WWE No Mercy 2017: Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. the Bar full match preview

Tag team chemistry is a funny thing.

Sometimes it comes from an obvious place— brothers who have spent their whole life with one another, wrestlers who came up in the same academy, men who train in the same style, and so on.

But sometimes, two very different human beings come together and against all odds, make magic. They may not always like each other, they may not always trust each other, they may be as different as two men can be, but something clicks, and they become an effective unit.

Now, the question is, was I talking about the challengers or the champions just now?

Holy Foley

This, of course, is all Mick Foley’s fault, in the end.

In perhaps his most lasting act as Raw General Manager, he made the call that a draw in match seven of their series meant they should team together for the tag titles rather than simply have an eighth match to decide a final winner. He saw more potential in them as a team than separately, and while it took them some time to get on the same page, he certainly wasn’t outright wrong.

“We don’t set the bar, we are the Bar” isn’t just a cute catchphrase that took way too long to settle in as an actual name for their team, it’s a fact. Name active tag teams that are clearly and objectively better than Cesaro & Sheamus. Not teams that were better, not teams that you think could be better if they had a better push, here and now, let’s say over the last year or so. Go on, I’ll give you time.

...got your list? I’m sure you have a few, maybe the Revival or Usos or New Day, maybe you’re an indie guy like me and you’ve got the Young Bucks or South Pacific Power Trip or WorkHorsemen on there as well. But I bet it’s not a very long list, maybe a dozen teams across the entire world. Two dozen at the absolute outside. A team that wouldn’t exist if Mick Foley hadn’t given into that mad twinkle in his eye, somehow in the top 25 or so tag teams in all of pro wrestling!

They are the Bar, indeed.

Broken Shield

So, just maybe, having fought for their own stability so hard, maybe the Bar are onto something when they say Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are out for themselves and they’ll fall apart the minute they hit real adversity. The scars of June 2, 2014 run deep, after all, and no one would blame a man for continuing to hold a grudge over a betrayal like that, deep in his soul, in a spot beyond human reason.

Indeed, mere days before the match in which they won the tag titles, Dean and Seth exploded into a brawl amongst themselves. They’ve since characterized it as a brothers’ quarrel, the kind of harmless fight that strengthens ties rather than weakens them, and maybe that’s how it is... but maybe it’s not.

And if it isn’t, no ifs, ans, or buts— the former Shield boys can’t hold onto those titles very long.

One more thing...

Though this match is a straightforward two-on-two affair, the Club have been an integral part of this feud over the last few weeks, with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows forming spontaneous and temporary alliances with both of the teams actually in the match tonight. It’s not out of the realm of reason that they end up being a factor here, whether by going to Kurt Angle and getting the match changed late, or simply a good old-fashioned run-in to guarantee a win by whichever set of “nerds” (Big Hoot’s words, not mine!) they feel would be easier to take the titles from.

Something to think about, is all.

Have Cesaro & Sheamus well and truly set the Bar, or with the Shield boys hold on to the titles?