32. Acolytes/APA- I'm with UT 🤯 and RT when it comes to loving the APA. Had them at #9 when we did our Favorite Tag Team Countdown a year or two back.

I'm also fine with my relatively high ranking for this countdown despite them not having a great deal of championship success. They only had 3 short tag title reigns. I thought they were a little more decorated, but whatever. I'm using the logic one of you came up with when writing about the Rougeaus- something like "being a popular second tier act in a hot era can be better than being a top tier act during a dead era." 

The Acolytes were over. They had amusing skits and tremendous chemistry. They occasionally found themselves in important tv main events. They were badasses in the ring and comedic outside it. They've also been my favorite Attitude Era act to watch for the past 8 years or so. Love me some APA.

I'll give myself the ol' Barry Horowitz pat on the back for liking the Acolytes before it was cool. I dug them even as Undertaker's "boring" henchmen because I was a huge fan of their wrestling style. Nobody else in WWF at the time was doing that intense, hard hitting, badass hoss style. Can't imagine any other fan being as pumped as I was when they won their first tag team championship. And nobody was happier than me when they caught on with the masses after doing the "Protection Agency" gimmick. The Acolytes were a case of quirky Baker Guys who eventually made it big. Love to see it.

They also score fairly well in longevity, being (mostly) together from 98-04. Also think it's cool that both guys were world champions- Faarooq in 1992 and Bradshaw in 2004. The Acolytes formed in 1998, which is right smack dab in the middle of those two World Title reigns.

Here are some Recommended Acolyte Matches. Keep in mind the APA aren't going to give you 20 minute epics. They're not that kind of team. They specialized in hard hitting, action packed, fun 5 minute tv matches with hot finishes. My kind of wrestling, in other words. 

vs. Public Enemy- Heat 3/7/99 (I know, I know. Look, the Acolytes are the ultimate AE ass kickers, and this is the ultimate APA ass kicking)
w/ Mideon vs. The Brood- Backlash 99 (APA vs. E&C was always a good time. This was the first one that came to mind because PPV and hot finish)
vs. Hardy Boys- Raw 7/5/99
vs. Hardy Boys & Michael Hayes- Fully Loaded 99
vs. X-Pac & Kane- Raw 8/9/99
vs. X-Pac & Kane- Raw 8/16/99
vs. Mideon & Viscera- Jakked 11/6/99
w/ Rock & Sock vs. DX- Raw 1/10/00 (This is when they finally started getting over. Not really an "APA" match, but an important one in their careers)

And since 🤯 did it, Dream Match time...

vs. Demolition- The most badass team of the 80s boom vs. the most badass team of the Attitude Era in the Colossal Clubbering
vs. Fire & Ice- The Acolytes meet the WCW versions of themselves, only bigger and predating Bradshaw & Faarooq, in Hoss Fight Heaven
vs. Young Bucks- 5 minute mauling with the only Bucks offense being a no sold Superkick or ten. Rating: All the stars in the universe

Holy shit, Baker-man, thank you and shame on me for totally blanking on the Fire & Ice vs. APA dream match.

Also, for match recommendations, anytime APA wrestled Kaientai and also specifically SmackDown! 2003 vs. Brock Lesnar & Big Show. Bradshaw and Show in particular had their working boots on in that one.

Hollywood Blondes - one of the first acts I remember hearing about and going back to check out upon finding the IWC.

STONE COLD AND BRIAN PILLMAN WERE IN A TAG TEAM?! LET ME SEE!

I didn't watch WCW then in real time so I had no clue. I wasn't disappointed either , these are two of the most talented performers ever in a team together and clearly having a ton of fun with it. Fun matches , more fun promo's , excellent chemistry and found their way up and down the card.

I do think they are a bit overrated in some circles , maybe even little here but I get it and won't complain. They realized a ton of their potential but thanks to WCW being retarded at the time , or most of the time... the broke them up prematurely and some of their lore is based in more potential amongst the greatest.

I do think it obviously ended up working out pretty well for wrestling overall though..

Blondes for sure have to be the greatest tag team to ever exist for only a year or so.

Jul 19, 2021 0:51:52 GMT Baker said:

Another team made my Top 20 largely because they've been romanticized to an absurd degree. Not sure they make my list at all without the hype.

20. Hollywood Blondes are that team.

They only teamed together for about year and weren't even billed as the Hollywood Blondes for those first 3 months or so. Yet they left a lasting legacy. Austin would go on to superstardom while Pillman became one of the ultimate smark darlings of his generation. The premature break up of the Blondes is often cited as one of the ultimate "lol WCW" moments. 

They had a great theme and an even better taunt. Held the WCW Tag Titles for about 5 months. Had good feuds with Steamboat & Douglas, Bagwell & Scorpio, and especially The Horsemen. Were good on interviews and in segments. 

I liked the Blondes in real time. Well, at least until they started beefing with the Horsemen. Then I turned on them. But the point is I thought they were a good, cool tag team. Yet I must also admit I never viewed them as this transcendent, all time great team when watching in real time. Truth is I had largely forgotten all about them until WWF started having Austin & Pillman interact in 1996. Yet just the fact that WWF acknowledged the existed of this relatively short-lived WCW team is a major feather in their cap given WWF's longtime penchant for ignoring everything that happened outside of their umbrella.

Was getting my new laptop sorted out this weekend, including transferring over my tag team spreadsheet.

The APA might have been a slight oversight but I still don't see them making my final cut. I don't even remember them being tag team champions. Still though they had several standout segments but not a whole lot of memorable matches. I wish they would have been more of an in ring commodity.

10. The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Gene and Ole Anderson)-  142.25 points

Kudos to UT for also including Lars and Arn but my main focus was Gene and Ole who dominated the 70's. I also went more by reputation as you are only going to find clipped matches at best from their glory days. It's pretty consistent across the board that they were great strategists and technicians in the ring who would just wear down their opponents according to the old timers. They also collected oodles of gold so they pretty much maxed out my kayfabe criteria. Their influence is still felt to this day as teams of their ilk continued on through Tully and Arn right through to the Revival. They left a huge imprint on tag teams of the last 40 years.

45. The Hollywood Blonds (Steve Austin and Brian Pillman)- 94.50 points

Even though they were around for barely a year they scored very high on influence/legacy/impact which pushed them into my top 50. People to this day still talk about how great they were in and out of the ring and still crow about how huge of a mistake it was to break them up. They had a special kind of charisma and weren't afraid to push the boundaries, especially with the Horsemen. They were a great contrast in ring with the athletic Pillman and Austin being the strong technician. Again a big influence on what was to come during the attitude era with their skits and kayfabe bending ways.

Threw a vote to The Funks out of respect but can't say I ever go out of my way to watch anything from them.

The Wild Samoans I obviously haven't seen a ton of either but I feel as if the WWE builds them and their lineage up so much that its impossible not to know and respect who they are. I also think they are the type of act that would have made much more of an impact if you seen them in "their time" as opposed to years later and after other acts came along and parodied them. People talk about them being truly terrifying and that would have been a cool sight.

All I know is apparently 2/3 Falls Matchers ran rampant back in the day , but I will most definitely be on the lookout for their match against Rhodes & Patterson.

Funk yeah!

I had the Funks, Samoans, and Briscos all sandwiched together. Funks vs. Briscos is really all I know of both teams firsthand, but that's enough for me. Funks are a super team comprising two NWA World Heavyweight Champions, edging out Briscos who only had one NWA World Heavyweight Champion on the team.

Samoans, meanwhile, feel like THE definitive foreign savage entity in the pro wrestling landscape. Others might've come before them, others might've parodied them after... But none will likely ever have the legacy they did. Trying to imagine how terrifying them somehow allied with Kamala in their collective prime eras must've been for young fans.

To the WWE build narrative... I wonder how many acts we think of as great was really just the over promotion creating this aura of big deal.

Aug 9, 2021 22:01:56 GMT @ness said:

To the WWE build narrative... I wonder how many acts we think of as great was really just the over promotion creating this aura of big deal.

The winners write the histories.

I don’t think they applies to the Wild Samoans. They were a pretty big act all over the world.

Though I do get what you’re saying and it’s hard to tell the difference between legitimate “huge” acts of years past and just what the WWE wants you to believe to suit their current agenda.

Bob Orton somewhat comes to mind.

26. Funks- Made my list based on reputation. Were together for a long time. Had success in multiple territories. Were huge in Japan. Had famous feuds with the Briscos, Sheik & Abdullah, and others. Stuck around long enough to compete at Wrestlemania in Hulkamania Era WWF, and even ECW. Had a stoic guy/wild man dynamic. Also famous for being the only pair of brothers to win world championships. Think I've only seen 2 of their matches though- vs. JYD & Tito at WM 2 and vs. Hansen & Gordy in Terry's "retirement" (lol) match. 

33. Wild Samoans- Another reputation pick. @ness and UT beat me to it by mentioning how much we've all been influenced by WWE hyping them to the moon as THE definitive old school WWF team. Were they really bigger and better than the Valiants, Fuji & Partners, etc? I have no idea. But I've been told they were for 25 years going all the way back to my magazine reading days. So they made my list while those other teams did not.

They were also a big deal in other territories and highly influential. Their offspring have been prominent in wrestling for over three decades now, and while I have no idea if it's true or not, I credit them with popularizing the "Samoan savage" gimmick/wrestling style. I mean, what were the Headshrinkers/SST if not the Wild Samoans 2.0? Making Umaga version 3.0. Again, I've only seen a handful of matches though. 

3 Minute Warning was 3.0.

3 Minute Warning > Headshrinkers (and Usos)

It's the WWE Tiger Mask!

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. The Wild Samoans
12.
13. The Briscoes
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. The Minnesota Wrecking Crew
21.
22. The Revival
23.
24. The Usos
25.
26. The Hollywood Blonds
27.
28. The World's Greatest Tag Team
29.
30. The Bushwhackers
31.
32.
33. The Acolyte Protection Agency
34.
35.
36. The Eliminators
37. Miracle Violence Connection
38.
39.
40.
41. The Crusher & Dick The Bruiser
42. Brothers of Destruction
43. The Funks
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49. Beer Money
50.

The Wild Samoans are insanely talented, insanely decorated, were a massive act all over the world, and finished just outside my top 10. What else is there to say?

The Hollywood Blonds I had trouble ranking. On one hand, they were not together very long and were obviously far more successful as singles wrestlers. On the other, in their short time they were wildly successful and got over almost immediately. I feel like I ranked them too high but seeing that others had them all over the map makes me feel better about where I put them.

The Funks I had no idea where to put them either. I leaned towards what others did and threw them on my list out of respect, but I had no idea they had won so many titles because I didn't look into them at all when making my list, I just knew they had to be on it somewhere. I probably would have put them higher had I done more research.

7. The Funks (Terry and Dory Jr.)-  146.25 points

Baker , said it best, the first brother tandem to be world champions they were a massive draw everywhere they went. They covered nearly all the modern eras from the smoke filled rooms to the arenas of the WWF and Japan. Their feud with Sheik and Abby was a license to print money and made them deities in Japan. I don't think any wrestler places so high across the board on my greatest or favorites lists like Terry Funk whether it'd be singles or as it turns out tag teams.

8. The Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika) - 144 points

They were the WWWF's top heel team for close to a decade and collected plenty of gold. They also worked a main event program with World and IC champs Bob Backlund and Pedro Morales which gave them big bonus points as a draw. They also faced other main event caliber stars like Dusty Rhodes and Andre The Giant, pretty much the IT team to face your top 2 singles stars. Afa and Sika's legacy carries on today through their famous family and the many wrestlers that went through their school.

Has there ever been a bigger gap between totally bad ass name and just a totally lame look? They look for too lame to be the Holy Demon Army. More like the Holy Dad-Bod Army.

Also they clearly spent 90% of their time wrestling the same tag team over and over again (Misawa & Kobashi) - I'm assuming so ol' Meltzer had plenty of material to crank one out too and give it five stars.

Bleh.

Aug 10, 2021 13:59:14 GMT UT said:

Has there ever been a bigger gap between totally bad ass name and just a totally lame look? They look for too lame to be the Holy Demon Army. More like the Holy Dad-Bod Army.

Also they clearly spent 90% of their time wrestling the same tag team over and over again (Misawa & Kobashi) - I'm assuming so ol' Meltzer had plenty of material to crank one out too and give it five stars.

Bleh.

For whatever reason, I feel like I can't speak on Taue's behalf... But don't besmirch Kawada. Dude is bad ass and talented in a way his shit transcends language and cultural barriers. I've only seen a handful of his work, but dude is a dope bad ass indeed. Love his kicks, love his facials.

But I do agree with you that puro from like 1990-2005 apparently only consisted of like six dudes and insert gaijin.

He besmirched the name Holy Demon Army ergo I will not take back my besmirching of him!

And it wasn't just Misawa/Kawada matches , apparently when they got bored with that they switched it HUGE and threw in Misawa/Akiyama for about 75 matches as well.

No interest. I'll remain blissfully ignorant.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. The Wild Samoans
12.
13. The Briscoes
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. The Minnesota Wrecking Crew
21.
22. The Revival
23.
24. The Usos
25.
26. The Hollywood Blonds
27.
28. The World's Greatest Tag Team
29.
30. The Bushwhackers
31.
32. The Holy Demon Army
33. The Acolyte Protection Agency
34.
35.
36. The Eliminators
37. Miracle Violence Connection
38.
39.
40.
41. The Crusher & Dick The Bruiser
42. Brothers of Destruction
43. The Funks
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49. Beer Money
50.

AJPW tag team wrestling was something else. Through the 80s and into the early 90s they really had some of the best tag teams of the era and of all-time.

"We have all these stiff working murderers that need work."
"Team em up! What could go wrong!?"

The Holy Demon Army was the peak of that era, a super team that happened because two other super teams broke up. It's like if Edge and Christian and The Hardy Boyz broke up at the top of their prime and then Edge and Jeff Hardy started teaming together and won a bunch of shit, only in this case they chop you so hard your sternum cracks and try to tear the muscles off your knees.

They're the most decorated tag team from that period so they definitely deserve a spot.

Man, I'm looking at AJPW results in the 80s and I definitely ranked the Funks too low.

Aug 10, 2021 14:46:52 GMT UT said:

And it wasn't just Misawa/Kawada matches , apparently when they got bored with that they switched it HUGE and threw in Misawa/Akiyama for about 75 matches as well.

No interest. I'll remain blissfully ignorant.

Yeah it is pretty funny, but that's kinda how AJPW was. It had a primitive version of the stable vs stable dynamic you see in NJPW and AEW. The main event scene in 90s AJPW basically had three "factions": Team Misawa, Team Kawada, and The Gaijins. Unsurprisingly, there aren't many tag team match combinations possible when you have to have two guys from one faction vs two guys from another faction.

WWE has conditioned you to believe that repeat matches are bad, understandably so, but the AJPW guys knew how to work, and they especially knew how to work with each other because of the limitless familiarity. So these guys had incredible chemistry, each match between them was different, each match adding something new and building on the rivalry that had been developed through previous tag matches and previous singles matches between the rivals. Never a dull moment in AJPW.

Reading that you may think you need to watch AJPW from the beginning to truly appreciate all the nuances, but it's not entirely true. Just like you can watch Avengers: Assemble without necessarily having watched the origin movies that came before it, you can put on an AJPW tag and admire the incredible work. It's just if you know the history, it's even better.

Personally my favoruite AJPW tags were between the pairing Misawa/Kobashi and Dr. Death/Johnny Ace. I've not seen the fabled 'June 6th 1995' Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue match, considered to be the greatest of all time, yet. Never got that far in my AJPW project.

Aug 10, 2021 13:59:14 GMT UT said:

Has there ever been a bigger gap between totally bad ass name and just a totally lame look? They look for too lame to be the Holy Demon Army. More like the Holy Dad-Bod Army.

Also they clearly spent 90% of their time wrestling the same tag team over and over again (Misawa & Kobashi) - I'm assuming so ol' Meltzer had plenty of material to crank one out too and give it five stars.

Bleh.

Lame look huh? Well Kawada held up his end of the bargain. There will be more in the GIF thread...




30. The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue)- 111.25 points

The most dominant team of All Japan's golden era Taue and Kawada worked as two of the best dick heels in the business. As Emperor said the repeat matches weren't just thrown together, they built on each other to tell a bigger story. For instance the June '95 tag match worked off of 7 years worth of storytelling. Back in Kawada's early days team with Genichiro Tenryu Kawada cost them a match against Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy in the 1988  RWTL final due to having his knee worked over. Misawa went hard after that same knee in every confrontation and the June '95 tag was no exception. Kawada overcame though after years of build and finally pinned his rival. Taue was underrated as well, he gave no fucks as he laid in chops and delivered numerous chokeslams to the floor.  After watching them work they more than earned their bad ass moniker.

Milwaukee Bucks > Young Bucks

Going to try and get a few out a day , I go on vacation Sunday and want to get to the Top 10 before then.

Why do I suddenly want a serious Edge/Jeff tag team run?

I'm just happy Dr. Emperor showed up to set me straight. I enjoy his AJPW posts more than I think I would ever enjoy the product.

15. Holy Demon Army- I've seen more of them than the Funks or Samoans, but this is still largely a reputation pick.

And what a reputation it is! Had a legendary run in All Japan when it was the best in ring promotion around. They were the top tag team in 90s Japan. There are people and certain corners of the internet that go a step further by regarding them as the top tag team of all team. They won the AJPW tag titles a bunch of times. They had a bunch of great matches. Many say a match they had with Misawa & Kobashi is THE GOAT match, while a smaller group confer GOAT status to a later match they had with Misawa & Akiyama. They also had a kickass team name.

14. Young Bucks- Like 'em or not, and I most certainly do not, they do check off all the boxes...

Have been together for over a decade. Were the top tag team of the last decade. Are a draw. Had a bunch of highly regarded matches. Successful in multiple promotions. Sold a lot of t-shirts with the Bullet Club. Founding fathers of AEW which has to be the biggest wrestling news story of the last decade+. Won tag titles all over the world. Won a lot of awards. Are good at Midnight Expressing. Were THE big act on the indies for years. I have even occasionally found myself enjoying their matches, though I at least have the decency to hate myself for it. I can also respect the hustle in the way they pander to "How Do You Do Fellow Kids" Dave Meltzer. 

With that being said, my Young Bucks dream match is them being destroyed by the Acolytes in under 5 minutes.

"I get it but I don't"

It's how Zandig felt about Hero. How I always felt about Jerry Lawler. Bucks being on top for so long is pretty amazing. They started at the tail end of the Dragon/Nigel era and continued for the longest while. Disappear into Japan and suddenly a big deal for a bit. Enough to finness ROH to showcasing you as you build your own company. Dream matches. Tshirt company. Last great holdout of never going to the WWE and the way things are now they will likely wrestling retire* without having any sorta run.

41. The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson)- 97 points

I had to concede as well and tried to be unbiased as possible. They did make a mark, I even see the odd Young Bucks shirt in public. When using their powers for good can work well and have outstanding athleticism but I still had to dock them for some of the dumb shit they do. I also can't deny them the longevity in a world of 6 month tag teams and they scored plenty of titles. They soundly waxed their competition as the only team of the last 15 years to make my top 50.

Now I need to take a shower, just seeing some of the other teams they placed ahead of on my list (including a ranking that would make Kilgore 's blood boil, not to mention placing 21 spots ahead of the Eliminators and ahead of the Blonds) oy vey.

Aug 10, 2021 20:59:58 GMT @ness said:

Why do I suddenly want a serious Edge/Jeff tag team run?

Only if they call themselves The Unholy Angel Military