411’s WWE’s The 50 Greatest Tag Teams (#50-36) Report

-The WWE is celebrating Tag Teams this week as 50 years ago they crowned the very first WWE Tag Team Champions. To celebrate they are gifting us another Top 50 countdown and this one is on the 50 greatest tag teams in WWE history. Let’s get to it!

-Breezango are in the WWE Warehouse with various versions of the WWE Tag Titles on display. They lay down some ground rules as this will only be tag teams from the WWE, so Harlem Heat and The Hollywood Blondes are out. That is probably for the best as this is a celebration of 50 years of WWE Tag Champions. Again just to repeat: THIS IS JUST A LIST OF WWE TAG TEAMS ONLY.

-The criteria for the list: 1) Titles Reigns 2) Reign Longevity 3) Cultural Impact

50. The Bushwhackers
-WWE Hall of Famers; Debuted December of 1988

-They first gained notoriety as The Sheepherders before coming to the WWE in 1988. They quickly became fan favorites in the WWE and were wonderful as an opening card act as they were beloved by the fans and I am sure the WWE style was much easier on them then what they were doing as The Sheepherders. Their Hall of Fame speech was great too!

49. Too Cool
-WWE Tag Champions; Debuted March of 1998

-10 years later another fun loving tag team debuted and they also became a solid opening match act. The Worm was crazy over during The Attitude Era and so was the dancing. RIP Grandmaster Sexay! Unless you were around during the time it’s hard to explain how over these two got.

48. The Quebecers
-3 Time WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted July of 1993

-Play the theme song! “We’re not The Mounties!” They took the Tag Titles from The Steiners due to Quebec Province Rules. That was great! Woo, Johnny Polo! These guys were great as they had sme fantastic double team moves.

47. The Smoking Gunns
-3 Time WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted in April of 1993

-You could make a case that this is probably a bit low as they kind of carried the division for a few years. Sure the division wasn’t great, but they did all they could. Man, some of these arenas the WWE used for RAW in the early to mid 90s. Basically basketball gyms! Good pop for when they regained the Tag Titles from Owen and Yoko. Again they dominated the tag scene for about a 3 year period.

46. Strike Force
-WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted in August of 1987

-Oh man, I love these countdowns just for bringing back memories of my childhood! Rick Martel was getting beaten down by The Islanders and Tito Santana made the save and thus a tag team was born. They ended the reign of The Hart Foundation during a golden age of Tag Team Wrestling in the WWE. Again, crowd pops for title changes are always great. Fun team!

45. The Headshrinkers
-WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted Oct of 1992.

-Samu and Fatu with Afa as the manager. See, I would have The Smoking Gunns ranked higher, but this is fine. The Samoan Wrestling Dynasty and the first memory I have of the team is their hard hitting match with The Steiners at WrestleMania IX. Go back and watch as it’s better than you probably remember. The Shrinkers ended the reign of The Quebecers to a massive pop. Fatu would go on to become Rikishi and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

44. X-Pac and Kane
-WWE Hall of Famers; 2 Time WWE Tag Team Champions

-Again, the disrespect to well, really just about every team listed below them. I mean yeah, they are both Hall of Famers, but not because of this team. It was a good pairing and made for a fun feud when the team ended, but let’s not get crazy. They even mentioned in the package that they weren’t a tag team for very long.

43. Evolution: Batista and Ric Flair
-2 Time WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted Jan of 2003

-Pairing Big Dave with Flair was a genius move as the man just soaked up everything he could and could learn on the job from the master. They won the World Tag Titles at Armageddon in a show that closed with all 4 members of Evolution holding WWE Gold.

42. MNM
-3 Time WWE Tag Team Champions; OVW Tag Team Champions

-Nice! I am assuming we will see Morrison again on this list. They started the team in OVW and that lets us hear Jim Cornette on commentary. The team was ready for prime time and got the call to SmackDown where they had a wonderful run. The ladder match where Mercury’s face exploded is a great match that is mostly remembered for Mercury’s face exploding.

41. The Nasty Boys
-WWE Tag Team Champions; 3 Time WCW Tag Team Championship

-Boo! They should be higher though I guess this only focuses on their WWE run. Though they included being 3 Time WCW Tag Champions in their accomplishments so maybe it’s 50 Greatest Teams in WWE, but they will also consider what they did outside WWE. Whatever, it’s their countdown. The Nasty Boys were a fascinating story as they got over huge with a tag match against The Steiners in WCW and WWE immediately stole them because WCW didn’t lock them up. That’s not mentioned here as apparently they went from Florida Championship Wrestling to the WWE. In short order they scored the upset over The Hart Foundation to win The WWF Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania VII. If counting WCW run then they should be much higher.

40. Rated-RKO
-WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted Oct of 2006

-Wait a second! I mean they are both great, but again two great singles together for a short time doesn’t make a legendary team. No way they should be above The Nasty Boys, Gunns, Quebecers, etc. Again, these are two of my favorites of all time, but just no. If this team makes it, then Edge may show up on this list quite a few times. They of course mention their temporary reunion many years later that led to their feud last year.

39. Brian Kendrick and Paul London
-2 Time WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted Sept 2005

-I completely forgot about this team, so kudos to whoever put this list together for remembering them. Kendrick is still kicking it every now and then on 205 Live. Fun team with a unique style. They had a sweet rivalry with MNM that delivered some quality matches including them taking the titles off MNM. They held the Tag Titles for 334 days which nobody topped until 2016 (I assume New Day).

38. DIY
-NXT Tag Team Champions; Debuted Sept of 2015

-Yes! Good on them for including NXT teams. They debuted during The 1st Dusty Classic and then again in the Cruiserweight Classic. Man, that is something they need to bring back as that tournament was one of the greatest of all time. DIY win The NXT Tag Titles from The Revival is one of the greatest matches you will ever see at NXT Takeover Toronto. Just amazing stuff and then they would have banger after banger before turning on each other and giving us the greatest rivalry in NXT history with classic after classic. Put them back together so they can turn on each other again!

37. The World’s Greatest Tag Team
-2 Time WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted Dec of 2002

-I loved this team and their run with Kurt Angle was perfect. They were perfect for SmackDown and those track suits are still awesome! They soon were fired by Kurt Angle and The World’s Greatest Team was formed. Great team that is forgotten sometimes and of course Shelton is still kicking it on RAW fresh off another run as a tag team champion with Cedric Alexander.

36. Money Inc.
-3 Time WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted Feb 1992

-Perfect pairing of millionaire and an accountant! WWE was great at taking 2 guys that were near the back end of their careers and putting them together to get some more years from them. They touch on Money Inc facing Hogan and Beefcake at Mania IX and probably was the high mark for the team as far as highest profile match.

-Back to Breezango as Breeze questions why Dibiase would be friends with an accountant and Breeze mentions you keep your enemies close.

-That wraps up episode one and naturally there will always be minor quibbles, but I love these types of shows. They are always fun and bring back the nostalgia. I believe this show is dropping weekly, so we will pick things back up next week. Thanks for reading!