When we last left our criminally neglected feature, WWE and the World Tag Team Championships were about to enter uncharted territory and a little place called the “Attitude” era. While the late ’80s were certainly “glory days” for the Championship and the tag team scene in general, this era brought things to a new level. But first check out parts 1 and 2.
As 1997 dawned, Owen Hart and “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith reigned as the WWF’s World Tag Team Champions. But with the company in such a state of flux as it headed inch by inch into the “Attitude” era, the tag division was left by the wayside. Left with a division filled with such luminaries as The Godwinns, an under used Doug Furnas & Phil Lafon an imposter team of Diesel and Razor Ramon and various luchadores, it was not the most glorious reign.
Their one true challenge came at the hands of the legendary Legion of Doom, who had a surprise return to the company in early 1997. The two teams battled through the spring of 1997, but LOD could not get the job done. Ultimately they lost their Titles to the mismatched pair of Stone Cold Steve Austin & Shawn Michaels on an episode of Monday Night RAW in May. It was a true classic of a tag match, but it was also the first true instance of a Vince Russo "Attitude" era staple, the tag team partners who hate each other.
Not surprisingly the tumultuous partnership did not last, and Austin found Dude Love as his new partner after Michaels walked out. With the Titles on two primarily singles stars, the Championships were again pushed to the background. But an injury to Austin at SummerSlam ’97 caused the duo to relinquish the belts once again.
This time they found their way around the waists of the upstart Headbangers in September 1997. They quickly lost them to The Godwinns, who lost them even quicker to The Legion of Doom. While it looked as if LOD would get one more long glory run with the Championships, it would not be. On an episode of RAW in November a pair of low card upstarts, “The Road Dog” Jesse James and “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn, would upset the veterans and take the world by storm.
The two “jobbers” would quickly transform into The New Age Outlaws and become megastars and one of the true highlights of the “Attitude” era. Throughout 1998 they traded the Championships with various main event combinations like Terry Funk & Cactus Jack, Mankind & Kane and Steve Austin & The Undertaker, but it was always The Outlaws’ gold to have.
A year later in December 1998, The Outlaws had gotten so big and popular that they were amicably split up in order to transfer their popularity into two matches on the card instead of one. Benefiting from that included the villainous pair from Mr. McMahon’s Corporation (Big Boss Man & Ken Shamrock), who then lost them to the villainous pair Canadian Country (Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett) before finally going to the odd couple big man/little man combination of Kane & X-Pac.
In the summer of 1999, the duo of X-Pac and Kane were the hottest thing going and became the focal point of the division as they traded wins and Titles with The Acolytes (Faarooq & Bradshaw) throughout the summer. In between, however was a brief Cinderella run for the young brother tandem of Matt & Jeff Hardy. The brothers only had the belts from The Acolytes for less than a month, but it was instantly something special and a huge moment when they won the Championships. At the time The Hardys were under the tutelage of tag team specialist Michael “P.S.” Hayes and were certainly destined for greatness in the future.
As summer turned to fall, the Tag Titles once again became a prop for the main eventers as The Big Show & Undertaker traded titles with The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection (The Rock & Mankind). The New Age Outlaws also reunited at the end of the year and entered the mix as well. The Outlaws won their final reign together in November 1999 and lost them to The Dudley Boyz at No Way Out in February 2000.
At the time no one really predicted that The Outlaws were truly passing the torch to a new era and ultimately passing things onto a new era and a new crop of athletically, highly skilled teams.
With Bubba Ray & D-Von Dudley as the new Champions, the tag team division once again found resurgence. Instead of a division filled with singles stars paired together randomly and main event talent using the Championships as storyline fodder, it was stocked with hot young tag teams that were hungry, athletic, talented and entertaining.
The first sign of greatness came at WrestleMania 2000, when Edge & Christian outlasted The Dudleyz and The Hardy Boyz in an insane three team Ladder match to become Champions for the first time. Those three teams, with wildly different characters, talents, wrestling abilities and mantras became the nucleus of the division from that point on until late 2001.
From WrestleMania 2000 until a year later at WrestleMania X-Seven, the Tag Titles changed hands a staggering fifteen times. By the time WrestleMania X-Seven rolled around, The Hardy Boyz had become four time Champions, the reigning Champions The Dudley Boyz were three time Champions and Edge & Christian were already a staggering six time pair of Champions. Along the way the ultra-hot at the time Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay & Scotty 2 Hotty), the evil Right To Censor tandem of Goodfather & Bull Buchanan and the super team of Rock & Undertaker all wore the gold at one point as well.
Playing off the success of the Ladder match from WrestleMania 2000, the three teams met in the first TLC match at SummerSlam 20000. It was a regular ladder match with the Tag Titles hanging high above the ring, only now tables and chairs were added to equation. Edge & Christian remained victorious in this bout as well.
This led to WrestleMania X-Seven, which was the ultimate blow off of this tag team nirvana. The Dudleyz, The Hardyz and Edge & Christian would meet in the second installment of Tables, Ladders & Chairs. Once again Edge & Christian came out victorious, making themselves seven time WWF World Tag Team Champions and the undisputed victors in this insane three-team rivalry.
When WrestleMania X-Seven ended, it also marked the end of the infamous “Attitude” era. While Edge & Christian survived that era and its rivalry with the “Boyz” they were quickly fed to the power team of Kane & The Undertaker, now lovingly known as The Brothers of Destruction. Once again the Tag Titles were used as main event props, as they quickly transitioned to the Two-Man Power Trip of Triple H & Stone Cold Steve Austin. Their reign was also short-lived but it led to one of the greatest Tag Title matches in history as the “Canadian Violence” tandem of Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho beat Triple H & Austin in absolutely fantastic bout on a May 2001 episode of RAW that saw Triple H’s quad get torn off the bone.
The Canadian Chrisses led the Championships into the WCW InVasion era. Unfortunately an ill-timed neck injury to Benoit caused the Titles to go back to The Dudley Boyz, who then quickly lost them to The Acolytes just days later.
With the InVasion in full swing, things were thrown into disarray. Besides the WWF’s sanctioned seven Championships, WCW brought along four Championships as well, including its own Tag Team Championship.
This led to rapid-fire Tag Title changes and viewer confusion as to who was whether the WWF Tag Champions or WCW Tag Champions. In fact at SummerSlam 2001, The Undertaker & Kane (who were WCW Champions) defeated Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon (who were WWF Champions) to briefly unify the Championships.
Both sets of Titles haphazardly changed hands throughout the fall of 2001 until mercifully the InVasion ended at Survivor Series 2001. Not surprisingly the Champions heading into Survivor Series were The Hardy Boyz (who were WCW Tag Team Champions) against The Dudley Boyz (who were WWF Tag Team Champions). The two long-time rivals met in a cage match at Survivor Series, which saw The Dudley Boyz emerge victorious as unified Tag Team Champions. While the Titles were unified, for all intents and purposes the WCW Titles were eliminated and once again the WWF’s version of Tag Titles reigned supreme.
By this point both teams were incredibly played out and stale and were the safe choices. Therefore in January 2001, Bubba Ray & D-Von Dudley lost the Titles to the underdog duo of Tazz and “little brother” Spike Dudley. While they certainly were not going to set the world on fire, they were a refreshing change of pace.
But with WCW and ECW officially dead and buried, the company needed to do something else fresh. And thus the brand expansion was created. The roster was divided into separate touring brands for Monday Night RAW and SmackDown. And who was the team that was chosen to carry the WWF World Tag Team Titles into uncharted territory: The “flamboyant” duo of Chuck & Billy.
check out part four...
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