Who Is The Greatest Tag Wrestler Of All Time?

[Mudlup50]

Back when someone asked if Sting would be considered a legend in a WWE ring, I looked up numbers of his to compare with Booker T and King Booker is like a 15 time tag champ...which to be honest blew me away, the Booker I remember from Smackdown was a solo guy.

So the question, who is the greatest tag wrestler of all time? You can use title reigns as defense(i.e. number of reigns or length) or just the ability to work well with anyone.

 

[TheICChampion]

You might be getting tired of me saying this, but it has to be Edge. The guy's won tag titles with Christian, Rey Mysterio, Hulk Hogan, Stevie Richards, Y2J, etc. There may be even more, I don't think I got them all. Plus the fact that he must've won at least, what? 10-15 tag titles? So I think he covers both points, as far as number of reigns and the ability to work well with anyone.

 

[Slash-LN]

Back when someone asked if Sting would be considered a legend in a WWE ring, I looked up numbers of his to compare with Booker T and King Booker is like a 15 time tag champ...which to be honest blew me away, the Booker I remember from Smackdown was a solo guy.

So the question, who is the greatest tag wrestler of all time? You can use title reigns as defense(i.e. number of reigns or length) or just the ability to work well with anyone.

Was that factoring his WCW days working with Stevie Ray as Harlem Heat? If so then that wouldn't be much of a stretch. At one point they were a really hot team. (No pun intended.

TheICChampion already picked who I would go with. He could work singles or as a tag team and for the most part not feel like it was just two guys stuck together for the purpose of a team.

He had chemistry with a lot of people.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

In my opinion, two names really stand out:

Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton.

Both were multiple time tag team champions in multiple promotions. They were half of multiple classic pairings: Anderson was part of the Brain Busters (w/ Tully Blanchard) and the second Minnesota Wrecking Crew (w/ Ole Anderson). In addition, he won world tag team titles with Eaton himself, Larry Zbyszko, and Paul Roma.

Bobby Eaton may've never made it to the WWF, but he was the lynchpin of two incredibly successful versions of the Midnight Express, with Dennis Condrey and Stan Lane. They won the tag titles twice, and the U.S. tag titles 3 times together. His 3rd tag team title was with Anderson as part of the Dangerous Alliance.

The thing that I think made them stand out was their intelligence as tag team wrestlers. They didn't just win a bunch of titles due to longevity...they were primarily tag team wrestlers and they turned it into an art form. They were both masters at double teaming, and they knew that telling a story in a tag team match was a very different beast than a one on one match.

I think you could've paired these guys with just about anyone, and the team would be an immediate threat to win tag gold no matter where they were at.

 

[hacksawrowdyhogan]

My vote would be for hawk or Andre. Hawk was the leader of the greatest team in history. Andre was unstoppable even in later years with the heenan family most notably haku.

 

[daddyJ_t]

im surprised nobody mentioned sean micheals or brett hart. both were great mat wrestlers and put on damn good matches while part of the rockers and hart foundation respectivly. both kinda fed off their partners and put on great tag matches and singles matches. remember sean micheals wrestling ric flair one on one? bouth of them were great tag specialists and went on to great single carreers also. hart reformed the great tag team into a faction and sean went on to also capture tag gold will deisel and also form another tag team called dx and when it wasnt a faction it was tag gold with hhh

 

[Pérez84]

If we are talking about "pure tag team wrestlers", I have to say Hawk. But I can choose Edge or Bret Hart too. The problem with these guys is that both of them are remembered more for their solo careers than their tag team careers. They don't need the tag division to be two of the greatest anyway.

 

[Papa Pillman]

To throw a name into the conversation that has not been mentioned, I'd have to say one of the first guys that popped into my head when I saw this thread was the Cowboy James Storm.

James was half of two of the greatest tag teams of the last dozen years in pro wrestling with America's Most Wanted and Beer Money. In both cases at the time many considered him the weaker singles wrestler in the pair, yet he never seemed overshadowed when the duos would compete. Few guys has been in two separate tag teams for such an extended period of time that had as an impressive a long term run as those two pairings. In fact both teams were named PWI Tag Team of the Year.

Storm has also managed to win tag titles with three other partners under the TNA banner, to further illustrate his ability to pair with anyone and form a successful union in the ring. He has also won multiple tag team tournaments plus a WWC tag title with yet a different partner.

Spoiler

All tolled Storm has won a total of 13 World Tag Titles under the TNA banner; 4 with Roode, 6 with Harris; and 1 each with Daniels, Gunner, and most recently with Abyss at an Impact Taping that is in the can for an October or November airing.

Along those lines, a couple of Storm's former championship partners, Roode and Christopher Daniels, could also be good candidates who I could make a case for on this list.

 

[Mustang Sally]

This is sort of an unusual pick, I suppose, but I name Road Dogg when he was a member of the New Age Outlaws.

As a singles competitor, he wasn't that inspiring because he couldn't seem to sustain a commanding presence in long matches, but as a tag team participant who worked in short bursts, he'd come in to rescue Billy Gunn and start throwing those Dusty Rhodes-like elbows, completely turning the momentum his team's way.....with the results often being a win for the Outlaws. I can't count the times he'd enter the ring in this manner and wind up closing out the match.

 

[Bockwinkel's Class]

Here's a name I get the feeling most of the younger posters won't recognize: Johnny Weaver. Look up his record, it's a real eye opener.

 

[ShatteredDreamsProduction]

I know he had a lot of success as a singles wrestler. But a guy who had chemistry with just about every wrestler he's worked with is the Big Show. 3 tag titles in WCW with 3 different partners (Lex Luger, Sting and Scott Hall)
And an 8 time tag champion in wwe with 4 different partners (Kane, Miz, Jericho and Undertaker)

He just seems to naturally work with other guys so well, even now with Mark Henry. They had a decent little idea of being a tag team that had me interested.

People seem to be so more interested In Big show when he is in a tag team than when he is alone. Plus having a guy like him in the tag division definitely legitimises the titles, especially if he is letting people go over him to win the titles as well.

 

[QuadrupleH]

Who can deny it is Hornswoggle? Come on Magel!

This is a tough one. Does the OP mean the greatest tag teamer that eventually became a single's star and reached greater heights? Or does he just mean who was the greatest tag team partner in strictly a tag teaming respect?

I started watching wrasslin back in the NWA and early WWF days, then, inexplicably, stopped watching and missed the entire Attitude Era, Monday Night Wars, and Ruthless Agression Era. Trying to catch up on that now. Just wrapped up 1998.

I have a feeling until I do that, I can't really contribute anything that would make any more sense than Hornswoggle, but would be interested in clarification from the OP.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

This is sort of an unusual pick, I suppose, but I name Road Dogg when he was a member of the New Age Outlaws.

As a singles competitor, he wasn't that inspiring because he couldn't seem to sustain a commanding presence in long matches, but as a tag team participant who worked in short bursts, he'd come in to rescue Billy Gunn and start throwing those Dusty Rhodes-like elbows, completely turning the momentum his team's way.....with the results often being a win for the Outlaws. I can't count the times he'd enter the ring in this manner and wind up closing out the match.

You have the right idea, but you picked the wrong guy.

Billy Gunn.

He was almost exclusively a tag wrestler. Mainly because he couldn't get over as a singles guy, but that doesn't matter in the context of this question.

11 time Tag Team champion.
The Smoking Gunns - 3x
New Age Outlaws - 6x
Billy & Chuck - 2x

He's #2 on the list for combined days as a WWF World Tag Team Champion, and I think when you factor in his run with Road Dogg earlier this year, he's actually #1.

The answer to this question can only be The One. Billy Gunn.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Back when someone asked if Sting would be considered a legend in a WWE ring, I looked up numbers of his to compare with Booker T and King Booker is like a 15 time tag champ...which to be honest blew me away, the Booker I remember from Smackdown was a solo guy.

So the question, who is the greatest tag wrestler of all time? You can use title reigns as defense(i.e. number of reigns or length) or just the ability to work well with anyone.

You must have a VERY short memory because the majority of Booker T's career on the main stage was as a tag team wrestler with Stevie Ray in Harlem Heat. He had a cup of coffee as a singles star at the tail end of WCW and did OK for himself as a singles star in WWE certainly but the brunt of his success, especially pre King Booker era Smackdown, was as a tag team guy.

 

[FlairFan2003]

im surprised nobody mentioned sean micheals or brett hart. both were great mat wrestlers and put on damn good matches while part of the rockers and hart foundation respectivly. both kinda fed off their partners and put on great tag matches and singles matches. remember sean micheals wrestling ric flair one on one? bouth of them were great tag specialists and went on to great single carreers also. hart reformed the great tag team into a faction and sean went on to also capture tag gold will deisel and also form another tag team called dx and when it wasnt a faction it was tag gold with hhh

Michaels is a worthy pick because in it's later incarnations with just him and HHH DX was a formidable team. The Rockers however were never top tier, except brifely in the AWA, and were alway seen as the AWA's rip off of The Rock & Roll Express. Outside of the AWA The Rockers never won gold and didnt win many titles while there. In the WWE they always were underneath the top teams, be it Brain Busters, Demolition, Legion of Doom, etc.

The original Hart Foundation was very successful as an 80s heel team, WWE's answer to the great Midnight Express (complete with obnoxious wimpy southern manager), once Brett went solo however he never did much tag stuff. Very similar to Ric Flair who enjoyed significant success in title winning tag teams with Blackjack Mulligan (Barry Whyndam's father) and Greg Valentine, before being almost exclusively a singles wrestler afterwards, like Brett a multi time World Champ and consistent top tier talent. Flair & Arn Anderson had good runs as a team in 1990 and 1996 but never won a tag title. Late in his career Flair did have strong run as tag Champ during the Evolution days with Batista, as they dominated the belts from Dec-April and he had a brief reign with Roddy Piper but like Brett once his initial tag team days were over he was almost exclusively a singles star.

For me it's Arn Anderson. Very good pairings with some excellent matches with both Flair & Ole Anderson at different times, plus his championship wins with BobbY Eaton & Larry Zybysko (not too mention Paul Roma), all icing on the cake alongside his terrific work with Tully Blanchard. The first team to win both the NWA & WWE Tag Titles, they wrestled and beat just about every major team of the time including The Rock & Roll Express, The Rockers, The Hart Foundation, The Road Warriors, Demolition, and Lex Luger/Barry Whyndam. Pretty good track record for two established singles stars, and heels to boot, plus they worked in two of the most successful factions of the era (Four Horsemen & Bobby Heenan Family) alomg with being paired with two of the greatest managers of all time (JJ Dillion & Heenan).

 

[RedRegan1005]

My choice goes to edge, he had many tag title runs outside of his days with christian, and worked with with everyone one he tagged with, I was especially a fan of Rated RKO. Sometimes sticking two random guts together as a tag team doesn't work, but it always seemed to when one was of the guys was Edge.

Another name I'll throw out that no one has mentioned is Kane. He's had good tag runs with alot of guys. The Undertaker, X - Pac, RVD, Big show, and of course most recently Team Hell No, a team that was a big part it getting Daniel Bryan to the next level as far as getting over with the crowd.

 

[Kizzani]

Shawn Michaels 5 times tag champion with Jannetty in the indies. 5 tim tag champion with 4 different partners any tag team can work together for years and get it right, But shawn can spark it with any partner.

Shawn could screw around much more when he had a partner, getting the crowd in to it.

 

[BuriedByCena]

Chris Benoit.

He was an awesome wrestler with every tag team he was apart of which includes: Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Edge. All 5 are huge names(well...maybe not Perry lol) at one point in time.

He also has tag team reigns with lesser known wrestlers like Dave Taylor, Keith Hart, Ben Bassarab, Lance Idol and Biff Wellington.

He also won the Super Grade Junior Heavyweight Tag League with Shinjiro Otani back in the day.

Point is. Chris Benoit was the best technical wrestler of all time and won tons of tag titles with various men. And he was arguably the strongest member of each of those teams every time. At least 90% of them anyway.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

To make my pick in this, I am ignoring the likes of Animal/Hawk, or the R&R Express. This is because while they were definitely phenomenal teams, this isn't about TEAMS. it's about individuals, who work well in a team. Its all well and good being phenomenal with one partner, but I am looking at someone who has had alot of success with numerous partners- showing their versatility and abilty to adapt and still win matches.

The first 2 names that jumped out at me were Edge and Kane, due to the number of reigns they gathered in their WWE careers, and the number of partners they worked with.

Edge is the most decorated WWE wrestler of all time when looking at titles won, and while I don't think he should have had as many runs with the World Titles as he did, there is no doubt he was an amazing Tag-Team wrestler. As part of the legendary Edge & Christian team, he won the Tag Team titles on 7 occasions and was one of the innovators of the Ladder and TLC matches for Tag Teams at a time when the WWE had a very strong Tag Team Division. He won the titles again with Hulk Hogan who was a totally different kind of partner to Christian, twice with Chris Benoit and once with both Chris Jericho and Randy Orton.

This gives Edge a total of 12 Tag Team Title reigns with 5 different partners

Everyone thinks of the "Brothers of Destruction" Tag Team when thinking of Kane, but they forget just how many tag-teams he has been a part of. Kane did indeed hold Tag Team gold 3 times with The Undertaker (2 WWF and 1 WCW) but he also won the Tag Team titles with Mankind on 2 seperate occasions, twice also with X-Pac (that was a really entertaining team in which Pac was bringing out the more human sign of Kane), once with Rob Van Dam, once with The Hurricane, once as part of Team Hell No with Daniel Bryan and twice with The Big Show.

I already knew Kane had worked with alot of partners, but the number actually surprised me. In total Kane has 12 Tag Team Championship reigns under his belt, with a total of 7 different partners.

In my opinion this makes KANE the greatest Tag Team partner of all time. He's had vast success over a 15+ year period, working with his own flesh and blood in The Undertaker, big man/small man teams with X-Pac and Hurricane, powerhouse/High flyer team with Rob Van Dam, 2 very dysfunctional teams with Daniel Bryan and Mankind and in teams comprised of 2 giants with Big Show and 'Taker. The variety of partners and styles of team he has been a part of, which have all brought him success makes Kane my pick.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

Bully Ray; the Dudley/Team 3D have won titles all over the world in almost every major organisation; in ECW, WWF, WCW and NJPW. Bully Ray is a great wrestler.

Shawn Michaels would also be right up there for me.
Whilst never at the top as part of the Rockers; they were a very exciting team and they had chemistry with everyone. They would excel even today. HBK then went on to tag team with Diesel, HHH, John Cena and Stone Cold at various stages of his career.

I think Billy Gunn was also formidable; considering how much "Rockabilly" sucked. He is a 10 time Tag Team Champion with 3 different partners.

In terms of story telling; Bret Hart was also very good as part of the Hart Foundation; he would take a beating and then painfully struggle to get to the Anvil for the hot tag; they were the memories I took from being a young fan.

Edge is another who has held a huge number of Tag Team titles (14 overall) with the following; Christian, Hulk Hogan, Chris Benoit, Randy Ortonand Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio.

Kane is another that has won a lot of tag titles; and has fitted in with whoever he teamed with. Nothing major memorable though.

People often forget that Mick Foley is an 8 time tag team champion too.

And to sign off; Owen Hart was memorable in his role as a tag team specialist alongside Yoko, Bulldog and Bret. Bulldog was always better in tags than singles too; his bouts as part of the Hart Foundation and Bulldogs were always pretty damn good.

 

[Bythedockofthebay]

Mike Rotunda hasn't been mentioned yet? Ouch, He was in the Varsity club holding the NWA tag team championships with Steve Williams (who should also be mentioned in this), he was in the US Express with Barry Windham holding the WWF tag team titles twice, then went on to Money Inc. with Ted Dibiase holding the WWF another three teams. All these teams were great and Rotunda was a stable of the tag division in the 80's and 90's. Has to be one of the top tag wrestlers of all time.

 

[Headman]

Smash. Just kidding, although Demolition is probably my favorite tag team. I think Arn Anderson is probably the best tag team wrestler of all time. Brain busters were awesome. The Enforcers were awesome. Arn and Bobby Eaton were awesome. Arn and Flair were awesome. I'm having a hard time coming up with an Arn Anderson tag team that sucked.

 

[Danny84]

Billy gunn blokes a 11 time tag champ with 3 different partners
Bart gunn,road dogg and chucky

 

[LBGetBack]

My vote would be for hawk or Andre. Hawk was the leader of the greatest team in history. Andre was unstoppable even in later years with the heenan family most notably haku.

Andre could barely move by that point. He would barely even get in the ring during matches.

 

[WBL]

Billy gunn blokes a 11 time tag champ with 3 different partners
Bart gunn,road dogg and chucky

I agree, but allow me to be more articulate.

If you're talking about "greatest tag team wrestler" as a wrestler who's best as part of a tag team, Billy Gunn really isn't that much to talk about on his own. He'd been given several solo pushes in his career, and all of them fell pretty flat. But what do people still remember him for today? The New Age Outlaws.

The Outlaws were, in my opinion, the greatest tag team in WWE history. Highly charismatic, excellent chemistry, but alone, neither guy was worth much. Road Dogg had some sweet Hardcore matches, but nobody was going to ever peg either one as a future HW champion.

And look back even further, to the Smoking Gunns. He and his brother Bart "Butterbean's Bitch" Gunn. They had a pretty powerful run in and of themselves.

And Billy and Chuck... Chuck Palumbo, another guy most people can take or leave, the two teamed up and turned what could have been a lower-card goofy homosexual gimmick into a bonafide media sensation that had them on... I think it was the Today Show?... accepting wedding presents AFTER they'd already taped the episode of SD where they turned heel, IIRC. They'd even gotten GLAAD on the WWE's side for all of three minutes.

Billy Gunn The One Ass Man really isn't worth much on his own at all. He's a generic power guy. But teamed with the right person, something magical can happen, and he's been able to hit on that magic three times.