FanPost

Luke Harper Will Not be a Breakout Star: A Case Study

WWE.com

Despite support from fans that enjoy Luke Harper, the buzzard brother should not break out on his own. Harper and Rowan are a unit operating as part of Bray Wyatt’s stable, known collectively as the Wyatt Family. As the respective dragon and Harper and Rowan are big guys that reasonably look like they could beat anyone.

Harper himself is imposing, creepy, and interesting to watch. Because of that, and because of his indy following, some people want Harper to go off on his own in some capacity. But he will not and should not. When you think Harper, you think of the Wyatts.

Below, I list just a few tag teams where the members were synonymous with one another for whatever reason. Whether it be because they were introduced together or because they meshed well together, thinking of one of these members would make you think of the other. Something about that just made it natural to break them up.

In theory, a tag team breakup is intended to make two stars as was the intended case with the greatest example, Shawn Michaels’ breakup of the Rockers and his feud with former partner Marty Jannetty. Two stars were supposed to come out of it, but instead we got one megastar.

Maybe those were the hopes for all of these breakups. Maybe they hoped that a Shawn Michaels would emerge from the ashes of the former tag team. But in these cases, that did not happen in WWE. Shawn Michaels was lightning in a bottle.

Ever since then, people have been looking at great tag teams and plotting out when they would break up. WWE's decision makers and writers are no different. Time and time again, a tag team would be broken up without good reasons or a well-developed plan. In most cases, if they had been well-developed, they would not have broken up the team in the first place. Luke Harper will be yet another statistic if he breaks away.

Tag Team Breakups Gone Wrong:

14. The Smoking Gunns

Bart Gunn and Billy Gunn were two kayfabed brothers in a tag team. If you have not heard of this team, then you are better off for it. Yet another tag team of Southerners based purely on the fact that they were both Southerners. Things like that were still working back then. They won the Tag Team Championships on three occasions, reigning for 231 days over the course of their three-year tenure.

After they broke up, Bart went on to win the infamous Brawl for All, meaning that he was the toughest boxer in WWE. The toughest. Boxer. In WWE. When he faced the accomplished boxer Butterbean, the massive mound found it easy to pound him into the ground. All legitimacy was lost, and Bart soon departed from WWE.

Billy Gunn did one of those generic Southerner singles runs where he relied fully on being Southern. Something about Rockabilly. He shortly feuded with "Double J" Jeff Jarrett's manager, a guy called "The Roadie." Eventually, they saw their similarities and developed a new tag team. We now know The Roadie as "The Road Dogg" Jesse James.

In the words of Sunny, they were no-good cowboy wannabes. Sure the gimmick became out of touch, but they didn't solve it by putting Billy with Honky Tonk, someone even more old-fashioned.

13. The New Age Outlaws

Billy just couldn't catch a break. After leaving the Smoking Gunns, he became the protege of the Honky Tonk Man. No offense to Tonk, but no one wants to be anyone's protege, let alone the Honky Tonk Man's.

Fortunately, he ended up with Road Dogg after both he and Jesse decided that they both needed a little edge in their gimmicks. They became one of the greatest acts of the Attitude Era.

But just like The Smoking Gunns, they too broke up. Billy went with that whole Mr. Ass thing and then his partnership with Chuck.

Road Dogg went to TNA, and was there from 2002-2009. That is one long tour of duty. He was a founding member of the infamous Vince Russo stable Sports Entertainment Xtreme. More importantly, he also founded 3Live Kru, a multi-ethnic stable that also housed the African-American Ron Killings (R-Truth) and the Latino Konnan. That’s already more diversity than all of WWE’s history.

The two reunited during Billy’s time in TNA (2005-2009), when he joined as "The New Age Outlaw." After a failed attempt to get Dogg to join him, he instead joined 3Live Kru, which became 4Live Kru. Between all the jumps and bad planning, neither reached the heights of their time as the New Age Outlaws and their pairing in Degeneration X. I mean, their recent run in WWE was already handled better than most of their career.

At least Billy joined the Beautiful People.

12. Dudley Boyz

Split by the first WWE Draft, I have especially horrid memories of this breakup. The Dudleys were my favorite tag team just because they used tables all the time. I saw the episode where they were broken up, and that was my last episode of anything WWE for a very long time.

D-Von got that horrible Reverend D-Von gimmick, (see there the debut of Batista) and we know the only one that came out of that cleanly was Deacon Batista. Neither Bubba nor D-Von had a good singles run. Sure, they got back together, but no one cared by then. They got released in 2005 and made their way to TNA as Team 3D.

11. Hardy Boyz

One by one, the members of the tag team renaissance broke up. The Hardyz were not immune to the phenomenon. After losing to the tag team of Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman (you read that correctly), the two split, with Jeff having an interesting feud with Undertaker and Matt…being on Sunday Night Heat.

When Matt moved up to Smackdown, he formed a trio along with Crash Holly and real life friend Shannon Moore. Then he got cheated on by Lita in a shoot that was eventually used on television.

Jeff was released for drug problems, leading to his first stint in TNA from 2003-2006. From that point on, their teaming or feuding never really mattered. I mean, Hardy activity is always great, but nothing was ever as good as their time during their feuds with the Dudleys and Edge and Christian. Only recently in TNA and the indies has their pairing had relevancy.

10. Paul London and Billy Kidman

This pair is on this list because Paul London came onto TV by teaming with Kidman. That made him synonymous with the veteran performer.

WWE fans never care about cowardly inner struggles that play out on screen. We learned that when Paul London and Billy Kidman broke up in 2004. Billy gave Chavo Guerrero a legitimate concussion during a performance of the shooting star press, one of the many reasons the move was banned later.

Kidman then refused to do the move so that he wouldn't ever hurt anyone with it again. For some reason, that guilt was manifested in a heel turn instead of the more sensible turn of London against him for being weak. Their feud ended at No Mercy 2004, but by then, no one cared. Kidman, the man that once represented the Cruiserweight Division, was released in 2005. Reportedly, he had contract disputes over the flight downgrades WWE used to cut costs.

Fortunately, he had a first-class wife to see at home.

London went on for another few years in the WWE, pairing with The Brian Kendrick before being released in 2008.

9. Spirit Squad

Kenny, Johnny, Mitch, Nicky (Ziggies), and Mikey were a stable of corporate heel male cheerleaders. You can see them here trying to recruit CM Punk on OVW.

Kenny Dykstra. Not touching that one. Dykstra is only 28 now, so we have plenty of time for the return of Kenny, hopefully with a better name. At some point, he was engaged to Mickie James, so there’s that.

Johnny was sent down to OVW, where he retired in 2008. Sorry, but no one wants to retire from a developmental center.

Like fellow lister Billy Kidman, Mitch also dated Torrie Wilson. Supposedly, he was buried backstage for being a "fresh meat" no-name that "didn't deserve" the "hottest diva in the locker room." They were together from 2006-2011.

We all have to find it funny that the perky "Nicky" is the only one of them still in WWE.

Mikey went back to OVW as well before a run in Ring of Honor.

8. Cade and Murdoch

Three-time Tag Team Champions. That is not by any means a small feat.

The team of Southern guys (their entire theme) feuded with Cryme Tyme, Legion of Doom, and Paul London and The Brian Kendrick. There was a feud with Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes somewhere in there.

Here's a street fight match of Cade and Murdoch vs DX, accompanied by many, many gutter jokes from DX. Both Cade and Murdoch took some harsh spots for this match.

The breakup of "the Redneck Wrecking Crew," while not as harsh as others, did nothing to promote either. Murdoch’s character became a movie critic on WWE Unlimited, the segments that aired on WWE.com between commercials. Cade became a high-class southerner, if you will. Say that while imagining that your mouth is full of molasses.

Neither went anywhere. After their WWE releases in 2008, they did some bookings as a team before splitting off, Cade to Japanese promotions and Murdoch to TNA. Unfortunately, this team cannot be reunited to rectify their poorly booked breakup, as Cade passed away of heart failure in 2010. He lived to be 29.

Mixed Tag: Cade, Murdoch, and Melina vs B. Kendrick, London, and Mickie James

7. The Colóns

You know what cool is? It's not splitting up yet another pair of brothers with little or no benefit to either.

Carlito Caribbean Cool was getting pretty stale by 2009, so his pairing with real life brother Primo could not have come at a better time.

They too were broken up and feuded with one another.

They had a brief reunion that was interrupted by Carlito's departure from the company. He had an addiction to painkillers, and WWE knew it. They asked him to go to rehab, and he spat in their face for not wanting to be cool. WWE released him, which is why it was a little awkward to see Carlito, Primo, and Epico introduce the senior Colon for his induction. Carlito went on to the independent circuit as well as his family’s legendary World Wrestling Council.

Primo went on to team with cousin Epico before that team was phased out. Now Primo and Epico are Los Matadores, who are joined by the masked bull, El Torito. While Torito is loads of fun, I think I would rather have Rosa at ringside.

6. Cryme Tyme

Shad Gaspard and JTG were bringin’ it to the hood (notice a pre-Nexus Heath Slater in the video) when WWE decided to have them feud and break up one of the most fun acts of recent memory. The breakup came after a WrestleMania 26 dark match battle royal (what a mouthful) where Shad eliminated JTG.

The feud did nothing to elevate either wrestler, and their big moment came at Extreme Rules 2010 in the form of a Strap Match. A Strap. Match. The one where they just hit each other with rubber straps. JTG won, which makes sense since he was the babyface. But then Shad beat him in the blow off match on Superstars that week. That didn't make the conquering babyface look strong. Shad then went to FCW and was released later that year in November.

JTG was released as part of Black Thursday, and the two are finally back together. Thank goodness, because their careers without each other went nowhere. Together, they are a force of comedy that has to be taken seriously, no matter how much they try to convince you otherwise. Chea!

5. The Hart Dynasty

A great tag team made up Tyson Kidd, who trained at the Hart Dungeon, David Hart Smith, son of the British Bulldog, and Natalya, daughter of Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Their link to the Hart Foundation was a great feature, but it was not nearly as integral to their success as their chemistry with one another.

They were natural with each other, having known one another for years. So, naturally it made sense to make them break up and feud with each other.

But what if they hadn’t been? Imagine David and Kidd four years later if they had not been broken up. The Usos would have good rivals in the Hart Dynasty’s men. Maybe the Usos wouldn’t even be tag champs right now.

This one could be reformed someday, as both are still relatively young and able to work.

4. Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel

They both ended up in other tag teams, with Slater going on to 3MB and Gabriel to form International Airstrike with Tyson Kidd.

WWE decided that having Gabriel as a babyface would be totes great. Gabriel went on to become Hornswoggle’s buddy. He also competed in NXT’s Gold Rush tournament for the inaugural NXT Championship. He lost in the first round to Michael McGillicutty (Curtis Axel). No Superstar wants that on his record.

Admittedly, he did form the rising International Airstrike with Tyson Kidd, but that too was disbanded due to Kidd’s injury and was completely forgotten for months after Kidd's return. Regardless, Gabriel and Kidd are sort of back together on NXT.

Slater is somehow the more successful alumni of their pairing. I don't mean to insult Slater, but a guy like Gabriel came out worse than Slater, a performer whose losing streaks are as long as Rey Mysterio's absences. While 3MB was a stable of jibronis, they were on TV quite often and stole our hearts with their nonexistent music. Slater is now part of the movement known as Slater Gator, a team whose ceiling has not yet been met.

3. Tons of Funk

Brodus Clay became a "Main Event Playa" and kicked "Sweet T" "Tensai" Jason Albert to the side. Brodus went on to feud with Xavier Woods before both Brodus and Albert were relegated to NXT. There, Brodus feuded with Adrian Neville (and legitimately knocked the Brit’s teeth out), and Albert became a very competent commentator.

2. Prime Time Players

Buhh Buhh Buhhh Buhhhhhhh! "Let Me Show You How" a good tag team gets wasted.

A tag team formed when A.W. broke away from managing Primo and Epico. Seriously, when was the last time a tag team has had a significant origin story? The Real Americans are about it. The Axe Man and the Big Guy were just thrown together after Heyman threw them aside.

Obviously not the greatest of tag teams, but they were getting over. People were doing the "millions of dollars" dance. You know, it’s funny. Shad Gaspard, mentioned earlier as part of Cryme Tyme, called PTP complete ripoffs of his tag team.

Maybe it should not have been a surprise when WWE copied Cryme Tyme’s breakup too. Just like Shad, Titus got tired of Darren holding him back and broke away to have a great singles run. Oh, and look, he’s back in a tag team now. I’m happy that Slater Gator happened, but it was completely unplanned, and they broke up a tag team that was already great in the Prime Time Players.

Darren has probably had the worst treatment of anyone, heel or babyface. Judging by his past of very weak booking, his future is grim. He was violently kicked out of the Nexus and beaten up by Titus; no one seems to like the guy for very long. Look for him to be released after he rehabs his injury and has another run in the company.

1. LayCool

Layla El and Michelle McCool formed most infectious Divas tandem ever imagined. Hey, they were years behind TNA’s Beautiful People, but they more than made up for it with their brand of alluring annoyance. Together, they were the last great Divas tag team. Natalya and Beth Phoenix were no slouches either, but, real talk, LayCool had enough heat and sex appeal to burn down a glass house. In this clip, you can see LayCool save the entire viewing audience from a bland Natalya promo.

You couldn’t have dreamed of a more hated pair of Women’s Champions. LayCool cut a promo on New Orleans. The whole city. The women were great heels; they even fit a BP oil spill joke in. But they too were broken up after their incredible two-year run.

Granted, McCool left WWE on her own accord to deal with multiple injuries, but this is still a mishandled breakup that they planned to get to her retirement. They built towards it with problems between the two (there you can see them during their period as managers of Kaval (Low Ki/Senshi), but why did they have to feud in the first place?

Neither was elevated by it. Layla pinned her former bestie at Extreme Rules 2011 in a Loser Leaves WWE match. Afterwards, McCool was kayfabed out of the company with a vicious attack by the debuting Kharma.

They could’ve just as easily let another Diva to push McCool out of the company. God knows everyone else hated them. They were just Jealous! LayCool never got the grand goodbye that it deserved, even though McCool left on good terms. They didn’t even get to sit down, drink beers, and reminisce on their time together.

They were responsible for some of the best segments in the much-maligned period of model hirings. You know, all the pretty women that couldn’t wrestle a lick.

Kelly Kelly might not have been the best in the ring, but she had been with the company for years and was easily the most over Diva at that time. She looked great, and at least she wasn't as bad as Brie Bella on the mic. She had more personality than most other Divas in recent years.

That's why it should've been Kelly that had that match with McCool, since she was an established babyface. Layla and Kelly could’ve then had a feud come out of it. Why make Layla break up with her best friend?

A breakup that came out of natural circumstances, yes, but botched nevertheless. And LayCool didn't deserve it because LayCool was...

Flawless!

Seriously though, back to Luke Harper.

Real talk!

Did you guys know that Luke Harper should not quit the Wyatt Family? Yeah, they didn't know that.

They don’t know anything about history.

Maybe they need a lesson!

I used to be a school teacher!

Maybe you should teach them!

Maybe I should! Luke Harper should not break away on his own! You wanna know why?

I wanna know why!

Oh, you wanna know why?

I wanna know why!

It's because the WWE is horrible at doing tag team breakups!

Period!

Thanks for the read, Cagesiders. Rawr! Rawr! Flawless!

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The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.