My picks are probably cliche, but I'm going to be sincere. Also, sorry for the essay.
Honorable Mention - The Eliminators - Now that I have all sorts of ECW tapes and DVDs at my disposal, this is a team that I grew to love long after the fact, so I'm putting them in as a honorable mention. As you'll see on down, I loved the Dudleys, back when they were relevant, and the Eliminators were a pretty classic rivalry, for them. It's a real shame what happened to Saturn, later in his career, and it's a full blown tragedy what happened to Kronus. These two would have ran house in the WWF, I'm convinced, and they're the most underrated tag team I can think of, IMHO.
#5) - E & C - If I were making a list of who I thought the greatest tag teams of all-time were, they'd be at least two spots higher. TLC 1 & 2 breathed new life into my life-long wrestling love after it was finally starting to wane, and E & C were a tremendous part of those matches. I feel as though the Dudleys were the foundation for the matches, what with their history in reinventing the use of the tables, but in my eyes, E & C were the skeleton of that structure; they kept everything in check and controlled those matches. If it weren't for them, in two different ways, those matches would have been nothing at all but spot fests. They still were, but E & C kept things grounded, and that match needed that. I honestly didn't really like the Hardys...ever, and so the Dudleys were my favorite team in those matches. Now that I'm older, though, I realize just how important Edge and Christian were to TLC. They really were the ones who dictated the flow, and the won because they were the best team. They were really funny, though at times I found them more annoying, but the fact that they were both able to build singles success is a testament to how great the two were. One of the best tag teams ever, hands down.
#4) - Demolition - Ax and Smash were clones of Hawk and Animal, I get that and I get that there's no getting around that. But, I didn't ever watch NWA, aside from the first Starrcade (which I'll never forget,) and these guys were a new concept, when I first saw them. They dressed even more like Mad Max than the Road Warriors did, but I thought it looked awesome. Of course, when I id finally lay eyes on L.O.D. I was old enough and jaded enough to realize what the WWF had done, but when I first saw them, they were something I had never seen before, and I loved it. I want to say I was watching live (though I probably wasn't,) when they won their first tag titles. Either way, I marked out. Great tag team, even if they were rip offs.
#3) - The Hart Foundation - I remember just thinking about these guys, once they became babyfaces, that they were just damn cool. People always like to say that Bret's promos were bad, but I thought that he was a hell of a cool cat. He wore that jacket, he had those bad-ass shades, by 80's standards, and he never seemed really bothered by anything. Then you had big Jim Neidhart, who was the hot head and the bruiser, and when he came into the match, you know he was going to rough up the guy across from him. They had an awesome dynamic between them, and they were just really exciting to watch. I know nobody needs me to ramble on about how great a Hall of Fame tag team was, but they really were and I loved them...once they went babyface, of course.
#2) - The Dudley Boys: D-Von and Bubba Ray are the greatest heel tag team ever, and I don't care who else you throw at me. I've never seen anyone incite a riot with the crowd as much as Bubba Ray used to in ECW. I didn't trade tapes, but I rented them like crazy whenever they popped up in our local video store. My sister-in-law absolutely hated them, and refused to let my nephew watch. A big part of that were the Dudleys. They were gross, they were vulgar, and they knew how to eat away at the audience. They trump The New Age Outlaws in my book as the best hardcore tag team, and they're proof that fledgling companies like ECW and ROH, today, can get over on great tag teams. TLC 1 & 2 were a milestone in wrestling history and a triumph of the Attitude Era, and because of what these guys did in their time before WWF, I'll say they were the foundation. Unbelievably great all-time tag team.
#1) - The Road Warriors - To this day, I'm not sure how the IWC can love the legacy of the Road Warriors. Their wrestling wasn't great, their promos weren't masterpieces, and all they really got by on were their awesome look and entrance. But, when I was a kid, I worshiped these guys, especially when I was in high school and they finally came over to the WWF. I knew who they were from the few magazines that I had that weren't WWF affiliated, and I always used to see them and think, "these guys are awesome."
Outside from their look, I actually loved their promos. Animal would just spout off something about their opponent, but when it got to Hawk, man I would mark. He was an absolute lunatic, but he would sometimes say some of the most hilariously awesome lines. I'll never forget from the '92 Rumble, when the Road Warriors were facing the Natural Disasters (I saw this on tape when it hit the shelves,), and Hawk said something to the effect of, "...they wanna throw their weight around! Well, that's okay, we wanna throw their weight around, too!" Oh my God, my brother and I still to this day laugh about that and love it. It was just the way Hawk said it. "WEEEELLLLL!" is still a beloved joke among my brother and I, and I always loved seeing the Road Warriors. They changed tag team wrestling forever, and with good reason. That's why they're my favorite tag team of all-time.
