Debuting in 2005, Trevor Murdoch and Lance Cade quickly became the heel tandem that WWE built its tag team division around. At least for a month. The pair was a good old-fashioned team of southern boys who liked to fight and was concerned with only thing: capturing the WWE Tag Team Championships. They did that very early in their run, defeating The Hurricane and Rosey to capture the gold at Unforgiven 2005. Rather than having a lengthy run that allowed them to gain any sort of traction with the audience, Cade and Murdoch dropped the titles two months later to Kane and Big Show. Their title aspirations evaporated, they still managed to deliver between the ropes, indicating that they could be a central figure in the tag division for years to come. In 2007, they climbed back into the thick of the tag title scene, feuding with Matt and Jeff Hardy in a mutual respect angle. After dropping several bouts to the brothers, Cade and Murdoch finally wrestled the championships away from the Hardys on the June 4 episode of Raw. It was proof positive that hard work and determination did pay off. Unfortunately, the inconsistencies of the booking team reared their ugly heads and Cade and Murdoch found themselves lost in the shuffle again, losing their titles to Paul London and Brian Kendrick before being split up and sent in two different directions. Murdoch tried his hand at the singles game, becoming a somewhat successful comedic midcarder on Raw while Cade was paired with Chris Jericho in his war with Shawn Michaels, clearly a much more high-profile gig than his partner enjoyed. Sadly, Cade had many personal demons, He was released from his WWE contract in October 2008 and, less than two years later, passed away at the age of 29.
Erik Beaston is a freelance pro wrestling writer who likes long walks in the park, dandelions and has not quite figured out that this introduction is not for Match.com. He resides in Parts Unknown, where he hosts weekly cookouts with Kane, The Ultimate Warrior, Papa Shango and The Boogeyman. Be jealous.
