Something that used to appear in televised wrestling was jobber tag teams. Not just two guys paired together to get their asses kicked, but actual tag teams that oftentimes made many appearances together and maybe even get some fans that recognized them. When I bring up that topic I remember teams of losers like the Conquistadors or the Shadows in the WWF, Los Espectoritos, Men at Work, or the Cole Twins in WCW, heck going back even further the various masked identities of George South and Gary Royal (The Cruel Connection, The Gladiators, ETC.) back in the NWA days of the late 80’s, or a team like the Tokyo Bullets from the AWA. Teams like that. You knew they probably weren’t going to win against whoever they were facing but after a while, they grew on you as a fan. Loveable Losers.
Typically teams like that were often just roster fillers. Two guys could put on a mask and be somebody else for a match along with jobbing as themselves. They usually weren’t paid twice for doing that but they still filled the role!
And looking at those types of guys, they were plenty of teams without the masks that still were favorites and did the job on TV tapings as well. Remember the team of Barry Horowitz and Reno Riggins or how about Duane Gil and Barry Hardy? There was also the famous Mulkey Brothers from the ’80s and the ’90s. Not only were they big with Mid Atlantic NWA but made several matches as jobbers for the early 90’s WWF shows. I remember in my younger days seeing them show up on WWF wrestling before I got into NWA stuff and stopped myself and was like “Aren’t those the NWA guys?” and then proceeded to get their butts kicked by whoever they were facing. Those kinds of memories hang with you even for losers like that.
It’s weird when you think about it when job guys are so familiar like that you as a fan recognize them when they appear on a show. It creates a bit of rooting for a couple of guys like that that are paired together and you know they aren’t going to win anything but you still cheer for them. It creates that connection that a lot of people want to have but only that kind of thing creates. Even if you have a couple of guys as jobbers who are not going to win. If you have that connection, even with some of the fans, someone will cheer for them.
Except maybe the Ding Dongs. They don’t bring me the same emotions.
