Getting over in WWE is not easy. Many Superstars go their entire WWE careers not knowing what it is, to be truly successful. Try as they might, they just can’t seem to find their niche, and before long, they part ways with the company.
For every Daniel Bryan success story, there are twice as many Wade Barrett near-misses. Barrett had everything a guy needs to get over; he had the look, he had the charisma, and he had the ability. But bad booking combined with a character that never really caught on, caused his WWE run to end prematurely.
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However, sometimes, WWE manages to catch lightning in a bottle. It doesn’t happen often, and when it does, the circumstances have to be just right. The booking can be great, but the situation has to fit, and the talent has to be pitch perfect.
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When everything falls into place, magic can be made. It’s not an easy formula, but when it works, stars can find themselves on top of the world. Of course when more than one talent is involved, the equation suddenly becomes much more complicated.
3MB is a great example of what happens when quirky talents come together in an effort to find that magic but ultimately fall short. Each man involved put forth a great effort, but the idea just never caught fire the way WWE hoped it would.
But when it works, it works. No matter how many times it fails, WWE will keep going for broke because there’s always the possibility it will get over. When it does, everyone wins. Some teams that find the magic not only become stars, but they also become legends.
This is five of the best WWE has ever seen.
#5 The Wyatt Family with Randy Orton
The Wyatt Family was splintered by the WWE brand split. Braun Strowman was sent to Monday Night Raw, as Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper went to SmackDown Live, while Erick Rowan went missing in action. The faction that had captivated so many, suddenly found itself with no direction, and no purpose.
But the unlikely inclusion of Randy Orton has changed everything. Now fans are not only back on board; they’re starting to love it. Orton has brought a new interest in The Wyatt Family, and fans are truly getting into the story.
The funny part is Orton shouldn’t fit. He’s been a loner for the bulk of his career with very few exceptions, and he has virtually nothing in common with The Wyatt Family. He’s a streamlined WWE God among men, and he’s currently aligned with a backwoods cult.
Despite the odd fit, it’s working. Fans are beginning to love it. Orton has made The Wyatt Family relevant again, and he’s brought an edge to them that they’ve never really had. Orton is not only making it work; it looks like he actually belongs with them.
Of course, this story will surely lead to Orton’s betrayal of Bray. Fans know it’s coming, and they’ve known it from day one. Orton just has no reason to get involved with The Wyatt Family, other than to destroy Bray. Orton plays mind games like no other, and that’s what fans are seeing now.
However, maybe the original direction shouldn’t be followed just yet. This tandem is working, fans are into it, and the whole thing is over. Maybe WWE should stick with this a bit longer if only to see how far it can go.
Regardless of what happens, this remains one of the most interesting, yet bizarre, combinations of all time. But it’s working nonetheless.
#4 Too Cool
Too Cool shouldn’t have worked. Grandmaster Sexay and Scott 2 Hotty not only had two of the silliest names in WWE; they also had some of the goofiest ring gear. They looked ridiculous; they sounded ridiculous, and they had a gimmick that was guaranteed to fail.
But it didn’t. Instead of getting booed out of the building, Too Cool typically got one of the night’s biggest pops. Fans loved them, in spite of themselves. Every time they hit the ramp, the crowd was on its feet. They couldn’t get enough of them, and Too Cool became one of WWE’s most popular tag teams.
The addition of Rikishi helped boost their popularity, but Too Cool was over already. Though the trio looked more peculiar than Too Cool itself, fans didn’t mind. At that point, anyone within a hundred feet of Too Cool was automatically going to get over.
The three Superstars consistently brought the house down every time they were in the ring together. Fans loved their tag team work; they loved The Worm, and they loved The Stinkface. The dancing that came after the match was just icing on the cake.
The reason this gimmick worked is very simple; the men involved embraced it. Rather than work too hard to make it believable, or struggle with forcing it into any sort of realistic direction, Scotty, Grandmaster, and Rikishi just had fun with it.
If they were to be the clowns dancing down the ramp, then they were going to do it better than anyone else could. They were the comic relief that became a very well oiled tag team in the ring, and top notch entertainers on camera.
Too Cool is definitely the best example of right place, right time. But their effort made it all possible.
#3 Demolition
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but in the case of The Road Warriors, it was merely a way to make a quick buck. Pro-wrestlers had painted their faces before Hawk and Animal did it. Pro-wrestlers were big and tough before Hawk and Animal came along. But no one did everything they did, and no one did it better.
The Legion of Doom was the greatest tag team of all time because they made more money than everyone else. Period. Hawk and Animal were in demand by every wrestling promotion on the planet, and everywhere they worked, they won tag team gold.
They drew main event crowds, in an era when singles wrestlers were typically the ones used in those spots. The Road Warriors broke the top guy mold and forever changed tag team wrestling. But they were most definitely not just two tough guys wearing paint.
But Demolition was. Ax and Smash each had successful careers in regional promotions, with the former portraying The Masked Superstar, and the latter performing as Krusher Kruschev. Individually they were good hands that did good work.
But together, they were nothing more than Vince McMahon’s poor attempt at recreating The Road Warriors. The team was manufactured, built from the ground up to dominate as Hawk and Animal had. Nothing about them was organic, and nothing about them was original.
However as time passed, Ax and Smash not only gelled as a team, they actually got over. Because they were no slouches in the ring, Bill Eadie and Barry Darsow changed the fans’ perception of what Demolition was, and what it could be.
To this day, Demolition is revered by many fans that respected and appreciated what they brought to the game. They were a team that should have failed, but instead became one of WWE’s most beloved duos of all time.
#2 Team Hell No
Kane is a legendary big man that’s had some colourful tag team partners over the years. The Hurricane, Mankind and Rob Van Dam are just three of the Superstars that have stepped up to aid The Big Red Machine in various storylines.
But when Daniel Bryan was put with Kane, many fans shook their heads. This was obviously nothing more than a way to give both men something to do because there just wasn’t a plan for them individually. Once again, WWE had created a tag team where one didn’t need to be in the first place.
However, there was something about Bryan that fans couldn’t get enough of. Those that knew his background on the independent circuit respected him, while those that didn’t were impressed by his ring work. But more importantly, he was also becoming known as an entertainer.
Bryan was an annoying neurotic fool that dared fans to laugh. Every time he lost his temper and blew a fuse during a promo or a match, fans popped. Bryan’s anger management issues got him over despite WWE’s lack of creative direction for him. He made his own way, and Kane helped.
Kane somehow became the perfect tag team partner for Bryan. The two meshed well together, and to watch them on TV was to watch comedy gold every week. The fans went along for the ride, and Team Hell No became the hottest act in WWE.
Instead of merely taking up space, Team Hell No became the main event. Rather than just give Bryan the rub, Kane reminded everyone of just how good he is. Daniel proved he had what it takes to make it on a very high level in WWE, and the partnership led him to a massively successful singles career.
Team Hell No had their issues, but they had no issue getting over.
#1 The New Day
Of all the teams on this list, The New Day probably had the worst chances of ever making it work. They were doomed from the very beginning, and fans knew it. They had a silly gimmick with racially questionable undertones.
They had goofy music, and the gear to match. Their disgustingly positive attitudes were beyond belief, even for heels, and no one that watched WWE programming felt this was going anywhere but the bottom. The New Day was, perhaps, the worst gimmick WWE Creative had ever introduced.
Despite the odds, despite the whole world working against them, and despite WWE evidently booking them together because there just wasn’t another plan for them, The New Day got over. This was the point at which fans were reminded that truly anything can happen in WWE.
Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods took a mess and made it a masterpiece. They set off on a run that not only gave them a tag team title reign that could break Demolition’s record but one that is still going strong after two years.
They sell merchandise; they get laughs, and they’re having a blast. Fans that once hated them, now love them, and fans that could’ve turned on them by now, are still with them. The New Day is, perhaps, the biggest success story WWE has seen since Daniel Bryan, and they show no signs of stopping.
The New Day won’t last forever of course, but when it’s time to split them up, they will likely go out on top. They will also go out as one of the most surprisingly fun and popular tag teams that WWE fans have ever known.
Tom Clark can regularly be seen on Sportskeeda. His podcast, Tom Clark’s Main Event, is available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Android, Windows Phone and online here.
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