The Good Teams Of A Bad Era

[The Brain]

When discussing the greatest tag teams in WWE history most people will go back to 2002 and earlier. Other than a brief period in the mid 90s the tag division was pretty strong before then. While today's tag team division isn't as good as it was back then a lot of people think it is stronger now than it has been in many years. For whatever reason for about a ten year period between 2003-2012 people just couldn't get into the tag team scene.

Maybe it was a lack of quality teams. Maybe it was the brand extension creating two weak divisions instead of one strong one. Maybe it was the unwillingness of the creative team give consistent focus to the division. Maybe it was the tag teams getting the shaft and being pushed aside whenever the creative team decided to use the tag titles to further storylines between singles wrestlers. John Cena & Shawn Michaels didn't care about being champions. John Cena & Batista didn't care about being champions. Maybe it was random ridiculous pairings that didn't make any sense such as Charlie Haas & Viscera or Hacksaw Jim Duggan & Super Crazy. Really, it was a combination of all these things.

My negative comments aside this thread is actually meant to recognize the good teams stuck in a bad era. We're talking ten years here so despite the mistakes that were made we did see some good teams sneak in there. Maybe not the quality of The British Bulldogs, Hart Foundation, or Edge & Christian but teams that may be better remembered had the creative team decided to care. I think most people will bring up Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin. They are probably the most obvious pick so for the sake of bringing something else to the discussion I will bring up another team.

I always liked the team of Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch. I liked the combination of the new age cowboy (Cade) and the old school cowboy (Murdoch). Murdoch in particular appealed to me because I'm not a fan of the idea that all wrestlers have to look like they are either coming out of Hollywood or a Muscle and Fitness magazine. Murdoch just looked like an old fashioned bar room brawler while Cade had the look of the modern day wrestling athlete. It was a good contrast of style but at the same time they looked like the belonged together. They did get a couple title reigns and were treated pretty well relative to the era being discussed but I feel like just about every other team of that time they are easily forgotten. Cade & Murdoch probably would not have gotten a single title reign had they competed when the Bulldogs, Harts, and Demolition were on top but neither did the Rockers, Rougeaus, or Powers of Pain and I feel like those title-less teams are better remembered than the three time champions. I think had Cade & Murdoch been around in the 80s or 90s they'd probably be more than the afterthought they are now.

Who are some other good teams that aren't remembered very well do to the era in which they competed?

 

[TDFG]

The World's Greatest Tag-Team.

Even now, these guys could be tag-team champions.

The tag division really was garbage during the 00's due to random pairings and lack of interest by the booking team.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

Maybe it was the unwillingness of the creative team give consistent focus to the division. Maybe it was the tag teams getting the shaft and being pushed aside whenever the creative team decided to use the tag titles to further storylines between singles wrestlers.

I am going to have to say it had more to do with this ^^^ than anything else. Yea, wwe throwing random people together was a problem at some points but some times it worked and led to some great teams forming(Miz&Morrison, Show&Kane, Angle&Benoit, Edge&Orton, JeriShow, Swagger&Cesaro, MVP&Matt Hardy, RVD&Kane, etc).

Some of My favorites would be:
3-Minute Warning- Jamal and Rosey were massive and a sight to see. I have yet to see a team come along with the size and presence that they had.

World Greatest Tag Team- The best all around tag team since the 21 century.

Paul London and Brian Kendrick- fun to watch. And still the longest reigning tag team champions since 2002 as well at 331 days. (and when Ashley was added it made me want to see them even more)

Los Guerreros-Most entertaining team in the ring and outside the ring since 2002. Eddie and Chavo always kept my attention and kept me amused.

MNM-They were...Awesome. Team Entrance...Top notch. Manager...Excellent. Team Attire...Great. Team Finisher...Good.
The Second greatest team of the 21 century.

The Usos- Constantly puttting on great matches no matter who they are paired with. Just a true great tag team. (Jey is injuried and you haven't seen Jimmy wrestling without him which is great showing that they are united) They may even go down in history up there with the greats if they can have some historic matches/rivalries with the many new teams on the horizon.




***Shout out to some of the worst teams thrown together.***
Regal and Paul "the pirate" Burchill
Henry and Evan Bourne
Titus O'neil and Heath Slater
Mahal and McIntyre in 3MB
Charlie Hass and Rico
Super Crazy and Jim Duggan
Heidenreich and Animal
William Regal and Eugene/Tagiri
Hurricane and Rosey/Kane
Renee Dupree and Kenzo Suzuki(?)

 

[Lowdown]

Probably have to go with 3 Minute Warning. My memory of that period in regards to the tag teams are very shaky, considering some of the teams that got shine I couldn't stand like Billy & Chuck and La Resistance. I kinda dug Warning as they were just straight bruisers that came in, handled their business and got out. I'm not surprised they didn't get a shot at holding the gold as at the time most of the focus was on higher tier guys like Triple H and Evolution. But during that period, Warning was probably the only new team that I paid attention to.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I think there were a lot of great tag teams during that period. I never understood why people think 2002 started some sort of down period for tag team wrestling. I just don't see it. La Resistance (all three combinations), Team Angle/The World's Greatest Tag Team, Los Guerreros, Lance Storm & Christian, Lance Storm & William Regal, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, Deuce n' Domino, Paul London & Brian Kendrick, MNM, John Morrison & The Miz...there were so many great tag teams that they needed two separate tag team championships, and keep in mind that we almost had a THIRD added, it was confirmed that new ECW Tag Team Championship belts were designed, but ultimately never used in favor of making the WWE Tag Team Championship shared between SmackDown and ECW (which was the beginning of the end for the Brand Extension). If anything I think 2002-2007 was one of the strongest periods EVER for tag team wrestling, but a lot of fans are simply biased in favor of the Attitude Era.

 

[The Brain]

I think there were a lot of great tag teams during that period. I never understood why people think 2002 started some sort of down period for tag team wrestling.

I listed the reasons in my opening post. Check it out.

I just don't see it. La Resistance (all three combinations), Team Angle/The World's Greatest Tag Team, Los Guerreros, Lance Storm & Christian, Lance Storm & William Regal, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, Deuce n' Domino, Paul London & Brian Kendrick, MNM, John Morrison & The Miz...there were so many great tag teams that they needed two separate tag team championships

No, they needed two separate championships because of the brand extension. That era for tag team wrestling would be better remembered if there wasn't a brand extension and all the teams during that time competed on the same show. You can come up with a decent amount of teams (although not too great considering we're discussing a ten year period) to build a respectable division but it becomes significantly weaker when you have to divide those teams between two shows. Because of that you get teams like Jim Duggan & Super Crazy or Charlie Haas & Viscera.

, and keep in mind that we almost had a THIRD added, it was confirmed that new ECW Tag Team Championship belts were designed, but ultimately never used in favor of making the WWE Tag Team Championship shared between SmackDown and ECW (which was the beginning of the end for the Brand Extension).

I hate to think of the third rate teams that would have been competing for that title. Your World Tag Team Champions Colin Delany and Balls Mahoney. No thank you.

If anything I think 2002-2007 was one of the strongest periods EVER for tag team wrestling, but a lot of fans are simply biased in favor of the Attitude Era.

To each his own but I'd say you are in the minority. It isn't a bias toward the Attitude Era. It's Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boys, The Dudley Boys, The New Age Outlaws, Too Cool, APA, etc. Go back to the Hulkamania era and you have British Bulldogs, Hart Foundation, Demolition, Brain Busters, Legion of Doom, Rockers, Rougeau Brothers, Nasty Boys, etc. Sorry but the tag division of 2002 and later doesn't hold a candle to these teams.

It's not that there weren't good teams. There were some and the entire point of this thread is to recognize some good teams during a time when tag teams weren't focused on as much. I mentioned Cade & Murdoch. MNM, Haas & Benjamin, and London & Kendrick are other good teams. The problem wasn't so much the teams themselves but the lack of attention they received. I can name plenty of memorable tag team matches and feuds from before 2002. How many storylines can you remember from after? I'm glad you decided to stick up for this era. I completely disagree with your opinion that it was one of the best ever but the point is to give a shout out to some of the talent from that era since the division as a whole was largely put on the back burner.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I listed the reasons in my opening post. Check it out.

I saw them, I just disagree with them.

No, they needed two separate championships because of the brand extension. That era for tag team wrestling would be better remembered if there wasn't a brand extension and all the teams during that time competed on the same show. You can come up with a decent amount of teams (although not too great considering we're discussing a ten year period) to build a respectable division but it becomes significantly weaker when you have to divide those teams between two shows. Because of that you get teams like Jim Duggan & Super Crazy or Charlie Haas & Viscera.

There were definitely some weak teams, but there were plenty of strong teams as well, and I named several.

I hate to think of the third rate teams that would have been competing for that title. Your World Tag Team Champions Colin Delany and Balls Mahoney. No thank you.

You would have had teams like La Resistance, Sabu & Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman, and The Dudley Boyz for starters. WWE was in talks with the Dudleyz about coming back to compete in ECW but when plans for the ECW Tag Team Championships fell through, the two sides stopped talking. It would have also been a division for younger teams like Miz & Morrison, The Major Brothers (Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder) and others to cut their teeth.

To each his own but I'd say you are in the minority. It isn't a bias toward the Attitude Era. It's Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boys, The Dudley Boys, The New Age Outlaws, Too Cool, APA, etc. Go back to the Hulkamania era and you have British Bulldogs, Hart Foundation, Demolition, Brain Busters, Legion of Doom, Rockers, Rougeau Brothers, Nasty Boys, etc. Sorry but the tag division of 2002 and later doesn't hold a candle to these teams.

I'd put La Resistance, Lance Storm & William Regal, World's Greatest Tag Team, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, and Paul London & Brian Kendrick, among others, up there with any of those teams (and far above some of them, like Too Cool, the Rougeau Brothers, and the Nasty Boys).

It's not that there weren't good teams. There were some and the entire point of this thread is to recognize some good teams during a time when tag teams weren't focused on as much. I mentioned Cade & Murdoch. MNM, Haas & Benjamin, and London & Kendrick are other good teams. The problem wasn't so much the teams themselves but the lack of attention they received. I can name plenty of memorable tag team matches and feuds from before 2002. How many storylines can you remember from after? I'm glad you decided to stick up for this era. I completely disagree with your opinion that it was one of the best ever but the point is to give a shout out to some of the talent from that era since the division as a whole was largely put on the back burner.

I can name plenty. The Dudley Boyz vs. La Resistance was a great tag team storyline. Miz & Morrison are probably the best tag team of the latter half of the Ruthless Aggression Era, and they had an amazing rivalry with Carlito & Primo, and some really solid matches with Cryme Tyme. Team Angle/WGTT vs. Los Guerreros. Deuce n' Domino instantly becoming the most hated heel tag team in the company by getting the Fatal Four Way Ladder Match at No Way Out (which was to be a rematch of the epic match from Armageddon two months prior) cancelled in favor of their own match. On the tail end of the Ruthless Aggression Era we had almost a year of great championship matches from JeriShow and ShoMiz. I'll take ANY of these matches over seeing a 4 team division in the Attitude Era fight each other a billion times.

 

[Rhodes2TheFuture3313]

I think during the Ruthless Aggression Era McMahon and creative tried to separate Tagteams much too quickly. I remember the shock when Rene Dupree was drafted to Smackdown and La Resistance who were one of the more consistent Raw performers were split up. Sylvain Grenier & Rob Conway were still good, but the trio of guys made it work better. Same for the World's Greatest Tagteam Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas. When Shelton got drafted to Raw it was an OMG moment. Funny how Shelton instantly became a fan fav upon arriving on Raw and defeated HHH in one of his first solo matches.

 

[LascoX]

I always thought that Big Show and Kane was an awesome combo. In theroy they should have been unbeatable which is why they were probably separated. I had looked for those two to dominate the scene a lot longer than they did. Pairing Show and Jerico worked really well with the power of Big Shoe and the quickness of Jerico, that and the interaction between them was entertaining. Angle and Benoit was a great technical pairing but was short lived due to the singles path both would take. Los Gerreros were by far the most entertaining. They lied , cheated and stoled the hearts of the WWE universe by having the charisma and the in ring skills to carry the show.

 

[NSL]

Rated RKO and Miz & Morrison are definitely my two favorites from that time. There is no doubt there was a shortage of competent tag teams, compared to the 80's-90's, but those two were definitely bright spots, even if they are lumped in with the "random pairings" category.

Flair & Batista, as part of Evolution fall into the same category also, but there was a story there, and there was an interesting dynamic. Rhodes and DiBiase could have been a lot better, I think, but got put with Orton and lost some steam as a tag team.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think there were a fair number of talented teams around in this era, but like The Brain stated, the brand extension (and therefore 2 sets of tag-team belts) meant the good teams had to be split over 2 shows, therefore making each brands tag-team roster pretty thin, which ended up needing to be padded out with make-shift teams, which I really hate. Charlie Haas and Viscera? Seriously?? If I remember rightly, didn't Matt Hardy get stuck with an old, fat Tatanka at one stage too?

As other posters have said, The World's Greatest Tag Team of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas was a great combination that could have comfortably competed in any era of wrestling. Both were fantastic athletes, with excellent mat-wrestling skills and in the case of Benjamin, being able to fly as well. It was a masterstroke in pairing them up with Kurt Angle when the first debuted and to me it was a team that should have been together much longer than they were.

That's a big problem I've had with WWE for years- their insistance to break up successful teams in order to find the next breakout star, often far too soon. Yes, sometimes there IS a stand-out talent in a tag team (e.g. Shawn Michaels in The Rockers), but far too often teams that haven't even reached their peak or teams that have had a good 6 month run are broken up unnecessarily and both guys are worse off than before and flop as singles stars. Examples of this include La Resistance, WGTT, Cade & Jindrak, Palumbo & O'Haire, Cryme Tyme, Prime Time Players, The Wyatt Family and many more. I still can't believe that WWE thought it was a good idea to split up The Dudley Boyz and make D'Von into a Reverand. WHO THOUGHT THAT WOULD WORK? DEAR GOD!!

 

[NSL]

That's a big problem I've had with WWE for years- their insistance to break up successful teams in order to find the next breakout star, often far too soon. Yes, sometimes there IS a stand-out talent in a tag team (e.g. Shawn Michaels in The Rockers), but far too often teams that haven't even reached their peak or teams that have had a good 6 month run are broken up unnecessarily and both guys are worse off than before and flop as singles stars. Examples of this include La Resistance, WGTT, Cade & Jindrak, Palumbo & O'Haire, Cryme Tyme, Prime Time Players, The Wyatt Family and many more. I still can't believe that WWE thought it was a good idea to split up The Dudley Boyz and make D'Von into a Reverand. WHO THOUGHT THAT WOULD WORK? DEAR GOD!!

Let me preface this by saying I agree with you. Except in these two cases.

La Resistance was a good heel team, and eventually wore out their welcome, and as singles wrestlers they were only ever going to be okay. Sylvan and Rob Conway both had a reboot of sorts, and had whatever success they were going to have.

World's Greatest Tag Team might have been split too early, but everyone knew Shelton Benjamin was going to be something. When he was given a chance, he ran with it (see the HBK match). For whatever reason, his pushes were always stalled, so he was Kofi before there was Kofi. He appeared in all the ladder matches, he got a token title shot every once in a while, and that was as far as the glass ceiling would let him rise.

 

[FlairFan2003]

The best team post 2002 was really an old team reformed and left over.....HBK & HHH. Perfect chemistry, extremely skilled, could convincingly wrestle big giants, fast cruiserweights, and hard core style opponents, they worked extremely well together.

Flair & Batista was another very good team.....power & skill.....youth & experience, the cunning rulebreaking of Flair and raw intimidating strength of Batista. This is really where Batista comes into his own and grows from the bottom rung/jobber guy in Evolution and turns into a legit star in his own right, big step forward for his character here.

Rated RKO may have been my favorite post 2002 - Two previously un related characters who never interacted much despite being in the top teir of the roster for several years, forced together by storyline dictates and they clicked - Really clicked, good chemistry, very good team work, I always felt WWE missed the boat and should have kept them as a team/faction awhile longer, maybe even a mini heel stable with one or two less established guys who might have benefited from the association (the way Evolution did for Orton & Batista).

 

[Wolf Pac]

Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon

It's a shame Furnas & LaFon never got over because the both of them were really talented in-ring workers. Actually I would say they were "The World's Greatest Tag Team" of the WWF's 96-97 tag team division just without WGTT's success and push.

Deuce & Domino

Thought they had a good gimmick, good entrance, and were decent workers. Problem was they were stuck in the wrong era with that gimmick and London & Kendrick were their only real competition in Smackdown's tag team division at the time. The rest of the tag teams they competed against were made up of two guys randomly paired up with each other. They would've fit in perfectly in the Golden Era as allies of The Honky Tonk Man and when WWE had all the cartoon characters/gimmicks running around.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon

It's a shame Furnas & LaFon never got over because the both of them were really talented in-ring workers. Actually I would say they were "The World's Greatest Tag Team" of the WWF's 96-97 tag team division just without WGTT's success and push.

Even though the question is supposed to be focusing on the post-attitude era, I have to say you're right on Furnas and LaFon being a good team. They were very technically sound. I'm watching all the 1997 Raw's now and they just get no reaction at all from the crowd, despite Vince talking them up as an internationally successful team who've held many titles together.

They actually talk about the lack of crowd interest in them and how they can't get over, and in interviews Furnas and LaFon talk about the fans not caring about them!

 

[THTRobtaylor]

People forget how good La Fon (Kroffat) and Furnas were in the mid 90's. Those guys OWNED All Japan - made just as much money as the top Gaijin like Hansen did and were an amazing team. WWE kinda didn't want THAT team, they wanted a watered down version of it which is sadly what most people remember them as.

See when some say the mid 90's was strong for WWE tags, I shake my head and say WFT? No WAY was it good in the mid 90's... Smokin' Gunns were best of a mediocre bunch, it's telling that Billy's a tag legend for a different team entirely, despite spending 4 years as a Gunn...

That mid 90's period had some utter CRAP... Men On A Mission, The 2nd Headshrinkers team with Sionne, The Bodydonnas. It was the era of either thrown together teams or singles guys having the titles like Owen and Yoko or Shawn and Diesel.

The good teams of that era were the ones that didn't stick around long and arguably CAUSED a lot of the problems for the division. The Steiners, LOD, Brain Busters, team after team got brought in and given the ball, only to fumble it or throw it back at Vince and want to leave. It created a lot of the mentality that rules today, that only HIS creations can run...

They made a final effort to revamp it in 97, hiring some strong teams like LaFon & Furnas, The Headbangers & forming the Outlaws.

The biggest problem the tag division has faced is that once Bret and Shawn moved from that golden era into Singles Champs, and then Edge, Jeff Hardy and the like emulated them - that's all tag teams would ever be... a stepping stone... it took till The Shield to really change that perception, and has it really? So far only one has REALLY made it...

If you want specific "good examples" from the 2002 onward dearth, there aren't many cos none ever got the chance to run with it long enough, build any momentum or were always seen as a short term solution. Cade & Murdoch could have been a fixture for 10 years, but they were desperate to get Cade into the singles picture and didn't give a toss about Murdoch... same for 3 Minute Warning...

Truly the only interesting teams in that whole period were Miz/Morrison and later Jerishow/ShowMiz...

Go further back...was it ever THAT different? There were bad teams in 1987 like the Young Stallions, The Can-Am Connection, Orton & Orndorff... not every team is gonna work well.

 

[Slash-LN]

I liked Cade and Murdoch as a team as well. Whatever video game it was back then that had the good GM mode where wrestlers gained popularity and could compete for higher titles based on that saw the rise of Cade and Murdock as tag and singles champions. I tended to push Cade quite a bit more.

Regal and Storm are both underrated wrestlers and were an underrated team. I'm not sure how much being in that time period affected them but had they been a team in this period where the rules of the game have kind of changed they might have been a bit more popular. The same thing with London and Kendrick. I think London and Kendrick would be incredibly popular right now.

DH Smith and Tyson Kidd are overlooked now but I think they were gaining popularity as a team until WWE broke them up. That was a dumb mistake and they could have been a great team.

Teams like Miz and Morrison, Los Guerreros and MNM are probably some of the more remembered teams from that decade but in comparison to other teams from other eras they probably don't get mentioned as often as they should.

Although Spirit Squad was a pretty stupid gimmick, having five guys hold the titles and work under Freebird rules was kind of neat for a generation that had probably never seen that before. Even without the titles they would have been the same in some of the feuds they had. Most prolifically that DX feud.

Two personal favorites that most people probably couldn't care less about were Hawkins and Ryder and Rene Dupree and Sylvain Grenier.

Hawkins and Ryder looked and felt like a real team. Sylvain and Rene had the look and while they weren't the best wrestlers they probably would still at least had some decent feuds in other eras.

One division in that time period would have been really good.

A split and apathy towards the division definitely hurt the division.

Also during parts of that time The Hardys and Dudleys were still around.

And Matt and MVP may not have been a great team but at least the champions that don't really want to be a team story line is fun to watch sometimes.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

DH Smith and Tyson Kidd are overlooked now but I think they were gaining popularity as a team until WWE broke them up. That was a dumb mistake and they could have been a great team.

I agree. That's another example of WWE breaking up a successful team early in their main roster careers and then doing absolutely nothing with with either wrestler. It completely puzzles me why the Hart Dynasty was split up and then both Kidd and Smith left directionless. How was that a better decision that letting them develop further as a team and strengthen a weak tag team division. Baffling!

Although Spirit Squad was a pretty stupid gimmick, having five guys hold the titles and work under Freebird rules was kind of neat for a generation that had probably never seen that before. Even without the titles they would have been the same in some of the feuds they had. Most prolifically that DX feud.

I hated the Spirit Squad but agree with what you are saying. I hadn't seen a team utilising the Freebird rule in WWE before (I think Triple X had used it briefly in TNA) so it was something new, and I enjoyed the idea of it. Again, once they were split up it was only done to give Kenny Dykstra a push (until Nick Nemeth was repackaged as Dolph Ziggler later on).

Two personal favorites that most people probably couldn't care less about were Hawkins and Ryder and Rene Dupree and Sylvain Grenier.

Hawkins and Ryder were a perfectly fine duo who looked like a proper team. It surprised me when neither Ryder or Hawkins were doing much in singles later on that they weren't put back together. It would have been best for both of them.

Hawkins and Ryder looked and felt like a real team.
And Matt and MVP may not have been a great team but at least the champions that don't really want to be a team story line is fun to watch sometimes.

I was a fan of both Hardy and MVP in WWE and the storyline that they were champions but hated each other is usually pretty entertaining like you say. I thought Hardy and MVP had great chemistry and worked really well together both as reluctant partners and also feuding over the US title.

 

[mkw1962]

Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin were a great tag team. I also liked Miz and Morrison they were cool. The Dudleys and DX each won it once in that era. My favorite had to be 3 minute warning I wish they would have won the titles.