WWE's 50 Greatest Tag Teams
 

WWE compiled this list back in 2012.

Criteria:

1. Only WWE teams were eligible.
2. Teams were rated only on their accomplishments while in WWE.
3. Eligibility began with the first recognized World Tag Team Champions, Luke Graham & Tarzan Tyler, who won the titles on June 3, 1971.
4. Rankings were based on everything from longevity to cultural impact. Personal biases may have also crept in.

What do you guys think? Are there any teams you would replace?

So they deemed Team Hell No as the best tag team to come along since the 90's. That says a lot.

How much of a Tag Team was DX in 97-98?

Edge and Christian and the Hardyz didnt get hot until 2000 tbf but I hear you...and Team Hell No and The Shield are the only notable teams in 20 years.

New Day and Uso's are notable as well.

new day have moved enough merch that I'll give you that despite not being important to the product at all

Read that they spike the ratings when they're on but I gotta check into that claim.

:lol:

They were a novelty act that lasted for like 1 year. The Shield made much more of an impact and they're not even on the list, much less top 20 ever.

Impact lasts longer than the teams do. Longevity isnt the only metric of value. Admittedly the absence of the shield is the most notable absence on the list but I would wager they deemed them a stable instead of a tag.

freebirds are missing too afterall

It's a WWE only list.

The entire list, as with any WWE list, has a bias toward more current teams but Team Hell No is the most glaring example. Even if you just go by lasting impact and ignore longevity... They're 10 spots ahead of The Mega Powers. lol

Freebirds worked in the WWF

The Usos are a top 5 team at this point.

Rick Martel and Tony Garea didn't make the list lol. Wow.

Usos are top 5 based on what? Having the most matches no ones seen?

lol I realize that. The list is based solely on what teams did in WWF. The Freebirds were not gonna make it based on that one promo people pass around online to say "Hey, remember when The Freebirds worked in WWF"?

What 5 current teams are better than them?

Good shout! The author did say that the team of Tony Garea and Dean Ho was debated.

Right? The Freebirds spent the new job probation period in WWE.

Why does being current mean you make the list?

They were in highlander. You tell me exactly how many teams are immortalized like they are :rant:

They were no LayCool, apparently.

If they were going back further I'd say the tandem of Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez.

The Freebirds had a few shitty 6 man tags that the crowd couldn't have given two shits about. I have a couple of them in my collection.

The list was compiled in 2012, The Shield debuted in November of that year.

Team Hell No debuted like 2 months before that. If this list was compiled in 2012, it makes including Team Hell No even more of a head scratcher.

It was published in April of that yr.

No Dream Team? Really?

Wait... Team Hell No didn't exist then. Bryan was still on Smackdown feuding with Sheamus for the title that month.

It's really hard to compare the tag teams from my childhood to the tag teams of today. I can't say that The Uso's are better than The Hart Foundation, I mean they have more exciting matches for sure but do they mean as much to me as the Hart Foundation did? No, but also, I was a kid. It may be that some youth today feel that The Uso's are special like that. I doubt it though because they haven't ever been treated as a top act.

It's hard to make an order but obviously when we talk about the best WWE teams we are talking about The Hart Foundation, The Rockers, The Hardys, Edge and Christian, The Dudleys, The New Age Outlaws, The Wild Samoans (before my time), The Bulldogs, and LOD.

Then you have your super teams like The Mega Powers, DX, Brothers of Destruction, Rated RKO, Team Hell No etc... and to me these do not belong on the same list.

Also I think The Steiners are the best tag team ever but not for the work they did in WWE.

Oh wow I totally missed them. Most under-rated team of the 80's next to Murdoch and Adonis

The Hart Foundation are definitely not better than the Usos

Sure they are. If the standard is "tag teams i like to jerk off too while a burn pictures of shawn Michaels and cry" i bet the hart foundation would be a solid 3 or 4

Haha true in that regard

Top 10 IMO

1. Hardy Boyz
2. Edge and Christian
3. Usos
4. New Day
5. Hart Foundation
6. Martel and Garea
7. London and Kendrick
8. Bulldog and Owen
9. The Valiant Brothers
10. The Dudleyz

The Hart Foundation are a funny story. They were a mid card team doing jobs to the Killer Bees and Rougeaus until 1987 and wouldn't have gotten a tag run with the belts had the Bulldogs not refused to drop the belts to Sheik and Volkoff. They'd only drop the belts to the Hart Foundation. Wrestling history would look quite different had that not happened.

I agree with The Hardyz. It's funny how you can truly consider Hardys, E&C and The Dudleyz for top WWE tag team, considering how connected the three teams are because of those insane matches. I do think you rank The Dudleyz too low but you have that deep knowledge of the WWWF days that I don't so I understand.

I feel you should consider The Legion of Doom, which in itself is a major chapter in the book of The Road Warriors. One of the first syllabic chants I can remember hearing would be L-O-D! L-O-D!

Plus LOD is a story of a major successful team in Crockett and Japan, they were the stars everywhere they went.

I find it interesting you go with Bulldog and Owen, care to explain? I was wondering if The Bulldogs would make my top 10, because honestly I can't really recall any "great matches" , mostly just awesome moves intensity and badassness.

They were extremely successful in Crockett, AWA etc..

Their WWF runs were kinda duds imo. Their 97-98 run was nothing to write home about and they came into the WWF 2-3 years too late in 90. The got "cartooned" by the WWF and weren't allowed to be themselves.

I thought Bulldog and Owen were a better team than the Bulldogs. Bulldogs post Dynamite Kid injury were a shell of themselves.

I remember on Raw in the Summer of '97 LOD had a great match with Owen and Bulldog.

Owen and Bulldog vs Austin and HBK is better than any match the British Bulldogs ever had in the company.

Ranking the WWF tag teams are fun and challenging since they were never put in money drawing spots 99 times out of 100. I'm part of a year long project with Placetobenation where we are ranking the top 100 teams in WWF history and man is it ever hard because of that. Been watching a ton of tag team footage and boy are there a lot of teams whose work doesn't age well at all (Demolition, Money Inc)

What's crazy is this is one of my fave matches of all time. I watched it as a 10-year-old and honestly I liked pretty much most matches (but fucking hated long rest spots) but for some reason the pace of this match stuck out to me. Fucking incredible...plus this was during a time when there was no reason to believe two guys who did not like one another in Austin and Michaels would win the belts over an established tag team.

That was a huge match for me as well. I love it. I think it is the week after the match I was talking about with LOD vs Owen and Bulldog.

They weren't other than the New Age Outlaws. They weren't a tag team until 2006 I believe, when they feuded with Spirit Squad and Rated RKO.

Then again in 2009 maybe against Legacy.

Owen was completely snubbed here.

Bulldog and Owen and Jeff and Owen should be on here.

also the Mega Powers should not be on this list. they had like 3 matches at most on TV.

You take Bulldog and Owen out of the tag division in 96-97 and my God. They carried that division.

:y:

I'm partial to Billy and Chuck as well. i thought they whole gimmick was amazing

Gertner had a good point about teams not being put in the drawing position. Not since the CWC days have teams headlined and drew money in WWE - Rocca-Pérez, Kangaroos, Curtis-Lewin, Grahams and Tolos Bros. Also, he's the first person I've seen prefer Bulldog/Hart to the Bulldogs. Wish they had gotten more suitable competition b/c as he said they literally carried that division.

They really shouldn't. You know it was a team they picked based on star power.

The only match I remember Triple H and Shawn teaming up for was Friday Night Raw against Mankind and Undertaker which was the beginning of their alliance. They may have teamed up on house shows but I wouldn't know.

I also enjoyed the team of Owen and Yokozuna

And for the record, the Dudleys are the best tag team ever, but just in terms of WWE id say top 10 is fair.

The Nasty Boys were a better tag team than the Steiners and the Brain Busters?

Lol yeah, that one had me shaking my head.

The Blackjacks at 12 is insane. They held the title for barely over 2 months. There's 3-4 teams from the 70's that were easily better.

someone over there has always has a huge hard on for the Blackjacks. probably because one was an agent and the other is like Barry Windham's dad or whatever

they sucked though

Strongbows? Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito?

Not surprised! I always wondered how elite The Blackjacks were since they got inducted into the HOF as they were before my time.

Maybe they meant The New Blackjacks of JBL and Barry Windham. They at 12 would be just as foolish at 12 as the regular Blackjacks lol

Valiants, Fuji and Tanaka, Strongbow and White Wolf. The Blackjacks feuded with Cerdan and Parisi who were about as bland as they come which didn't help matter.

The Steiner Brothers were only a LITTLE better than LayCool, and not as good as X-Pac and Kane. Throw this list away.

Owen and Bulldog need to be somewhere.

My personal top 10

10) The Dudleys
9) The New Aged Outlawz
8) The Rockers
7) The Hardy Boys
6) Edge and Christian
5) The Mega Powers ( come on )
4) The Hart Foundation
3) The Brain Busters ( fuck you they were amazing..The Revival should take notes )

Two and one should be everyones two and one. It's not even close in my opinion. I hate ranking one ahead of the other but I will.

2) Demolition
1) Legion of Doom/ The Road Warriors.

I don't think any tag team on that list had a match as good as Trent Seven & Tyler Bate vs Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong.

LOL Demolition gtfo.

Nah I won't hate. It's your personal 10. I thought they were bad ass when I was a kid for sure. Always wanted that dream match you know.

" I'll kill you Leonard Nimoy "

If it were a kayfabe list, The New Day would be #1 now.

No Rougeau Brothers :(

I'd put them towards the back end of the list but the Islanders were friggen tremendous. Awesome matches against Strike Force.

Demolition gets the nod here as well.

This is the most glaring omission from wrestling I have watched. Always really entertaining and great heels. Don't know how they didn't make it on here.

Definitely!


Especially since Ray Rougeau is frequently on French commentary for PPVs.

The Dream Team are the most glaring omission from the list. I think some people automatically think they sucked because of Beefcake, but they were really great. Lots of fun matches. Check this tag match out from Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto against Steamboat and Tito. Awesome tag match.

Beefcake didn't even suck. Not an amazing technician but he was alright until the parasailing accident.

I really enjoyed the Something to Wrestle on Beefcake.

One of the few episodes Bruce didn't need to lie and didn't seem like he was lying.

Any thing that sticks out from the show?

talking about Brutus's face post accident was particularly poignant. Was fucking gross, I almost yacked.

He's so lucky he didn't die.

Yeah I wasn't so critical of the constant pushes Hogan got for Beefcake after hearing that horrible description of his injury, and the money that it cost him.

And in the 80s, Brutus held up his end IMO. He honestly got over on his own. You were never going to get a great match out of him, but he was always fun. I think 1993-onwards ruined his rep...similar to Duggan.

Savage got Lanny a contract in WCW and he never wrestled.

Yeah, he was pretty over.

Mr. Saito passed away this morning