Are there more than two types of tag team matches?

[DannyNL]

Excluding gimmick matches like TLC, ladder, etc, and focusing on just standard tag matches, are there more than two types?

a) Faces get early advantage, heels then isolate one face and beat them up, face finally makes hot tag, fresh face cleans house, faces win.

b) Faces get early advantage, heels then isolate one face and beat them up, face finally makes hot tag, fresh face cleans house, heels win (usually by cheating).

Are there tag matches that don't follow this format? I stopped following wrestling around 2004 or so, but I tune in every now and then while channel surfing. I saw a tag match on and I was like... fuck... this is the exact same match I was watching when I was a kid.

 

[Good Ole Stannis's BBQ]

Excluding gimmick matches like TLC, ladder, etc, and focusing on just standard tag matches, are there more than two types?

a) Faces get early advantage, heels then isolate one face and beat them up, face finally makes hot tag, fresh face cleans house, faces win.

b) Faces get early advantage, heels then isolate one face and beat them up, face finally makes hot tag, fresh face cleans house, heels win (usually by cheating).

Are there tag matches that don't follow this format? I stopped following wrestling around 2004 or so, but I tune in every now and then while channel surfing. I saw a tag match on and I was like... fuck... this is the exact same match I was watching when I was a kid.

That's pretty much the standard wwe tag team match. It's mostly because Vince doesn't really like tag team wrestling and thinks they're undercard performers. When a duo gets over he usually just takes that to mean one of them has singles potential and splits them up too early. Nxt have given them a bit more freedom though and have put on some good tag team stuff the last few years so there's hope.

 

[sleepwalk]

According to Jim Cornette:
No, there isn't. There shouldn't be and, if think otherwise, you're the stupidest goddamn son-of-a-bitch motherfucker he's ever seen in his whole motherfucking life, fuck you very much, motherfucker!

According to The Briscoes:
Yes. The faces come out hot, tear it up, then exchange no-sold superspots with the other team for fifteen minutes, then the faces each hit finishers on both heels and get simultaneous pinfall victories.

According to The Young Bucks:
Same as above but with 632558 superkicks.

According to Vince:
Yes. You have the one team come out with a comedy gimmick and needlessly provoke conflict. That team is now the faces and the team they insult are now the heels. Then the heels challenge and the faces cheap shot them. Then you hire bikini models to come out and beat down the heels. Then the faces hit the stinkface and the vis-agra on the heels, shout their catch phrase and get a big pop. Then Roman comes out.

 

[ThunderL1ps]

Tag-team matches haven't been worth watching since the 80's when there was enough talent in the industry to have really good matches. If you haven't watched since 2004 or even 1994, you haven't missed anything of note.

As far as format, the psychology is double-teaming the face as that is going to make the fans cheer and boo the heels. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. It follows the general course that you listed, but sometimes it is not always the case.

Fuck I hate today's wrestling.

 

[UL]

I used to love playing tornado tag team matches on the earlier wwf/e games

 

[gspieler]

It's a lost art; like most other things in wrestling.

 

[the muntjac]

I remember when the Hardy Boyz and the Brood had the same exact match week in and week out.

But yeah, the two scenarios you've describe are definitely the only two formats seen during tag matches. Not in just WWE either. I've seen it across all promotions. With Survivor Series, follow the same formula, but with more wrestlers.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Hardy Boys, Dudleys and Edge and Christian changed that whole dynamic for a while.

They were the freshest group of Tag Teams since the early 90s.

The APA was fucking badass too in that era

 

[chubbman]

According to Jim Cornette:
No, there isn't. There shouldn't be and, if think otherwise, you're the stupidest goddamn son-of-a-bitch motherfucker he's ever seen in his whole motherfucking life, fuck you very much, motherfucker!

 

[Wariowokecancel]

Road Warriors tag match would be squash squash squash.

 

[Wariowokecancel]

There's a reason that something are standard over a 100 years of wrestling. They work. And standard doesn't mean you see it all the time because Vince thought it up.

 

[Falsedawn]

Watch NJPW if you want good tag matches.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

You could just have 4 guys in the ring hitting each other with light tubes for 20 minutes. Bleeding like stuck pigs.

Like they do in japan and parts of America