The Magnificent Seven: The Top 7 WWE Tag Team PPV Main Events

Tag team wrestling has largely been marginalized in mainstream US wrestling—particularly in WWE. Just the same, there have been a handful of times in which the promotion has moved tag teams to the fore, be it to push a clash of two superstar pairings or because particular tag team angle has grown worthy of the top spot on the card.

For the purposes of this countdown, only the last match of a PPV is eligible for consideration, and matches are eligible even if they did not match the originally advertised main event.

Moreover, this list only includes two-on-two affairs—not eight or ten man elimination tag matches like the ones popularized at Survivor Series.I did not strictly adhere to traditional tag team rules, however, including all manner of two-on-two matches that included ones contested under tornado-style rules.

With all of that explanation out of the way, I give you my picks for the top seven WWE tag team PPV main events.

#7. Two Dudes With Attitudes vs. Yokozuna and Davey Boy Smith (and Owen Hart) at In Your House 3

In the year 1995, it was uncommon for WWF wrestlers to pursue, much less hold more than one championship. Indeed, precedent leading up to that year saw men vacating one championship when they picked up another, as in the case of The Ultimate Warrior giving up the Intercontinental Championship after he beat Hulk Hogan for the world title at WrestleMania 6.

But a New Generation was upon us, and WWF had stacked the deck. The face pairing of WWF Champion Diesel and Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels was the period’s answer to the Mega Powers when it came to superstar tag teams, with the added dimension that they had already undergone a major singles feud, and thus it seemed less a foregone conclusion that they would ultimately come to blows (though they eventually did). Standing opposite them was Jim Cornette’s heel super team of Owen Hart and Yokozuna, a contemporary reimagining of The Colossal Connection, featuring Owen Hart as a sharper worker and talker than Haku, and Yokozuna, whose main event days were behind them, but who still far more mobile than Andre the Giant when the WWF had cast him in a similar role. In a twist of booking, the WWF put these heels together to revitalize the then-stagnant tag team division, previously headed up by the tepid Smoking Gunns. Hart and Yoko claimed the tag straps in their first outing as a team at WrestleMania 11.

So the stage was set for a tag match in which all of three of the WWF titles of the day would be defended—Michaels and Diesel each stood to lose his singles gold if he took the fall, and Cornette’s boys put their tag titles on the line.

Had the WWF worked this tag match in more straight forward fashion, with each of the advertised teams going head to head and Michaels and Hart carrying the lionshare of the work load, and Diesel and Yokozuna weaving in some power spots, it probably could have placed at least a couple positions higher in this list. Wackiness ensued, though, and Davey Boy Smith pulled double duty to replace Hart in the match (after already wrestling Bam Bam Bigelow earlier in the night). Ultimately, Hart did show up and ate the pinfall in the match despite not really being a part of it. It became clear in the days to follow that the confusion was there by design—a justification for Diesel and Michaels to not really win the tag titles, and thus, with no titles really changing hands, nullify the heart of the intrigue for this PPV main event.

Within a week, Hart and Yokozuna would drop the tag straps back to The Smoking Gunns, as the WWF officially hit the reset button on their tag division and returned closer to business as usual in the months to follow. It would be over half a decade before a tag match would again main event a WWF PPV.

#6. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff at WrestleMania

I was tempted to rate this match higher in the countdown on account of historical importance and marquee value. After all, this was the very first main event of WrestleMania—Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff drew real heat, Mr. T was a legit celebrity draw, and I dare say that Hulk Hogan was as over as any pro wrestler has ever been when he walked to the ring for this match.

The trouble is, the match itself was just OK.

I understand this bout isn’t about work rate—that Hogan captivated the masses via his charisma, and that T getting his hands dirty in the ring at all was significant. Just the same, watching the match today, it sort of reeks of the directionless style of multi-man matches that the WWF used to espouse, with minimal continuity, build, or story, just four guys fighting until Cowboy Bob Orton inserts himself to accidentally KO Orndorff so the good guys can pick up the win. In historical context, it’s a surprisingly anticlimactic finish a middling tag match that was made by the surrounding glitz and glamour.

#5. The Dudley boyz vs. Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman at One Night Stand 2005

This is one of those matches that’s especially hard to quantify and rank. On one hand, if you strip it of context and the atmosphere of the first One Night Stand show, it’s a reasonably well-executed ,if somewhat directionless plunder-fest. On the other hand, if you give in to the ECW nostalgia, and mark out for all of the signature spots and for everyone who makes a cameo, you have an instant classic.

WWE made a shrewd, though not obvious, call of booking this match last to feature four major names from ECW who could still go at that point, but were never really main event guys in WWE. Moreover, the extensive use of foreign objects, culminating in a flaming table spot functioned as a perfect cap to the night’s action.

You might argue that post-match brawl and mauling of Eric Bischoff were the show’s true main event, but per the criteria of this countdown, this was the last match of the show and deserves credit for wrapping up an iconic wrestling show with a memorable performance.

>#4. The Mega Powers vs. The Mega Bucks at SummerSlam 1988

In an era not particularly known for great in-ring quality, Randy Savage and Ted Dibiase arrived in the main event scene to raise the bar. And while Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant were no doubt the bigger names in this match, Savage and Dibiase carried the workload and helped elevate this to one of the best main event matches of its time—certainly the best tag match at this level.

While the writing was on the wall for a Savage-Hogan program leading into WrestleMania 5, this match happened well before the turn, and marks both a solid match in and of itself, and a feel-good moment to make fans of the day believe that The Mega Powers really might reign over wrestling for some time. The match also featured an innovative turn for its time, with the otherwise demure Miss Elizabeth climbing on the ring apron and stripping off her skirt to temporarily distract the heels and give Savage and Hogan a chance to come out on top. As such, this also marked a rare instance in which Elizabeth was more than eye candy and a cheerleader, but integral to the outcome of a main match, and instrumental to seemingly cementing the bond between The Hulkster and The Macho Man.

#3. The Brothers of Destruction vs. The Two-Man Power Trip Backlash 2001

I’ve always had mixed feelings on The Brothers of Destruction as a tag team. On one hand, the spectacle of the two big men with such big personas on the same page always projents an aura of badassery and invincibility that makes them a lot of fun to watch. On the other hand, on account of how indestructible each man has been set up to be, they tend to squash better established teams, or when they do have lengthier bouts, their heat segments are always funky, with each man making his own save over and over again.

This match, however, presented the Brothers with worthy foes, Triple H and newly heel Steve Austin. And so, for the first time since In Your House 3 six years earlier, the tag champs defended against the reigning world and IC champs with all three championships on the line.

We can argue all day about whether Austin’s heel turn in 2001 was ill-advised, and his preceding popularity certainly did preclude him from ever being hated the way a top heel really should, but this match is an exemplar of just how good Austin was working as a heel, alternating between scaredy-cat and vicious son of a bitch to perfection. Moreover, all considered, Triple H was probably in the prime of his career.

On the opposite side, ‘Taker was deep into his biker gimmick and Kane had developed into a more humanized monster, still masked but selling an arm injury that that added a psychologological wrinkle to this match both because he entered the match kayfabe hurt and because it added the subplot that The Undertaker was reluctant to tag in his brother.

All considered, this match probably should have been five to ten minutes shorter, with most of that time shaved off the slower moments of the heat segments. Nonetheless, it was a prime example of four iconic workers, each more or less at the top of his game, working a high profile tag match with well-defined stakes. The finish was a fitting coda to the Attitude Era, with McMahon run-ins and a sledgehammer figuring heavily in the fall.

#2. DX vs. Legacy at Hell in a Cell 2009

This match, and the program it marked the culmination of, tend to be forgotten—regrettable because it was a pretty solid rivalry with three good-to-great PPV bouts to its credit, understandable because despite seeming to elevate Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase to fringe main event status, this ended up being as high as either man would ever reach (at least to date), their push and strong work squandered when each mean took up residence in the mid-card or lower for the years to follow.

Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult to assemble a memorable Hell in a Cell match, after the big bumps of the Attitude Era and matches like ‘Taker-Edge more or less hitting the ceiling for how good such a match can be without a spill from the top of the cage or someone getting color.

This match, however, was different—standing out even amidst a card with two other Hell in a Cell bouts. It started with a distinctive opening sequence—Rhodes and Dibiase jumping Michaels and Triple H upon their entrance, laying out The Game, and getting HBK locked in the cell with a two-on-one advantage. Despite some classic Shawn Michaels hope spots, Legacy mostly dominated the first half of the match by taking apart The Showstopper and persistently taunting Triple H as he tries to get n the cage.

Triple H ultimately retreated backsgae and found some bolt cutters to break in, tantamount to a hot tag, and run roughshod over the heels. While there is some back and forth action to the minutes that follow, the writing was on the wall. DX locked out Dibiase and proceeded to finish off Rhodes two on one with spots including a modified Pillmanizing of Rhodes’s neck, and a tandem superkick-sledgehammer shot. Without shedding a drop of blood, this match captured every bit of the brutality an encaged blow off to a major feud should have.

#1. DX vs. JeriShow at TLC 2008

JeriShow may have been the most unlikely success story of 2008. Chris Jericho and Edge were primed to run roughshod over the tag division over a period of months, only for Edge to go down to injury less than a month into their angle. Big Show was the pinch-hitter in this situation, subbing in as another heel veteran with main event credentials, and moreover a big man to add a different dimension to the team. The pairing went on to beat back pre-established tag teams like Cryme Tyme, as well as other superstar pairings like Batista and Rey Mysterio.

And then there was DX. Though the purported plan had always been for DX to challenge Jericho and Edge/Show, WWE shrewdly kept the teams apart with DX consumed in an all but alternate universe of feuding exclusively with Legacy while JeriShow faced a revolving door of foes. By the time the two teams did finally clash, JeriShow had been firmly established as a near-equally credible star team to DX. Thus the stage was set for DX vs. JeriShow to headline TLC—to my recollection, the only time in WWE history when a Tag Team Championshp match has gone on last and received top billing at a PPV, without a singles championship or two also being at stake.

The action of the TLC match was very good, as one would come to expect four performers as seasonsed and skilled as Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Triple H, and The Big Show. But what I’ll always remember most were two iconic spots in the closing movements of the encounter. To set the scene, in a flurry of frustration and giant rage, Big Show physically destroyed every ladder in sight. In the absence of a ladder to climb with, he and Jericho had the borderline comedic, but also beautifully symbolic idea that Jericho would stand on Show’s shoulders to reach upward grab the gold hanging above the ring. The two very, very carefully wandered to the middle of the ring in this formation, only for Michaels to meet them. After some truly fantastic “oh shit” facials from Jericho and Show, Michaels superkicked the giant, and in so doing sent Jericho reeling backwards to crash into two tables that had previously been stacked atop each other at ringside (no, they didn’t quite hit the spot and Jericho didn’t go through the tables as planned, but they did their best to create a similar effect, and you have to award some points for ingenuity).

And then there was the final image of the match. With no fully functional ladder to be found, Triple H picked up one half of a ladder and held it up by hand so that Michaels could scale it and retrieve the tag titles. In a moment that Michael Cole successfully sold on commentary, WWE told the story of DX as two friends who worked together, supported each other, and thought outside the box to accomplish great things. And in that moment, they garnered their first tag titles as a pair.

Which matches would you add to this list? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Read more from Mike Chin at his website and follow him on Twitter @miketchin.