7. Tag Team Wrestling Is A Cornerstone Of The Product
Whether it's now-main roster performers like The Ascension or the Lucha Dragons, or NXT-familiar performers like Dawson and Wilder, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, the Vaudevillians or ex-tag champs Blake and Murphy, tag team wrestling is a focus of NXT's product. Unlike the main roster, tag team performers are given the time to get over, cut promos, develop personalities and have main event-promoted feuds. On the main roster, tag teams are oftentimes an afterthought, featuring two singles competitors who can't seem to get over the hump. Tag teams that become top acts almost do so by accident, maximizing their minimal TV exposure are forcing their way into being depended upon parts of the main roster's creative picture. Tags getting a push in NXT is an old school nod that really gives the product a fresh, yet classic appeal that's appreciated. Proof positive of this? The Dusty Rhodes Invitational? A TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT that was pushed as a draw on TV for many weeks.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
