411’s WWE’s The Greatest 50 Tag Teams Report (#20-11)

-Time to start getting into some heavy hitters. We have a fairly good idea of what teams are left, so it’s just a matter of where they appear. Let’s get to it!

-As a reminder this list is only of teams that have appeared in the WWE. That means no Harlem Heat or Hollywood Blondes.

-As brought up in the comments sections, Part I (50-36) is here and Part II (35-21) is here.

-Breezango welcome us back as they are still hanging out and having fun with various items in the WWE Warehouse.

20. The Undisputed Era
-3 Time NXT Tag Team Champions; Debuted Aug 2017

-I miss that theme music! This covers the entire group because any combination of the four made for a fantastic tag team. They show their first appearance at NXT Takeover Brooklyn when they attacked new NXT Champion, Drew McIntyre. Fish and O’Reilly won tag gold for the first time by ending the reign of Sanity. AIR GUITAR! Fish got injured and Cole took his spot in the team and soon Strong joined to give us the stable we know and love. The group held the Tag Titles for a combined 560 days. The breakup was inevitable, but what a run and perhaps down the line they can revisit this.

19. The Soul Patrol (Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas)
-WWE Hall of Famers; WWE Tag Team Champions

-For those wanting some older teams, here you go. They had a bitter rivalry with The Wild Samoans and knocked them off in a wild No DQ match to win the WWF Tag Team Titles. In doing so they became the first black tag team champions. Crowd reaction to the win is fantastic.

18. Mr. Fuji and Toru Tanaka
-WWE Hall of Famers; 3 Time WWE Tag Team Champions

-More old school goodness! Growing up I only knew Mr. Fuji as a manager so it’s kind of cool seeing video of him in the ring. The team controlled the WWF Tag Team scene during the 1970s and were managed by The Grand Wizard and Freddy Blassie. In total they held the titles for over 500 days and they touch on the various rivalries they had. They also mention Tanaka went on to star in movies including Pee Wee Herman’s movie and Fuji became one of the best known managers in the WWF.

17. The Steiner Brothers
-2 Time WWE Tag Team Champions; 7 Time WCW Tag Team Champions

-Oh man! I can already hear people screaming that this is way too low. I figured they were a shoe in for top 10 and knowing who is still to come they probably do deserve top 10 status. I am just stunned by this one as they are highly decorated and have had an influence on the business. FRANKENSTEINER! Their match with The Headshrinkers at Mania IX is a low key banger. Great stuff here with The Steiners just tossing people all over the ring. Woo, Big Poppa Pump footage! I bet they used the wrong math when counting the votes for this list.

16. Rock N Sock Connection
-3 Time WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted Aug 1999

-Oh come on! I would bet that both Rock and Foley would say their team shouldn’t be ranked higher than The Steiner Brothers. With that said, their chemistry together was amazing, but it’s for all the skits and interviews outside the ring. We all love “This is Your Life” (massive ratings for that one), but this seems way too high for two guys thrown together for a brief run. I do love their match at Mania XX with Evolution though!

-Fandango pretending to be The Rock while Breeze plays Mankind is great!

15. The Wild Samoans
-WWE Hall of Famers; 3 Time WWE Tag Team Champions

-Seems about right though I would put The Steiners above them as well. The Samoans worked Stampede, NWA, and Japan before heading to WWE in 1979 with Capt Lou as their manager. They instantly got over in New York and it’s cool seeing the original Samoan Drop being used so many years ago. They tell us here the team held 21 different titles total in the various territories. They also touch on their family and who has followed.

14. The Rockers
-WWE Tag Team Champions (What?); 2 Time AWA Tag Team Champions

-So we are crediting them with a WWE Tag Team reign now? I call BS on that as the phantom title change with The Hart Foundation was never officially recognized. Again, just to beat this dead horse, The Steiners should be higher. With that said, The Rockers were great and revolutionary and probably should have had a run with the WWE Tag Titles before the inevitable split. I think the bias here is due to how legendary Shawn’s career ended up being. They cover the infamous title match with The Hart Foundation and say that the match never aired and their reign has been erased from history. Then why credit them like they did above? BARBERSHOP! Heenan saying Jannetty tries to jump through the window kills me every time. Oh man, I forgot about the reunion in 2005 on RAW.

13. The Mega Powers
-WWE Hall of Famers; Debuted Oct 1987

-Oh wow! After seeing The Soul Patrol and Fuji/Tanaka listed, I figured there was no way The Mega Powers were making this list. Man, this list is just full of surprises. These are my 2 favorite wrestlers of all time (yes, you can love both) and even I can’t justify them being this high. They were basically put together just so they could split and make Vince enough money that Scrooge McDuck would be jealous (which it did). With all that said, just let me enjoy this video package because this is my childhood. The crowd response to these two and the way they carried themselves is something else. These two are the definition of the word: Superstar. THE HANDSHAKE! THE MEGA POWERS VS THE MEGA BUCKS! All this just make my soul happy!

12. The Valiant Brothers
-WWE Hall of Famers; WWE Tag Team Champions

-Another team just before my time so more old school goodness. They were also managed by Capt Lou and held the tag titles for a shade over a year. They had rivalries with Putski/Santana and Garea/Zybysko. I love seeing the old footage of title changes from that era as the crowd reactions are great. The team entered the Hall of Fame in 1996!

11. Demolition
-3 Time WWE Tag Team Champions; Debuted Feb 1987

-I was hoping Top 10, but this seems solid! Yes, they play the theme music! HERE COMES THE AX AND HERE COMES THE SMASHER! Again, my childhood! I will also point out Ax is a local boy in my area as he was born in Brownsville, PA. I actually think he is scheduled to appear to a local video game store 15 minutes from my house, but this was before his recent health issues. Demolition is awesome and overcame the stigma of being Road Warrior rip-offs and became a legendary tag team. It’s kind of silly they rank this high yet, aren’t in the WWE Hall of Fame. I know there may be bad blood, but put them in already.

-Fandango wraps things up for this episode.

-Lots of surprises this time and now we go through process of elimination to see who is left: New Day, The Usos, Hart Foundation, Edge and Christian, The Dudley Boyz, The Hardys, New Age Outlaws, Legion of Doom, and The Bulldogs will take 9 of the spots. That leaves one spot and I assume Brothers of Destruction based on the show opening for each episode, but leaving off teams like The Brain Busters, Owen/Yoko and Shawn/Diesel. Guess we will find out next week. Thanks for reading!