What It Takes To Make An Iconic Tag Team

[Pay Per Ghost]

Being twins?

I guess this question is a little more complex as wrestling, is (has been) a sport drawn by ONE top dog. Sure we can harken the days of the Road Warriors and lay a case for strong tag teams, but have they really drawn over the years for a company to seriously consider building a long term duo to bank on?

We come to 2015, and in this age of meta-fans galore one wonders how a tag team can get over and become market-ably sufficient to atleast draw some house. Have we been too accustomed to a single guy only on top to have teams drawing us to the arenas. The Dudleys, Hardys were surely doing some of that but you were always looking at who is the break out star here and who's the Jannetty.


Or can it change? Can they manufacture a tag team for the long run and make them equally relevant and important on the card. Missed the boat with Ascension perhaps...


Basically lads and lasses, how do they induct a successful tag team in the 2025 HOF bred in the current wrestling scenario?

 

[Max Headroom]

In order to accomplish such a task, the entire tag-team division would have to be made more legitimate as well. It's hard to be a big draw without any worthwhile opponents to face. There was a recent group, that would be deserving of mention in the future for being a big deal & producing HoF-level talent, which was The Shield. However, they won't really be remembered as a great tag team, they'll be remembered as a great stable that produced three great singles stars.

The Ascension really could have started something, has they actually gave a damn about how to debut them. However, that seems to be a lost cause now. You don't need tons of tag-teams, just a handful of teams with good stories & meaningful personalities. Once the division starts to get noticed more, it will be easier to produce a big team, and the team which starts this rise would also get great recognition for starting the revival of the division. Cesaro & Kidd have great potential to start this momentum off. Find them some good opponents, give them a meaningful story, & good things should follow.

Another way to help bring attention back to the division is to not have so many random tag-matches thrown together on RAW/Smackdown. At this stage, there seems to be more tag-team matches between non-tag-team wrestlers than there are actual tag-team matches with actual tag-teams. Let the tag-team wrestlers shine in their tag-team matches, and let the singles wrestlers shine in their singles matches. It's okay to throw some singles wrestlers into a tag-team match if it fits the story, but this should be considered a slightly big deal, not just business-as-usual.

 

[Alex]

They have to have chemistry.

That's easier when you're related or have been best friends for years. In today's tag team world that's hard to come by. You look at the good tag teams in WWE, TNA and ROH and they're either best friends or related (Wolves, Bucks, Usos, Bad Influence, MCMG etc). Throwing people together and hoping they stick very rarely works. I know Bad Influence were technically a random thrown together team but I'm fairly sure Kaz and Daniels had been friends for a while so they already had a pre-existing chemistry.

Look at at Cesaro and Kidd. Yeah they work together but they don't really have a flow. One does their thing, tags in the other guy who does their thing rinse and repeat. Eventually they could get a good chemistry going but that leads me to the second point.


Stop breaking teams up after about a year or two

Everytime there's a tag team with some momentum WWE decides to break them up. Goldust and Stardust have been a team for about two years (including the Cody era) but it seems they're going to break them up (I know that's in part because Goldust wants to retire but my point still stands). Another example is the Prime Time Players. They were a team for about two years. They start getting some momentum and what happens they get broken up because they reckon they could do something with Titus O Neal. Nope he did bugger all in the intervening year, same with Darren Young and they've had to put them back together to give them something to do. If they'd kept them together they'd probably be more over and more relevant.

Basically in my opinion make sure to have good tag teams they have chemistry and make sure that at the first sign of momentum you don't break them up. You build up the momentum and keep riding it. The first sign of momentum don't break them up because the momentum is a team effort. I don't care what anyone says both wrestlers play a part even if it's to play off the other one.

Oh another thing is make sure they have cool tag team finishers. People remember the 3D, they remember the Con-Chair-To, they remember Poetry In Motion and Event Omega. I honest;y can't think of a good tag team finisher from today's WWE talents. The Ascension one is ok but aside from them the rest are basically two single moves put together.

Unique, matching attire helps as well (they seem to be working on that to be fair)

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As has been mentioned, chemistry is of primary importance and stop breaking teams up in which the wrestlers not only work well together, they work their best when they're together. One reason why The Road Warriors, Steiner Brothers, Dudley Boys, Harlem Heat and others have become tag team icons is because they literally spent numerous years working as a team. Eventually, Rick & Scott Steiner went their separate ways into singles careers, but they spent literally years together and they had that natural chemistry. That's not to say that all brother tag teams have it, but Rick & Scott had a close relationship, they worked well together and they were consistently made a priority.

At the same time, however, there are also those wrestlers that while part of a successful tag team, they want to be singles stars. If you look back over the course of wrestling history and name who you feel are the 10 greatest of all time, certain names appear in some order on almost everyone's list: Thesz, Hogan, Flair, Sammartino, Savage, Austin, The Rock, etc. Whenever anyone mentions "greatest" without specifically mentioning the term "tag team", the vast majority of people name wrestlers who are remembered for their work as singles wrestlers. Ric Flair won the NWA World Tag Team Championship 3 times while wrestling in Mid-Atlantic, 2 times with Greg The Hammer Valentine, and was a significant force in the tag team ranks. What does everyone remember him for though? Being a 16 time World Heavyweight Champion.

 

[Hem]

WWE hasn't really made an iconic tag team in the past several years. They have created good tag teams like London/Kendrick, Benjamin/Haas, Cryme Tyme, Miz/Morrison, Usos, Team Hell No, Prime Time Players and most recently the Brass Ring Club.

Even with all of these tag teams, most of which could go really well in the ring; WWE never got to the levels of Edge/Christian, DX, Hardys, Dudleys, APA etc.,

I think the main reason is that the booking, or lack of. Tag teams used to symbolise two young guys who wanted to make history and did so together. The Dudleys, Hardys, E/C, DX all reached great prestigious levels because in their time, Tag Teams were a part of the main focus of the show and not just a way to get the most out of all the people employed.

I'm not going to say the Ascension will ever reach the level that guys like NAO, Road Warriors or any tag team in their time got to because I think the gimmick is far out dated and currently completely mis-handled.

The tag team of Tyson Kidd and Cesaro can possibly be the next big tag team to emerge from the WWE. They have all that it takes in the ring and have the best tag team moveset that I have seen in a long time. Can either of them drop pipebombs on the mic? No. Does that mean you can't give them a manager? A guy like Paul Heyman could pick them up post mania season and manage them as a team which is destined for greatness.

A great tag team also had characters who the people want to connect with. The Hardys, Dudleys, DX and so many more tag teams excited the fans as soon as the music hit because they were that damn charasmatic. In todays WWE, no tag team has that factor to them, not even the Usos and their cool entrance.

If worked properly the Brass Ring Club could reach to a great level of fame with the tag team. That being with proper booking, enough and appropriate TV time, a mouth piece (maybe Nattie?) New music couldn't hurt, a great run as tag champs with a plethora of opponents to beat because no tag team can be iconic just by facing the same team over and over again no matter how good the matches are, just ask the Usos.

The state of the tag team division is just poor and it isn't any different in TNA. Both companies have amazing tag teams (Usos, BRC, PTP, Wolves, Hardys, Revolution, Lucha Dragons) which can even main event the B level ppvs or at least Raw and SD once in a while.

Every major tag team also has had a break out star come out of it, DX gave birth to the modern day HHH, Hardys created Jeff Hardy, E/C created Edge, APA gave us JBL and so on so forth. I wonder who the next break out star to come from a tag team is.

 

[MrTDG]

It's the same thing that it takes to make a singles star, except the dynamic is with two people instead of one. Obviously chemistry between the two guys, compelling story lines, competitive matches, and the special it factor that all talent needs.

It hash't happened with these teams because they rarely let the tag teams do anything that matters. Edge, Christian and the Hardys got over by having show stealing matches. The Dudleys got over with their over the top violence. The APA were two tough guys that were downright funny. The New Age Outlaws had a talker in the Road Dogg, a good wrestler in Billy Gunn, and picked on the biggest, baddest team in the land (the Road Warriors). You could go on and on. They have to allow tag teams to have that moment. In the last ten years there were teams with potential. Paul London and Brian Kendrick could've been relied on to have great matches. But they never really had anyone to match them. If they were the British Bulldogs, the needed a Hart Foundation to go against and develop a natural rivalry. I never would've broken up the Miz and John Morrison. Same with the Prime Time Players. They could've easily had a solid division, but that requires the company investing into tag teams. With three hours on Monday and two hours on Thursday, I can;t understand how they don't have enough time to create something worthwhile with tag teams.

 

[FlairFan2003]

The problem really since at least the mid 90s has been the lack of attention to the tag team ranks. In the 70s & 80s there were multiple tag team feuds THAT DIDNT INVOLVE THE WORLD TAG TITLE, just like there were for singles wrestlers. Since the mid 90s or so basically every tag storyline has revolved almost exclusively around the belts and nothing else, meaning almost no air time for any teams not in wearing or directly chasing the belt.

Teams themselves have to have both individual charisma as solo acts but their acts have to play well off of each other. Some teams go the route of having two similar styled partners such as Rock & Roll Express, Midnight Express, Road Warriors, British Bulldogs, others for a package where each member brings something completely unique the other one lacks....Arn Anderson was always the brawler, the "Enforcer" role in very entertaining teams with Tully Blanchard & Ric Flair, who represented the more skill oriented, mat based style in the duo - fact was Arn was an excellent all around performer, not just a brawler, but he played that role well to accent what the other two brought, a very similar dynamic to The Hart Foundation where Anvil was clearly the muscle, brawler guy and Brett Hart the more mat based technician type. Here not only do the contrasting styles have to be an entertaining and sensible counter to each other but each guy needs to be very charismatic in their own role.

When you look back, many of the best teams and tag wrestlers were just plain great wrestlers over all. The Texas Outlaws teamed Dick Murdoch with the legendary Dusty Rhodes, obviously the singles success of Hart and Shawn Michaels speaks for itself, as well as HHH (Michaels partner in DX), and of course Flair as one poster pointed out won multiple tag titles with Blackjack Mulligan, Greg Valentine, and later in his career Batista & Roddy Piper yet he is clearly remembered for his singles career. Edge established himself as a legit singles star as well after a successful tag run with Christian (not too mention an excellent turn in Rated RKO with Randy Orton).

No matter what route you take in building the team you need to have a tag division that actually gets screen time and storylines on TV beyond just the tag belts themselves or it really doesn't matter.

 

[John McCass]

It needs exactly three things :
Chemistry :
Just as everyone stated, this is the must needed asset to create an iconic tag team. Cesaro and Kidd and Prime Time Players have this. These two teams have everything to become an iconic tag team. They are charismatic, talented and have awesome chemistry between them. They need some promo time also which I think they should get after Mania. In terms of chemistry, these two teams are richest in tag team division. The Usos also have it and this is why they carried the division last year.
No Splits :
This badly needs to be followed. They (WWE) always split up the hottest going tag team, I don't know why and in majority, they fail. Very less of them become successful. Jeff Hardy is an exception. Even if they split, they should reunite them again. The Dudley Boys showed this. They split numerous times and reunited numerous times. I don't know why they break a tag team. Very less of them have continued to stick together.
Competition :
In 80s and 90s, there were plenty of tag teams to give some competion. But, in today's era, there are very few tag teams, in which many of them are thrown away tag teams. When we are asked to rename a real and destined tag teams. We have The Usos and all of them are thrown away teams. There was some focus into tag team division back, in that time. They used to have gimmick matches like no disqualification, TLC, hardcore etc. And now there are only general matches to determine the champion. Gimmick matches bring some intensity, insanity and therefore, shows the desire for the belts.