5. The Fabulous Kangaroos
via notinhalloffame.com
They didn’t invent tag team wrestling but they sure helped push it to prominence. Al Costello, Roy Hefferman, Ray St. Clair, Don Kent and others would join together from 1957 to 1983 to wrestle across the world and helped the form become widely accepted among fans. They would play up “Aussie” roots with boomerangs and caps and often riling up the crowds as heels. The wide travel helped spread their fame quickly, along with their terrific skills, able to work with most any other team and easily handling the change in various partnerships.
The Kangaroos were also among the first wrestling acts to market themselves and pay off on promotion, enhancing their fame and standing among their workers. While they never held seriously recognized “world” titles, they would have slews of belts around their waists as they basically set the bar every other team in history would follow and it’s thanks to them that tag team wrestling as we know it came to be.
4. The British Bulldogs
via ringthedamnbell.wordpress.com
The Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith met in Stampede wrestling as rivals, the Kid fast and agile while also stiff as hell while Davey Boy was the strongman able to go at a fast speed. When they joined together, they just clicked perfectly as a fantastic tandem that would carry over to the WWF. The fans loved them, their skill, speed and ability to sell wining crowds over as they could provide a classic battle with most anyone, Davey Boy’s running powerslam and Dynamite’s top rope headbutt dives truly unique stuff.
They would have a long run with the tag titles but sadly, Dynamite’s terrible back injury cut it short. He returned a bit too fast, the two still working together but behind the scenes, coming apart due to their addictions and battling egos. It’s a shame as in their prime, the Bulldogs were a show unlike any other in wrestling and one of the best teams to work with, a legacy fans should remember more.
Discussion about this post