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THE BEST OF... WWF/E WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES


jaedmc

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This is a part of a project to determine the very best title matches in wrestling history. Nominate the very fucking best tag titles in WWE History. I'll keep a match list right here in the first post and vote tally. Don't bring me that jabronie "Oh this was a perfectly fine little match" shit. I want all-time classics.

 

For clarity this includes both WWE and World Tag team titles used during the brand split. It does not include the WCW Tag team titles when they were in the WWE.

 

Title Histories.

http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/wwetag & http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/worldtagteam

 

Match List

Jack/Jerry Brisco vs Dick Murdoch/Adrian Adonis, December 28th, 1984 - Yes 2, No 0

Demolition vs. The Hart Foundation, August 29, 1988 - Yes 1, No 0

Demolition vs. The Brain Busters, July 29, 1989 - Yes 1, No 0

Demolition vs. The Hart Foundation, August 27th, 1990 - Yes 1, No 0

Money Inc. vs. Hogan & Beefcake , April 4th 1993 - Yes 1, No 1

The Quebeccers vs. Bret & Owen Hart, January 22nd, 1994 - Yes 1, No 0

Shawn Michaels & Diesel vs. 123 Kid & Razor Ramon, October 30th, 1994 - Yes 2, No 0

Edge & Christian vs. The Hardys vs. The Dudleyz, August 27, 2000 - Yes 2, No 0

Edge & Christian vs. The Hardys vs. The Dudleyz, April 1st, 2001 - Yes 2, No 0

Steve Austin & Triple H vs. Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho, May 21, 2001 - Yes 2, No 0

Angle & Benoit vs. Edge & Mysterio, October 20th 2002 - Yes 2, No 0

Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri vs. Team Angle (WGTT), May 29, 2003 - Yes 2, No 0

Rey Mysterio & Batista vs. MNM, January 6th, 2006 - Yes 1, No 0

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Glad you're still doing this, jaedmc.

 

For the WWF World Tag Team Championships, Edge and Christian vs. Hardy Boys vs. Dudley Boyz in the first TLC match at SummerSlam 2000 and the second TLC match at WrestleMania X-Seven. Haven't watched them in a while but I slightly prefered the original to the sequel.

 

Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit vs. Edge and Rey Mysterio at No Mercy 2002 decided the first WWE Tag Team Champions and easily still the best match in the history of those titles. It was my 2002 Match of the Year.

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The concluding match to the No Mercy match is really good as well. 2/3 Falls on the 11/7/02 Smackdown.

 

For about a year, those tag titles had some really good matches.I remember Haas/Benjamin vs Rey/Kidman from Vengeance 03 being solid as well.

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The concluding match to the No Mercy match is really good as well. 2/3 Falls on the 11/7/02 Smackdown.

 

For about a year, those tag titles had some really good matches.I remember Haas/Benjamin vs Rey/Kidman from Vengeance 03 being solid as well.

 

Good picks.

 

Was Benoit/Jericho vs Austin/HHH for the tag titles? If so then that

 

WWF World Tag Team Championships on the post Judgment Day 2001 RAW. Good shout that.

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Some that come to mind:

 

Cody/Goldust vs. The Shield - Battleground 2013

Edge/Rey vs. Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002

Jericho/Benoit vs. Austin/HHH - RAW 2001

TLC I - Summerslam 2000

TLC II - Wrestlemania 17 (probably the most perfectly executed spotfest ever)

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Some that come to mind:

 

Cody/Goldust vs. The Shield - Battleground 2013

Edge/Rey vs. Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002

Jericho/Benoit vs. Austin/HHH - RAW 2001

TLC I - Summerslam 2000

TLC II - Wrestlemania 17 (probably the most perfectly executed spotfest ever)

 

I don't think Cody/Goldust vs. The Shield from Battleground 2013 was for the WWE Tag Team Titles, the rematch on RAW was. Shame that as I preferred the former match.

 

Want us to say our Yes/No votes, jaedmc?

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Some that come to mind:

 

Cody/Goldust vs. The Shield - Battleground 2013

Edge/Rey vs. Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002

Jericho/Benoit vs. Austin/HHH - RAW 2001

TLC I - Summerslam 2000

TLC II - Wrestlemania 17 (probably the most perfectly executed spotfest ever)

 

I don't think Cody/Goldust vs. The Shield from Battleground 2013 was for the WWE Tag Team Titles, the rematch on RAW was. Shame that as I preferred the former match.

 

Want us to say our Yes/No votes, jaedmc?

 

 

 

You're right, completely forgot about that.

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Want us to say our Yes/No votes, jaedmc?

 

Sure. Annnnnd if folks are going to nominate matches I want a little more detail than just a list of matches. Tell me why it's great.

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Jack/Jerry Brisco vs Dick Murdoch/Adrian Adonis (MSG, 12/28/84)

 

Haven't seen it in ages but I remember this was really super and state of the art for the period, with an extended brawl near the end that went right onto the announcers' table.

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And now for something completely different! Submitted under the 'wrestlers is for children' category...

 

Workrate? Meh. But this one deserves a spot in the argument for pure Vince McMahon boner levels of SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT. I was in third grade when I saw this match, and since third graders probably make up the bulk of WWF's merch sales, I'm basing the awesomeness of this match of third grade me's opinions of it's awesomeness. 

 

Wrestlemania 9: Money Inc vs. THE MEGA MANIACS

 

I don't know what it was about Money Inc when I was a kid, but I hated those guys, and I REALLY hated Jimmy Hart. They were the ultimate heels for me, because I kind of liked Yokozuna and Lex Luger's music was cool. I loved tag teams because kids love tag teams and it pissed me off that Money Inc had the titles and not the Legion of Doom or the Steiners. 

 

Brutus Beefcake had recently returned after a para-sailing accident, and since Vince told me that it was great to have him back, I was very excited that The Barber had returned. And then Money Inc decided to smash his face with a metal briefcase, perhaps due to some minor tax fraud, in an act SO DASTARDLY that even their heel manager Jimmy Hart thought it was too much. 

 

This is a big deal in the story arc of this thing: Jimmy Hart was a total dick and even he thought these guys were going too far. Beefcake sold the shot like he had been...well, hit in the surgically repaired face with a metal briefcase and we were left with the image of Jimmy Hart checking on a (probably dying) Barber. Traumatizing. There is no justice in the world.

 

OR WAS THERE? This act was so heinous that it brought HULK HOGAN, hero of the people and the man who single-handedly restored peace to the Middle East , back to the WWF. He wanted revenge against Money Inc, and his plan to take that revenge, alonside an appropriately red and yellowed Brutus Beefcake and Mouth of the South, was to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

 

Hulk Hogan wanted the WWF tag team championship. That was such a big deal and it made the titles so much more important. Not only were The Megamaniacs going to challenge for the titles, but they were going to do it at a Wrestlemania MAIN EVENT. That alone should put this match on the list. 

 

Money Inc cuts a great promo before the match and suggest Hogan has a black eye because they hired some goons to jump him- because they are RICH and Vegas is their backyard. He also gives us the transition of the year: "And speaking of jigsaw puzzles..."

 

We're just now getting to the match, but for a purely SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT match, that impressive and EMOTIONALLY ENGAGING (if you are a child) angle was extremely important.

 

Money Inc tries to jump the Maniacs before the bell, and someone in the production truck is like 'fuck those jabronies, keep Real American going.' They toss the heels out and just keep celebrating. No fucks given.

 

Hogan is still pretty angry about Money Inc trying to cave his buddy's face in, so he's in Edgy Hogan mode- threatening to punch the ref on several occasions. He even no sells a high five from Brutus. He's clearly all business.

 

Money Inc tries to leave, because wouldn't you? The ref CHANGES THE RULES ON THEM. If they get counted out, THEY LOSE THE TITLES. Everyone 12 and under LOSES THEIR MINDS. The crowd actually starts counting them out for the ref, which I don't think I've ever heard happen.

 

Money Inc takes the fight to Hogan, who actually plays face in peril for an eventually Brutus hot tag, which actually gets Beefcake over. Money Inc goes with 'make Hogan pass out' which lots of illegal chokes and Million Dollar Dreams.

 

Somewhere around here Randy Savage (on color) goes on a two minute run on sentence rant about how coliseums have no rafters.

 

Brutus gets the big hot tag and just...he just sucks. But it doesn't matter because, thanks to the story, people are just really excited to see him get back at Money Inc. DiBiase gets Beefcake's safety mask off and they just start murdering his face. Children are SCREAMING for blood louder than any LETS GO CENA trill.

 

Then, even with a ref knocked out, IRS and Hogan WAIT ON THE APRON for hot tags! They hit the heels with Beefcake's mask and BOTH PIN Money Inc members! BUT THE REF IS OUT COLD! Jimmy Hart makes the count and the Mega Maniacs celebrate. And then, in a move that defies all Hogan logic, a new ref shows up and announces that because Hogan is a god damn cheater, Money Inc wins by DQ. Hogan doesn't love this, so he threatens to murder the ref. Jimmy Hart pulls him off and throws the ref over the top rope! FUCK YOU AUTHORITY FIGURES. Innocent referees dead and tantrums thrown, Real American blares and the Mega Maniacs celebrate in a party that culminates in them STEALING IRS'S MONEY and throwing it to the crowd.

 

A well crafted story aimed for all the little Hulksters ending in the most weirdly nonsensical Hulk Hogan match in WWE. And it ends with Jim Ross sending us backstage to Todd Pettingill. That alone earns it a spot on the list. 

 

ADD IT.

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The fact that the reasons are more of a reason for him not punching you over distance to travel in order to punch you says a lot.

 

He just knows that they are all super valid reasons to keep this one at the top of the list. 

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NOMINATE: Demolition (Ax & Smash) © vs. The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard) w/ Bobby Heenan: July 29, 1989 2-out-of-3 falls

 

Demolition is the greatest and the reason I lead with that is because some people don't really get them for reasons.  Now I get what you don't get from Demolition: close near falls, lots of throws, high spots...   But what you do get?  Ring positioning, logical match structure and offense, constant tags more than makes up for those things in my mind.  Given a choice between Ax & Smash and someone like The Hardys, I will always find the Demos the more engaging watch.  With that out of the way, this is the end of their first title reign which went something insane like 13 months which in tag team title reigns is a million years.  And no one really fit the bill as the challengers like the former Horsemen now teamed with Bobby Heenan.  Arn and Tully fit the bill because, in a way, they were the dark mirror image of Demolition which I will speak on as the match plays out.

 

I believe past write ups of this match during the Demolition project from a few years ago wrote it up as The Brain Busters never really get a prolonged advantage and are just hanging on by a thread.  In my mind, the match actually plays out as neither team gets long term advantages as both teams are too damn smart to get caught in the ring too long.  And if they do?  Finished.  Done.  Especially the Busters since they are giving up something like 60 pounds in total against the champs.

 

Jessie puts this over as a wrestling versus brawling contest to start but honestly its more sneaky shits versus mean shits.  Everyone is constantly looking to take advantage from everywhere: the apron, the outside, everywhere.  Tully starts the match by hitting Smash who is standing on the apron.  No one is safe, anywhere.  Ever.  So when Tully bails later and Smash is there to gorilla press him back in it fits thematically and we're 10 seconds into this thing.  Tully then pushes Ax into his corner and Ax fights out but Arn, from the floor, and fights Ax out there.  Tully tries to whip Ax into Arn's clothesline but Ax reverses so Arn intelligently pulls up as Tully goes under his arm.  But as Tully straightens up, Smash clotheslines him as Ax does the same to Anderson.  Notice the complexity of ring positioning without a complexity of moves.  Everything is punchy, kicky but its done in a way to make it interesting and different.

 

Smash catches an Arn stomp and flips him down and Arn is close enough to his corner to backhand reach for the tag but Smash plucks him out of reach too quickly for Tully to make the reach.  Even when they aren't successful in making a tag, both teams are always thinking about making an exchange.  Fresh man in the ring is key and the tags come so flipping quickly, you lose track of who is legal all the time.  It's glorious.  The tags are fast and furious and everyone is looking for openings all the time.  You may have heard the term, "no wasted motion" before?  Everything here is frills-free.

 

The Demos double team Arn and as Jessie asks where the referee is, you can see he is tied up with Tully in a brilliant reversal of roles where the heels do that to the faces while baiting a guy.   Let's briefly talk match structure.  Lots of people have this Southern Tag face-in-peril structure with prolonged heat segments.  Tully and Arn particularly were masters of working over Ricky Morton or whoever and bringing a bunch of false tags and cut offs.  They don't get to do this here.  Demolition is never in long-term trouble and the closest you come to a heat segment is on Tully of all people.  And the way he gets out of it in fall 3 is perfect as he sacrifices Arn to run Ax right into his face.  Its desperate and mean and it fits with everything that has gone on in the match.

 

The Busters even pull off the 'opponent is going to slam my partner so I'm going to dropkick over the pile' spot which the Rock'n'Rolls probably did to them approximately a zillion times.  Arn follows up with the spinebuster on Smash but even then he has to absorb some strikes from Smash before raking the eyes to get the space.  Again, everything is earned.  So The Busters try to whip Smash in and miss a double clothesline so Ax from the apron (NEVER safe) snatches Tully by the hair to pull him down.  Smash grabs Arn and cuts his head off with the hot shot (Demolition's secondary finish if you watch a bunch of their stuff).  Little opening and the champs make the most of it.  The whole segment happens so fast that you understand why no one could break it up.  He's not doing a move, then posing then doing a taunt than hitting the bigger move.  You better take the fall where you can get it.

 

Fall 2 starts with Smash working Arn into heel in peril but it doesn't last long before he gets Ax in trouble and gets the tag to Tully.  In keeping with no where is safe and everything is a weapon, Tully guillotines Ax on the bottom rope so Arn can attack him hanging off the apron.  Even Bobby gets physically involved here and it draws Smash out so The Busters can double team.  This lasts about a minute before Ax gets Tully on a backdrop telegraph and immediately tags.  No crawl.  No hit four moves first.  Nope, he was in a little trouble so he's out of there.  Logic kids.  A brawl breaks out and Bobby takes a shot to the turnbuckle.  The Demolition get Tully alone and MASH him with the Decapitation but are so overzealous in finally getting a guy alone that they double team into double didgits and get the DQ.

 

The 3rd fall starts and Andre is out to provide purely moral support and boy does Tully need it because he dead.  Demolition starts to work him over until Tully gets the eye poke and does the head thing I mentioned before.  Arn gets in and sells the impact and he and Ax do the atomic drop, turnbuckle, head knock spot that usually looks like ass.  It works better here because the spacing is so much closer and both guys are already concussed from the prior meeting of the minds.  Things break down again and although Andre gets involved by passing Tully a chair, Tully is the one who crowns Smash with it.  Like obliterates him with it.  I think its important that The Busters did their own dirty work.  I also think its pretty boss that Andre is just sitting there like the Pope of Chili Town.

 

It's a war that only goes like 13 minutes but its never dull and the action never stops.  It's awesome.  Yes.

 

Smash would go on to co-star with Emelio Estavez.

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OKay, so I went over everything said in this thread and have 7 matches and their vote tally, which I think is right. So if you're going to vote grab those, if you're going to nominate make it a clear declaration like in the puro folder.

 

EXAMPLES: http://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1234-2014-yesno-new-japan/

 

Additionally. I vote NO on Money Inc vs. Hogan/Beefcake because it has Brutus Beefcake in it.

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NOMINATE: Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri © vs. Team Angle (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4tzb0XSR-Q

 

Tajiri and Eddie are my favorite short term tag team like ever.  Tie Jerry (as Steve Austin would say) is always awesome and Eddie is at the peak of Lying Cheating and Stealing excellence and is so good they couldn't turn him heel even when he went monkey poo on Tajiri later on which sort of wasted the team.  Granted IIRC it led into the steady Chavo and Eddie team but, damn, this team.  This team is the sauce.  Team Angle is sort of a footnote in WWE history at this point but at the time, I thought they were headed to big time things.  Unfortunately I don't think they ever really recovered from their split and singles runs which eventually failed.  They peaked super early in their runs.  Which is where we are now so HEY.

 

TA is super focused coming off an upset at Judgment Day and trying to get the belts back before Kurt Angle returns from I'm going to guess... crippling himself.  They start on the attack with Eddie and boy they better stay on him or there will be, dare I say, chicanery.  But Eddie breaks out and Tajiri comes in with a super fun rolling sunset flip complete with crazy cackle.  Tajiri is just so joyful cheating behind the referee's back and dropping knees on Benji.

 

Angle Del Team finally get the advantage and start to go to work on Jerry's knee.  Haas was always pretty effective doing limb work and he takes the lead on the knee.  They do a switch behind the referees back but the ref forces them to go back since he didn't see a tag.  Team Angle argues the point and it gives Tajiri an opening to get across the ring but Charlie cuts it off.  Haas is interesting to me here putting on hold variations while Shelton is less so coming over the top onto the knee on a couple of occasions but with not enough impact to make you grab your own knee in sympathy.  Tajiri does do a good job with the selling and also has a really cool transition spot with a head scissors off a knee buster.

 

Eddie is in and its a house en feugo with a neat monkey flip where he sends Shelton into Haas before hooking Charlies up for the Martin, Short and Chase.  He gets up top and smushes Chuck with the frog splash but Shelton is there to make the save.  Team Angle rock Eddie with the Reverse atomic drop-super kick combo but Tajiri makes the save.  Eddie tags Tajiri back in and its immediate regret since he can't really do much without the leg working well.  Haas counters a tornado DDT into a 8 out of 10 Northern Lights Suplex (on the Alicia Fox Scale) and Eddie has to save Tajiri.  The champs are on the ropes here and they may have to do something out of the box to get through.

 

Eddie splats himself and Shelton with a dive from the top to the outside while Tajiri misses the buzzsaw kick so Haas can pick the leg and lock on the Haas of Pain (Jump Around!) And the bell rings!  But the referee didn't call for the bell?

 

Oh Eddie!  You scamp! 

 

Eddie jumps into the ring and plants the title on Charlie before taking the dive and drawing the DQ.

 

Great fun match with innovative stuff from Haas and Tajiri with Eddie bringing the charisma and the finish as only his character could at that point.  Did I mention he suplexed Tajiri on a car and still got cheers?  That happened.  Shelton was okay but it was really the other three guys who made the match really work and why it has earned my nomination.

 

Charlie Haas would eventually team with Bob Villa as noted tag team, This Old Haas.

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