The Top 7 Tag Teams of the 2000s

We’ve ranked the Greatest Tag Teams of the 1980s. Then we did the 1990s. So you know what’s coming up next, right? Even if WWE, the undisputed major promotion of this decade, spent most of the 2000s downplaying tag teams, there was still a lot of good stuff out there. Indy feds brought some quality. Heck, it wasn’t all bad for WWE, especially when you consider 2000 & 2001 featured the three most iconic teams of the decade.

Let’s take a look at the Seven most Magnificent Tag Teams of the 2000s.

7. Paul London & Brian Kendrick

London & Kendrick were the type of wrestlers that didn’t make it big in WWE. You know, popular with the Internet, small high flyers, not much on the microphone. They started off in Shawn Michaels’ Texas Wrestling Academy, then made their way to Ring of Honor where both would find singles success. WWE noticed them and signed them, Kendrick in late 2002 & London in mid-2003. They began teaming in 2003 and reunited in 2005 after Kendrick took some time away from the company. Judgment Day 2006 saw London & Kendrick defeat MNM (another solid tag team of the 2000s that flies under the radar these days) for the WWE Tag Team Championship. They would hold that title for 331 days, setting a company record that would last for almost ten years. Even if WWE never had full confidence in them, London & Kendrick still managed to make their mark.

6. America’s Most Wanted

Chris Harris & James Storm had a match at a show in Nashville that NWA: TNA was using to give their announce team some reps & scout talent. They did well enough that they got hired, appeared on the first PPV and a ton of them afterward. Harris & Storm would soon form a tag team and become the second team to hold the NWA Tag Team Championship during TNA’s control of the championship. From that point on, they were almost always either the champions or one of the top challenging teams for the straps, winding up as six-time champions. That’s still a company record for Impact Wrestling, with Storm’s Beer Money Inc. team with Bobby Roode one behind at five.

AMW’s classic matches with the likes of Triple X and the New Church helped put TNA’s tag team roster on the map and solidified that part of the company as something worth watching.

5. The Briscoe Brothers

Jay & Mark are truly Ring of Honor originals, but they actually got noticed in Combat Zone Wrestling. Their match against each other at the first Best of the Best event put them on wrestling fans’ radars and is still considered one of the best in CZW history. ROH was one of those companies that took notice, and booked Jay in the second match on their very first show. Mark couldn’t wrestle in Pennsylvania because he was too young, which led to the beginning of issues between the two. Mark joined Christopher Daniels’ Prophecy faction, there was a feud, Jay won, they became a team again. They won the ROH Tag Team Championship twice before leaving the promotion in 2004 after Mark had a motorcycle accident. Once Mark was ready to compete again, the Briscoes returned in 2006 and established themselves as the top tag team in ROH. Other teams have held the titles and had some impressive reigns, but the Briscoe Brothers have always been the top tag team in Ring of Honor, the team that everybody competing there has to measure themselves against.

They defeated the American Wolves at Final Battle 2009 to make themselves 6-time ROH Tag Team Champions. More would follow in the 2010s.

4. Los Guerreros

Eddie & Chavo were uncle & nephew, but were always more like brothers. Their interactions started in WCW, where Eddie tried to make Chavo into a rulebreaker, but young Chavo was still a good guy and resisted. Eddie’s mistreatment of Chavo made the poor lad lose his mind, but to be fair, that probably would have happened one way or another in WCW no matter what Eddie did. Eddie & Chavo reunited in better circumstances in WWE, and became part of the SmackDown Six with Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Edge & Rey Mysterio. They had countless tag team matches during 2002 & early 2003, leading to Eddie & Chavo winning the WWE Tag Team Championship on two separate occasions. Team Angle of Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin would become a favorite opponent later on.

Eddie & Chavo fully embraced the Guerrero tradition of lying, cheating & stealing. They were so good at it that the fans started cheering their antics. Of course, they would eventually split as a team when it was time for Eddie to make his big singles run, and Chavo’s father would be an important part of completing that turn.

3. Edge & Christian

Edge & Christian started off as two goth kids hanging out with Gangrel. The Brood became very popular with fans, and E & C would split off from Gangrel to go full-time in the tag team division. Somewhere along the way, they became sarcastic, silly guys with a knack for using chairs & making people laugh in spite of themselves, and traded the WWF Tag Team Championship with the top two teams on this list. Even though Edge & Christian would split up in 2001 and not fully reunite until 2009, they jammed a lot of good stuff into their brief time together. Sometimes you have to rank quality over quantity, and Edge & Christian took part in some of the most remembered tag team matches of the decade.

2. The Hardy Boyz

There’s no doubt who the most popular tag team of the 2000s was. It was Matt & Jeff Hardy, and it wasn’t particularly close. So many kids in my high school would wear that purple Team Extreme attire. Matt, Jeff & their pal Lita really spoke to kids of my generation, and people could identify with them as they inevitably got their butts kicked by their rivals. That only made the comebacks that much sweeter, and Matt & Jeff would do literally anything to please an audience.

Like most other teams on this list, the Hardyz had their moments where they had to split up & feud. They took four years off before reuniting in 2006 and finding more success together. They wound up holding WWE tag team championships on six occasions during the 2000s. They split up again in 2009, and it wouldn’t be too long before both men left the company. They would find a home soon enough.

1. The Dudley Boyz

When we last left Bubba Ray & D-Von, they had dominated Extreme Championship Wrestling before making their way to the WWF. They didn’t curse quite as much, and Bubba even brought back his stutter for a minute, but they found another way to make teenage boys of the early 2000s love them: putting women through tables. They also engaged in some of the craziest matches people had ever seen along with Edge & Christian and the Hardy Boyz. For six years, the Dudleyz dominated WWE’s tag team division, winning tag team titles on nine seperate occasions.

What sets Bubba & D-Von apart from the pack in the 2000s is what they did after leaving WWE in 2005. They went everywhere else and did pretty much the same thing they did in ECW & WWE. Three time NWA/TNA tag team champions. Two time IWGP tag team champions. Won the 2005 All Japan Real World Tag League. If there was a major tag team championship anywhere in the world in the 2000s, either The Dudley Boyz or Team 3D won it. It’s tough to argue against their track record & consistency in the 2000s.

Can you? Let me know in the comments or on the Twitter!