Tag Teams, Alliances, and even Factions have delighted wrestling fans for many years. When we see our favorite faces or heels come together and capitalize their opponents, we know we got our money's worth. Sometimes wrestling executives steer away from this because it concentrates too much on the group instead of the individuals. But nonetheless it's great entertainment.

I remember when the Undertaker and Vince McMahon formed the Corporate Ministry and in opposition to that the Union was formed. The biggest names in the WWE were involved with this feud and most of them had their careers propelled because of it. I found myself dying to know the outcome of each show and hoping Stone Cold would be the victor. This is just one of several alliances the WWE has wisely chosen to do, but there has been one time they failed to group together great wrestlers. It was when Triple H was still in control of the business and constantly attacked the Rock with DX. A tag team match had been set up between Earl Hebner/ The Rock vs. Triple H/ X-Pac. Triple H had won the match but continued to beat Hebner with DX and at that point Chris Jericho, The Big Show, Rikishi, even the Dudley Boys and perhaps another face came out to defend Hebner. The massive brawl thrilled the entire stadium to finally see Triple H get badly beaten during the McMahon/ Hemsley era. All of the men stood in the ring together finally as allies, but this would only last that night. Instead of having those characters form their own team, they were put against each other in matches where it would seem ridiculous for them to still want to be a team. In my eyes the WWE failed to provide a perfect opportunity for something the fans can support.

Wrestling executives sometimes do see the potential for groups to form, but in some case they cannot just let a good idea end sometime. In the case of the nWo, they had a rather large group of the top wrestlers ally themselves and dominate everyone else. That was a fantastic angle, which WCW greatly profited from, but it was enough. WCW writers constantly reformatted and reassigned nWo, by splitting the group and replacing characters. The stories didn't even seem consistent and often confused the fans with fake Stings and random spars with unrelated wrestlers. The writers continued with nWo idea until fans were sick of it and killed the popularity it once had. If they had just let group disperse when the timing was perfect, then the nWo could have gone down as one the of the best groups in franchise.

I found myself watching RAW, specifically the eight man tag match with The Big Show/ Matt Hardy/ Shawn Michaels/ John Cena vs. Edge/ Chris Masters/ Gene Snitsky/ Kurt Angle. It was a fantastic match with it's ups and downs, with no wrestler coming out as being the star of the match. At the end Edge got pinned by all four men, they all embraced each other in victory and stood together as a team. I thought to myself The Big Show is once again placed into a situation where he can be apart of something great or can continue individually and probably never amount to anything more than what he has shown. The WWE has the option to form a new group and have the fans chanting the name of the clan of their favorite faces. Most likely they will forget about forming a team and allow these men to continue on without bringing special attention to this, even if that is exactly what the fans want.

by Efrem Solomon ..