When I think of the pioneers of tag team wrestling, I think of hours of grainy black and white footage of 4 guys flopping on the mat. Now you may ask yourself, "what the hell does this have to do with The Naturals?" and I have no proper rebuttal to your question because the pioneers of tag team wrestling sucked. Yeah I said it. They sucked. However, they do share that all important label of "pioneer" with The Naturals.
Often forgotten among the TNA Originals, Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens were exactly what their tag team name says they are. They joined TNA in 2003 and within their first year with the company they defeated the best of the best, America's Most Wanted, for the coveted NWA Tag Team Titles. They would drop them to Elix Skipper and Chris Harris. They started a stable with Chris Candido whom they teamed up with until his death. (TNA would replace Candido with Jimmy Hart as their manager). They won the NWA World Tag Team titles for a second time in April of 2005 and held them until October before losing to AMW. In 2006, they started an angle with The Franchise Shane Douglas taking them under their wing. On screen, it helped the team gain wins but it lasted a month before TNA gave up on the team and they were released a year later.
Now you're probably thinking, "Why would I write an article about a team that a company had given up on", right? Because I like to think outside of the box. The reason I labeled them pioneers is because The Naturals were of the original TNA Teams to put the company on the map along with Triple X, AMW and The Disciples of the New Church. In terms of charisma these guys were about as interesting as an 2,000 page Encyclopedia on Wheat. They were boring. Luckily for you and I, the microphone doesn't determine which teams I pick every Tuesday. When they were paired up with AMW, they always brought their A Game and together they delivered the best tag team matches in TNA up to that point. Don't believe me? Watch their Six Sides of Steel match for the NWA Tag Team Titles then get back to me.
What disappoints me is that these guys were promoted as the future of the company and they looked evey bit the part until they got in front of a microphone. I get that. Everyone doesn't have that it factor. However to have Shane Douglas flat out quit on them and have them not even try to exact revenge or be pushed afterwards was kind of a dick move on TNA's part. As Tag Team Champs they always delivered in the ring so the least they could have done is treat them with respect. But Hey, you win some and you lose some. At least we have those cool bandanas to remember them by.
-Ameen
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