The Great Eight: Top 8 NXT Black & Gold Era Tag Teams

I’ve already waxed on about the importance of the Black & Gold era of NXT. It was the first time we had full access to watch the future of WWE as they were coming up. And while their main roster mileage varied, their time in NXT was a way to prove how good they could be. On top of that, NXT allowed women to finally get the respect and time they deserved.

NXT would do similar things for tag teams, though again, the main roster was another story. So many great teams came through NXT during this time, and I wanted to take time today to celebrate the best of the best.

Fun Facts:

In the 13 years since the championships debuted, there have been 43 reigns among 34 teams. Tyler Bate is the youngest champion, winning the championship at 21. Matt Hardy is the oldest, winning it at 51. Based on days recognized by the WWE, MSK has the shortest reign at five days. Taking away tape delays, Moustache Mountain actually has the shortest reign at two days. Kyle O’Reilly has the record for most reigns by an individual with three.

Ranking Explanation:

Just like the men’s and women’s versions of this, we will be mainly looking at teams from 2014 to 2021. This covers the era between NXT Arrival through the NXT 2.0 rebrand. I reserve the right to fudge the time a little bit, but the teams will mainly fall within those years. Rankings are based on a combination of the quality of the team, longevity, and time as champions.

Plugs

I don’t use social media, but you can follow me on Spotify, where you’ll find playlists covering every decade from the 1950s to the 2000s. As well as several genre-specific playlists.

Disclaimer:

This is my list; if you don’t like it or have a different list, awesome! Please share your own list and opinions in the comments section. I welcome open discourse about this wacky art we all love. It is an art form, so it is subjective; we all have our opinions on it, and all of them are valid. So, if you want to share your thoughts and opinions, don’t insult others for their opinion. There is already enough negativity in the world; let’s not add to it. And with that, on to the list!

The List

Honorable Mentions:

The Vaudevillains, Brit-Am Brawlers, British Strong Style, Street Profits, The War Raiders, Authors of Pain

8: Enzo & Cass

The only team on the list that never held the Tag Team Championships. The Realist Guys in the Room may not have been the best wrestlers, but they were, as the kids say, entertaining AF, during the first few years of NXT. I may not be a huge fan of Enzo, but I can’t deny that the guy could cut a promo. He knew how to get the crowd to either love or hate him. Cass is a guy who has thankfully come out the other side of his demons and is remaking his name in AEW.

The duo may never have won gold, but they were insanely over during the three years they spent in NXT. And to his credit, Enzo is not a bad wrestler. I think his in-ring skills got overlooked, but he was athletic and was more than capable of putting together good matches. Cass was still pretty green during this time, but he did a good job as the muscle to back up Enzo’s mouth.

7: Sanity (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe)

Full disclosure, I am always a sucker for groups like SAnitY. I am a ’90s goth kid and have always gravitated to dark and chaotic stuff. I have also always loved Eric Young, from Team Canada to scared Eric to Super Eric to World Elite. He was always a guy I enjoyed watching. So, to see him lead this group was awesome for me.

Everyone in SAnitY deserved way more than they got from the WWE. I would have loved to see Young actually get a run as NXT Champion during their two-year run in NXT. And also, why did they call them up without Cross?

Tangent over. SAniTY ended the Authors of Pain’s eight-month reign and would go on to have an impressive run of their own. Due to tape delay, the WWE recognizes their reign as being 123 days. That puts them at the 15th-longest reign in NXT history.

Their brand of controlled chaos gave fans something different. We were used to speed, power, or technical ability. SAniTY was more of a force of chaos running through the roster.

6: American Alpha

Damn, it’s crazy to think that Gable has been with the WWE for 13 years now. Jordan has been there even longer, having signed in 2011. The team would come together in 2015, after Gable had spent weeks trying to get Jordan to agree to team up with him.

It would be at Takeover: Dallas where the team would win the Tag Team Championships from The Revival. Their reign would be short, but American Alpha were so good in the ring, and their matches with The Revival were pure art. It is such a shame that the WWE during this time didn’t care about tag teams at all. American Alpha could have been a much bigger deal during the early 2000s or even now.

As it stands, Jordan has been a great producer backstage, and Gable seems to be missing, but that OG El Grande Americano clearly was inspired by him.

5: The Lucha Dragons

The fact that the Lucha Dragons ended the longest NXT Tag Team Championship reign gets them their spot on the list. It also helps that they were so much fun to watch in the ring. Samuray Del Sol/Kalisto is vastly underrated, and I’m hoping to see more of him in AAA. This is not the original Sin Cara, but the one portrayed by Hunico/Incognito, who now runs his own company in Mexico and goes by Cinta de Oro.

I loved watching Lucha Dragons during their NXT run. They would fit in well with the current NXT roster as well. They were so smooth, and Kalisto was pulling off some of the first Poison Ranas on US Television. While they’d never quite reach this level as a team again (Kalisto is also a two-time United States Champion), their NXT run was amazing to watch and more than enough to earn them a spot on this list.

4: Blake & Murphy

And now we go from the Lucha Dragons to the team that beat them for the Tag Team Championships. Blake & Murphy edge out the Lucha Dragons due to having the second-longest Tag Team Championship reign in NXT history.

For 219 days, Blake & Murphy used their combination of speed and technical ability to defend the titles against some of the best teams in NXT. Teams like The Vaudevillians, The Lucha Dragons, Enzo & Cass, The Revival (under the name The Mechanics), and The Hype Bros.

Wesley Blake has been working as a producer and coach for NXT since 2024, while Buddy Murphy was kicking ass in AEW before he suffered an ankle injury in February of last year.

Murphy is another guy who deserved more than what the WWE was giving him. So, I can’t blame him for leaving and making his name in AEW. I hope he can come back soon, because I’d love to see him mixing it up with Swerve, Ospreay, and many others in AEW.

Blake and Murphy are an underrated team that ruled NXT for the better part of 2015. For those watching during that time, you could sense there was something special about them. It also helped that Alexa Bliss was carrying their promos.

3: The Ascension

The Ascension holds the record for the longest single reign as NXT Tag Team Champions. If you go by actual days, they are only two days off from holding the titles for an entire year. As the WWE counts its 343 days, it’s still incredibly impressive.

This incarnation of the Ascension would only be in NXT for a year before getting called up, and they would spend most of the year as champions. They would win the titles at an NXT taping in September of 2013, and hold the belts until losing them to the Lucha Dragons at Takeover: Fatal 4-Way in September of 2014.

The beginning of their reign would be mostly squash matches over local talent. Their major televised defense would be against Too Cool at NXT ArRIVAL. They would be a part of the 2014 WWE WrestleMania Axxess event, beating the team of Baron Corbin & Sawyer Fulton.

They would begin feuding with Kalisto & El Local, beating the team at the first Takeover. They also defend the titles against Sami Zayn & Tyson Kidd and the Vaudevillians before dropping the titles to the Lucha Dragons.

I honestly hate how poorly the Ascension was booked on the main roster. They could have been this generation’s Road Warriors, but instead, they got fed to legends and treated like jokes. Their year of dominance in NXT can’t be erased, and it gives them the third spot on this list.

2: The Revival

The Revival is only one of seven teams to win the titles more than once. They are fourth overall for combined days as champions with 326 days (306 by the WWE’s count). More importantly, The Revival were what tag team wrestling is all about, and they are still doing their thing in AEW. Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson are just two old-school wrestlers, something straight out of the 1970s or ’80s NWA.

It’s a pleasure to watch these two anytime they are in the ring; like a lot of teams on this list, they just were in the WWE at the wrong time. Put them in the 1980s against teams like Demolition, The Hart Foundation, Can-Am Connection, The Wild Samoans, and The Killer Bees. Or the 1990s in WCW, The Revival would have fit in perfectly with The Steiners, Harlem Heat, Road Warriors, and many others.

With 326 combined days as champions, The Revival solidified their entrance on the list. Their talent is what puts them at number two. I wonder if we will ever see them return to the WWE, but for now, we can enjoy them mixing it up with the best teams the AEW has to offer.

1: The Undisputed Era

I mentioned above that Kyle O’Reilly has the most reigns by an individual. He also has the most combined days as an NXT Champion at 584 (550 by the WWE’s count). All three of those reigns were with The Undisputed Era. Teaming with Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong, or Adam Cole, I could say that Kyle O’Reilly is really at the top of this list.

From 2017 to 2021, The Undisputed Era ruled NXT. Not only were they the only team to hold the Tag Team Championships three times, but Adam Cole is also the inaugural North American Champion and the longest-reigning NXT Champion. Roderick Strong is a one-time Cruiserweight and North American Champion, and O’Reilly and Cole won the 2018 Dusty Classic.

That is an impressive resume for a group of guys who no one really thought would do much in the WWE. I don’t think anyone ever expected Bobby Fish to even get signed. Out of all of them, Cole was the most WWE-ready with his charisma, but he was too small. Yet, for four years, they reigned supreme and are the best team and stable that NXT ever had.

Preview:

Tune in next week when we look at the top eight NXT Women’s Champions