Hated Tag Teams

1. Mega Powers

In the original (I think) edition of “Let’s put these two superstars together and just see what happens,” Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage were thrown together in a tag team. They weren’t that great of a tag team because they had both been highlighted as top-notch singles wrestlers.

The match I have selected for them is the end of the Hogan-Andre feud from SummerSlam 1988 where they faced Andre and Ted DiBiase. Yes, it’s the one where Elizabeth wins the match by taking off her skirt and distracting DiBiase and Andre.

2. Fantastics

While you had the Rock & Roll Express and Midnight Express that held up the midcarder tag team division in JCP, they had to have someone to feud against. Enter the Fantastics. They weren’t the greatest tag team, but their extended feud with the Midnight Express made Cornette the great heel manager that he was.

3. Von Erich Brothers

The best of the tag teams featuring the brothers were David and Kerry. After David’s death, Mike comes in to tag team with Kevin. Then comes Chris. Finally, they bring in “cousin” Lance. Gary Hart has great comments about this entire angle on the “Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling” DVD. To him, it was the breaking point where people stopped following WCCW because Fritz was lying to them. Ricky Vaughn, who played Lance, was a high school football star in Arlington. Most of the fans knew him before he became a Von Erich. It was the final straw.

4. Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee

In the CWA/USWA, there was always the uneasy tension between Lawler and Dundee. They were either the best of friends or the worst of enemies. The seemingly continual back-and-forth of this tag team or feud made it hard to like these guys together. Then again, with Lawler booking the territory, he would break up the tag team whenever there wasn’t another worthy guy to feud with.

5. Bushwhackers

The Bushwhackers were just idiotic. Half the time they were in the ring they looked like they were dogs getting hit with a stick or belt. A complete waste of talent, I think. The only tag team that was more annoying to watch were the Ding Dongs (Clash of the Champions 17).

6. Money Inc.

While I thought the Million Dollar Corporation was a decent angle, it fell rather flat after Andre’s retirement. I have great respect for Mike Rotunda. Irwin R. Schyster just wasn’t his gimmick. This was another time in WWF’s “Golden Age” when McMahon squandered the talent he had with worthless gimmicks. DiBiase and Rotunda would have been better had they used their old gimmicks from NWA.

7. Natural Disasters

Sure, let’s put two 500-pound men into a tag team and see how that plays out. Earthquake and Typhoon were just monsters. I’m all for getting the big guys like these two and Haystacks Calhoun and so forth into the ring, but have them wrestle each other for a Super Heavyweight Title or something. Putting them together for a tag team? Not a great idea.

8. Steiner Brothers

I first saw Rick in UWF when he, Eddie Gilbert and Sting were the main wrestlers for Missy Hyatt. Scott began his career in Memphis. He sure didn’t look anything in 1986 like he did in 1998 with the nWo. While both were good wrestlers, I just never saw the hype with them always getting major titles around their waist.

9. Demolition

Demolition was clearly a rip-off of the Road Warriors. They were not as good, but they were pushed heavily like they were.

10. New Hart Foundation (Owen Hart/Jim Neidhart)

When Owen tried to recreate the Hart Foundation with Neidhart and make it better than it was with Bret, it completely flopped.