Tag team wrestling has been an important part of the industry forever by providing a change of space of every match having the same singles match formula. The idea of teams facing off created a different form of storytelling with layers and variables changing it up. WWE had different approaches to the tag division throughout the years.
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Each decade had a few different teams leading the division and various levels of importance placed on it by Vince McMahon and others with power. Some eras featured the tag division as a prominent part of the show, while others saw the company caring less. Every WWE era will be ranked based on the talent level and impact of the tag division from worst to best.
8
PG Era
The Tag Team Division Never Got Respect
|
Top WWE Tag Teams Of Era |
Total WWE Tag Title Reigns |
|---|---|
|
John Morrison & The Miz |
3 |
|
The Colons |
2 |
|
JeriShow |
2 |
|
Triple H & Shawn Michaels |
2 |
|
The Hart Dynasty |
2 |
The brand split of the 2000s made it harder to have strong all-around divisions since WWE had to book two shows with different rosters. Quite a few tag teams got a chance, but most felt like they had a short shelf life. John Morrison and The Miz had arguably the best tag act until they split for singles runs.
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WWE fell into the habit of making makeshift tag teams run the division. Chris Jericho and Big Show, Triple H and Shawn Michaels, CM Punk and Kofi Kingston, and other duos had short runs together. WWE didn’t take the division seriously during that 2008-2011 chapter dubbed the PG Era.
7
New Generation Era
Gimmicks Hurt Many Tag Teams
|
Top WWE Tag Teams Of Era |
Total WWE Tag Title Reigns |
|---|---|
|
Owen Hart & British Bulldog |
1 |
|
The Smoking Gunns |
3 |
|
The Godwinns |
2 |
|
Legion Of Doom |
2 |
|
The Steiner Brothers |
2 |
The New Generation Era gave WWE a chance to rebuild the roster and the promotion after losing most Golden Era stars. Unfortunately, Vince McMahon had a terrible phase of giving occupational gimmicks to most new talents, including tag teams joining WWE.
The Godwinns played pig farmers, the Smoking Gunns were cowboys, the Bodydonnas became fitness gurus, and many other teams suffered from the limiting characters. Owen Hart and the British Bulldog had the best tag run of the era, with Legion of Doom right behind them.
6
Current Era/Netflix Era
Triple H Is Still Figuring Out The Tag Team Division
|
Top WWE Tag Teams Of Era |
Total WWE Tag Title Reigns |
|---|---|
|
Motor City Machine Guns |
1 |
|
DIY |
2 |
|
Street Profits |
2 |
|
Viking Raiders |
2 |
|
A-Town Down Under |
1 |
The talent in today’s WWE gives Triple H a stacked division to improve the tag team scene. Motor City Machine Guns, DIY, Viking Raiders, Street Profits, and a few other duos can easily boost the tag division to be as good as most other eras.
Unfortunately, most recent tag teams have had lackluster tag title reigns and feel secondary to the singles acts on the show. The rumored upcoming signing of Rey Fenix can even make the Lucha Brothers a generational team for WWE, but Triple H must commit to adding credibility to the title reigns.
5
Ruthless Aggression Era
The Brand Split Hurt The Tag Team Division
|
Top WWE Tag Teams Of Era |
Total WWE Tag Title Reigns |
|---|---|
|
Paul London & Brian Kendrick |
2 |
|
MNM |
3 |
|
Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin |
2 |
|
Los Guerreros |
2 |
|
Dudley Boyz |
10 |
The Ruthless Aggression Era was a mixed bag for WWE’s tag team division due to the drastic change in presentation of competing brands. Established duos like the Dudley Boyz, Hardy Boyz, and APA had breakups coming via the Draft since Vince McMahon wanted to test their singles potential.
New teams did make an impact to provide some positives over other eras below them. Paul London and Brian Kendrick had the best tag title reign of the era going long with consistently great matches. Other teams like MNM, Team Angle, and Los Guerreros had great runs, but many other duos flopped with bad gimmicks.
4
Reality Era
Tag Teams Became Important Again
|
Top WWE Tag Teams Of Era |
Total WWE Tag Title Reigns |
|---|---|
|
Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins |
1 |
|
Team Hell No |
1 |
|
The Usos |
8 |
|
Luke Harper & Erick Rowan |
1 |
|
Tyson Kidd & Cesaro |
1 |
The Reality Era of 2011 to 2016 featured the tag division getting a boost of more important acts. WWE pushing The Shield as a top act led to Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns having a dominant reign as tag champs. Daniel Bryan and Kane forming Team Hell No made them a beloved act in the division.
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The biggest success was the start of New Day’s historic tag title reign making them stars to end the era. Other teams like the Usos, the Wyatt Family, and Cesaro & Tyson Kidd provided depth for fans to start caring about the tag division again due to the incredible matches.
3
Golden Era
The Golden Era’s Tag Division Created Many Top WWE Stars
|
Top WWE Tag Teams Of Era |
Total WWE Tag Title Reigns |
|---|---|
|
The Hart Foundation |
2 |
|
The Rockers |
0 |
|
The Brain Busters |
1 |
|
Demolition |
3 |
|
The British Bulldogs |
1 |
The first chapter of Vince McMahon’s time running WWE came in the Golden Era after he took over from his father. Demolition, The Rockers, The Hart Foundation, the British Bulldogs, and the Brain Busters all became legendary acts that helped make the tag division thrive.
McMahon used his established tag wrestlers in singles roles to end the Golden Era with names like Shawn Michaels, Davey Boy Smith, and Bret Hart becoming upper card acts. Fans loved the depth of the roster at the time, especially with the tag division providing strong depth and variety.
2
New Era
Tag Team Wrestling Had A Strong Resurgence
|
Top WWE Tag Teams Of Era |
Total WWE Tag Title Reigns |
|---|---|
|
The New Day |
11 |
|
The Usos |
8 |
|
The Bar |
5 |
|
The Revival |
3 |
|
The Hardy Boyz |
9 |
The tag team division taking off in the New Era featured New Day and the Usos leading the charge. New Day breaking the record for longest tag title reign showed how pivotal it can be to push a top tag act as they were top merch sellers and huge stars for the company.
The Usos taking off during this time made them improve from a good team to a legendary duo. Other great additions to tag team wrestling in the New Era featured The Hardy Boyz returning, The Bar taking off as a great team, and The Shield having another reunion. All these teams had great matches during that time.
1
Attitude Era
Star Power Could Not Be Topped
|
Top WWE Tag Teams Of Era |
Total WWE Tag Title Reigns |
|---|---|
|
Edge & Christian |
7 |
|
The Hardy Boyz |
9 |
|
The Dudley Boyz |
10 |
|
New Age Outlaws |
6 |
|
APA |
3 |
The Attitude Era deserves the crown for having WWE’s best tag team division due to having both star power at the top and depth in the division. Edge and Christian, the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz all became legendary duos thanks to the epic TLC matches and rotating feuds against each other.
Too Cool, APA, and the New Age Outlaws added more legendary acts to round out the division. Fans used to believe anything could happen at any time in WWE during the Attitude Era, and the chaotic matches featuring big names in the tag division helped it live in infamy as a special time for tag team wrestling.
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