It’s now only natural after someone shouts the word “Beer” you respond with “Money.” Total Nonstop Action (TNA), known for it’s aging main-event talent pool and overbooked finishes, has done some good. They have given us one of the better tag teams in recent memory in Beer Money, Inc.
So just who are the fellows who are every bartender’s favorite patrons?
Robert Roode
Perhaps one of the most well-rounded wrestlers in TNA today, Roode (no relation to Rick Rude) has come a long way since his days training with Val Venis in Canada.
Back in 2004, Roode would show up on TNA as a part of the Team Canada stable. At the time of Roode’s appearance (known then as Bobby Roode), Team Canada consisted of Petey Williams, Eric Young, and Johnny Devine, with “Coach” Scott D’Amore.
Roode would act as the enforcer of the group, much like Batista was in Evolution, and Arn Anderson was in the Four Horsemen. Roode would play this role for around two years, until the disbanding of Team Canada in 2006. Shortly after, the Robert Roode character was born.
The self-proclaimed “hottest free agent” (someone beat you to it, MVP) would appear at the Bound For Glory Pay-Per-View with his new manager, Ms. Brooks (Traci Brooks).
His first feud as the Wall Street tycoon came against his former partner, Eric Young. This led to Roode going up against TNA’s founder, Jeff Jarrett, who turned out to be EY’s friend and adviser.
Roode would go through different alliances, as he would join forces with Christian Cage (Christian Coalition), and later Kurt Angle (Angle Alliance). Issues began to arise between Roode and Ms. Brooks, who he would verbal abuse.
At Final Resolution 2008, Roode would team with Ms. Brooks to face the team of Booker T and Sharmell. Roode’s team lost, and post-match saw Roode fully turn on his manager.
He would continue to have what was a long, drawn-out feud with Booker T, except his No. 1 fan, Peyton Banks, was now at his side. Banks met the same fate as Brooks following a Lockdown Pay-Per-View loss.
James Storm
“The Tennessee Cowboy”, James Storm, arrived on TNA back in 2002. Prior to that, he was a jobber in the now defunct World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He appeared on TNA’s first PPV as a part of the tag team known as “America’s Most Wanted” with partner Chris Harris. (Remember? He was the future failure known as Braden Walker.)
AMW would win the first of several NWA World Tag Team Championships on September 18, 2002. They would go on to win the NWA tag belts five more times as a team.
There were countless times when the team would hint dissension, but nothing was to come of it. In fact, they went on to have NWA’s Match of the Year in 2004 against Triple X (Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper).
In 2005, AMW would team up with Jeff Jarrett and Gail Kim to help Jarrett secure the NWA Championship from Raven. Kim would become the manager for the team up until 2006 (Final Resolution), where she turned on AMW, and was subsequently jumped by her replacement, Jacqueline Moore.
At the appropriately named PPV, Turning Point 2006, AMW lost a flag match to the Latin American Xchange (LAX). Storm struck his opponent Homicide with a beer bottle. Shards flew, and glass went into Harris’ eye. Harris was blamed for the loss by Storm. During their re-match days later, Storm intentionally struck Harris with another bottle, solidifying the split.
AMW would be known as one of the tag teams that put TNA on the map. They also hold the NWA record for longest tag title reign (250 days) since the belt was reintroduced in 1998.
Beer Money, Inc.
Former rivals would team up on the June 12, 2008 edition of TNA Impact!. They challenged the current tag champs, LAX, to a match. BMI secured the victory and the belts after a dirty finish. Following the match, BMI, along with Jacqueline, would handcuff LAX, and whip them with belts.
They would continue feuding with LAX, go on to successfully retain the belt against the Motor City Machine Guns, and the team of Abyss and Matt Morgan. Jay Lethal would cash in his Feast or Fired briefcase on a January Impact, and win the tag straps with his partner Consequences Creed.
A few weeks later BMI would regain the belts from the same team. They then began what they called the “Off the Wagon” challenge. The challenge stated that any tag team could challenge BMI, but if BMI won, the person who was pinned or submitted would have to leave TNA forever.
It was during this challenge that Petey Williams and Lance Rock (Hoyt) were pinned, and subsequently left TNA.
Destination X gave us BMI versus Team 3D for the belts. BMI lost the match due to an intentional disqualification. The match was restarted, and made a No DQ match, and BMI lost due to a count out. (Yeah, I’m confused myself.)
Team 3D would get their revenge as they defeated BMI for the TNA tag belts at the following Lockdown PPV.
Since Lockdown, BMI has turned back to heel. They would re-capture the gold at Slammiversary last week. It now looks like they might be reverting back to a face team, as they are being challenged by Main Event Mafia members Booker T and Scott Steiner.
Beer Money, Inc., perhaps the best all-around tag team there is right now. Another round, please.
Shane Howard is a member of the Hit The Ropes Radio Show team. Tune in to HTR, this and every Wednesday from 6-8 PM EST. Be sure to add HTR’s website to your favorites, YouTube us, add us on Myspace, follow us on Twitter, and join the Facebook group. Be sure to check out HTR this week as we welcome Elijah Burke.