Multiple members of Team Taz lost in separate matches on the same night during the latest episode of AEW Dynamite -21st of April, 2021. Ricky Starks lost out to Hangman Page and Powerhouse Will Hobbs took the fall against Christian Cage. The thing is, this isn’t an unusual occurrence for Team Taz, and the problem is, it should be.
They may be a looming force over Dark and Elevation, but Team Taz has had little success on Dynamite. It’s not even like their own personal championship, the FTW Title has been booked in any way that would justify calling it “prestigious” having only been defended twice since its inception. So why is that the case? Let’s break it down.
What Has Team Taz Been Up To?
Team Taz consists of Taz as manager, obviously, as well as Brian Cage, Ricky Starks, Will Hobbs, and Hook. When you combine the power of Hobbs and Cage with the mic work of Taz and Starks you should, in theory, have the most dominant stable in AEW.
If you just look at the numbers they seem to be doing well as of late, but pretty much all of the victories have been on Dark and Elevation. If you were to just see them on the televised show, Dynamite, as most people will, they seem to pose little or no threat at all.
While their latest series of individual losses on Dynamite, that were explained earlier, is bad enough for their image, the worst blow came in the feud against Darby Allin and Sting. For some reason, even though both Cage and Hobbs look like they could juggle the pair of them with ease, the whole of Team Taz would run away from Sting every time he appeared. Alright, yes, it’s ‘The Icon’, but the fella is sixty-two, give it a few more years and all it’ll take is a strong wind to do him in. That aside, it’s five-on-two. Have a bit of a backbone, lads. It’s not like Darby Allin is André the Giant or anything either.
Where Does It Look Like Team Taz is Headed?
Considering the sheer amount of stables in AEW it’s a shame that Team Taz seems to have been set up to be knocked down, especially considering that they’re one of the best all-round groups in the promotion. As it goes, at the time of writing at least, they look to be on their way to splitting up. Mid-segment squabbling and the fact that they can’t get anyone to join them -primarily Christian last week- shows that there doesn’t look to be too much of a future for them. Which is, of course, a shame.
At a guess, based on the current situation, they look as if they’ll go their separate ways and likely get a bit lost in the shuffle. It’d be disappointing if Taz had less screen time too. Yes, he’s commentating on the side and often being the highlight of Dark, but considering he’s one of the best promos going today it’d be especially sad for him to be around less.
What Should Happen Instead?
Rather than pitching for them going the obvious route, which is to just keep them together and push them for a while, let’s look at where they could go individually if the eventual split did happen.
Firstly, Ricky Starks. The guy can clearly go in the ring and is a great promo. Out of all of Team Taz, a smarmy, unbearable Ricky Starks should be the easiest to get into the main event scene as he’d be the perfect foil to any conquering face. Cage and Hobbs are a bit trickier because remember, this isn’t ‘80s WWE where the only criteria for success were size -not that they aren’t capable in the ring of course. Though, they could make the perfect duo in the tag division. AEW is light on domineering tag teams and they’d add some variety to the high-pace cruiserweights. Taz is very much like Paul Heyman in the manager role. You could put the guy with anybody and it’d work. While he’ll likely be accompanied by his son, Hook, Taz is good enough to get anyone over.
We’ll see how things turn out next week. After Hangman Page defeated Ricky Starks, the match was set for Brian Cage to take on the Hangman. Considering how Team Taz has been booked so far and the streak that Page is on, things aren’t looking too good. Will the split happen then? We’ll have to see.
