Tag Teams are a fundamental piece of the pro wrestling business. Without it, every wrestling event is incomplete.
Not only do the competitors inside the ring need to have chemistry with who they're facing, but they also need to have even more of it with the man or woman that's in their corner. The trick of getting that balance just right is likely why the success and popularity of tag team wrestling is never a constant in WWE.
A lot of the time, creating that perfect team isn't as simple as putting together two Superstars that seem like a good fit for one another.
However, some tag teams were like the coming together of the north and south – as the paired WWE stars were polar opposites of each other. These combinations were indeed insane and despite the lack of co-ordination, these tag teams ended up entertaining the WWE Universe.
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2019 has been an year where we've seen many unlikely alliances inside the squared circle. In this article, let's take a look at 7 tag teams we never expected to see in WWE.
#7 Shane McMahon and The Miz
The WWE Universe never could have predicted The A-Lister and The Best In The World coming together. Last year at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, The Miz faced Dolph Ziggler in the WWE World Cup. However, The A-Lister got injured during the match and could not continue to wrestle.
Eventually, Shane McMahon came out to replace The Miz in the match to save SmackDown from a humiliating loss. McMahon went on to win the tournament which led to The Miz asking McMahon to team up with him.
After a whole month of persuasion by The Miz, Shane finally agreed to be The Miz's partner at the end of 2018. Their official run as a tag team started this year, and they even went on to win the SmackDown Tag titles.
However, their team did not last long, as McMahon turned on The Miz and gave him a vicious beating after they lost the titles. Their rivalry went as far as facing each other at WrestleMania this year.
#6 The Kabuki Warriors
Asuka's undefeated streak was broken by Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34, when she challenged The Queen to a title match at the 'Grandest Stage of Them All'. After losing to Flair, The Empress Of Tomorrow lost the momentum she had built up from her NXT days.
Almost the whole of 2018 passed and we did not see Asuka where she arguably belonged. Finally, at the end of the year, WWE added Asuka to a match between Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch to make it a triple-threat bout for the SmackDown Women's Championship. It was a pretty unexpected move and sparked a lot of interest among the fans.
Surprisingly, the underdog Asuka won the title at the TLC PPV. However, WWE dropped the ball with her, and made her lose the title to Charlotte Flair just before WrestleMania, which was pretty disappointing.
Once again, WWE did the unexpected and put her in the tag team division post-WrestleMania. After winning the inaugural Mae Young Classic and then the NXT Women's Championship, Kairi Sane arrived on the main roster to join forces with Asuka.
Sane and Asuka, also known as The Kabuki Warriors, are now one of the most popular tag teams in WWE. It was looking like that they would be the ones to dethrone The IIconics as the Women's Tag Team Champions, but unfortunately, that did not happen.
The Kabuki Warriors are often seen on WWE programming and will surely be the top team in the WWE Women's Tag Team division in the future.
#5 Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman
Seth Rollins lived up to his nickname 'The Beast Slayer', and defeated Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam this year. While no one expected an injured Rollins to get a second win over The Beast Incarnate in the same year, WWE surprised us all with the result of the match.
The following night on RAW, AJ Styles stepped up to the Universal Champion and faced him in a champion vs. champion match in the main event. The match had a familiar ending, where Gallows and Anderson interrupted Rollins during the match and beat him down.
What we didn't see coming was an interruption from The Monster Among Men. Just when The OC was about to lay out the champ, Braun Strowman came out to make the save.
Strowman's interruption led to a match between him and The Phenomenal One for the United States Championship last week on RAW. The bout ended with The Good Brothers costing Strowman the US title. The OC tried to avenge what Strowman did to them, but Seth Rollins came out and returned Strowman's favor to him.
Rollins and Strowman helping each other led to the two men teaming up against Gallows and Anderson, and winning the RAW Tag Team titles later that night.
#4 Randy Orton and The Revival
Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton has been in the making for over 10 years and now they've come face-to-face once again. In fact, the WWE Champion locked horns with The Viper at the 'Biggest Party of the Summer' just a couple of weeks ago.
One advantage which Kingston always had over Orton during their current feud was that the WWE Champion had Big E and Xavier Woods by his side, while The Apex Predator was on his own. However, the SmackDown after SummerSlam saw the formation of a very dangerous alliance.
After losing the RAW Tag Team Championship to Gallows and Anderson, The Revival decided to go after the SmackDown Tag Team Champions, The New Day. Woods and Big E were set to face The Revival on SmackDown, but The Viper came out and convinced Kofi Kingston to join his brothers, while he himself would join The Revival to make it a six-man tag team match.
With a common aim to take down The New Day, Orton and The Revival found themselves as a pretty good alliance. After the match, The Revival helped Orton to take out each member of The New Day with an RKO.
The Revival has helped The Viper in brutalizing The New Day over the past few weeks on RAW and SmackDown. It looks like this alliance will be the one to look out for in the near future.
#3 Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross
Currently the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross are a duo nobody ever expected to see in the WWE.
Alexa Bliss is one of the most talented female wrestlers in WWE. But unfortunately, she suffered a concussion last summer and was seen less often in the ring. WWE did not completely take her off TV while she was healing up, instead they gave her a non-wrestling role for several months.
Bliss was ready to step in the squared circle by WrestleMania 35, but WWE did not let her wrestle and made her the host of the 'Grandest Stage of Them All' earlier this year. Bliss who was once a main event star did not do much after healing up until she crossed paths with the bizarre Nikki Cross.
Nikki Cross made her debut on SmackDown last year against Becky Lynch, and impressed everyone in her first ever match on the main roster. Cross did not do much on the blue brand and moved to RAW during the Superstar Shakeup several months ago.
Finally, Bliss and Cross met on the red brand and gradually formed an unlikely alliance. Despite The Goddess' mean character, she fit in very well with the bizarre Scot.
They went on to face Bayley for the SmackDown Women's title at the Extreme Rules PPV back in July, but failed to capture the title. However, they are now on top of the Women's Tag Team division in WWE after dethroning The IIconics as champions.
#2 Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler
This week on RAW, we saw the formation of an alliance we thought we'd never see in the WWE. Once bitter enemies, Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler showed up on this week's RAW as a tag team, which was not seen coming by anyone.
It's been quite an unpredictable year for Dolph Ziggler. Although The Showoff isn't getting a very big push from WWE, he has been involved in pretty relevant storylines over the past couple of months.
Ziggler faced Kofi Kingston twice for the WWE Championship this year, first at WWE Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia, and then at the Stomping Grounds pay-per-view which took place a few weeks after the event in Saudi Arabia.
WWE also enhanced Ziggler's "Legend Killer" gimmick this year by putting him in segments with legendary wrestlers like Shawn Michaels and Goldberg. He even went on to face the latter at SummerSlam this year.
On the other hand, Robert Roode was going in no direction before joining forces with The Showoff. He teamed up with Chad Gable over the past year and won the RAW Tag Team titles, but that did not last long. The Glorious One once again had nothing to do when Gable moved to SmackDown during the Superstar Shakeup.
However, he once again ended up in the Tag Team division, but this time he will have Ziggler by his side. Just after their first match together, Roode and Ziggler already have a big opportunity ahead of them at the Clash Of Champions pay-per-view, where they will face Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman for the RAW Tag Team titles.
#1 The Undertaker and Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns has been on a roll since returning to the ring earlier this year. The Big Dog is one of the wrestlers who is now carrying WWE's mid-card in 2019. The way WWE is booking him has been really intriguing to watch.
After defeating Drew McIntyre in his return match at WrestleMania 35, Reigns was involved in a rivalry against Shane McMahon. However, McMahon wasn't alone, he used Elias and McIntyre as a back-up throughout the entire rivalry.
The former WWE Champion went on to face Shane-O-Mac at WWE Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia this year. Everyone expected Reigns to win the bout, but WWE pulled a swerve and gave the win to McMahon, who got a little assistance from The Scottish Psychopath.
As the rivalry proceeded, the numbers game was turning out to be a disadvantage for The Big Dog.
The tables turned on the RAW after WWE Stomping Grounds when The Undertaker made an unexpected appearance on the show to save Reigns from an assault by Shane and McIntyre. The Phenom showing up was very unpredictable after how his match with Goldberg went down at WWE Super ShowDown.
Reigns and Taker teamed up to face McIntyre and Shane in a No Holds Barred match at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view. The Deadman and The Big Dog got a victory over their opponents to end their one-time alliance.
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