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The Best of the 411mania Era: The Tag Teams Part 4
Welcome to Part 4 of the Best of the 411wrestling.com Era: Tag Teams. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3!
REVIEW: Before we get to it, let’s take a look at the winners we’ve already announced to this point:
#15: The Eliminators (Perry Saturn & John Kronus) – 62 points
#14: Jushin Liger & Koji Kanemoto – 67 points
#13: The British Bulldog Davey Smith & Owen Hart – 68 points
#12: Latin American Exchange (Homicide & Hernandez, Konnan) – 76 points
#11: The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) – 79 points
#10: Los Guerreros de Infierno (Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero) – 92 points
#9: Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue) – 120 points
#8: The Outsiders (Kevin Nash & Scott Hall) – 158 points
#7: Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) – 186 points
Stuart James: The Briscoes began their career only seven years ago, competing in CZW as mainly a job team for many months. However, after an impressive performance at Best of the Best, the Briscoes finally solidified themselves as a serious team, and to this day that is seen as their breaking out. The match would impress so many that it propelled them to the top of the CZW Tag Team Division in the summer of 2001. They would appear in several other independent promotions, but none as beneficial to their career as Ring of Honor.
The Briscoes are one of the few wrestlers that have been in Ring of Honor since the very first show, and have been there ever since. Like in CZW, they mainly began as Jay Briscoe simply losing to most teams, but after a short feud between the brothers, their talents shone through. They were and still are regarded as masters of tag team wrestling, introducing a fast-paced, high risk offence with hard hitting manoeuvres which would then help them gain the ROH World Tag Team Titles in November 2003.
The Briscoes would go on to have great match after great match, including some bloody brawls with the likes of Samoa Joe, or just traditional fast paced title matches with the Second City Saints, which would make them the epitome of tag team wrestling on the independent scene. Their high risk style has often been emulated but never quite duplicated to the standards of the Briscoes.
Their breakout year to become the most famous and biggest draw in the tag team independent scene was 2007, when they won the ROH Tag Team Titles twice more to become four time tag team champions, as well as competing in some of the best matches of 2007, with a “who’s who” of independent tag teams such as the Motor City Machine Guns, the No Remorse Corps, Age of the Fall.
Their talents soon escalated them to broader stretches, as they won the FIP Tag Team Championships and even Pro Wrestling NOAH’s GHC Wolrd Tag Team Titles in the years of 2006 and 2007 respectively.
Perhaps their most crowning achievement was when ROH appeared on pay-per-view, and the Briscoe Brothers concluded their four month feud with El Generico and Kevin Steen in the Ladder War, Ring of Honor’s first and possibly last ladder match, where they raised the bar to levels that TLC matches and Money in the Bank ladder matches could only dream of, and became an instant classic match, filled with hatred and destruction.
The Briscoes will likely always be remembered as the biggest drawing independent tag teams in the world, and one of the best never to have competed in any of the major wrestling companies. They have innovated tag team wrestling to new heights, mastering a new high-flying system which elaborates on the style already influenced by the likes of the Hardys. Their insane spots in matches and willingless to put their lives on the line make them one of the most respected and admired tag teams in wrestling today.
Jerome Cusson: In 2007, NFL thug “Pacman” Jones was allowed to hold the TNA tag team titles with Ron Killings. The stale Team 3-D also held the tag titles. Hell, Samoa Joe held the belts by himself. In WWE, both tag team championship belts were rarely even defended on Pay-Per-View or regarded as anything of importance. And despite the fact that they don’t wrestle in a major company, the Briscoes were named the best tag team of 2007 in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards.
In Ring of Honor, Jay and Mark Briscoe defended their Ring of Honor world tag team championships on main events throughout the territory. When legendary superstar Mitsuharu Misawa came to New York City, the Briscoes were the main event. On Ring of Honor’s third ever Pay-Per-View, the Briscoes defended their tag team championships in the first ever “ROH Ladder War.” They had countless match of the year candidates and proved that tag team wrestling is not dead.
Jamin Pugh (Jay Briscoe) and Mark Pugh (Mark Briscoe) were born a year apart and have been the finest brother team of the decade. It’s amazing that they share the same wrestling name as Jack and Gerry Brisco. They could not be more different. Jack and Gerry were amateur wrestlers and masters of psychology. The Briscoes are not.
Jay and Mark, what they lack in psychology, make up for by going balls to the walls in every match. They put their bodies on the line. They have accomplished so much in a short amount of time. Yet they are only 24 and 23 years old respectfully. What they’ve done is take what The Eliminators of Perry Saturn and John Kronus started and perfect it. They’ve had some of the best high-flying tag team matches of all time.
The Briscoes made their debut when they were 16 and 15 years old for ECWA. They were more known for football then amateur wrestling. Ever since then, they’ve had success in almost every place they’ve gone. Combat Zone Wrestling was essentially were they won their first major title together. Then they made their way into a newly formed wrestling company based out of Philadelphia, Ring of Honor. This is the company they are best known for.
Jay participated in the first ever official ROH match since Mark could not compete in the state of Pennsylvania. The real-life brothers feuded for a few months before the tragic death of one of Mark’s best friends. When the friend died, they had one more singles match before vowing never to feud again. While they’ve met once since then, they’ve always been together in every wrestling company they’ve participated.
The Briscoes have won five ROH tag team titles. They own the record for longest title reign. The fans have embraced them as almost being one of them because of their reckless style and penchent for drinking beer. Despite all of their wonderful accomplishments in Ring of Honor and a one year title reign in Full Impact Pro, their best title win may have come in Pro Wrestling NOAH in the early part of 2007.
On their first tour of Japan ever, Jay and Mark Briscoe defeated the team of team of Takashi Sugiura and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to become the junior tag team champions. Even though they lost the belts two weeks later to Ricky Marvin and Kotaro Suzuki, a gajin team even holding the belt is a huge deal. For the Briscoes, they’re road may have just began.
It’s hard to put their popularity into perspective since they’ve spent all of their time on the independent scene. But they’ve certainly contributed to Ring if Honor’s growing popularity over the years. Even at such a young age though, they’ve done so much for the world of professional wrestling. They’ve kept tag team wrestling alive during a period of great de-emphais of this great dimension of wrestling. They will undoubtedly be remembered for their crazy matches, their willingness to do anything, but they’re careers are really only beginning. They could still conceivably adapt their style and jump into WWE or TNA to continue their success. They may even decide to split and go their separate ways toward winning singles gold. One thing is for sure: When the true history of pro wrestling in the 2000s is written, the Briscoes should be considered the best team of this decade.
Jarrod Westerfeld: Though many will contest that because the Briscoe Brothers have never made any impact on American media television outside of a flailing ROH pay-per-view deal, there can be no other argument to not include Jay and Mark Briscoe as one of the top tag teams of the 411mania era. Since debuting as a tag team on May 20, 2000 in East Coast Wrestling Association, the duo has experienced a run of success the likes of which for any young career would stack as being an impressive resume to establish them as legends of a future generation. Their style of wrestling is the fast paced, mashing buttons caliber that holds roots with the way The Eliminators worked, and that the Hardy Boys would fine tune, and a style that other teams, today, try to emulate in their matches. These two embody the progression of tag team wrestling by stepping up the formula that The Road Warriors were known for and have vamped it for a new generation of fans hungry for fast paced action and constant high energy. Their critics would point to their style becoming too over the top and leading to some anti-climatic finishes as they keep raising the bar with their spots before heading into the finish, but you wouldn’t even know these critics existed when you listen to the crowds buzzing throughout their bouts. Decorated 5 time ROH World Tag Team Champions, many see them as the entire tag team division as every year they are the focal point of that division and for good reason as every year they’re the team that stands the test of times and remains a constant within the company. But they don’t just experience success within the ranks of the still growing independent company owned by Cary Silken, as they hold title reigns in Pro Wrestling NOAH (GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship), Combat Zone Wrestling, Full Impact Pro, Pro Wrestling Unplugged, USA Xtreme Wrestling and NWA Wildside. About the only belts that tend to allude them in their regular touring schedule are JAPW and PWG’s tag team titles but even those titles can’t remain a mistress yet to be swooned by their charm. A trail of success makes up their shadow and a large following filled with admiration and excitement make up the body as they continue to make such impacts that they’re brought back on frequent trips to Japan to work for NOAH and viewed by many to be the tag team of this decade. What they have done for tag team wrestling is forced other teams to match what they do, fit into their formula and match their speed and tempo of matches. Teams either have to adapt or continue to work the previous formula that tends to draw the ire of many non-mainstream fans. Their matches are like sprinting 100 meter dashes stretched out for marathon style runs, and while other teams can’t maintain such a tempo as elegantly or as flawlessly, the Briscoe’s continue to maintain this style every week, all over the world, and still keep fans on the edge of their seats and always wanting more. So their mainstream appeal doesn’t compare to the darling tag teams of The Hardy Boys, Edge and Christian or The Dudley Boys (Team 3D), but that still doesn’t stop them from being the most talked about and most highly respected and sought out commodity in the indy market. It’s only a matter of time before a company such as TNA or WWE will bring in such a unit to freshen up their tag team divisions, but until that time they’ll continue to be the tandem that fans adore and keep as their own little secret.
Scott Rutherford: When you looked at the New Age Outlaw’s you would never pick them as a team. One man was a successful tag wrestler who was tall, blonde and cocky but stuck in gimmick hell as Rockabilly, a protégé of The Honky Tonk Man and some say as punishment for dicking Vince around during contract talks. The other was the son of a southern wrestling legend who started out life as a roadie to the “JJ” Jeff Jarrett, singing cowboy character that morphed into a singing character himself. They were chalked and cheese and just didn’t “fit” together. What they had however was attitude, an ability to rub people the wrong way and a ring introduction that was more over than they were.
I think the easiest way to look at the New Age Outlaws is to breakdown just what seems to matter when you become a famous wrestling star and people want to judge and compare you to other wrestlers past and present…
Popularity: Whether as heels or face these guys knew how to play the crowd. They originally started on the heel side of the coin delivering verbal servos to their opponents during their walk to the ring. These became highlights of most shows and soon after aligning themselves with D-X they became faces taking crowd popping to new heights. Ill-timed splits and not learning when to say enough-is-enough have dulled them considerable in TNA they still were amazing hot during the 1997-1999.
Draw: Tag teams find it tough to draw during this day and age but they most definitely drew. They became so strong as a tag team that only “super” teams like Mankind/Kane and Shamrock/Bossman where able to beat them for their titles. While they never headlined big shows themselves , they were an integral part of the WWE merchandise machine and vital cogs in the success of Degeneration-X and HHH’s ascent to the main event. They made money no doubt.
Influence: Their influence is hard to gauge. While never a classic team to begin with, they didn’t have many double-team maneuvers other than the game of rock/paper/scissor at the start of their matches. If anything they resent the high watermark for teams that came after them and helped redefine the tag scene for wrestling in general and the WWE specifically. Also, if you believe the cliché that copying someone is the most sincere form of flattery then that had an incredible influence…since every promoter has tried to duplicate the outside the box success they initially had.
Title Runs: Forget TNA, the real deal was their title reigns in the WWE. Surprisingly put over The Road Warriors late in 1997 that maintained a stranglehold on the tiles for over a year before splitting in 1999. During that time they became so string and so over as a team no other “normal” tag team could beat them. Put back together mere months after their split, they were called on to hold the tag scene together until the big changeover in 2000 to the Dudley Boys at No Way Out. For nearly two years they were all Vince had in the way of viable teams as he through any combo of singles wrestlers out there to fill the gap. The fact we can look through the dross they turned into in the last couple of years is testament to just how well received they were during their heyday.
How Will They Be Remembered….: Entertainers. Whenever they appeared you knew at the very least you were going to have fun shouting their intro-spiel . While never a great tag team they could provide some entertaining moments given the right environment (WM14 with Cactus Jack & Terry Fuck) and add to any feud they were inserted into (see DX versus The Corporation in late 1998). While nothing but nostalgia now they will always be remembered for providing Vince with copious amounts of “Attitude” and fun.
Michael O: Pre-millennial angst plus oral sex equals…oh, you didn’t know?
Eh, to be honest I wouldn’t have chosen the New Age Outlaws as one of my favorite tandems of the last decade or so. I mean, they were fun and all for a while, and certainly accomplished a lot, but what have you done for me lately, you know?
But staring at the criteria for voting (criteria that I would largely ignore for the last half of my rankings), I saw that I had no choice but to put them in my top five.
Popularity? They were the most popular tag team during what was arguably the WWE’s most popular era, replete with pops that were just this side of Austin in terms of loudness and ferocity. I attended my share of live events in the late-nineties and the sight (and sound) of every single person in a sold out arena shouting along to Road Dogg’s legendary introduction was truly something to behold.
Draw? With great pops comes great merchandisability. In fact, they were the third highest in sales behind Austin & Rock at the time of their peak. Of course, being a part of DX didn’t hurt, but that statistic is impressive for anybody and has to be an extra fancy feather in the cap of the Outlaws considering that their very formation was an act of randomness.
Influence? You largely have The Real Double J and Rockabilly to thank for the inundation of thrown together pairings that has comprised the lion’s share of WWE tag-teams in this decade. After feuding, both with going-nowhere, pseudo-country gimmicks, the two wound up in a going-nowhere tag team that actually went somewhere. The “E” has attempted to capture this particular brand of lightning in a bottle several thousand times since, with varying results. Varying in their terribleness, but I digress. If Carlito & Santino wind up skyrocketing in the future, you better believe there will be muffin baskets on the doorsteps of Kip and B.G. the next morning. Or at least there should be. I’d also say that judging from the way Mister Kennedy begins his matches, the Outlaws influence has transcended the tag team ranks.
Titles? Five WWE tag title victories over the course of their original run, which lasted from late ’97 to early 2000, with victories coming at the expense of such luminaries as a-past-their-prime Legion of Doom and The Rock ‘n Sock connection. I did read on wiki that they captured the MCW tag team titles in 2006, though I’m not sure if that adds to or detracts from their legacy, so we’ll just ignore it. No offense Baltimore, and thanks for John Waters btw.
How will they be remembered? Now, this one is a little trickier. The New Age Outlaws carved a niche with charisma, relying more on Road Dogg’s pre-match spiel and the ubiquity of D-X than memorable match-ups or innovative offense. They may have helped sell a whole lot of sodomy reference laden t-shirts, jerseys and tea cozies but I doubt we’ll ever see high demand for a New Age Outlaws DVD.
I suppose the term “tag team specialist” would be the best fit for summing up either man’s career as both found other successes in that realm, though nothing approaching the heights of their “Outlaw” days. Pre and post “New Age”, Mister Dogg and Mister Ass struggled to make an impact in the singles division. On his own, Billy Gunn’s biggest run was an aborted attempt at breaking into the WWE main event, beginning with a King of the Ring win in ’99 and more or less ending with a loss to The Rock in a “kiss my ass” match at that year’s Summerslam. Roadie fared no better, with the exception of unexceptional intercontinental and hardcore championship wins. Eventually both would leave the WWE, bang-less, and later reform in TNA as The James Gang, or Voodoo Kin Mafia for fans of unfunny acronyms, which excited few.
The fact is they will most likely be remembered for having been in just the right place at the just right time and if that’s the case, I’d say that is selling the New Agers a bit short. I think they should be remembered for making the most of what was given to them as two bottom rung misfits and running farther with it than anyone could have imagined. While they may now be enjoying what I would generously refer to as the faintest echo of their former glories, there is no doubt that the former Outlaws left one of the biggest footprints in the 411 era.
Gavin Napier: Sometimes, when you combine two things, you get exactly what you expect. For instance, throw together some sodium and some chloride, you’re going to get salt just like the formula says. Yellow and blue, you get green. Throw together two capable, charismatic veterans (Arn Anderson and Larry Zbysko, for example) and you get a quality tag team. Combine two struggling mid-carders who really don’t have anything better to do and what do you get? An overnight sensation. Something that really does exceed the sum of its parts.
The Roadie and Rockabilly went together like peanut butter and jelly. Within months, “Oh you didn’t know? Your ass better call somebody!” would become not only a recognizable entrance theme for a tag team, but one of the most iconic catchphrases of a defining generation in WWE history. They weren’t the British Bulldogs, they weren’t even The Killer Bees. But in their own way, they revolutionized tag team wrestling. Not necessarily for the better, mind you, but they did it all the same.
The New Age Outlaws proved that you don’t have to be better than average in the ring to make a great tag team if you have boatloads of charisma. They proved that you don’t have to have innovative double teams, or even a real finisher for that matter. They reaffirmed the Tully and Arn Principle, that two singles wrestlers in a stable are an integral part of making that stable work. Most importantly, again not necessarily a good thing, they showed that you can indeed just cram two singles wrestlers together and get a functional tag team out of it. Vince Russo was paying attention.
The New Age Outlaw’s involvement with D-X is a catch 22. Did the Outlaws help D-X survive or did D-X keep the Outlaws from fading away relatively quickly? Honestly, both. A team that started out stealing the shoulder pads from the Legion of Doom parlayed that into a “fluke” win for the tag team titles and ran with the ball they were given. It’s hard to say that the Outlaws alone put WWF/E over the hump in taking back the ratings war from WCW. However, their immense popularity, marketability, and participation in D-X certainly added to the momentum that WWE was building.
So what’s become of the 5 time WWF/E tag team champions? Over the last couple of years in TNA, they’ve tried to catch lightning in a bottle and it hasn’t worked. Like so many things from the “Attitude” era of WWF/E, the New Age Outlaws don’t hold up ten years later. Fans have seen so many teams follow the standard they set – singles wrestlers team up, win tag titles, lose tag titles, feud – that their act has grown stale. With teams such as London and Kendrick, Cade and Murdoch, Styles and Tomko, and the Motor City Machine Guns, fans have seen somewhat of a rebirth of more “traditional” tag teams…that can also provide high quality matches. For now, at least, the days of two midcard singles talents earning a main event push as a tag team by way of a catchphrase and basic ring work seem to be over.
The next time you see two midcarders flounder around for months with ridiculous gimmicks, only to end up in a tag team, though, remember the New Age Outlaws. You may be watching the next big thing come together right before your eyes. Oh you didn’t know?
Larry Csonka: When people ask me about my favorite tag teams I usually go straight to names like the Rock and Roll Express, Midnight Express, The Miracle Violence Connection, hell, the list is a long one because I am such a fan of tag team wrestling. If you’s ask me about my favorite teams in the last 10-years or so, one of the first name to likely pop into my head would be America’s Most Wanted. The story of how America’s Most Wanted formed is one I love, two guys busting their asses on the Indy scene, guys that were feuding with each other! But they caught the eye of TNA management, and were given a shot as a team. Sometimes you have to have to make the best of your situation, and they did just that.
TNA decided that since WWE was largely ignoring tag team wrestling, that they would embrace it. America’s Most Wanted would become the cornerstone of that tag team division, and they would embark on a 5-year run that found tremendous success. The early days saw some struggles, but after a good and brutal feud with the New Church, America’s Most Wanted was an established commodity for the company. They would battle different incarnations of Team Canada, the 3LK, and any other miss matched team that would be thrown in their way. For a large part of their career they feuded on and off with the Naturals, and even though the Naturals underachieved, they performed well with AMW. The two teams also engaged in the first ever Six Sides of Steel Cage match.
In a time when TNA didn’t abuse gimmick matches, America’s Most Wanted and Triple X were charged with having the company’s first cage match. A match that didn’t take place until a year into the company’s existence. It was a tremendous bout that stole that weekly PPV show, but would eventually be outdone. It was at Turning Point 2004, America’s Most Wanted and Triple X were set to do battle once again, inside a cage once again, but this time they were set to engage in another TNA first. In the company’s second ever monthly PPV, these men would main event the PPV in a 6-sides of steel cage match. Not for the tag team titles either, they would do battle for survival. America’s Most Wanted would win the bout, for the time being end Tripe X and continue to rule the TNA landscape.
The one thing that tend to hurt America’s Most Wanted’s credibility here is the “draw factor,” and that is no fault of their own. The company for most of their run never charged for admission, so assessing their drawing ability is a hard thing to do, but Turning Point 2004 did just as well as any of their early PPV’s headlined with NWA Title Matches, so they did something right. Another element that seems to hurt them is the fact that they never stepped foot in a WWE ring. But I disagree there, as I think that is the reason that they are looked on so fondly. TNA embraced tag team wrestling and America’s Most Wanted was a success story. James Storm and Chris Harris were and are still students of the game, and while they didn’t always get along they were able to make it click in the ring; seemingly with ease. The were new age wrestlers, with the respect for the old school parts of the business. They merged new style with the classic southern tag style, and in a time when the tag team seems to be a throw away, they were seen as essentials. In my opinion, the work of America’s Most Wanted is a vital part of TNA’s history. It’s just a shame it had to end.
Steve Cook: When TNA started out, they knew that they had to present something different from what WWE was doing in order to have any chance of success. One such thing was the X Division, which for most of TNA’s history has been the highlight of their programming. But not far behind that was another thing that WWE has neglected for the majority of the past decade…the tag team division. Thing is, it’s tough to find a good tag team these days. And once a good tag team develops, they split up because there’s more money to be made from singles wrestlers. I have to tell people this all the time in the Ask 411 Wrestling column, and they hate me for saying it.
There are few recent exceptions to this rule, and one of them was a tag team that TNA built it’s tag team division around for the first five years of its existence. Chris Harris & James Storm got their start with TNA after the higher-ups saw a match that they had with each other in Nashville on June 1, 2002. Both men expected to come in as singles wrestlers, but TNA decided that if the two men could work well together in a match against each other, certainly they could form a solid tag team. Thus, America’s Most Wanted was born. Harris & Storm would go on to hold the NWA World Tag Team Titles on six separate occasions from 2002-2006. Other teams came and went. Triple X. The Naturals. The Disciples of the New Church. Team Canada. 3 Live Kru. All would challenge and occasionally overcome AMW, but in the end the Wildcat & the Tennessee Cowboy would always stand tall as lords of the ring and masters of the TNA tag team division. Their popularity with TNA fans was rarely in doubt, and when they turned heel late in their run they became two of the most over heels in the company. When a tag team was able to defeat them, it made that team in the eyes of the fans, because AMW was seen as being so far above any other tag team in TNA.
What was their secret? In an era where tag teams often last no longer than a few months, maybe a year at the tops, Chris Harris & James Storm remained a tag team for the better part of four years. Other than a brief period in 2003 where Harris received a singles push and even received shots at the NWA World Title, Harris & Storm almost exclusively worked in tag team matches alongside each other. When you saw Harris, you saw Storm. When you saw Storm, you saw Harris. It was a throwback to an era where you actually saw competitors that only wrestled in tag team matches as part of a regular tag team. AMW’s stronghold on the NWA tag team titles and the fact that people actually wanted to see their matches helped TNA stand apart from WWE in the aspect of tag teams. People usually had a hard time remembering who the tag team champions in WWE were at any given time, because the tag champs usually didn’t appear on TV. Heck, they still have that problem now. TNA fans had no such problem, they knew that Harris & Storm were more often than not the champs, and more often than not their match would be among the highlights of any given show.
Unfortunately, I fear that AMW’s accomplishments have been overlooked by a great majority of the wrestling fanbase for the simple reason that they weren’t in WWE. TNA is in a weird place because they don’t get respect from the mainstream fans who only watch WWE, yet they also usually don’t get respect from the hardcore fans either. They’re basically damned if they do, damned if they don’t. But for all the things that TNA has done wrong in their short existence, one of the things they did right was establishing America’s Most Wanted as the cornerstone of their tag team division in their early years. TNA’s tag team division remains a major part of their product, and a lot of that has to do with the work of “Wildcat” Chris Harris & the “Tennessee Cowboy” James Storm.
Shawn S. Lealos: America’s Most Wanted was a God-send for fans of tag team wrestling. The WWE had some of the best tag teams in the world and pushed them to the moon. The battles between The Hardys, Edge and Christian, and the Dudley’s set the world on fire. By 2002, the WWE was giving us tag teams mixed with random singles wrestlers and seemed to be only a way to push the wrestlers individually. Today, the tag team division in the WWE is almost dead.
However, in 2002 a national alternative was given for the first time since WCW closed their doors. TNA opened shop and in association with the National Wrestling Alliance, crowned new champions. While the first champions were individuals (Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles), the second holders of the NWA World Tag Team Championship under the TNA banner would be an honest to God tag team with a name, matching outfits and theme music. As a fan of old school tag teams like The Rock n Roll Express, The Midnight Express and The Fantastics, this was a glorious time.
America’s Most Wanted was not in the planning stages when TNA first started up. James Storm and Chris Harris were originally slated to be singles wrestlers, but were told they would be paired up as a tag team on the company’s second pay-per-view. While neither man wanted to be a part of a tag team, they reluctantly agreed and ended up as one of the greatest tag teams in NWA history. After Jerry Lynn and A.J. Styles vacated their tag team titles, a Gauntlet for the Gold was held and America’s Most Wanted became the new face of the NWA tag team scene.
While the WWE continued to flounder and waste their talent, TNA emphasized their great tag teams. People point to the X-Division as what made TNA special, but the tag team scene was also significant in making TNA something different. Over the years, TNA continued to promote their great tag teams and delivered some of the best matches in that division seen since the WWE’s heyday. The Naturals, The Disciples of the New Church, The 3-Live Crew and Team Canada would soon be joined by veteran teams like The Harris brothers and Team 3D to help build a tag team division only rivaled by the WWF in the 80s.
The one team I failed to mention is Triple X (Christopher Daniels, Elix Skipper and Low Ki). That team was the Midnight Express to America’s Most Wanted’s Rock n Roll Express. The two would have a series of matches that were unparalleled in the history of TNA wrestling. These bouts were the best I had seen in years and they have not been equaled since. These matches included a brutal last man standing contest in November 04 before finally ending in December 04 with a fantastic six-sides-of-steel, loser breaks up match. It was an amazing spectacle that solidified America’s Most Wanted as the best team in the NWA.
There was not a lot left for the team to prove. They had teased a breakup off and on, but as the face of the TNA’s tag team division, they still had much to offer as a team. The logical next step was a turn to the dark side. They would join forces with Jeff Jarrett and Team Canada as the most powerful force in TNA. The three men would rule the title scene with the help of new valet Gail Kim and the assistance of Team Canada. This formation would give America’s Most Wanted a new lease on life and they would continue on as a heal unit, but remained the best team the federation had to offer.
They would finally break up in December 2006, with James Storm playing the role of the heal to Chris Harris’ face. They would have a series of great matches leading up to Harris finally signing with the WWE, marking the end of an era. The five years that America’s Most Wanted were a tag team reinvented tag team wrestling for a world that it seemed had passed it by. It gave fans of the division a reason to take notice and provided people wanting an alternative to the WWE something to cheer for. Yes, the X-Division made TNA something special, but between America’s Most Wanted and Triple X, the tag team division was just as important for the early success of the new federation.
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