They formed on October 22, 2002 in a dark match on WWE Velocity as they lost to Bill DeMott and Val Venis. For a couple of months they worked their way up by competing in house shows. The tag team made their TV debut on the December 26, 2002 edition of WWE's "SmackDown!". Paul Heyman introduced Benjamin and Haas under the name Team Angle as a "gift" to his top client Kurt Angle. Team Angle quickly involved themselves in a scripted rivalry with Chris Benoit and Edge, defeating them on January 30, 2003 to become the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship.