VS. #25 – Dale Clarke vs. Mark Allen

Columns, Features, VS.

A question is posed. Two Pulse Wrestling writers go head-to-head. But only one will move on to next week to the face off with another member of our staff. This is VS., and this week’s question is… Who should be Chris Jericho’s new tag team partner?

Dale Clarke

Mark Allen

Dale Clarke: Professional wrestlers get injured all the time. It’s just a fact of the profession and it’s inevitable that when a wrestler gets injured that a storyline may have to be altered. So when Edge, one half of the WWE Unified Tag Team Champions, was reported to have been injured during a house show match, my thoughts immediately went to how they were going to handle this.

The WWE has already acknowledged the injury, and announced that Chris Jericho will pick a partner to take Edge’s place. However with no limit on who he can pick, there’s three brands worth of talent that could be one half of the Unified WWE tag team champions this time next week. Despite that, there is only one man I want to, and think will, be the mystery partner.

That man is The Miz. Now many people will argue that The Miz isn’t in the same league as Chris Jericho when it comes to card placement, and they would be right, but consider that these are the tag titles and that Jericho and Miz have had a documented war of words on Twitter recently, and it provides an interesting concept – how can these two massive egos work together when they’re both attempting to one up each other?

Personally, this would be one of the most entertaining things about a potential Chris Jericho/ The Miz alliance. You’ve always got that sense of having these two massive egos trying to coexist when both think they’re the better of the two. It could provide some very entertaining segments and would also set up perfectly to a feud following them losing the titles.

Just picture it. Both of them blaming each other for their loss and wanting to prove which of them is not only the better wrestler, but also which one has the biggest ego. It would propel The Miz to a potential main event heel role, allowing him to take on the role that Chris Jericho himself vacated upon being drafted to SmackDown, that of the super cocky egotistical heel who thinks he is too good for anyone’s help.


I wasn’t even considering Mike Mizanin here, and was therefore pleasantly surprised when reading Dale’s proposal. I don’t like that the champs would technically be on two different rosters, although that’s just me being nitpicky. After all, these are UNIFIED champions, and are allowed to compete across brands. In fact, this could even lead to some sort of “dispute” that gives Raw and SD each a championship again, although I personally would hate that. Good thing Dale didn’t include that in his suggestion!


Mark Allen: With Edge out for the foreseeable future and Jericho writing him off as injury-prone, it leaves things wide open for Jericho to find a new partner to aid him in his quest for tag team domination. And with the Unified Tag Team Title stipulation allowing the champions to float across any brand, the field is wide open for Jericho’s new partner. I have seen a lot of interesting theories across the web on who would be Jericho’s partner, but I think that if they are going to hold out until the night of the pay per view then they have something different lined up.

I was all ready to say Dolph Ziggler as he’s the most logical choice and pretty much got endorsed already by Jericho and Edge, but with him sliding into a program with Rey Mysterio I don’t see it happening. If they wanted Ziggler in the spot they would have just done it on SmackDown or RAW. The other fun theory I saw was that it would be Lance Storm, for a one-shot deal, but really Storm doesn’t mean anything in WWE canon so his return would go over like a fart in church.

And I don’t see anyone in developmental that would immediately make an impact and mesh with Jericho. A pairing with Morrison would be a step down for both. Matt Hardy is injured. Brian Kendrick isn’t on anyone’s radar right now. That leaves two people: The Miz and Christian.

The Miz and Jericho have been having a Twitter war of the words that could be some smart foreshadowing from a mad genius like Jericho, but to me the answer has got to be Christian.

It would work perfectly if Christian and Tommy Dreamer open Night of Champions, only for Dreamer to retain once again with Vladimir Kozlov getting involved to set up Dreamer’s next program. Christian becomes frustrated, citing this loss and his loss to Shelton Benjamin on ECW. An hour later Jericho could come out and bad mouth Edge some more, and saying he was going to an old friend, someone who didn’t let him down in the past, someone as vile and righteous as he was. Someone who also carried his own tag team with Edge and knows the burden that it takes to carry Edge to glory – Christian. Captain Charisma could immediately revert to his slimy chickensh!t heel persona he does so well as he and Jericho embrace like old friends, completely ignoring their long rivalry in the past.

Jericho and Christian could use their old heel cheating ways to outsmart the younger Legacy, using Ted DiBiase as the face-in-peril, which would also further his hints towards being a babyface. Let Jericho and Christian reign as much as you want and then when they lose, instantly Jericho is back on SD and Christian on ECW, without having the big break up. Plus they could talk about how this is the first set of unified Tag Champs would come from opposing brands.


This is another great idea. Christian and Jericho have a long history together, so it makes sense (although why Christian would team up with the person who just trash talked his storyline brother might pose a question or two to be resolved as the storyline progresses). That said, since Jericho is the one doing the picking, and has a long memory, he will have to go a long way to justify teaming up with the guy who stole Trish Stratus from him and totally screwed him over a few years back. Sure, it’s wrestling, and these things can be glossed over, but I’m not sure. Of course, it’s Jericho and Christian, and they’d likely be VERY entertaining to watch.

Actually both of these choices – The Miz and Christian – would be good ones, and have some creative possibilities. I prefer Christian from a storyline point of view (the Twitter stuff is fun, but WAY too “insider”), but I prefer Miz from a “put the youth over” perspective. Also, Mark has to lose points for disregarding Kendrick so easily – he would have been my choice, and let’s not forget he’s been looking for a tag partner himself. Another good/possibly better choice would be one of Edge’s former protégés, Curt Hawkins or Zach Ryder (preferably the one who’s on Smackdown, not the “woo woo woo” guy). Therefore…

Winner of VS. #25: NO ONE. SWERVE~!


Dale and Mark will face off in a tie-breaker next week. In the meantime, do you agree with Dale or Mark or do you have an entirely different opinion? Let us know in the comments section, below!

Until next time…

Matthew Michaels is editor emeritus of Pulse Wrestling, and has been since the site launched.