The reason I’m writing this now is that the lone long-term storyline being played out in NWA TNA right now is that between "The Outlaw" and "BG James". I put their names in inverted commas because I doubt I’ll be using them again. Both men are far more famous under their WWF/E names of Billy Gunn and Road Dogg. The TNA storyline is that BG is a member of 3 Live Kru – a faction also containing Konnan and Ron Killings – while Billy is a lone wolf intent on stirring up trouble. TNA are pushing the question of where BG’s loyalties really lie – with the Kru or with his former tag team partner. At their most recent pay per view the fans were chanting "New Age Outlaws" whenever the two were in the same segment and it seems as if the fans want the reunion even if it would, for legal reasons, be shorn of so much that made it great. The timing is sucky – with TNA desperate to do a Hardy Boyz reunion as early as their next PPV it would be stupid to dilute the reunion idea by putting together two semi-legendary teams in the same month. The alternative is to keep the storyline going and either (a) think of an ending or (b) drop it when everyone gets bored. But why would anyone want to reunite the Outlaws?

Everyone who is no one in WWE has been put in a random tag team at one time or another. The current team-de-no-purpose is Simon Dean and Maven – two guys going nowhere who are put together for no reason and who achieve nothing in the end. It is just something that happens in wrestling. Occasionally it works – such as the Dream Team of Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine who were polar opposites but who complimented each other well – but generally it does not. In mid-1997 Billy Gunn was still smarting from the Rockabilly fiasco (the first of almost a hundred attempts to give him a singles push) while Jesse Jammes was an absolute bottom of the card nice guy loser. Someone high up decided to put them together, which wasn’t a surprise. Someone else decided to push them, which was a surprise.

At first they had no name and no entrance music. They were, to an extent, edgy with Road Dogg (as he was now calling himself) dubbing Billy "Bad Ass" in the days when ass was considered a bad word. In place of music was the simple device of the ever talkative Road Dogg bad mouthing their opponents and putting himself and his partner over. It was a fanatically successful idea and immediately marked them out as something different. It was 1997 and catchphrases were in so Dogg quickly added his "Oh you didn’t know? Your ass better caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal somebody" spiel to the mix. They wore South Park shirts, they generally annoyed people and they were a breath of fresh air in a promotion which thought the Truth Commission were cutting edge and the Godwins were a decent tag team.

Then came their first big break. Just a few weeks after their debut they encountered the Road Warriors – then the most popular tag team in the world, an honour they’d held for most of the past decade and a half. They Outlaws made fun of them, stole their shoulder pads and generally caused trouble. They even beat them for the tag team titles back when the Warriors doing a job for anyone was a sit-up-and-take-note moment. Someone was clearly high on the Dogg and Mr Ass. What no was expecting was that the fans would side with the Outlaws in the feud. It didn’t take long for people to realise that the Warriors were old hat. They’d been doing the same thing since they arrived in the early 80s and, while it was once great, it was boring. Instead of the audience wanting to see the LOD get their belts back they wanted to see the Outlaws. The Road Warriors – the once mighty Legion of Doom – were seen as cry babies for the way they talked about their belts being stolen.

February 1998 was their next big break. You’ll have noticed how damn fast their rise to the top had been. The first trace of them on pay-per-view was the November 1997 Survivor Series in an eight man tag. In December 1997 and January 1998 they faced LOD in tag team title matches and in February 1998 they were in an eight-man main event match. They teamed with the original DX of Shawn Michaels (who missed the show through injury but WWF kept it a secret until the show began) and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. It was a natural alliance – both DX and the Outlaws had the same "attitude" and it is surprising in hindsight that Shawn Michaels allowed the Outlaws to tread on his edgy turf in such a manner. It doesn’t matter that the show bombed and that the Outlaws lost – what matters is they had become players in three months and it wasn’t about to end there.

They were in the number three match at Wrestlemania. Undertaker vs Kane and Michaels vs Austin were the only matches to have more hype that the Outlaws vs the hardcore legends, Mick Foley and Terry Funk. More important even than Wrestlemania was the night after Wrestlemania. With Shawn Michaels dropping the belt and leaving to get back surgery it fell to Hunter to lead DX. Replacing Shawn Michaels was something no one in 1998 could’ve done so they played safe and replaced him with three men – the returning X Pac and the Outlaws. It was a natural mix and lead to the hugely successful babyface Degeneration X.

It was also the beginning of the end for the Outlaws. While Shawn Michaels had given Hunter every chance to shine as his partner in crime, Hunter didn’t do the same for his followers. He dominated every interview and segment (which comes as a shock given his usually sharing nature) and only let his friends reel off their catchphrases at the end of the segment. It was blatantly obvious that one man (and one woman) would be allowed to become a top line star in that group and the rest would be allowed to come with him for the ride. If you watch old DX footage it is Hunter who does everything. Shawn Michaels may not have felt threatened by the emerging Outlaws but Hunter did. He kept them in his shadow, eventually making them his lackeys during his first big main event heel run. After that it was down hill all the way. Their decline was a lot slower than their rise to the top but probably a lot better paid. There was a half hearted attempt to split them up and have them feud but it was no more successful than so many other partner vs partner matches that the fans don’t want to see. Morton vs Gibson, Hardy vs Hardy and Dogg vs Gunn – a long friendship doesn’t always equal a long feud.

The match is unlikely to do any business now – TNA has too little exposure for a programme routed in the last century to mean anything. TNA makes what little money they make by word of mouth and no one is singing the praises of an Outlaw vs James match. Nor are people clambering for a reunion. Like the 2002 return of the nWo it would be a middle aged attempt at youthful rebellion. TNA should drop the angle because all it serves to do is remind fans of a better time and a better place.