

 

On the other hand, I'm about to duck out of the house. So consider this a reminder to myself to spiel on this subject when I come back.

[James Casey]

Here's a few:

 

Perpetual Challengers - One team is presented as the nearly men of the division, missing out when presented with chances to earn a title shot, or when they do, they can't seal the deal in the title match. That might be a lack of experience, it might be an external factor (a traitorous manager, say) or it might even be that they're a cruiser team in a heavyweight-oriented promotion. The chase could be a long-term thing, or just spread over a few months, but it keeps them in the public eye while other teams get to carry the titles.

 

Man Down - When a member of a team gets injured, their partner goes on a revenge spree. Healthy guy may face the team that did it in singles (which, naturally, become handicap matches if the injury-causing team are heels) or tags (with a different partner every time, avoiding the booking penalty and also searching for tag chemistry). When the injured partner recovers, the heat for the revenge match should be boiling. Carried out to great effect in 1990 by both the Rockers (singles, vs. Power & Glory) and the RnR Express (tag, vs. the Freebirds)

 

Jealousy - One partner gets more attention than the other, be it from a romantic interest or just crowd attention. That sows seeds of dissension between the two, leading to problems in their matches. The two can either resolve their problems, or split if they've done pretty much everything you might want them to do. This could also play into the first storyline, with the issues being one of the things holding them back.

 

The Pace Setters - One team is a long, long way ahead of the others in the company, so much so that it's almost embarrassing. You can either have them

a) heel it up by belittling the teams below them, until eventually they get brought down to earth with a bump

b) doing their best to raise the standard of the division so they actually have a challenge

c) doing just enough to win until the standard of the teams around them starts to rise, at which point they realise they could be in trouble

 

The Rivals - With or without the belts, faces or heels, singles or tags, two teams are intrinsically entwined in each others' fortunes. It might be a case of chemistry, similar styles, or just that they're the best two teams in the company, but whatever the reason, this is a never-ending feud that bubbles under even if they go for a while without necessarily crossing swords (think Hardys/E&C/Dudleys, RNR/Midnights)

 

That's just a few possibles. I'm sure more people will share theirs.

[1234]

I think the main thing that helped me with tag team booking was building a large division.

 

5 Main event level teams, 5 Midcard/Jobber teams and a couple of occasional. If you keep a good division of core teams fueds should come naturally.

 

I used to split up teams much too frequently, but making them an almost seperate division to the rest of my promotion made things a lot easier. And if I did split up teams, both generally wind up with new partners and fued against each other. I pretty much think of teams as a unit now, instead of two singles wrestlers doing this until something better comes up.

 

The stories should be almost identical to singles stories. Underdog scoring the big win. Or trying to gain respect. Maybe have a Mentor/Rookie relationship. Maybe have the team that cheats to stay at the top. Etc.

[Remianen]

Although there are many exceptions you only have to look at teams like the Midnights, RnR Express, LoD and New Age Outlaws to see what benefits you can get from a long-term pairing of two guys who, individually, might not stand out in the company.

 

Wasn't Billy Gunn's problem that he was oozing with star quality but had nothing else? I'd agree that it's a good example though. You had the guy with the great look (and star quality?) who was devoid of any mic skill paired with the guy who had a crappy look (comparatively speaking) but was magic on the mic.

[Phantom Stranger]

Phantom's Philosophy Of Tag Booking

 

First, let me say this depends on what type of team you're dealing with. Broadly speaking, there are three options.

 

1. Long-Term Teams
   
2. Short-Term Teams
   
3. Short-Term Superteams
   

 

Superteams - your Mega-Powers, et al, come with their own plotlines, really. You're bringing them into the tag world for a reason, and their interaction with other tag teams will stem from that.

 

Short-term teams are what the WWE specialise in now. For the most part, you don't need much in the way of story for them - they'll split up too soon, with maybe a title run and then a feud ahead.

 

So long-term teams are the primary focus where.

 

What differentiates a long-term team from the other type?

 

Well, they're long-term. An obvious plot, then, is the reverse of a traditional split; the team has a weak link in some way, or their opponents try to make one member think their partner's a weak link. This builds, in the traditional way, to a payoff match... where it becomes clear that the team remains strong, and as a result, they come through in the clinch.

 

Two tag teams see partners go on to individual glory, and the pair left behind unite, looking to prove that they're as good by creating a new team with its own reputation.

 

In a pushing-the-envelope promotion, a tag team might stay together because they both love the same woman... and both know she's with the other, too.

 

And all of those things can have 3-4 programs to really express them, before you consider the other kinds of program - or, better, interspersed.

[Eidenhoek]

Although it's not what the topic is about (storylines), when I get back to my Let's Play NYCW diary, I'll be posting about tag teams.

 

In short, I-paradoxically-believe they are vital to one of the easiest methods of small promotion growth.

[James Casey]

Wasn't Billy Gunn's problem that he was oozing with star quality but had nothing else? I'd agree that it's a good example though. You had the guy with the great look (and star quality?) who was devoid of any mic skill paired with the guy who had a crappy look (comparatively speaking) but was magic on the mic.

 

I never thought Gunn was anything special in terms of his look/SQ, either - but I would probably be in the minority there. However, he was definitely lacking in anything to make him stand out beyond that, and getting tagged with some of the worst gimmicks in WWF history didn't help, of course...

[Phantom Stranger]

Although it's not what the topic is about (storylines), when I get back to my Let's Play NYCW diary, I'll be posting about tag teams.

 

In short, I-paradoxically-believe they are vital to one of the easiest methods of small promotion growth.

 

I think it depends what you mean by small.

 

Local? No. Small? No. Regional? We're getting there.

[cappyboy]

I think it depends what you mean by small.

 

Local? No. Small? No. Regional? We're getting there.

 

Definitely agree at Local. Just not enough talent to go around to do tags on a Local sized roster unless you're forgoing singles action altogether. But at Small, I think it depends on how you're playing. If you're playing to where you don't run weekly until you get to Regional and can afford it better, then yeah. You're probably right at Small too.

 

However, in my training games, Small is where I start getting my tag division together. With the suggested size of 16, that's eight people to contend for the world title and eight put in tag teams to form the nucleus of the division. Jobber teams can then be made up in talent trades or you can stick the lesser members of your singles ranks with members of the teams who aren't contesting for the tag team gold. The tag division may be kind of sparse at first at Small. But you'll have enough people for it to be functional.

[Truth]

A good place to get great storylines for tag teams is look out for the bookers who tend to feature tag teams and steal from them. Two great examples of this in recent history are Paul heyman and Jim Cornette. Cornette built his entire career around tag teams, and his Smokey Mountain stuff has great ideas for tag team feuds, and ECW always had a super strong tag team division with the Dudleys, Impact Players, Eliminators, Public Enemy, etc.

 

I find that if you have one strong tag team, then a good sotryline to go with is the split. For example, I ran a TNA game where Beer Money were super over, but noone else was close, so I built a jealousy angle with Roode getting jealous of Storm getting singles title shots etc. He brings in Claudio Castignoli as his new partner in a rich guy tag team and starts attacking Storm, who brings back Chris Harris, thus giving me 2 teams and an eternal feud the division can be built around.

 

TCW are an example of a tag division that is easy to run. With the perenial feud between the New Wave and the Machines, you have two great tag teams with a great history that other teams can get experience from, and a secondary feud between the LA Connection and the Canadian Animals with who is the next big thing of tag teams. Add to that the experience of the Tag Team Specialists (as long as Oxford stays around), and with a bit of work you can make Texas Buffalo a pretty good monster heel team. Bring in a couple of new teams (the Cali Dragons and Greg & Matt Keith are obvious candidates) and that is a division that can drive the whole promotion.

[cappyboy]

You can kinda look at tag teams like doubles teams in tennis. You could have two relatives, two complimentary wrestlers (one quick the other power), a young up and comer and a veteran who has been around the block(Magnum TA and Mr Wrestling II), two young guys looking to make a name in the business(Gen Next in RoH), two veteran guys who have had some singles success but are better as a team (think Arn and Tully), two big guys who come out and beat the crap out of people (Road Warriors, MVC), two smallish guys who are tag team speacilaists (Rock and Roll Express). Lots of options.

 

Love this post. A lot of good meat here. When you're looking to put tag teams together, it basically comes down to what's the common bond? Why are these two guys joining forces? Brother Bookerman gives you several good examples of the common bond that makes the team. And often it can be these common bonds that create the feuds. Like with what he has here maybe you've just put Arn & Tully together and the Rock & Roll Express objects to Anderson & Blanchard thinking tag teams are going to be easy since they've had singles success. Or maybe you're playing WOTI and have Anderson & Blanchard dismiss Gen Next because of all they've seen over the years. The LoD turns heel and tries to mow down Ricky & Robert because they are smaller. Creating the feud can be as simple as letting the common bonds clash.

 

Typically, you want some high end tags with good experience and/or good chemistry on the face and heel sides. Then you need 3-4 teams that are coming up or are midcard teams. Ideally, you'd have 10 teams, 5 face and 5 heel. The top tier teams on each side would be capable of main eventing if needed against either another tag team or against each other. The next tier would be solid teams that are worthy opponents for teams on the other side. The last team or two on each side would be a new combination that you're working on getting experience for. You either go the exclusive tag route (where they only wrestle tags) or talented singles wrestlers paired together.

 

If there's a weakness in this post, it's right here. I very much agree with the tiering idea. But his numbers point to playing as a larger company. In my current game, I have six teams with one getting ready to split because one of the guys has shown the ability the potential to get over as a main eventer. Which means I should really look into finding a face job team. My alignment breakdown is two face teams and three heel sides. Well four including the one about to break up. I'm currently at Regional and that pool of six repesents growth in the division.

 

When I started the division I only had four teams and grew the division as I could to give more show space to more teams. My lead face team and the splitting heels have been warring with each other basically since the beginning of the tag division wth an exception I'll get into in a moment. Now they are about to be replaced in that fight by what used to be my jobber heels as the jobber's credibility has been built up over time. While my former face jobbers are about to become my mid-tier team by way of feud. So the theory's great. You just have to scale it to where you are in the size hierarchy.

 

But let me give you another piece of the puzzle. One that I haven't seen brought up much yet and can give a team a story even if they aren't feuding with another team and can be used to justify jobbing if need be. What are the interpersonal dynamics of your team? If they are just getting together, how well do they get along in story? If they are just getting together, maybe they don't? Or maybe once they start to taste success in goes to their head. The reason for the hiccup in my tag team war above was because of a success coming between the faces story. Donte Dunn turned on Zachary Inc and tried to push for the world title much like I'm getting ready to do with Wade Orson. But Dunn didn't take at the top so he and Inc were brought back together to resume the war with Orson and The Minor Annoyance.

 

This may seem like a no brainer. Why would guys team together f they didn't get along? Well, maybe the team is forced by your GM. Maybe you have two egomaniacs both trying to pad their resume with more gold. But they need to learn how to work as a team because they are both accustomed to having the spotlight to themselves. The common bond may be enough to bring them together but it might not always breed immediate unity. Some of the storylines I've been working on in the Cappy Pack work on this premise of the team chemistry suffering. I definitely understand why tag teams may seem harder to book. More people involved = more room for moving parts. But you think in terms of relationships, they can also be surprisingly easy.

[bookerman]

Go here:

 

http://kayfabememories.com/Regions/midsouth/msw.htm

 

and start with #2.

 

See some of the angles that Watts put together for tag teams and how to handle them. You can spend hours just reading what went on in Midsouth. Watts had a ton of talent - Dibiase, Duggan, JYD, Jake Roberts, Magnum TA, Ernie Ladd, Captain Redneck, Dr Death, RnR, Midnight Express, Freebirds...and he was able to do it all while making it as real as possible.

 

Read the part about the Flair/Dibiase/Murdoch angle and then go find the video of it. Just some amazing stuff. SMW is also covered in another area.