Wrestling obscurity: Basham Brothers

It has been awhile since the last WO. I thought it would be a good way to start the new year. So let's take a look at the Basham Brothers...who? I do remember the Bashams but just barely. I don't remember them being champions but they were. 2 time champions actually. What did they do? Apparently they hung around JBL, when JBL had a stable. Yea I don't remember that either. They probably were good wrestlers too, but just didn't leave much impact on the wrestling/tag team world. Here is some info on their carerr in the WWE.

Basham and Hollie made their official WWE debut on the May 29, 2003 edition of SmackDown! and became known as The Basham Brothers. Since both wrestlers looked remarkably similar to each other despite not being related, they were booked as kayfabe twins. The Bashams were successful in their first match as a team, defeating Rikishi and Brian Kendrick. Shortly after this Shaniqua became their valet. Their gimmick was originally that of two S&M fans, with Shaniqua as their trash-talking dominatrix. To play off their role as twins, Basham and Hollie often switched places mid-match, so the "fresher" wrestler was always in the ring, this idea was later used by The Bella Twins.

The Bashams won their first WWE Tag Team Championship from Los Guerreros on the October 23, 2003 edition of SmackDown!. The team would go on to lose the titles in February 2004 to Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty. The Basham Brothers and Shaniqua faced Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi at the No Way Out pay-per-view in 2004 in a handicap match for the tag team titles but lost the match when Shaniqua was pinned, and after the match she was released from her contract leaving the Bashams without a manager. For the next few months the Basham Brothers were regulars on Velocity. Occasionally they appeared on SmackDown!, usually taking on upper midcard/main event level wrestlers in handicap matches, generally losing in the outcome.

The Basham Brothers would go on to join John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL)'s cabinet stable on the November 25, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, where they were known as JBL's "Co-Secretaries of Defense". Their role was often to sacrifice themselves to prevent Layfield from getting harmed after he had provoked an opponent. The Bashams would once again win Tag Team gold defeating the teams of Rey Mysterio and Rob Van Dam, Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak, and Eddie Guerrero and Booker T in a four-way elimination match in January 2005. The Basham Brothers lost the titles to Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero at No Way Out 2005 on February 20. From here on The Bashams would either be jobbing on SmackDown! or defeating any team that came in their path on Velocity. The Basham Brothers quit Layfield's Cabinet on the June 16, 2005 episode of SmackDown!, claiming that they were tired of being "JBL's crash test dummies" and not getting enough respect.