Big Rob Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Semi-inspired by Dylan's Tajiri thread, I wanted to start a project of sorts. I'm a big fan of tag team wrestling, and of much of what the whole WWE product, but the latter hasn't always produced a wealth of great tag action. That being said, I thought it would be fun to try and dig out some gems from the main TVs and b-shows, and see how they compare against the more well known stuff from the late eighties, when the tag division really was strong. By all means, please suggest matches worth watching for me. With that said... 1. The Rockers vs The Powers of Pain - MSG 15th Jan 90 2. Ricky Steamboat & Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake - 21st Apr 85, MLG Toronto 3. Bret Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs Owen Hart & Bob Backlund - Action Zone 26/2/95 4. Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs William Regal and Dave Taylor - Smackdown 22nd Jan 07 5. Shawn Michaels and Diesel vs 123 Kid and Shawn Michaels - Action Zone 30th Oct 94 6. Eddie Guerrero and Booker T vs Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio - Smackdown 30/12/04 7. Booker T & Goldust vs Christian & Chris Jericho - No Mercy 02 8. Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs William Regal and Dave Taylor - Smackdown 8th Dec 06 9. The US Express vs The Hart Foundation - Philly Spectrum 20/9/86 10. Lance Storm & Christian vs Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman - Global Warning, 10th Aug 02 11. 12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 I'd break the reviews off from the list. Then you can link from the list to specific posts. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Rob Posted March 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Aye, cheers. I was planning to do that going forward, should have really started with the first review too. Now, to make edits as if by magic(!)... Added Lance Storm & Christian vs Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman - Global Warning, 10th Aug 02 Sub-ten minute match, but Rey and Storm bring the goods. It's weird to see Rey do the crazy high-flying here after him (justifiably) being toned down for so long. Very nice build to the hot tag, and Kidman doesn't fuck up his Shooting Star either, which leads to a really convincing near fall. Fine finish too, but it's a short match and I'm sure it won't rank too high after I've watched more. I do want to check out some more Storm/Christian tag matches after seeing this. Booker T & Goldust vs Christian & Chris Jericho - No Mercy 02 Not quite Christian and Storm, but close enough, and Christian was easily the lesser man in this match anyway. That's not really a slight on him, it's just that everyone else was pretty great. Crowd loved them some Booker, and what he did do looked really good. He wasn't in for long, and didn't get exposed at all, which he can be when working for long periods of time. He was here to pick up the hot tag and further his fued with Jericho, so it worked fine. Goldust was a fine Ricky Morton, and they worked in a couple of nice near-tags, simple stuff but the likes of which probably wouldn't be bothered with in 'E tags these days. Goldy's offence looked pretty great too, including a lovely double bulldog and some kind of wacky heel kick that I'm sure Rico was doing at the time. Jericho bumped his arse off for pretty much everything here, making everyone look like gold. I'm not a huge Jericho fan, but he brought it in spades for this match. He covered nicely with the finish as well, considering the second rope broke, although the ref did get a good look at the title belt when counting the fall, so slight negative points for that. Again, like the Global Warning match it's likely too short (9 minutes, give or take) to make a big impact in the list, but it was super fun whilst it lasted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ3LbUtta40 Steamboat/Santana v. Valentine/Beefcake That would be my pick offhand for the best tag match in WWE/F history Hardyz v. MNM - Royal Rumble 2007 This is another one that merits a serious look Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ3LbUtta40 Steamboat/Santana v. Valentine/Beefcake That would be my pick offhand for the best tag match in WWE/F history I'm pretty fond of it. Suspect there might be one better than it from the 80s WWF, but just haven't invested as much time on tags as singles. There are so many damn tag matches out there. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KB8 Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Steamboat/Santana v Dream Team is really good, yeah. If you're not planning on just sticking to more recent(ish) stuff, I'd check out the Rockers/Powers of Pain match from the 1/15/90 MSG show. It's maybe my favourite tag match ever. For more recent matches, MNM had at least at couple really fun matches with Batista and Rey in '05 (maybe into early '06 as well). The Smackdown! match from 12/30/05 is a ton of fun, and offhand I'd say it's one of the better WWE tags from that decade. Rey gets his knee worked over and takes at least one nutso bump that probably burst his kidneys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 My personal pick for best tag match in WWF/E history would be the 1994 Kliq tag match from Action Zone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCYiRCQLFBg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 I don't know if this is the best WWF tag ever, but it definitely came out of nowhere and was a legit great match when I saw it recently: Bret Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs Owen Hart & Bob Backlund (WWF Action Zone 02/26/95) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-DmH6dn3VY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregor Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 If you're looking for matches that are good but fly under the radar a bit, I'd suggest Kane/X-Pac vs. Mark Henry/D'Lo Brown from Over the Edge '99. It's not a contender for best WWF match of all time, but it's a good match from a down period for the company and maybe the best match that any of those four guys had in 1999. from 1997 is another fun one, although it's not really a standout match for 1997 for any of the participants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Benoit and Jericho vs. Austin and HHH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 It's not the best WWF/E tag team match in history but US Express (Spivey) vs Hart Foundation is a fun match. I especially enjoyed the finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 My personal favourite tag match is Arn and Tully Vs Hart Foundation from Summerslam 1989. I know it ended in a 20 minute time limit draw, but its a fine match. Really quick paced action packed match. A few others I'd have to find dates for, one being Head Shrinkers Vs Stieners from 1993 which I'm sure was pretty hot. Edit: Just thought of another one was Steiners Vs The Heavenly Bodies from Summerslam 1993 is fantastic. Actually 1993 is a pretty good year for tag team wrestling... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Demolition vs the Rockers from October 88 at MSG http://drvictatorpresents.blogspot.com/201...t-day-1_08.html Demolition vs Hart Foundation Summerslam 88 http://drvictatorpresents.blogspot.com/201...-msg-82988.html Demolition vs Brain Busters MSG September 89 http://drvictatorpresents.blogspot.com/201...ect-day-19.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzombie1988 Posted March 12, 2012 Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 Bomb Angels vs The Glamour Girls from the Boston Garden Rockers vs Haku/Barbarian from WM 7 There were a couple of tags with the Smackdown six that were some of the best tags I've ever seen in WWE. I really loved the three way they had at one of the ppv's and I think there was an amazing Guerreros/Angle & Benoit tag. Also, Harts vs the Steiners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Rob Posted March 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Cheers guys, will watch some more tomorrow. Only gonna do 2 vs 2 matches, so won't include the Survivor Series 02 triple threat, but plenty of other great suggestions. Ricky Steamboat & Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake - 21st Apr 85, MLG Toronto Ok, a match that's I've never seen before, or even heard being mentioned by anyone. Given the talent, it's got to be at least good, but it ends up being quite a bit more than that. Personally, I think best WWE tag ever is a stretch, even without having gone over much so far in the project, but this was really good and contained possibly the best hot tag I've ever seen, when Tito tags in Steamboat. There's some great stuff here besides the hot tag too. I loved Valentine being a prick on the ring apron, then waiting until Tito had been sufficiently beaten down before tagging in. He then winds up a huge elbow and promptly... misses! His slaps from the ring apron and later armbar were fantastic too. Beefcake was pretty good here too, although by far the weaker of the four guys. I've never seen much of his stuff, and had always kind of written him off as just a Hogan hanger-on, but he had some fun shtick throughout, and him grabbing on to Steamboat's trunks from the apron was a nice touch. His distracting of the illegal man and the referee was a bit hokey, but Steamboat played off of it well. Only criticism of the match would be that I would have preferred a longer heat section on Tito, and just the one hot tag would have done for me. Two, given that the match wasn't very long, just broke up the fight too much for me, and as such the faces never came off seeming as though there were in dire straights. A fine match though in all, and already this project is paying off, since that hot tag is now in my life. Oh, and the finish is pretty swanky, never seen the atomic drop countered into a figure four before. ---------- The Rockers vs The Powers of Pain - MSG 15th Jan 90 I saw a link to this on Youtube before it was recommended, and it looked pretty tasty. Shawn takes some huge bumps for Barby at the start, the one in the corner looks especially good, he almost falls right out of the ring. Loved the rana/dropkick combo as well, and the powerbomb to Marty to start the heat was well done. The basic story here is one of Marty Jannetty taking an absolute shitkicking from the POP, and taking a ton of mental bumps, including one of the highest backdrops I've ever seen. He flies out of the ring from a boot too, which looks great. His desperate fight back against Warloard and Barbarian looked great too, before he got the good hot tag. Only issue here is that Warlord isn't good. At least here he has guys who will take liberties with their own health in order to make his offence credible, but he's leagues behind Barbarian in terms of ring work, even if he looks damn impressive. Still, there's little to no time in the match when Warlord's in and I thought "Man, this is shit", so props to the Rockers for working around him. Just about the best match so far, I'd say. Not without its flaws still, but very good stuff, and the crowd loved it. Finish was unexpected but good, I like that it didn't have to end with some kind of traditional finishing hold, a fluke rollup. Fine stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Harts vs Steiners 1-11-94 is pretty damn good, despite the lackluster commentary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chess Knight Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 I've thought about in my all-too often moments of nerdy contemplation. I have a lot of stuff to see, but there's some goodies in 1984. Murdoch & Adonis v Samoans 6/16/84 Murdoch & Adonis v Briscos 12/28/84 Slaughter & JYD v Sheik & Volkoff 11/10/84 (this one may not be that great [or it might be, who knows], but a while back it was huge personal favourite of mine. Been years.) There's a bunch of Slaughter, Murdoch & Adonis and Backlund tags spread across Youtube and Dailymotion that I've never seen but have always been meaning to as well. What's everyone's viewpoint on the No Way Out 07 main event (Cena/Michaels v Taker/Batista)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Cheers guys, will watch some more tomorrow. Only gonna do 2 vs 2 matches, so won't include the Survivor Series 02 triple threat, but plenty of other great suggestions. Ricky Steamboat & Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake - 21st Apr 85, MLG Toronto Ok, a match that's I've never seen before, or even heard being mentioned by anyone. Given the talent, it's got to be at least good, but it ends up being quite a bit more than that. Personally, I think best WWE tag ever is a stretch, even without having gone over much so far in the project, but this was really good and contained possibly the best hot tag I've ever seen, when Tito tags in Steamboat. There's some great stuff here besides the hot tag too. I loved Valentine being a prick on the ring apron, then waiting until Tito had been sufficiently beaten down before tagging in. He then winds up a huge elbow and promptly... misses! His slaps from the ring apron and later armbar were fantastic too. Beefcake was pretty good here too, although by far the weaker of the four guys. I've never seen much of his stuff, and had always kind of written him off as just a Hogan hanger-on, but he had some fun shtick throughout, and him grabbing on to Steamboat's trunks from the apron was a nice touch. His distracting of the illegal man and the referee was a bit hokey, but Steamboat played off of it well. Only criticism of the match would be that I would have preferred a longer heat section on Tito, and just the one hot tag would have done for me. Two, given that the match wasn't very long, just broke up the fight too much for me, and as such the faces never came off seeming as though there were in dire straights. A fine match though in all, and already this project is paying off, since that hot tag is now in my life. Oh, and the finish is pretty swanky, never seen the atomic drop countered into a figure four before. I liked the two FIP sections: one on Tito and one on Steamer. The second one, on Steamer, was better and more focused. But by doing two they were able to avoid a common issue WWF 80s tags had: lots of Heel In Peril. The WWF just didn't seem to want to have faces bottoming for very long in tags. Steamer and Tito effectively got around this by each doing a segment, breaking it up with a relatively short Steamer House O' Fire stretch before getting cut off. So collectively the heels were able to work on top for what ended up a long FIP segment with the brief hope of Steamer's House O' Fire. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainmakerrtv Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Don't have a link for it , but a bit surprised that nobody has mentioned Rockers vs Brainbusters, 1/23/1989 from MSG . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 I've seen a bunch of Rockers/Brainbusters matches, and for me they all blur together. Good stuff, but awfully repetitive from match to match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5m50q_re...ld-s-grea_sport Rey Mysterio and Billy kidman vs World's Greatest Tag team 7/27/2003 WWE Vengance. I haven't seen this in a couple years but I remember enjoying it. Rey is so good in this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Surprised that no one has mentioned the Rockers vs. Orient Express matches from the Royal Rumbles. A "hidden gem" of sorts is the Money Inc. vs. Steiner Brothers cage match from 1993. Probably DiBiase's best match after 1991. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Demolition vs the Rockers from October 88 at MSG http://drvictatorpresents.blogspot.com/201...t-day-1_08.html I've always been a big fan of this match. I'll also second the Adonis/Murdoch vs. the Briscos match from 12/84 at MSG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainmakerrtv Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Strike Force v. Islanders (2/3 falls, msg 10/16/87 ) Killer Bees v. Islanders (msg 12/26/87 ) It makes me sad we just missed seeing the Islanders vs The Rockers . Also, here is the space where I traditionally shill that run of Demolition vs Brain Busters TV matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Crackers Posted March 13, 2012 Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 My vote goes for the Hardys vs MNM match that Dylan mentioned but I'll also mention Rock n Roll Express vs Heavenly Bodies from Survivor Series 1993. I understand people being put off by the atmosphere but when I watched it with a friend awhile back we were both convinced it was at least the best WWF tag of the 90s. The Boston crowd shits all over these guys that they don't know so both teams ignore them and just hit their best spots with perfect execution and timing. I'm sure both teams, and especially the RnRs, have better tags elsewhere but for it's era this is really fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.