wrestling / Columns
The Best of the 411mania Era: The Tag Teams Part 5
Welcome to Part 5 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, and Part 4!
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
#6: The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay Briscoe) – 200 points
#5: The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) – 204 points
#4: America’s Most Wanted (James Storm & Chris Harris) – 231 points
Michael O: Hey, what’s that reek?
To harken back to the reign of Edge and Christian is to harken back to a time when the tag team division was fun and important. Er, relatively speaking.
Edge and Christian first debuted as a team in a WWE ring at Summerslam ’98, where they faced off against the duo of Marc Mero and Jacqueline. Christian would disappear immediately after, undergo a breast reduction procedure (trivia buffs take note, The Rock was not the first one to do this) and resurface one month later at the Breakdown PPV, just in time to help Edge secure a victory over Owen Hart. Shortly thereafter, the two would begin teaming together regularly as part of Gangrel’s brood, but they were no stranger to this arrangement (minus the drinking blood part).
In fact, Adam “Edge” Copeland and Jay “Christian” Reso had been nearly life-long friends at that point and had been sharing staged battles since middle school. When the teen-aged Edge decided to follow his dreams and give wrestling school a go, Christian would soon do the same and it wouldn’t be long before the tandem began racking up tag team championships on the independent circuit.
Their time as “Brooders” was largely uneventful, consisting mainly of 6-man tag matches with Gangrel. As the last year of the century began, with no title reigns or important victories to speak of, few would have imagined the successes that awaited these two.
When Edge had a sudden and brief run as Intercontinental champ in the spring of ’99, many assumed that the duo was on the brink of premature dissolution. However, a series of great battles against the also floundering Hardy Boys in the fall of that year culminated in a ladder match that not only put both teams on the map, but ushered in a new renaissance of tag team wrestling in the WWF. Christian ceased to wear puffy shirts around this time, so they had that going for them as well.
The first of seven WWF tag team championships was won in a hellacious Wrestlemania 2000 ladder match against the Hardys and Dudleys. It was after this victory that the Canadians began displaying the flamboyant heel tendencies that would come to define the remainder of their time together. 5 second poses ensued.
Their legend would continue to grow with a victory at Summerslam in a rematch of their Wrestlemania clash, this time with the “tables, ladders and chairs” title proper.
Cheering heels was all the rage at the dawn of the decade and the boys managed the somewhat difficult task of remaining over with the crowd through their exciting matches and hysterical promos, while still firmly being baddies, though Christian’s signature giant sunglasses were the very height of obnoxious surfer-by-way-of-brooding goth chic for a while.
The main event scene in the early thousands was no slouch, but Edge and Christian were more often than not stealing the show with the Hardys or Dudleys. With the A.P.A, Too Cool, Radicalz, the Hollies, X-Pac & Road Dogg, among others, all vying for tag title contention as well, Edge and Christian thrived during one of, if not THE, most competitive and exciting periods in WWF tag team history.
And being the top tandem during a time when tag-teams did not exist merely as main event cannon fodder meant that E & C hung long and strong against the likes of The Rock, Undertaker, Y2J, Chris Benoit.
The tag straps would bounce around, but E & C would always find a way to make sure they didn’t go without them for too long. They picked up their seventh and final tag title win just in time for another TLC match against the brothers Hardy and Dudley at Wrestlemania 17 and while many a fan speculated as to whether the three teams would or even could top the last one, they managed to do just that in spectacular fashion. E & C once again left with the gold, leaving indelible images in the heads of fans the world over along the way. Incidentally, this was also the last time we would see the original Jeff Hardy, as he died during the match and was replaced by the younger brother of the second Ultimate Warrior (look it up).
Having established supremacy over the tag team division, the two formed team R.E.C.K. with Kurt Angle, who they’d been backing up, off and on for the last year, and Rhyno, who had been a running buddy of the blondes during their indie days. This foursome, while fun, would prove short-lived and soon after Edge won the 2001 King of the Ring, he and Christian would split for good, going on to feud over the intercontinental title for the rest of the year. Save for a handful of one-off reunions before Christian jumped over to TNA, the two have not teamed since.
Obviously this pairing spawned two stellar singles careers, but it’s entirely possible that these brothers from other mothers have yet to even see their respective peaks. If and when Christian parlays his TNA success into another WWE run, a reunion could certainly be in the cards. And a reunion would certainly mean an eventual break-up.
Anybody else up for an E vs C main event at Wrestlemania 28?
Regardless, Edge and Christian began this decade as a red hot tag team whose stock was on the rise and look to be finishing it out at the top of their chosen companies. I know you can’t make a list about anything with expecting some controversy but I can’t see how anybody could deny that Edge and Christian were one of the very best teams of the “411” era. With their numerous accomplishments, together and individually, I have a feeling that we may one day regard them as one of the greatest tag teams of any era. And if that doesn’t reek of awesomeness, I don’t know what does.
Daniel Wilcox: Where do I start with these guys? Edge and Christian really began as two directionless singles wrestlers and as soon as they were put together as a tag team, it was obvious that it was a perfect fit. While their days a Gangrel’s running buddy wasn’t really going to get them anywhere, in late 1999 the duo made a name for themselves in a career-making match against The Hardys. The things those four men did in that match were revolutionary and was all it took to get Edge and Christian notice. From their, E&C, along with the Hardys and Dudleyz, would raise the bar and continue to raise the bar until it could be raised no further. And with every time fans would watch in awe of what they were doing, their confidence would grow and as a result their personalities became more prominent, and that may be the thing a lot of people liked about this duo the most.
It started with the five-second poses. Sure, going to a city and wearing their rival football team’s jerseys maybe be as cheap as cheap heat gets, but some of the things they did were tremendously funny, so much so that a lot of their antics were cheered at the time. Of course, their eventual face turn would ultimately lead to their break-up but for a good two years, Edge and Christian were a big part of the success of WWE at the time. Their backstage skits were classic stuff, and of course it helps when you’re working with comedic gems like Kurt Angle and Mick Foley. While Edge and Christian were a perfect fit for that comedy role, the things that they were doing in the ring meant you had to take them seriously, and keep booing them.
Every time Edge and Christian would sneak out of a match with the tag team titles allowed the team’s legacy to grow bigger and bigger and also made them bigger antagonists. Coming out victorious in two Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches and a Triangle Ladder match meant that they weren’t just seen as a comedy act. The chemistry the pair shared in the ring was ever-present and they were great at working an old-school tag team formula and escaping with victory after victory. Eventually, the team racked up 7 WWE tag team title wins before they split, a very impressive amount considering the comparatively short amount of time that they were a team.
Their work as a tag team provided both Edge and Christian with a leg-up as far as working as singles competitors. In 2008, Edge is a four-time (possible five by the time this is up on the site) world champion and one of the new stars of the company, while Christian (Cage) is one of the biggest star’s in TNA and 3-times their champion. Although both have had countless great matches since their team split, I don’t think I’d be alone in thinking that some of their greatest moments have come from their tag team days when they were waging war with the Hardys and Dudz.
Whether you looks back on Edge and Christian as a great comedy duo or as one of the most successful tag teams of all time or as one of the best in-ring duos, the one common denominator is the fact that they were amongst the best of what they did and always provided nothing but entertainment both in and out of the ring.
Jerome Cusson: Indeed, Edge and Christian do reek of awesomeness. While they undoubtedly had a great deal of success in WWE, people may not realize for three years prior, they were a tag team on the independent scene not unlike The Briscoes.
The Canadian Independent scene served as the playground for Edge and Christian to hone their skills as a team. They won two different tag titles, the Insane Championship Wrestling and Southern States Wrestling championships. It was in 1998 where Edge and Christian hit the big time.
At first, they were saddled in a group with Gangrel. Thankfully, they were shifted away from the group and become a tag team. Throughout much of the summer of ’99, they began having a series of matches with Matt and Jeff Hardy. These two teams quietly used each other to hit superstardom. It all climaxed with one of the stupidest concepts of a “tournament” ever. Luckily for Edge, Christian, and the Hardys, one moment made these four men into stars for life.
It was at No Mercy 1999 when these two teams fought each other in a ladder match. Even though the Hardys won the match, all four became instant superstars. The two teams even forged an alliance of respect that was short-lived. In the spring of 2000, rumors floated around about Edge and Christian possibly splitting. Little did everyone know, we would about to enter an era of awesomeness.
At Wrestlemania 2000, the Dudleys were thrown into the ladder mix. Tables also thrown into the mix helped lead Edge and Christian to their first ever WWF tag team championships. It wasn’t just their matches that thrilled people although they certainly were a team who could wrestle and compete with anyone. Their ladder matches were classics. Even some of their regular matches with D-X, Too Cool, and the Hardys showed that these weren’t only one-dimensional athletes.
Comedy was thrown into the mix with Edge and Christian doing various skits making of such men as Elvis and their fellow competitors. Their 10, 30, and 37 second poses for those with flash photography only added to their unique personas. They are also a historical team in that they are truly the last great tag team in WWF/E history. The division has never been quite the same since Edge and Christian split up.
Together they won the tag team championships seven times, but they’ve also received honors outside of the WWE as well. Two of their ladder matches against the Hardys and Dudleys received match of the year honors from Pro Wrestling Illustrated. In 2000, they were named the tag team of the year. Edge and Christian were so over and their tag team so over, each has gone onto become world heavyweight championship. Edge has held the championship for both RAW and Smackdown while Christian is considered both an NWA and TNA world champion.
Since they are the last great tag team of the WWF/E, it is only appropriate that this team that reeked of awesomeness for so long is so high on the list of the best team of the 411 era. With a few more years and some more teams to have a great rivalry with, we might see these two as number one. I can’t think of two members of a team that have each gone onto have so much success on their own. Soda do indeed rule. So do Edge and Christian.
Stuart James: The Dudley Boyz of D-Von and Bubba Ray began in ECW over a decade ago, where they fast became on of the most controversial figures for their vicious and expletive interviews, becoming one of the most over heel teams very quickly. In their time in ECW they won the ECW Tag Team titles eight times, because of their vicious brawling styles, which the ECW fans thrived on so much. After dropping the tag titles on their way out, their popularity moved them onto bigger and better things as they soon headed straight into WWE.
They were elevated quickly, and within a couple of months they essentially squashed the New Age Outlaws to win the WWF Tag Team Titles. During this time, they revolutionised the use of tables as common weapons, and became a trademark, with chants of “we want tables” still echoing throughout arenas all over America. With Edge and Christian, and the Hardys, the WWF entered a golden age of tag team wrestling, with great match after great match, as they innovated the ladder matches and TLC matches, where they were known to take some of the biggest risks ever taken.
During their time in WWE, Bubba Ray would make a name for himself for constantly putting women through tables, the first time such actions had been seen on prime time television, which greatly increased their popularity. Because of this, the Dudleyz managed to win the WWF/E Tag Team Titles eight times, which is second to no two man combination in WWE history. They also went on to be the very last WCW Tag Team Champions during the alliance storyline.
Towards the end of their WWE tenure, their popularity had died down slightly, and tag-team wrestling was seen as of less importance. However, they did get one last chance to pay homage to ECW that made their career, by main eventing ECW One Night Stand in 2005, in a match that they won in their final appearance on WWE, fittingly ending with a table.
On October 1st 2005, the Dudleyz made their way to TNA iMPACT, and were met with great applause. They were noted for having several feuds with legend tag teams such as the New Age Outlaws, the Steiner Brothers, as well as newer teams such as the Motor City Machine Guns and LAX. Eventually, at Lockdown of 2007, the Dudleyz did what no other team in history could do, and that was win the NWA Tag Team Titles, the WWE Tag Team Titles, WCW Tag Team Titles and ECW Tag Team Titles. They then furthered their credentials even more by being the first official TNA Tag Team Champions, therefore solidifying themselves as the most successful tag team in any company ever.
The Dudleyz’ influence on tag-team wrestling is undeniable. From their angry promos, to revolutionising tag team ladder matches, to the introduction of tables to mainstream wrestling, the Dudleyz have done it all, and will likely always be seen as the most successful tag team in the history of wrestling.
Jarrod Westerfeld: To say that the Dudley Boyz, or now known as Team 3D, was popular would be a tremendous understatement. Having started out their career as a tandem together, Brother Ray, who had gone through the names of Buh-Buh [Ray]and Bubba Ray when he wasn’t a stuttering gimmick, and Brother Devon, formerly known as just D-Von, formed up their tandem on February 1, 1997, the two quickly fell into fortune by capturing their first, in a long series of championships, ECW Tag Team Championships by defeating the then champions The Eliminators on March 15, 1997 at ECW’s Hostile City Showdown (1997) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the ECW Arena. Their humble starts as singles competitors would soon be forgotten as the two would hold a tremendous run of success as a duo, becoming 8 time ECW Tag Team Champions before leaving for ventures beyond the scope of Philadelphia’s bingo halls as they moved to the, then, World Wrestling Federation promotion up in Connecticut. What caught the eye of the WWF was the appeal around the Dudley’s who turned a crowd so vile thanks to their profane and explicit promos and shocking antics by attacking women and utilizing weapons, such as tables, in a manner that had never been seen before such as powerbombing both Little Spike Dudley and Ballz Mahoney through flaming tables on pay-per-view, at ECW’s Heatwave ’99. It was the first time such an act had been committed, and would be something that would forever mark them as being memorable in the minds of most American fans. Once in the WWF, the team would garner even more success by becoming multiple time champions of not just one set of tag team titles, but several including the WCW World Tag Team Championships during the WCW/ECW Invasion angle, and were the final champions to hold the titles before they faded away from existence. Becoming the WWE Tag Team Champions once, titles created exclusively for SmackDown during the brand extension (or split), and holding the WWE World Tag Team Championships 8 times, the titles that hold the lineage dating as far back to Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler in 1971. But life with the WWE would soon fade for the tandem, but their run of success wouldn’t end as they would continue to garner gold from every promotion they had ever graced with their presence as they garnered the HUSTLE Super Tag Team Championships on October 9, 2006, taking the honor of AJPW’s World Strongest Tag Team League tournament in 2005 by going undefeated throughout the league, and garnering gold in TNA by taking both the NWA World Tag Team Championships before TNA’s license agreement with the NWA ended, and then being crowned the first TNA World Tag Team Champions on May 13, 2007. Their dominance knows no bounds as they will forever be remembered for their brilliance as an in-ring tandem with a working formula to get the fans behind their every movement, and thanks to their ability to handle their words without the use of profanity to illustrate their points or sway the fans to love or hate them. They are also connected to the most highly acclaimed tag team division in the past decade, being part of such memorable bouts with The Hardys and Edge and Christian during the better part of 2001. To have a list of the best tag teams without any mention of the Dudley Boyz, or Team 3D, is considered blasphemy.
Daniel Wilcox: It still amazes me that upon their arrival in then-WWF, The Dudleyz (more specifically, Bubba) was saddled with a ridiculous stuttering gimmick when what made them so great in their three-year spell in ECW was their promo skills. The Dudleyz had the ability of riling up ECW crowds with ease and even today, “Brother Ray” is one of the best talkers in the business. But aside from what they were doing with a microphone in hand, The Dudleyz were also something different in the ring. They were a perfect fit for the hardcore style of ECW but even then, they did things the ECW audience had never seen before. I’m pretty sure The Dudleyz were the first duo to utilize a flaming table in ECW and they then brought the use of the table to the mainstream wrestling audience when they jumped to WWF in 1999.
While in ECW, the team won a record setting eight tag team championships. A decade after leaving ECW, they’ve added a ridiculous fourteen world tag team championship to their legacy including 8 World Tag Team Championship runs, 1 WWE Tag Team Championship run, 2 runs as tag champs outside of North America and 1 run each as NWA and WCW Tag Team Champions. They’re also the first team to win the TNA Tag Team Championships. This makes them the first and only team to have won WWE, WCW, ECW, NWA and TNA tag gold. It’s a testament to their ability that they’ve always been in or around a tag title hunt.
While for the majority of their career, Bubba and D-Von have worked as heels, no one is going to deny how much of an impact the team has had on wrestling. As mentioned, the sheer number of title reigns they’ve had in various companies in their 12 years in the business is unparalleled and with the state of tag team wrestling as it is, it’s not likely that any team will ever come close to reaching the kinds of heights that The Dudleyz did. The team were a perfect fit for WWE’s Attitude Era as it was their over-the-top actions such as driving women through tables that got them over as one of, if not the most popular tag team in the business. Since the days of the Attitude Era, Bubba and D-Von have moved seamlessly from heels to faces and their ability to do that is a testament to Bubba’s ability on a microphone, I feel, as every time he opens his mouth he can get people to loathe him with ease.
Nowadays, renamed Team 3D, the duo are doing their thing in TNA, and indeed, doing it as well as they ever did. They’ve still got a lot of ability in the ring and when needed can provide some hellacious brawls and brutally fun hardcore matches.
The Dudleyz have waged war with many legendary teams and will be best remembered for their bouts with the likes of the Hardys, Edge and Christian, Public Enemy, The Eliminators, LAX, America’s Most Wanted and the Motor City Machineguns. While synonymous with table matches, Bubba and D-Von were at least partially responsible for one of the greatest ever periods of tag team wrestling and brought a whole new dynamic to tag wrestling with their style and they remain one of the most entertaining acts in wrestling today. For my money, The Dudley Boyz are one of, if not the greatest tag teams of all time.
Scott Rutherford: Two brothers from Hicksville who taught themselves how to work, started their own fed, became WWF TV jobbers, tag team revolutionaries, outcasts and now on the verge of being main eventer’s. It’s been a wild ride for Matt & Jeff Hardy that has now seem them regarded as one of the greatest teams to walk the aisles for the past 10+ years and maybe in the last 50. But given everything I have said above why do we think these guys are the real deal? Let’s break it down…
Popularity: Always over. They’ve never played heels as a tag team and truth be told I don’t think they could. They are the type of wrestlers that are born to be faces and crowds just don’t want to boo. Perhaps it’s the fact that when you hear their music hit you know more than likely you will be seeing a fun match with a couple wild spots thrown in to buzz the crowd.
Draw: They were the team the helped re-ignite the tag team scene in the WWE and made oodles of money in merchandise and I have no doubt that between 2000-2001 that more than a few people went to shows to see their daredevil act live.
Influence: Every time you see some fool trying to kill himself for our entertainment you probably have the Hardy’s to thank. Certainly ECW was doing a hardcore style of wrestling and Japan was the leaders of that style but Matt & Jeff brought it kicking and screaming into the mainstream conscious. Their big talent was making these matches entertaining and fun without having to look away from pools of blood and stupid crap like broken glass or barbed wire. What they were doing was pretty much as dangerous but much safer for public consumption. …which meant serious bank for the WWE. These guys were the new watermark for tag wrestling and they didn’t need to boast about how many titles they won to make their point.
Title Runs: While the Dudley’s went on to win the most titles and E&C carried the title for the majority of their feud time strangely the Hardy’s never really got that big extended run with the titles not because they were undeserving but because they were over regardless and were better as the underdog challengers than champs. The best run was their first win. Unexpected and a total surprise, it put them on the map and was the platform to which they sprung to ever lasting fame.
How Will They Be Remembered…: As true innovators . They defined the underdog, everyman success story. Every 15 year old doing flips with dreams of doing them in a WWE ring will be following the path the Hardy’s set. From defying popular opinion on whether the WWE would even sign them let along if they would become stars they truly are the biggest success story in tag teams history.
Jeremy Thomas: Ahh, the Hardys. The voting was awfully close, but I’m happy to see Matt and Jeff come out on top. Why? It’s very simple; while both the Dudley Boys and Edge and Christian played their part in contributing to the tag team renaissance that came to be in the 411 Era, no one excited like these two, and no one remained popular in the same way that they did. Let’s count the accolades: 6 time WWF/E Tag Team Champions, to start with. They were WCW Tag Team Champions during the Invasion, and PWI Tag Team of the Year in 2001. They outlasted both of their chief rivals, as Edge and Christian went their own way with Edge’s King of the Ring win in 2001, and Bubba Ray and D-Von were split up in the first Draft Lottery…and really, the Dudleys’s match quality had just begun to get stale by that point as it was. However, Matt and Jeff remained strong for a little longer, before the E made the premature (and, at the time, very poor) decision to split them up. What’s more, while the influence of Dudleys, that of the table matches and the uber-heel tag teams, can also be attributed to ECW more in general, Matt and Jeff really did set the standard for providing a resurgence of the high-flying, exciting tag team wrestling that older groups like the Rockers were known for, but had been largely been dead for a long time. The Hardys simply didn’t fit the mold of what Vince McMahon likes in his superstars, but the fan reaction was so enormous that he couldn’t help but listen. Do you need any convincing of how popular Matt and Jeff were? Go rent Unforgiven 2006. Listen to the crowd pop when Matt, Jeff, and Lita simply appear on-screen together. This was the first time they had in forever, and the crowd just ate it up. And it was just a brief backstage segment. It was pure joy to watch them come back together in 2006 and 2007 to face teams like MNM and London/Kendrick, two teams that, frankly, probably wouldn’t have been put together in the WWE if not for the groundwork Matt & Jeff laid starting almost a decade earlier. And the best thing about it was, they were still easily holding their own and providing intensely exciting matches, and helping to bring about yet another (if brief) resurgence of the tag team division. In fact, I think that it’s unfortunate for the two of them that they ARE the greatest tag team of the 411 Era in some ways, because their mark in the tag team division is so strong that they’ve had to work amazingly hard to be seen as legitimate singles competitors. Matt had to flounder through several poor lower-card feuds, get demolished again and again by Edge in their infamous feud, and finally find MVP as an opponent to elevate him to a serious upper midcarder. Jeff’s problems are well-documented, and while they largely fall into the “personal demons” category, I think it’s significant that he burned out once the onus of being a singles wrestler was on him, because again he had a hell of a tag team reputation to uphold. I think that, ultimately, when you count up the memorable tag team moments of the WWE during the 411 Era, you’re going to find more Hardy moments then anything else. Ladder Matches, TLC Matches, Tag Team Turmoil, injuring Joey Mercury’s face, their reunion at Survivor Series, their brief feud with Steve Austin and Triple H that resulted in Jeff’s first Intercontinental Title reign…that’s just a brief sampling of the moments saved into posterity. And the final thing that sews it up for me is this: even with Matt and Jeff on their own following their singles paths to success, they could reunite at any single moment and it would seem totally natural, and yet still entirely exciting and a mark-out moment. That’s a statement that should put them over the top as THE Tag Team of the 411 Era, if nothing else.
Daniel Wilcox: What Matt and Jeff Hardy lacked in size, promo skills and experience, they more than made up for in explosiveness. While never as technically sound as Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels, the duo were very much like The Rockers but turn up a notch to match similar surroundings of the Attitude Era. Their dynamic tandem offence sets them apart from most other tag teams and their risk taking was a big reason for their immense popularity, a popularity that is unrivalled when it comes to tag teams.
Along with Edge and Christian and The Dudley Boys, The Hardyz defined an era of tag team wrestling. Tag team wrestling was never as popular as when Matt and Jeff were on top. They pushed the boundaries of tag wrestling by getting involved in some of the most breathtaking matches the industry has ever seen including numerous tables, ladders and chairs matches. What them so special though, was that they were always out to raise the bar; if Jeff Hardy flew off of a 10ft ladder last month, he would want to come off of a 15ft ladder this month. While a lot of credit has to go to the teams they worked with, it was clear that Matt and Jeff Hardy were the ones taking the biggest risks, hitting the flashest moves and amazing audiences the most. It’s a credit to The Hardys that they remained as popular as they did considering rarely won their biggest matches. Even in a losing effort, The Hardys would usually come out more popular than when they went in.
All wrestling fans, men, women and children alike, loved watching The Hardys’ high-flying moves and never-say-die attitude. The fans’ love for The Hardys saw them feuding with some of the biggest names in the business including Steve Austin, Triple H and The Undertaker. When the brothers re-united as a team in 2006, they were as popular as ever before and now that they’re on their own again, both Matt and Jeff remain two of the most popular stars on their respective brands. In the few years that Matt and Jeff were a team, they captured seven tag team championships including one reign as WCW Tag Team Champions and yet they never needed the titles to stay over or to excite a crowd.
The Hardys’ influence is very much evident in wrestling today. Even though tag team wrestling is nowhere near as prominent, the fast-paced, dynamic style of the likes of Paul London and Brian Kendrick remain very popular with all fans. In dangerous environments like a ladder match, Superstars like Shelton Benjamin and John Morrison are taking bigger and bigger risks much like The Hardys did years ago and it has helped them get noticed.
The kinds of things that The Hardys did as a tag team resulted in tag wrestling peaking in popularity and got tag matches a higher place up the card instead of being curtain-jerkers. It could well be argued that tag wrestling was as popular a part of the product as the biggest main-eventers were. It’s undeniable that tag wrestling has never been as present in the wrestling landscape as it was when The Hardys’ popularity was at its peak and it probably never will be again.
However successful Matt and Jeff’s respective singles careers turn out to be, they got their chance and gained the admiration of the wrestling audience through the things they did as a duo. The Hardys will go down as the most exciting tag team of all time and one of the biggest teams when tag team wrestling peaked in popularity. Unfortunately, because they raised the bar so high, they may also be remembered as one of the teams that brought about the demise of tag wrestling, because after The Hardys ended their run as a tag team, the only way for the quality and importance of tag wrestling to go was down.
Thank you for joining us for our first ever The Best of the 411wrestling.com Era: Tag Teams.
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