Top 100 Tag Teams Of All Time: 100-81

With the success of our Top 100 Wrestlers Of All Time list, we’ve decided to go even bigger and bolder. We’re going to rank the 100 greatest tag teams of all time!

Our ranking differs from the PWI 500 because we use math. Well, at least we try to. Just as we did before, we all submitted our own list of the top 100 wrestlers of all time, and each ranking represents points. For example, #1 = 100 points, #2 = 99 points, etc. At the end, we’d calculate who had the most points and assign ranking from there.

How do you judge what makes a great tag team? Well, we all have different criteria. Some rely on in-ring ability (which of course, is subjective) and others rely on box-office appeal. In a future episode of The Wrestling Estate Podcast, we’ll all break down the criteria we used in crafting our own lists. We’ll also bust each other’s balls for the names lacking and their absurdly low or ridiculously high rankings.

Without further ado, here are 100-81:

100. Quebecers (65 points)

Their run was brief, but memorable. Jacques and Pierre won the Tag Team Titles three times by hook or by crook, beating teams such as The Steiners and Men on a Mission. – Juan Bautista

99. Hurricane & Rosey (68 points)

Hurricane & Rosey are an odd couple pairing, but their chemistry made the team work. With Hurricane’s superhero character, it only made sense for him to have a sidekick, and Rosey as the Super Hero In Training (S.H.I.T.) worked out well. – Chad Gelfand

98. Black Gordman & Great Goliath (70 points)

Also known as the Red Devils, Black Gordman and Great Goliath have been forgotten by wrestling fans. It’s a shame because they ushered lucha libre into Los Angeles in the late 1960s, becoming the first tag team to be a top draw in the territory. Throughout the next decade, they held the Americas Tag Team Titles 18 times, drawing the ire of the Mexican community by claiming to be from New Mexico rather than that “dirty, stinky country” to the south. – John Corrigan

97. Al & Don Greene (71 points)

Also known as the original Heavenly Bodies, Al and Don Greene were the top tag team in Tennessee for 15 years. Dressed to the nines with top hats, coattails and canes (which they’d never stoop so low to use in a match, of course), they drew big money with controversial angles like tarring and feathering Bearcat Brown and letting the Interns slap Don’s real-life daughter. – John Corrigan

96. Killer Elite Squad (73 points)

When talents leave WWE and go to new pastures, sometimes they flop and other times they reach even greater success. Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer fall into the latter category. As the Killer Elite Squad, they took over the NJPW Heavyweight Tag Team Title scene with gusto, hearkening back to an era when gaijins ruled puroresu. Their matches against Tenzan and Kojima were essential viewing and their allegiance with Suzuki-Gun led them to take over NOAH. – Steven Jackson

95. Fabulous Ones (74 points)

Often imitated and never duplicated, the Fabulous Ones blended Jackie Fargo’s flare for showmanship with 1980s rock and roll to create a thrilling tag team the girls could love and the guys could emulate. Steve Keirn and Stan Lane weren’t just pretty boys, though, they could brawl with the Sheepherders and the New York Dolls. They held the Southern belts in the Memphis territory 14 times from 1982-1985. – John Corrigan

94. Jumping Bomb Angels (75 points)

Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki brought the fast-paced, future-facing style of All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling to the WWF at a time when the main event featured large men doing very little. The scale of their influence on the modern tag team scene for both men and women in both the U.S. and Japan is immeasurable, and their matches on the 1987 Survivor Series and 1988 Royal Rumble stood as the best action in the history of women’s wrestling in the WWF until the Four Horsewomen of NXT emerged. – David Gibb

93. Speed Muscle (76 points) / Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle (76 points)

Dragon Gate has hosted some of the most exciting and exhilarating multi-man matches of the past 20 years. This is owed a lot to the unbelievable chemistry of the tag teams, none more so than Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi of Speed Muscle. They were the perfect combination of size and speed touring the USA, Mexico and Europe. – Steven Jackson

Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle caught lightning in a bottle when SmackDown GM Stephanie McMahon forced their partnership with the threat of a year’s suspension without pay hanging over their heads. The reluctant partnership turned into one of the best tag teams of the era when, as it turns out, the two had much more in common than meets the eye. In fact, their styles complimented each other beautifully, and the matches they would go on to have against the likes of Edge and Mysterio and Los Guerreros are some I would put up against the greatest of all time. Separately, these are two of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time. That’s like putting Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb on the same baseball team. It’s almost unfair. Had the partnership continued, who knows what they could have accomplished? – Jack Goodwillie

92. CCK (77 points)

The Calamari Catch Kings of Chris Brookes and Jonathan Gresham are probably a surprise on this list. But believe me, the CCK have had some of the most technically sound and brilliantly fought matches in the latter part of the 2010s. Plus, they lit up the European scene substantially. – Steven Jackson

91. Smoking Gunns (78 points)

Before his more notable runs with Road Dogg and Chuck Palumbo, Billy Gunn teamed up with fake brother Bart. They came to the ring with cowboy hats and fake cap guns and won the WWF Tag Team Titles three times. As is usually the case, it took a beautiful woman (Sunny) to pull the brothers apart. – Matthew Smith

90. Can-Am Connection (79 points)

If there ever was a case of a team being in the wrong place at the wrong time, it was the Can-Am Connection. While they may have not won any championships during their brief run, Rick Martel and Tom Zenk were one of the most innovative and exciting pairs in the mid-1980s. Two super-talented wrestlers brought together, their technical ability and likeable personas should have made them mega-stars. Instead, pay and personal disputes led to a breakup. – Steven Jackson

89. Rob Van Dam & Sabu (82 points)

RVD & Sabu are, at worst, 1A in terms of ECW tag teams. This partnership and friendship came out of both guys being pupils of Sabu’s uncle, the original Sheik, Ed Farhat. But while Farhat, a pure heel and keeper of kayfabe, worked a very old-timey style, RVD & Sabu were innovators well ahead of their time, willing to work a hard-hitting, stiff style while embracing improvisation. With the ever-annoying Bill Alfonso in their corner, these two were the “best bout” machine of tag teams throughout the ’90s. One could argue that RVD never really maxed out the way he should have as a single in ECW, but at the same time, I can’t really blame Paul Heyman for keeping them together as long as he did because no matter what kind of trouble guys like Sandman, Raven and New Jack were getting into, he could always count on Van Dam and Sabu to deliver in a big way. – Jack Goodwillie

88. Dynamic Duo (85 points)

Running roughshod across Texas in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Tully Blanchard and “Gorgeous” Gino Hernandez created more riots and “white heat” than any team since. They were huge box office draws who everyone wanted to see get their comeuppance. – Steven Jackson

87. Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith (86 points)

Although their run was brief, the brothers-in-law made quite an impact in the mid-1990s, dominating the tag team division from 1996 until the Montreal Screwjob. Their 246-day reign as Tag Team Champions is the fourth-longest in WWE history. – John Corrigan

86. Strike Force (87 points)

Tito Santana and Rick Martel came up through perhaps the strongest era for tag team wrestling, but this was a fun team that I’m glad made this list. Martel came into the pairing with some experience in a similar tag team with Tom Zenk, The Can-Am Connection, and Santana was a career babyface, a rarity for any period of time. For these reasons (along with their international flair and athletic style), this was a fun team to root for. When they did eventually win the WWF Tag Team Championship, it was met with great fanfare, similar to when Soul Patrol won the belts. I guess that comes with the territory of winning it just one time. I can think of countless teams – Miz & Mizdow is another – where the situation necessitated them only winning the belts one time. They also had that badass “Girls in Cars” entrance theme, the poster child for a babyface tag team in the ‘80s. – Jack Goodwillie

85. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (88 points)

The founding members of the Bullet Club took New Japan and the rest of the world by storm in 2013. They are three-time IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and created a ton of buzz when they became free agents, most fans hoping for a return with Finn Balor in WWE. Unfortunately, we never got that reunion, but we did get The Club on Raw. Their first run left much to be desired, until they paired up with former Bullet Club leader AJ Styles. They turned it around somewhat with two Raw Tag Team Titles to show for it. Still, their WWE run wasn’t exactly too sweet, so here is hoping the good brothers find a promotion that will let them be them and flourish like they did in 2013-2016. – Matthew Smith

84. Billy & Chuck (89 points)

Ahead of their time, Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo were the first “openly gay” tag team in WWE. Although they held the Tag Team Titles on a couple occasions, their legacy lies with exposing a mainstream audience such as the WWE Universe to same-sex couples. – Juan Bautista

83. The Kingdom (93 points)

While it remains to be seen if The Kingdom will ever rebuild, they’ve certainly left their mark on Ring of Honor and NJPW. Members have included Mike Bennett, Adam Cole, Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia. In addition to collecting Tag Team Titles, the stable can boast boosting Matt Taven to the ROH World Heavyweight Championship. – Juan Bautista

82. Varsity Club (95 points)

One of the true dusty gems of early WCW, the unholy alliance of Kevin Sullivan, Rick Steiner, Steve Williams, Mike Rotunda and Dan Spivey represented a fresh take on the heel manager with big lackeys trope. The juxtaposition of the legitimate NCAA athleticism of Steiner, Williams, Rotunda and Spivey against the transparent wickedness of their manager Sullivan created a dynamic that’s never quite been recaptured. – David Gibb

81. Mega Powers (102 points) / Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams (102 points)

They never won the Tag Team Titles and are more remembered for their breakup, but no duo has ever had more star power than Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. They put SummerSlam on the map in 1988 and carried WCW from 1995 until the spring of 1996. – John Corrigan

Gino Hernandez will go down as one of the biggest “what-ifs” in wrestling. During his heyday, there is no denying that he and real-life best friend “Gentleman” Chris Adams made one dynamite tag team. Similar to wrestling’s other “Gentleman” Jack Gallagher, it turns out the English-born Adams wasn’t much of a gentleman after all. However, he was a great compliment to the flamboyant Hernandez as someone with a little more physicality while matching his partner’s arrogance in the ring. Gino & Chris are a very, VERY close second behind the Freebirds as the Von Erichs’ top nemesis, drawing a ton of money in that role. Had Hernandez lived through the decade, it seems likely we would have eventually seen them appear for Jim Crockett Promotions at some point, taking their careers to the next level. – Jack Goodwillie