Rick Boogs is back, and the moment WWE showed him backstage alongside Elias, my mind immediately asked the question: “Are they going to feud or become a tag team?”
Boogs plays the air guitar now, but he’s more than showcased his actual skills playing Shinsuke Nakamura to the ring for months. That also showed he works well as half of a tag team, even if the pairing doesn’t seem like it makes sense at face value.
Elias, naturally, has a gimmick that revolves entirely around playing the guitar. That means they’re either going to clash in a “there’s not enough room for the both of us” way, or use that commonality to forge a bond.
In my mind, you can do both. But it is much harder to form the tag team after the feud than the other way around, teaming them up and having them eventually split.
So this got me thinking. How would this work? And what other tag teams should WWE forge with the current roster?
We’ve seen Fallon Henley with Kiana James, Braun Strowman with Ricochet, a possible reunion of The Hurt Business, and more.
Let’s explore some other ideas.
Elias and Rick Boogs
As mentioned, I think this should be a tag team, for sure. Shinsuke Nakamura is on the opposite brand and works better as a singles star, in my opinion.
Credit to this Reddit thread from 8 months ago, wherein people were tossing out team name ideas for this potential duo.
Among my favorites are:
- Two Man Power Cord
- No Strings Attached
- Heavy Metal
- Power Rock
- 6 String Salvation
- Rhythm and Boogs (probably my favorite, since it is so silly)
I don’t think they could be the sole tag team champions in WWE, but if they catch on enough and if WWE splits the tag titles after WrestleMania like I think they’re going to do, I could imagine them holding the ones that aren’t on Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (assuming they beat The Usos).
Dana Brooke and Emma
For a brief moment in the Royal Rumble, Dana Brooke saved Emma. She said that she had her back because of their previous alliance.
Naturally, a moment later, both were eliminated. Womp womp.
But I still think the best course of action is to rekindle that team, if not for any reason other than mercy.
Brooke couldn’t even get a better featured role on the roster as 24/7 champion. That stuff was horrendous and as soon as Triple H took charge, he sidelined it and eventually tossed it in the garbage (or, Cross failed to do so, but we all know who pulled that trigger). Emma, meanwhile, hasn’t done jack since coming back to WWE and is quickly fading into obscurity.
The women’s tag team division needs more pairs, and not all of them can be winners. Some of them have to be the duo that loses to put the other teams over.
While Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler can destroy anyone who comes their way, Emma and Dana Brooke would be a perfectly fine pair to go out there on house shows and lose on Raw and SmackDown.
It’s better to do that than to do nothing, right?
Natalya and Raquel Rodriguez (temporarily)
I’m getting a sneaking suspicion we’re having another multi-woman tag team turmoil match at WrestleMania with Damage CTRL, Rousey/Baszler potentially, Becky Lynch and someone, etc.
If that’s the case, rather than a women’s battle royal, I think we’re looking at a potential situation where Raquel Rodriguez has no spot on the card.
Frankly, I don’t want that to happen. I’d like to see her continue to be built up and not miss out on a Mania moment.
So when it comes to finding her a tag team partner after she’s already gone through so many in such a short time (Dakota Kai, Aliyah, Shotzi and more), I say pair her with Natalya, at least for WrestleMania season.
There’s a connection there in that they are both second-generation Superstars. Raquel’s father isn’t as well known to the WWE Universe as Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, but Ricky “Desperado” Gonzalez was indeed a wrestler.
It doesn’t need to last forever. In fact, it shouldn’t. Raquel should be someone built up to challenge Rhea Ripley once she hopefully beats Charlotte Flair. But in the meantime, there isn’t a women’s midcard championship to give to her, so let’s put her with Nattie and have them vie for the tag titles instead.
Dolph Ziggler and Mustafa Ali
These two are bickering back and forth (or, more so, Mustafa Ali keeps trying to pick a fight with Dolph Ziggler), and it’s becoming one of those “are you going to punch each other or kiss?” type situations.
Considering how little a feud between the two would mean right now during the most important stretch of the year when the company will be focused on guys like Brock Lesnar, Logan Paul, and more, a tag team would be a better route.
Ziggler works well in nearly every tag team he’s been part of. He’s just a great wrestler all around. Ali struggles to maintain relevancy when he’s a singles division act. Granted, he’s not had much success in a tag team, either, but at least he can split the difference.
If the two guys are going to be filler Superstars in singles match, they can still do that while also being in the tag team division. Double-dip. Nobody loses.
#DIY Reunion with Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa
The moment Tommaso Ciampa is healed up and ready to go, he needs to come back as the tag team partner for Johnny Gargano; not The Miz.
It was off to a rough start, but I understand what they were doing with Ciampa and The Miz. At least, I get what their goal was. They wanted to pair Ciampa up with someone who is a great talker, a flexible act who can win or lose and carry feuds, and to give him some spotlight beyond just “this NXT guy is a good wrestler and you should like him for that.”
But that time has long passed by. If he continues being The Miz’s lackey, it will be a waste.
Meanwhile, we know how awesome #DIY was. Gargano and Ciampa are an amazing team—more so than Gargano and Dexter Lumis—and they could have a great run as champions against any other team out there.
Give me Ciampa and Gargano against The Usos. Against Zayn and Owens. The Viking Raiders. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. All the teams!
Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell
Yes, just reform The Way, even though Austin Theory isn’t going to be part of it and he was arguably the best part.
Indi Hartwell isn’t going anywhere in NXT. She’s reached a point where I think she’s learned all that she can learn, and I highly doubt they’re going to consider her for an NXT Women’s Championship run any time soon.
Call her up to the main roster. Put her with Candice so she has something to do.
Technically, Candice could just team up with Michin some more, or start something with Tegan Nox or Shotzi or Liv Morgan, but Hartwell will get lost in the shuffle on her own.
With that being said…
Asuka / Liv Morgan / Nikki Cross / Shotzi / Tegan Nox
All five of these Superstars could reasonably turn into a tag team, for the most part, and I wouldn’t bat an eye. It only takes a little tweaking to get them in the same style ring gear and you’re good to go.
Asuka is the biggest outlier. But we’ve seen her teaming with Bianca Belair and Alexa Bliss, so stranger things have happened. Frankly, I like her better on her own, but I wouldn’t be opposed to her teaming with one of the others.
My ideal scenario would be that we get Nikki teaming with Shotzi. Both have more manic energy that would suit each other the best, I feel. Plus, Liv and Tegan have already had some moments teaming together, so we might as well preserve some of that. I wasn’t as big of a fan of the Tegan and Shotzi pairing overall and would rather do something different than to go back to that, but even that would still give them something to do.
Axiom and Scrypts
Scrypts is beyond stupid in many ways. The outfit looks ridiculous. His gimmick is lame. Reggie is on the smaller side and does lots of cool flips, so why is he a heel you’re supposed to boo? I’m not going to take him seriously as a threat when he goes up against someone like Bron Breakker.
If you’re not going to put a mask on Nathan Frazer to gimmick him up as a superhero, turn Scrypts babyface and let him do the flippy stuff as one-half of a jobber team with Axiom.
Speed Round of Other Ideas
- Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn are obviously heading in this direction. I think it’s the right decision and they’ll be the next NXT women’s tag team champions.
- Elektra Lopez is trying to recruit Valentina Feroz. Do it. I wasn’t digging the Feroz and Yulisa Leon tag team. If not, pair Lopez up with Lola Vice.
- Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson could work.
- Maybe Cora Jade and Blair Davenport?
- Add Luca Crusifino to Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo. Make him an underling.
- I kind of want to see what Apollo Crews and Oro Mensah can do together.
- Maybe Damon Kemp would be a good teammate for Charlie Dempsey or Drew Gulak, if he ditches Hank Walker?
What ideas for tag teams do you have? Who do you think WWE should pair up? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
