5 Underrated WWE pairings that did not last long enough

The history of professional wrestling is filled with tons of classic duos. Tag team wrestling has been a staple in the WWE for many years, but recent times have seen it take a mellow back seat. The tag team division is now overlooked for what would benefit the top-level guys. The most recent example is Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman, who will face each other at Clash of Champions despite being Raw Tag Team champions together.

They will be defending their tag team titles at the show against Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, another pair of singles wrestlers thrown together. But after beating four other teams in a row on Raw, Ziggler, and Roode seem like serious new players in the tag team division. There have been numerous occasions in the past decade or so, where two singles stars joined forces to eventually win the tag team titles.

However, various factors contributed to each of these teams to dissolve much sooner than we would have liked. Here are five great WWE pairings, most of them being championship-winning teams, that should have lasted longer.

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#5 Cesaro and Tyson Kidd

A sad end to this team.

Around the end of 2014, an alliance sparked between Cesaro and Tyson Kidd. After almost a year of unfortunate misuse, WWE was finally positively utilizing the Swiss Superman. The pair defeated a pre-heel turn New Day and went upwards from there. Cesaro and Kidd, flanked by the latter's wife Natalya, won the WWE Tag Team Championship from the Usos at the inaugural Fastlane pay-per-view and defended the titles on the WrestleMania 31 Kickoff Show.

These two shared tremendous chemistry, coming up with some supremely innovative double team moves. The Cesaro Swing into a Drop Kick from Kidd stood out, in particular. They became babyfaces but would soon lose the gold to the New Day, who only went on to become one of the greatest teams in WWE history. However, the "Brass Ring Club" did not last much longer, as Tyson Kidd suffered a horrific spinal injury during a dark match against Samoa Joe.

This was extremely unfortunate, as Cesaro and Kidd were gaining massive popularity and their presence would have further boosted a tag team division that was already in good shape, thanks to the New Day.

#4 Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin

A technically solid team.

Chad Gable has seemingly gained new life on SmackDown, reaching the semi-finals of the King of the Ring tournament. However, he spent the majority of his main roster career floating between tag teams.

Gable initially found success with Jason Jordan as American Alpha, but Papa Kurt came calling and off went Jordan, thus ending their run abruptly. The former Olympian was soon joined by another Superstar with an amateur background, the returning Shelton Benjamin. They were initially babyfaces but quickly turned heel to feud with the Usos, who were fresh off a classic title feud with the New Day.

They were unofficially known as American Alpha 2.0 and had the potential to build on Chad Gable's previous success. They were technically sound and had some great showings. Gable and Benjamin even looked to have won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship from the Usos, before the dreaded instant replay halted their joy and the referee overturned his decision.

The eventual feud-ender did not go as planned, as the Usos swept them in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match at Royal Rumble 2018. Gable and Benjamin did not do much of note during WrestleMania season and they would be split during the Superstar Shakeup.

Benjamin stayed on SmackDown and Gable moved to Raw. Honestly, WWE could have done with more credible tag teams on either brand at this point, especially after the Raw Tag Team Championship was won by a 10-year-old boy at WrestleMania.

#3 The Big Show and The Miz

A lot more could have been explored.

After the Big Show's six-month-long partnership with Chris Jericho ended, WWE quickly paired him up with another smaller trash-talker to take on the newly reformed DX. The Big Man was abruptly put together with The Miz by Raw guest host Jon Heder to face Triple H and Shawn Michaels in early 2010. They displayed enough chemistry to stick together and won the Unified Tag Team Championships from DX a few weeks after they began teaming.

The tag team division was not at it's best heading into WrestleMania 26, but Sho-Miz did pretty well. After a short but successful title defense at 'Mania against John Morrison and R-Truth, Sho-Miz lost their titles against the Hart Dynasty on the night of the 2010 WWE Draft. After the match, the Big Show turned on the Miz and knocked him out with his signature punch. Without much of a tease to it, their break-up was almost as abrupt as their formation.

The Big Show moved to SmackDown that night and both men would eventually get decent world title pushes in the near future, but one must wonder how much better would The Awesome One's WWE Championship reign would have been had he been flanked by the World's Largest Athlete.

#2 Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne

This really clicked.

WWE's tag team division was not in the best shape around the summer of 2011, as Michael McGillicutty (Now known as Curtis Axel) and David Otunga reigned as the Tag Team Champions. There was a severe lack of credible challengers for the painfully mediocre champs. That was until two exciting young faces joined forces.

Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne quickly took the titles and looked to improve the state of the tag team scene. Success looked to be on the horizon for Air Boom, with both Superstars already pretty over.

They put on many entertaining matches and became one of the highlights of Raw, at a time when CM Punk was on his way to mega-stardom. However, their pulsating partnership was compromised due to Evan Bourne's troubles with WWE's Wellness Policy.

He was suspended for 30 days after failing the test in November 2011 and after he returned, the company took the titles off the popular duo. A few weeks later, Bourne was suspended for 60 days, breaking up the team for good and leaving Kofi Kingston in limbo.

Air Boom had the potential to be real stars in the tag team division for years, thanks to the skilled athletic abilities of both performers. Unfortunately, the actions of one man caused the entire team to fall.

#1 Randy Orton and Edge

Former world champions, future legends.

By the time Edge and Randy Orton paired up to take on a reformed DX in 2006, they had both been world champions in WWE. Edge, in particular, had just lost his WWE Championship to John Cena shortly before forming Rated-RKO with The Viper.

Triple H and Shawn Michaels needed some top-level heels to feud with, after easing past the Spirit Squad among others. Edge and Orton were the perfect fit for that team, giving DX one hell of a feud.

It was a pretty inspired pairing, with both men in their prime in the ring and their shared cocky aggression that was easy to hate. Rated-RKO handed DX their first loss since reuniting that year but would suffer humiliation at Survivor Series.

Their 5-man team was swept by a star-studded Team DX, including the likes of CM Punk and the Hardy Boyz. Edge and Orton won the World Tag Team Championship along the way, further intensifying this feud, which was supposed to end at New Year's Revolution.

However, Triple H blew out his quad during the match and had to miss months of action. As a result, WWE quickly decided to have John Cena step in and help Shawn Michaels topple Edge and Orton. Following that, both Superstars would end up turning on each other by WrestleMania 23, where they faced off in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match.

Rated-RKO could have been a truly special and memorable team, but Hunter's injury along with the lack of long-term planning prevented it from happening.