A few weeks ago the WWE began releasing their Top 50 tag teams in history, and now that the full list is out there I thought it would be a good time to reflect on it a bit.  Lists are subjective of course, but as is usually the case there were some choices made here that were flat out head scratchers.  Some too high and some too low.  And there was one in particular that was just right.  So to sum it all up in one question:

Who got robbed, who got hooked up, and who was just right?

Robbed:  The Usos

How could the number seven spot be a disservice?  Well, let’s see.  Jimmy and Jey have been together longer than Edge & Christian (4), The Hart Foundation (3), and even the New Day (1).  They were in the WWE longer than The Legion of Doom (6), and the Dudleys (5).  And they have more titles than the LOD or the Harts.  They also have more memorable matches than the Harts or LOD did in the WWE.  And they assuredly faced stiffer competition than the LOD did during their time there.  When you add all that up you can definitely make a case for them being as high as number 2, and I’d say they should be no lower than 4th behind New Day, the Dudleys, and the Hardys.

Hooked Up:  The Legion of Doom 

Hawk and Animal are to this day my favorite tag team ever.  That being said, there is no way on God’s green earth that their time in the WWF can be considered anything close to their best years.  By the time they arrived in the WWF in 1990 they were already past their peak as their best years were spent in the AWA, NWA, and Japan.  The only thing they did more in the WWF was win world titles (two vs one apiece in the NWA and AWA).  Putting them at number 6 is clearly a pander to old guys like me who saw them in their prime but trust me, I would have totally understood if they’d been like number 20 instead.

Speaking of guys who wore facepaint and all black…..

Robbed:  Demolition

As much as Hawk and Animal were my favorites, Demolition was the opposite.  Look, they were obvious knockoffs of the Road Warriors and as a big Road Warrior mark I was not here for them.  But that doesn’t mean they didn’t have the better WWF career.  In four years together they had three title reigns, which was unheard of at that time, including the longest reign ever until New Day broke it in 2016.  From WrestleMania IV through Summerslam 1990 Demolition held the tag team titles for 698 out of 883 days, 79 percent of the time.  But once Hawk and Animal finally came to the WWF their usefulness ended and they’ve been cast into the dustbin of history.  And while that was kind of the point of their whole existence it’s not fair to these guys who beat every team in the division over a three years period to treat them as if they were together for six months or something.  Number 11 is just too low.

Hooked Up:  The Rockers

Putting them at 14 is clearly a nod to Shawn Michaels and his post Rockers career, because it damn sure can’t be about what they did as a team.  In three and a half years they officially won zero championships and were basically a .500 team who were there to put over the top teams of the moment while getting enough wins to stay relevant.  Yes they were the most talented team of their time but they were never booked as more than guys to make someone else look good then lose.  Is that worthy of recognition?  Sure.  Is it good for being in the top half of the top 50?  Yeah.  But number 14, ahead of teams who won multiple championships?  Nope.

Speaking of which….

Robbed:  The Smoking Gunns

Billy and Bart Gunn were together for three years and won the tag titles three times, and they’ve seemingly been banished to the Shadow Realm because Billy went on to bigger and better things as part of DX and Bart made the mistake of winning the Brawl for it All.  They’re listed at number 47 behind multiple teams who had fewer reigns and/or weren’t together as long.  Should they be ahead of the Rockers?  I don’t know about that but the gap should definitely be a lot smaller than 33 slots for sure.

Hooked up:  The Mega Powers

Another reward for two guys for their singles careers.  Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage are of course two of the biggest icons in wrestling history, but they teamed up in a proper tag team match a whopping two times.  That’s it.  Need I say more?  To be honest they shouldn’t even be on the list at all.

Robbed:  The Bar

In a little over two years Sheamus and Cesaro were champions 4 times between Raw and Smackdown, worked three WrestleManias and beat a Murderers Row of opponents – New Day, the Usos, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, the Hardys – so putting them at 28 behind several teams that did less like the Steiners or teams that never really competed in the tag division like the aforementioned Mega Powers is a joke.

Just Right:  The New Day

Number one was correct.  Over ten times as champions across both Raw and Smackdown and they’ve faced everyone along the way from the Usos to the Bar to Harper and Rowan to the Hurt Business to Gallows and Anderson to the Lucha Dragons and more.  They’ve been in some of the most spectacular matches ever with those guys and the other teams like the Street Profits, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd, and the Shield.  They’ve been together for almost seven years now and became a big enough act to launch one of their members to a World Title victory at WrestleMania 35.  No tag team has accomplished more at any level as a unit in wrestling history, let alone the WWE.  When you sit down and really think about it there is no debate whatsoever.  This was the most important pick of the list and they nailed it.