This is a continuation of the Best Tag Teams post from Monday this week. The idea is to come up with the best tag teams in the last 28 years and rank the Top 10 in each decade. Then, once all the decades are done, make a complete Top 10 List of the Top Tag Teams of The Last 3 Decades.
This decade is going to be difficult for a lot of reasons. To start, the WWE had a lot of great tag teams from 2000-2002. But tag team wrestling became less and less a priority, at least to the casual viewer as time continued on. Also, keep in mind that the wrestling industry went through some rough times when competition was scarce. Ring of Honor and TNA Wrestling would emerge in this decade as the closest thing to being considered competition for the WWE juggernaut, and the WWE's sweat was not even sweating about these companies. Still, some great tag teams did emerge from this decade. Here are a list of tag teams that stand out to me from the year 2000-2009. If you want to make your own list and can think of another team, by all means, include them in your list.
2000-2009 Teams (From Memory)
The Hardy Boyz
The Dudley Boyz/Team 3D
Edge and Christian
Too Cool
Test & Albert
New Age Outlaws/VKM
APA
DDP/Kanyon
Undertaker/Kane
Goodfather/Bull Buchanan
Kronic
Raven/Tommy Dreamer
The Impact Players
O'Haire/Jindrak
Billy and Chuck
Lance Storm/Christian
Booker T/Goldust
Lance Storm/William Regal
La Resistance
Kane/Rob Van Dam
Kurt Angle/Chris Benoit
Rey Mysterio/Edge
Los Guerreros
3 Minute Warning
The World's Greatest Tag Team (Haas/Benjamin)
The Basham Brothers
Batista/Ric Flair
Rikishi/Scotty 2 Hotty
Booker T/Rob Van Dam
Charlie Haas/Rico
Edge/Chris Benoit
Hurricane/Rosey
William Regal/Tajiri
Rob Van Dam/Rey Mysterio
Rene Dupree/Kenzo Suzuki
Eddie Guerrero/Rey Mysterio
Big Show/Kane
Cade and Murdoch
Spirit Squad
Ric Flair and Roddy Piper
Rated RKO
Shawn Michaels/John Cena
Deuce and Domino
MNM
Road Warrior Animal/Heidenreich
Kendrick and London
William Regal and Dave Taylor
The Highlanders
(At this point, I feel like I need therapy for remembering all these bad tag teams)
MVP and Matt Hardy
Batista and Rey Mysterio
Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins
Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase
CM Punk and Kofi Kingston
Carlito and Primo Colon
Edge and Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho and Big Show "Jerishow"
D-Generation X (HBK and Triple H)
The Hart Dynasty
MVP and Mark Henry
Triple X
America's Most Wanted
The Naturals
LAX (Homicide and Hernandez)
A.J. Styles and Tomko
A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels
Black Machismo Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed
Booker T and Scott Steiner
Beer Money Inc. (Roode and Storm)
Motor City Machine Guns
British Invasion (Magnus and Williams)
The Briscoe Brothers (giving them a mention since they had 6 ROH Title Reigns before the end of 2009)
There are some great tag teams of those I mentioned. There are others I wish I could have forgotten. As you can tell, the 2000s were collectively the decade of the random tag team. Here's the list of my Top 10...
#10- The APA- You need protection? For money and a case of beer, the APA would do it for you, heel or face. The APA were a good badass/comedy act in the Attitude Era and earned their place on this list.
#9- Haas and Benjamin "The World's Greatest Tag Team"- Two good solid wrestlers paired together to form the best technical tag team combination of the 2000s. Benjamin and Haas were part of several great matches in 2002-2004 as well as 2007 when they returned to the company.
#8- Miz and Morrison- Two WWE-ECW wrestlers who had nothing going for them that were paired together and made for a hilarious heel tag team that won both sets of tag team titles while still being on the "third brand." For that, the awesome Palace of Wisdom makes the list. Now do your best slo-motion Morrison pose.
#7- Los Guerreros- During the Smackdown Tag Team division genesis, there were several good temporary tag teams that emerged. But none were as entertaining and made as big of an impact as Los Guerreros. Eddie and Chavo, real life uncle and nephew, had a history in WCW, and WWE brought them back together with a gimmick of being notorious for "Lying, Cheating, and Stealing." Eddie would go on to take this gimmick to the next degree, but Los Guerreros were a tag team cornerstone of SmackDown from 2002-end of 2003.
#6- Booker T/Goldust- Another thrown together tag team that was comedy gold from their first appearance. I don't think it can be overstated how Booker T and Goldust helped saved a terrible 2002 Raw brand with their weekly comedy acts. Whether it was reviewing The Scorpion King or other current movies that came out, Goldust doing absurd impersonations, making offbeat jokes at each other's expense, or fighting the WWE's NWO, Booker T and Goldust stole the show night after night.
#5- Jeri-Show- Chris Jericho needed a new tag team partner when his first partner, Edge, was injured. Enter the Big Show. Together, they were a great heel act on both shows that dominated that tag team scene for a large part of 2009 and were involved in several high-attention stories. Usually, both men found themselves confronting the Raw Guest Host (Jericho vs. Bob Barker is still great), but they were at least the center of attention. You can't say that about a lot of the other tag teams I listed from memory.
#4- Beer Money Inc.- A TNA example of two people thrown together who created a hell of a tag team. James Storm and Bobby Roode (with manager Jackie Moore for a while) created Beer Money and helped reinvigorate the TNA Tag Team Division which was a stand out for the late 2000s and early 2010s.
#3- Edge and Christian- One of the greatest tag teams of all time (7x WWE Tag Team Champions), Edge and Christian became great comedy heels in 2000-2001 with their off-beat shenanigans and chickenish heel tactics. But along with the other two teams listed above them, they made the Tag-Team Division an equally important part of WWF programming. So for the benefit of those with flash photography....
#2- The Hardy Boyz- The Hardyz are a little higher than E&C on this list due to longevity. The Hardyz were involved in the TLC matches and had some great matches when they reformed their team in 2006-2007. As great as the Hardyz were in early 2000, their pairing with Lita propelled them to even greater heights on WWE programming. You want an example of how over this tag team continues to be? Watch WrestleMania 33 when they were the surprise team in the Tag Team Ladder Match. That ovation is deafening.
#1- The Dudley Boyz/Team 3D- This team takes my #1 choice for the 2000s due to longevity and impact on the business. In 2005, The Dudleyz left for TNA even after having practically done everything in WWE, including great matches with the two teams listed below them. They dominated the TNA Tag Team Division through a lot of the late 2000s and even won the IWGP Tag Team Championships in Japan. The Dudleyz deserve this position as I don't see another tag team that can claim to have the level of success that they had in the 2000s in and out of the WWE system.
My Top Tag Teams of the 2000s
1. The Dudley Boyz
2. The Hardy Boyz
3. Edge and Christian
4. Beer Money Inc.
5. Jeri-show
6. Booker T/Goldust
7. Los Guerreros
8. Miz and Morrison
9. The World's Greatest Tag Team
10. The APA
Again, I'm not claiming this as a definitive list. It's just what I currently believe are my top ten teams of the 2000s. You can comment on the list if you want, but I also welcome you to create your own list and share in the comments below. This weekend, I'll post the 2010s version of this list.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. And spread some awesomeness.
This decade is going to be difficult for a lot of reasons. To start, the WWE had a lot of great tag teams from 2000-2002. But tag team wrestling became less and less a priority, at least to the casual viewer as time continued on. Also, keep in mind that the wrestling industry went through some rough times when competition was scarce. Ring of Honor and TNA Wrestling would emerge in this decade as the closest thing to being considered competition for the WWE juggernaut, and the WWE's sweat was not even sweating about these companies. Still, some great tag teams did emerge from this decade. Here are a list of tag teams that stand out to me from the year 2000-2009. If you want to make your own list and can think of another team, by all means, include them in your list.
2000-2009 Teams (From Memory)
The Hardy Boyz
The Dudley Boyz/Team 3D
Edge and Christian
Too Cool
Test & Albert
New Age Outlaws/VKM
APA
DDP/Kanyon
Undertaker/Kane
Goodfather/Bull Buchanan
Kronic
Raven/Tommy Dreamer
The Impact Players
O'Haire/Jindrak
Billy and Chuck
Lance Storm/Christian
Booker T/Goldust
Lance Storm/William Regal
La Resistance
Kane/Rob Van Dam
Kurt Angle/Chris Benoit
Rey Mysterio/Edge
Los Guerreros
3 Minute Warning
The World's Greatest Tag Team (Haas/Benjamin)
The Basham Brothers
Batista/Ric Flair
Rikishi/Scotty 2 Hotty
Booker T/Rob Van Dam
Charlie Haas/Rico
Edge/Chris Benoit
Hurricane/Rosey
William Regal/Tajiri
Rob Van Dam/Rey Mysterio
Rene Dupree/Kenzo Suzuki
Eddie Guerrero/Rey Mysterio
Big Show/Kane
Cade and Murdoch
Spirit Squad
Ric Flair and Roddy Piper
Rated RKO
Shawn Michaels/John Cena
Deuce and Domino
MNM
Road Warrior Animal/Heidenreich
Kendrick and London
William Regal and Dave Taylor
The Highlanders
(At this point, I feel like I need therapy for remembering all these bad tag teams)
MVP and Matt Hardy
Batista and Rey Mysterio
Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins
Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase
CM Punk and Kofi Kingston
Carlito and Primo Colon
Edge and Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho and Big Show "Jerishow"
D-Generation X (HBK and Triple H)
The Hart Dynasty
MVP and Mark Henry
Triple X
America's Most Wanted
The Naturals
LAX (Homicide and Hernandez)
A.J. Styles and Tomko
A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels
Black Machismo Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed
Booker T and Scott Steiner
Beer Money Inc. (Roode and Storm)
Motor City Machine Guns
British Invasion (Magnus and Williams)
The Briscoe Brothers (giving them a mention since they had 6 ROH Title Reigns before the end of 2009)
There are some great tag teams of those I mentioned. There are others I wish I could have forgotten. As you can tell, the 2000s were collectively the decade of the random tag team. Here's the list of my Top 10...
#10- The APA- You need protection? For money and a case of beer, the APA would do it for you, heel or face. The APA were a good badass/comedy act in the Attitude Era and earned their place on this list.
#9- Haas and Benjamin "The World's Greatest Tag Team"- Two good solid wrestlers paired together to form the best technical tag team combination of the 2000s. Benjamin and Haas were part of several great matches in 2002-2004 as well as 2007 when they returned to the company.
#8- Miz and Morrison- Two WWE-ECW wrestlers who had nothing going for them that were paired together and made for a hilarious heel tag team that won both sets of tag team titles while still being on the "third brand." For that, the awesome Palace of Wisdom makes the list. Now do your best slo-motion Morrison pose.
#7- Los Guerreros- During the Smackdown Tag Team division genesis, there were several good temporary tag teams that emerged. But none were as entertaining and made as big of an impact as Los Guerreros. Eddie and Chavo, real life uncle and nephew, had a history in WCW, and WWE brought them back together with a gimmick of being notorious for "Lying, Cheating, and Stealing." Eddie would go on to take this gimmick to the next degree, but Los Guerreros were a tag team cornerstone of SmackDown from 2002-end of 2003.
#6- Booker T/Goldust- Another thrown together tag team that was comedy gold from their first appearance. I don't think it can be overstated how Booker T and Goldust helped saved a terrible 2002 Raw brand with their weekly comedy acts. Whether it was reviewing The Scorpion King or other current movies that came out, Goldust doing absurd impersonations, making offbeat jokes at each other's expense, or fighting the WWE's NWO, Booker T and Goldust stole the show night after night.
#5- Jeri-Show- Chris Jericho needed a new tag team partner when his first partner, Edge, was injured. Enter the Big Show. Together, they were a great heel act on both shows that dominated that tag team scene for a large part of 2009 and were involved in several high-attention stories. Usually, both men found themselves confronting the Raw Guest Host (Jericho vs. Bob Barker is still great), but they were at least the center of attention. You can't say that about a lot of the other tag teams I listed from memory.
#4- Beer Money Inc.- A TNA example of two people thrown together who created a hell of a tag team. James Storm and Bobby Roode (with manager Jackie Moore for a while) created Beer Money and helped reinvigorate the TNA Tag Team Division which was a stand out for the late 2000s and early 2010s.
#3- Edge and Christian- One of the greatest tag teams of all time (7x WWE Tag Team Champions), Edge and Christian became great comedy heels in 2000-2001 with their off-beat shenanigans and chickenish heel tactics. But along with the other two teams listed above them, they made the Tag-Team Division an equally important part of WWF programming. So for the benefit of those with flash photography....
#2- The Hardy Boyz- The Hardyz are a little higher than E&C on this list due to longevity. The Hardyz were involved in the TLC matches and had some great matches when they reformed their team in 2006-2007. As great as the Hardyz were in early 2000, their pairing with Lita propelled them to even greater heights on WWE programming. You want an example of how over this tag team continues to be? Watch WrestleMania 33 when they were the surprise team in the Tag Team Ladder Match. That ovation is deafening.
#1- The Dudley Boyz/Team 3D- This team takes my #1 choice for the 2000s due to longevity and impact on the business. In 2005, The Dudleyz left for TNA even after having practically done everything in WWE, including great matches with the two teams listed below them. They dominated the TNA Tag Team Division through a lot of the late 2000s and even won the IWGP Tag Team Championships in Japan. The Dudleyz deserve this position as I don't see another tag team that can claim to have the level of success that they had in the 2000s in and out of the WWE system.
My Top Tag Teams of the 2000s
1. The Dudley Boyz
2. The Hardy Boyz
3. Edge and Christian
4. Beer Money Inc.
5. Jeri-show
6. Booker T/Goldust
7. Los Guerreros
8. Miz and Morrison
9. The World's Greatest Tag Team
10. The APA
Again, I'm not claiming this as a definitive list. It's just what I currently believe are my top ten teams of the 2000s. You can comment on the list if you want, but I also welcome you to create your own list and share in the comments below. This weekend, I'll post the 2010s version of this list.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. And spread some awesomeness.
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