24. The Shield- Made my list on the strength of being one of the top teams of their generation, or a 2010s version of the Freebirds if you prefer.

I've seen more of the Shield than I have most 2010s acts due to the enthusiasm on PW and elsewhere. They were hyped so much, as such a breath of fresh air, that it even drew me back in on occasion. The feuds/matches with the Wyatts, Rhodes Brothers, and Evolution + that cool Usos match come to mind. Some of the best 2010s wrestling I've seen came from the Shield. Most of my Shield knowledge still comes second hand though.   

I love the idea of the Shield being able to beat all these random singles stars thrown together because they were a TEAM. It always annoyed me (and Raven) when two random singles stars are thrown together and suddenly start beating full time teams. This isn't just a WWE problem, but a problem throughout all of wrestling for at least the last 20+ years. But WWE finally got it right with these guys.

I also like how each guy worked a different style- Reigns the powerhouse, Rollins the flyer, and Ambrose the brawler. Plus all 3 men went on to become multiple time world champions. So the Shield did its job in creating stars. 

Could have been even higher had they been together longer. I couldn't go too high on them given the fact they were only together about a year and a half. They also could have made better use of the Freebird Rule. But I don't regret rating them where I did. 

Bill Bixby's Buttocks, Batman! I fucking forgot about The Shield. Gah! HUGE omission. Would have rated about #21 for me.

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My "spent their careers as a tag team" stipulation added big points to some teams and The Bushwhackers benefitted big from it. I never cared for them, but they were memorable as hell and fun and a solid tag team for their era. They deserve it.

...

The Shield never even crossed my mind. If this was a STABLES list I would have them in my top 10. But a tag team list? I disagree. Their fame and fortune came as singles wrestlers and post break-up.

I doth protest. If The Shield counts as a "greatest" tag team then Bullet Club should be #1.

I'm fighting all of you on this. Is The Wyatt Family a tag team? A TOP 50 TAG TEAM?

I can't be alone in this.

I agree. It could be why I didn't add them, thinking them more of a stable however, one COULD say they worked Freebirds rule like New Day?

I had the Bullet Club in the 30's on my first draft then realized it was Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson that did most of the tag team work. They fell right off my list.

Never Considered the Wyatt family, again Rowan and Harper? nah

Aug 6, 2021 6:00:10 GMT Shootist said:

I had the Bullet Club in the 30's on my first draft then realized it was Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson that did most of the tag team work. They fell right off my list.

Never Considered the Wyatt family, again Rowan and Harper? nah

Good Brothers and Guerillas of Destiny both made my list.

Aug 6, 2021 14:46:49 GMT RT said:

Aug 6, 2021 6:00:10 GMT Shootist said:

I had the Bullet Club in the 30's on my first draft then realized it was Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson that did most of the tag team work. They fell right off my list.

Never Considered the Wyatt family, again Rowan and Harper? nah

Good Brothers and Guerillas of Destiny both made my list.

Did Good Brothers or Guerillas of Destiny officially tag as Bullet Club, or as Good Brothers/Guerillas of Destiny representing Bullet Club?

Feel like that distinction helps differentiate stables vs. tag teams like New Day, Freebird, Shield, Demolition, etc.

Aug 6, 2021 15:58:45 GMT 🤯 said:

Aug 6, 2021 14:46:49 GMT RT said:

Good Brothers and Guerillas of Destiny both made my list.

Did Good Brothers or Guerillas of Destiny officially tag as Bullet Club, or as Good Brothers/Guerillas of Destiny representing Bullet Club?

Feel like that distinction helps differentiate stables vs. tag teams like New Day, Freebird, Shield, Demolition, etc.

It varies. The main thing is that the teams I've mentioned have always been a tag team.

The Shield falls under the stable umbrella for me because tag team wrestling was never their main focus like your other examples. The Shield sticks out like a sore thumb with those other teams. Yeah they won tag titles but so did almost every other group to ever wrestle. And The Shield's primary focus always seemed to be singles titles, and they broke up after less than 2 years together.

Aug 6, 2021 5:55:05 GMT iron maiden said:

I agree. It could be why I didn't add them, thinking them more of a stable however, one COULD say they worked Freebirds rule like New Day?

That's fine, I do think they qualify as a tag team if you want to include them. I just always thought of them as a stable and never a tag team. Also 27th GREATEST? Ever? Seriously?

I think you are severely underselling them , very few if any “teams” in years had the impact The Shield did.

Aug 6, 2021 16:48:40 GMT UT said:

I think you are severely underselling them , very few if any “teams” in years had the impact The Shield did.

That's not my point. My point is this is a tag team countdown, not a stables countdown. And I've already explained why I don't think they belong with New Day, Freebirds, etc.

If they made it somewhere in the 40s I wouldn't care and shrug it off. But 27th overall? For a group that barely competed in the tag team division before breaking up? A group that was introduced just to get their names over so they could split up as fast as possible and become main eventers? I can't be the only one that thinks that is weird.

As I said - at least multiple iterations of the three held the titles. I get the hesitancy and I docked them for it but also didn’t disqualify them based on that.

Also don’t think they were put together for the soul purpose of breaking up.

46. The Miracle Violence Connection (Terry Gordy and Steve Williams)- 94.25 points

They basically made my list for their otherworldly 1992 winning tag titles in both All Japan and WCW. They were neck and neck with the Steiners as the best tag team in the world at that time and their collisions in WCW were must see TV. Terry Gordy at this time was getting a bit inconsistent but when he was on he was one of the most well rounded big men in the game. Doc was pound for pound maybe the strongest man in wrestling and backed it up with a solid amateur base. They also had a bit of a run in the UWF in 1987 so they were one of the more well traveled teams of the era. Facing the greats of All Japan though is the cherry on top as they had so many great matches and filled legendary arenas like the Budokan on a regular basis. They burned bright but then burnt out just as quick as Terry Gordy couldn't control his demons.

Did MVC ever wrestle Hansen & Brody? If not, that's my ragin' gaijin dream match.

Aug 6, 2021 21:33:11 GMT 🤯 said:

Did MVC ever wrestle Hansen & Brody? If not, that's my ragin' gaijin dream match.

Probably not, Brody died in 1988 before the MVC really got going.

Aug 6, 2021 19:42:58 GMT UT said:

As I said - at least multiple iterations of the three held the titles. I get the hesitancy and I docked them for it but also didn’t disqualify them based on that.

Also don’t think they were put together for the soul purpose of breaking up.

I'm not arguing they should be disqualified, I'm just shocked they finished so high and very much disagree with it.

The purpose was to introduce all 3 together so they could eventually break up and become singles stars. I don't really see a difference but whatever.

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Down in the 30-50 range on my list, or as I call it, "yeah they probably fit here somewhere I don't care."

Shoutout to whoever reminded me they existed. I've watched a few of their matches and loved what I saw. Also watched their matches with The Eliminators in ECW. Those early 90s All Japan days were insane.

30. Miracle Violence Connection- Seems about 10 spots too high in hindsight. Oh well.

MVC made it that high largely based on reputation. Certain corners of the internet were really high on them around the turn of the century into the 2000s with many calling them a top 5-10 team of all time. I haven't actually seen a ton of their stuff though. I mean, the MVC match that stands out the most in my head is a squash of a father-son team called the O'Deas. It's a good squash, but hardly the stuff of legends.

Still, they were a big deal during All Japan's glory years winning their tag titles 5 times and holding them for nearly 500 days overall. They also took WCW by storm in 1992 when Bill Watts was running the promotion and putting his boys over everybody, including the Steiners. Their feud with the Steiners is fondly remembered by many an old school WCW fan. They're a killer team on paper as well. Hard to go wrong with two badass hosses who can go in the ring. 

I love The APA , their segments especially were always on point and the two had some of the best chemistry I've ever seen from a tag team. You could tell they were best friends in real life. I loved that they were completely different from a ton of teams from that era and rarely had a match last longer than 6 minutes but still remained relevant and as over as most other teams on the roster. I love the gimmick of being hired badasses and that everyone aside from maybe Stone Cold sold their arrival as if death was coming to kick their ass.

I know both men have won world titles at different points in their careers before and after and I love JBL but I don't think either guy could ever match what they had with the APA. They made my list towards the end.


Now having said that - and as much as I love them. This seems a little high for them. I think they deserve the Top 50 easily based on their run together , their chemistry and just how over they were at an all time high point in the company and as a key part of arguably the best tag division ever. I think they deserve it.

#25 though seems a little high based on the fact that they probably don't have a single memorable match to their name and it took them awhile to get to The APA and The Acolytes were kind of lame.

Still though happy to see them making. Pure greatest though I think they'd belong in the 40's.

The APA are one of if not perhaps my favorite tag team of all time. Had they been pushed and featured better, perhaps they'd have rated even higher on an objectivity scale for me. As it stands, they still rated fairly well. They were one part Stone Cold Steve Austin at his Attitude Era best, one part Legion of Doom at their pre-Rocco best, and a splash of their own perfect chemistry and humor. Loved the fuck out of this duo. Dream match is them squashing anyone.

APA had some good segments/run ins but as a whole I think of them more as a comedy act than say a legit tag team.

Aug 7, 2021 15:09:08 GMT @ness said:

APA had some good segments/run ins but as a whole I think of them more as a comedy act than say a legit tag team.

Comedy or not, don't you dare tell me you weren't holding back a tear or two when they hung the closed sign on their office door after the first brand split draft. That shit hit harder than the end of Cheers ever could.

Comedy act? They were legit presented as two of the biggest badasses on a roster full of badasses.

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Minnesota Wrecking Crew has a long list of accomplishments. No need to go into much detail on them.

The APA hosted card games that ended in brawls and shit kicking 99% of the time. And any time their music hit, someone got beaten to a pulp. Loved them. I wasn't super familiar with Farooq or Bradshaw before they became a team and I quickly became a fan. They were perfect together.

APA deserved the entire weekend for discussion before the next reveal. Fuck the OG Andersons.

Aug 7, 2021 20:24:34 GMT 🤯 said:

APA deserved the entire weekend for discussion before the next reveal. Fuck the OG Andersons.

To be fair the amount of laces on those boots is worthy of being on the countdown.

Just realized OG has a double meaning in this case. Ole & Gene!

Also gonna lurk in this thread for another 5 minutes to watch that Baker gif on loop.

Just checking, were there two #26’s or did we get off on our count?

APA was a fun act but they barely tagged. But of an Attitude era overrate.

If Ron Simmons or Bradshaw die tomorrow, I’m sorry. I can’t turn this off.

Aug 8, 2021 0:34:49 GMT mikec said:

Just checking, were there two #26’s or did we get off on our count?

APA was a fun act but they barely tagged. But of an Attitude era overrate.

If Ron Simmons or Bradshaw die tomorrow, I’m sorry. I can’t turn this off.

DAMN!

Aug 7, 2021 20:25:48 GMT @ness said:

Also gonna lurk in this thread for another 5 minutes to watch that Baker gif on loop.

Glad to know I'm not the only one. This post + some other recent chatter has given me an idea for a new thread. Stay tuned...

22. Andersons- Similar to my all encompassing Guerreros pick, this was intended to include all iterations of "Anderson" tag teams.

This was almost entirely a reputation pick. I've barely seen anything from the Arn & Ole version, let alone the OG Minnesota Wrecking Crew. And it is far from a priority given my admitted bias against Ole. Come to think of it, I don't believe I have seen a single Ole & Gene match.

But they were huge in Georgia and the Carolinas during their heyday. Were together for a long time. Won a lot of titles. While I doubt they actually invented it, they've always been credited with popularizing the standard heel tag team strategy of isolating their opponent and working a body part.

I must once again put over @ness. This time for drawing attention to Ole's boot laces. Have to admit I missed that because I was too focused on Ole's facial hair and the fact that legendary tough guy Gene Anderson looks like a worn out high school math teacher counting down the days til retirement.