We’re hanging around the Ruthless Aggression Era for this “Wrestling Salvage Yard” as we look at The Basham Brothers. Comprised of Doug Basham and Danny “Damaja” Basham, the two were part of WWE’s developmental program OVW in the early 2000s. Both would win four OVW Heavyweight titles each, a testament to how highly-valued the two youngsters were in Lexington for Cornette and Danny Davis.
A 4-Year WWE Run
The two were a tag team for a period in OVW before being brought up to the main roster for SmackDown. Their debut match was against Spanky and Rikishi—during Brian Kendrick’s first uneventful run with WWE. Most notable about the early Basham Brothers are their S&M slave entrance gear and manager Shaniqua.
Wrestling Salvage Yard: The Basham Brothers
This trio had some interesting segments on SmackDown television that would’ve probably been more at home on RAW. This was during the brand split when both brands had a noticeably different content approach. RAW was based more on WWE sports entertainment while SmackDown was more traditional or more competitive.
The Bashams and Shaniqua would manage to win Tag Team gold but their time together was pretty short as Shaniqua wasn’t given the longest contract after winning Tough Enough. Also, she didn’t improve to the point where WWE had nothing to lose in keeping her longer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvAm–VMbVY
After Shaniqua was killed off by Rikishi dropping the Banzai Drop on her, the Bashams just milled about WWE television while coming up short on the Tag tiles. They would become a part of JBL’s Cabinet as the Secretaries of Defense—a good name given the theme of Bradshaw’s faction. Doug and Danny Basham managed a second World Tag Team title win in January 2005 but lost the titles a month later.
When the duo left the Cabinet in June 2005, they were halfway through their WWE run. Their last run on the main roster as part of a storyline or ongoing on a brand came a year later in the summer of 2006. The two went to the ECW brand as Paul Heyman’s security. By January 2007, the two were out of WWE entirely.
Salvaging the Basham Brothers
Well, the Bashams weren’t a team that was setting WWE or just SmackDown on fire. WWE hadn’t gotten back to its two-tag team formula yet and having superstars who came in as a team and not two stars put together in a team was kind of like taking a stroll around the old neighborhood. Sure, you remember what used to be in a particular spot or what family lived in what house but things are different now.
Tag team wrestling has been a part of wrestling for most of the industry’s existence but WWE was always different when it came to wrestling. Plus, with tag team specialists being given singles runs in the early 2000s, it was time to make new dedicated teams.
The Bashams were one of those teams but simply didn’t stand out with their work. Also, they were on a brand where Eddie Guerrero, Rey Jr, Kurt Angle, and Brock Lesnar were roaming around. Doug and Danny would’ve needed a lot more than some tag team power moves to really stand out.
So, how do we salvage this team? While I enjoy their debut gimmick with Shaniqua as a dominatrix manager, I think the team was better utilized in a faction with some strong mouthpieces. Then they could show off in-ring as the faction’s tag team heavy lifters. More time in the Cabinet and as Heyman’s security would’ve done them good.
As for their original gimmick, they could’ve done with a better mouthpiece for sure. Shaniqua was good with their odd, punishment-loving team from a visual standpoint but they needed their own Woman, Missy Hyatt or Tammy Sytch to speak for them and stir up interest.
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