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Wacky Tag Teams

Brought this up in one of the threads but it got buried. What was the greatest "Wacky Tag Team" of all time? Wacky Tag Team meaning the two partners who couldn't get along team. Someone suggested Benoit and Angle which has to be up there. I thought Sabu and RVD deserved consideration too.

​Obviously Kane and Daniel Bryan ended up being pretty good.  My personal favorite was Steve Austin & Shawn Michaels in 1997, which sadly didn't play into their title match at WM14.  But man they had a great dynamic at the time.  ​

Comments

  1. So if Meltzer gave it ***1/2 it was really just a *** match.

    I've never understood how Meltzer was in a position to know everything about everything, I know very little about the guy beyond I don't agree with how he rates things. Has he ever stated who is contacts were back then as it always seems like he could claim anything and there is no way to know how true it is?

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  2. That King of the Ring 97 match was quite a way of reflecting their distrust of each other in the team for Austin/HBK

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  3. Ok.. I'm saying watching your guy lose 14 straight sucks. It's not a good story. It just sucked.

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  4. The whole Flair/Hogan thing in 1991 is weird to me. I was 12 years old at the time, and only had ever heard of Flair or the NWA/WCW from the occasional wrestling magazine, and even I knew Flair vs. Hogan was a HUGE deal... or should have been. Its incomprehensible to me, then AND now, that it wasn't bigger than it ended up being.

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  5. Well Hogan always did business for the rematch. He would lose by DQ or countout to do business for the return match when they came back into town where he would win. Sure that is probably the case here.

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  6. You know who else Hogan did the job for?

    THE MOUNTIE!!!!

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  7. Hogan/Warrior? That is, if you discount the revival in 1998.

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  8. It didn't. They fucking turned Bryan heel, the fans bitched loudly, Punk quit, so they switched plans to Bryan. There was no long term story planned. It was all random chance.

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  9. I didn't like that feud. Great match at WM 6 but Hogan never gets his rematch against Warrior because of stupid Tunney.

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  10. That feud was perfect. It's just too bad they had to sacrifice Punk's first title reign.

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  11. Punk was not over in his first reign and HBK/Michaels was the hottest thing in years.

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  12. Jericho legit punched Shawn's wife, too (accidenty). I wasn't into the product much then but that drew me back. Too bad Jericho just jobs to Cena at Survivor Series - he should have taken that reign to Mania.

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  13. I'd make a case for a Foley Vs Orton in 04

    From Orton spitting in Foley's face and mick running off a coward to his triumphant return at the rumble to enormous fun of the WM XX match where Foley was found wanting to him finally rediscovering his self respect as he went down fighting at Backlash.

    Not a single misstep in the whole thing and it ended with one of the greatest matches of Foley's career

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  14. see that's why I liked it so much once it was paid off - it wasn't just a kayfabe story but for the first time in years that fans actually pushed someone ahead of the company so when they finally decided to get behind him it was really satisfying. Again, I am fully aware that I am in the minority here.

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  15. The story is incomplete without Austin pinning Bret.

    No screwjob results in Bret-Austin at Mania and then you'd have a perfect feud.

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  16. Jake Vs. Undertaker went pretty well all around. Jake turns heel and recruits the devilish zombie man to aid him in his wickedness. But Jake is SO evil that the deadman develops a conscience and wants no part of him. So Jake laughs at him and locks his hand in a casket and beats up his manger. Undertaker is righteously pissed off by this and beats Jake so badly that he not only leaves the promotion, but sinks into a 20 year drug fuelled depression that threatens to claim his life until a funny little yoga man appears to save him.

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  17. I think Kane and XPac could be considered wacky at the beginning of their teaming.

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  18. I was in the crowd live for that, it was awesome. It took a second, because I wanted a match, not an interview segment, but by the end it didn't matter.

    And I don't disagree that Punk wasn't as hot as HBK/Y2J, but Punk is what drew me back. However, Jericho is my all time favorite, so I didn't care that much.

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  19. My personal choice is Angle-Benoit. I always loved the dynamic of two guys who thought they were the best in the world (and likely were at the time!) going out and constantly trying to one-up each other. They can't get along because each one wants to prove himself the better wrestler? Simple and effective storytelling.

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  20. Well, thank God Bryan got his payback, unlike Punk or Ryder.

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  21. Dude Love and Austin

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  22. Heyman, Foley, then everyone else.

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  23. Punk should have at least eaten the pin ... the way they did it sucked. But getting the title off him and on to Jericho was 100% the right move.

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  24. The only Flair match I watched prior to WWF was against JYD at the Clash. Don't judge, haters.

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  25. How about the worst

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  26. "Heyman, Heyman, Gordon Corp."

    Worst law firm ever.

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  27. They actually went with this finish at a MSG show in October (?) 1991 that was actually televised on MSG Network across the New York metropolitan area. I think the next MSG match happened around New Year's with Hogan winning by DQ or countout I can't remember. Even being 15 at the time I never understood why they just gave Flair - Hogan away for free. I could be absolutely wrong but I don't believe they gave away Hogan - Warrior at house shows prior to WM6, Hogan-Savage ahead of WM 5 (after SNME) and Hogan - Andre ahead of WM 3. Seemed rather short-sighted awful business-wise. Took away a lot of the drama and anticipation. And not like these were secondary markets to try things out. They gave away Flair - Hogan in NYC, LA and Chicago too I think.

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  28. The fans actually won that though. Well... once anyway.

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  29. I only started watching flair in 1990 because that is when I first got cable. Thus, I had only seen a few of his matches before his WWF entry.

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  30. To this day I'm still confused as to how a Hogan vs. Flair house show run didn't work. Was it solely because a lot of WWF fans (a lot of them kids, perhaps) just wasn't familiar with Flair enough to know how big of a showdown this was?

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  31. 1998 Raven & Saturn was terrific, by 1999 they were teaming again and it wasn't the same psychology. In 1998 Cult leader Raven stands on the apron not giving a shit, Saturn does all the work, bitches at Raven, tags him in, Raven hits the Evenflow, pins the man, leaves STILL not giving a shit, Saturn leaves just happy they won. So great, it lasted about two weeks. Because, you know, WCW.

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  32. I don't know how in the world anyone says anything other than Rock & Sock Connection.

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  33. The payoff was great but all the bs leading up to it was pretty bad.

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  34. Goldust and Booker T were a hell of a lot of fun. They had great chemistry that I did not expect.

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  35. Head Cheese [/Thread over]

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  36. Here's two classic promos from the short-lived HBK/Austin team prior to King of the Ring '97:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwLCf-Uuj7A

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fayXLxQC9R0

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  37. Bret vs. Lawler. King of the Ring '93 through Summerlsam '93. Just perfect. Yeah they tried to stretch it out to Survivor Series '93 (until Lawler got charged with statutory rape) and they rekindled it in '95 (cause 1995 sucks). But that short stretch from KOTR through SS'93 is fucking gold. Not to mention the USWA stuff that went on during that span too.

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  38. Heyman was great at this ... Benoit and Angle were booked liked that too when the blue tag titles were first introduced.

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  39. Booker T and Goldust deserve some mention. One of the few times I've liked Booker T.

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  40. Raven and Saturn don't really feel like an oddball pairing though. Similar gimmicks and characters, similar background, seem like they belong together.

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  41. What's worse is that if Ambrose had won that feud like he should have he would be a viable contender to the title right now when there are zero credible faces.

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  42. Punk had absolutely zero business with the title in 2008. Way, way too early and I couldn't stand Punk at all until the SES stuff. Really resented that he won the belt; all the stuff they reject for being too indyish and they gave long hair Punk the strap?

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  43. Jake and Savage ... I feel like that feud needed some 20 minute blood-filled brawl and instead we got a Saturday Night's Man Event blow-off.

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  44. This is my vote. Booker T and Goldust at the Movies.

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  45. Agree with this. Great story, a and I don't give a shit that it wasn't the original plan. What ends up on screen is what matters to me.

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  46. Yep WWE knew the fans were starting to go rabid for him and they put a stop to that quickly.

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  47. Raven - Tommy Dreamer (Raven's first run) - I thought this feud was amazing. Raven was so great back then. Tommy went from being Roman Reigns to being the ultimate babyface. The Stevie/Raven stuff was also epic.

    Raven - CM Punk - This feud was great in sooooo many ways. The promos were epic; the Second City Saints were formed; and the blow off match was incredible. This is where CM Punk first looked like a super duper star.

    Samoa Joe - CM Punk - The promos were great, obviously, but the matches were something truly special. Punk/Joe 2 is the best match I've ever seen.

    The Danelson/Homicide feud - This was really special to see happen. Homicide had been the one guy who had Danielson's number in the days before Danielson was Best in the World. Joe went after Danielson with everything he had, but Danielson was always a step ahead of him. Homicide was a monster, but he was our monster, with only Cornette standing in his way. Such a great feud.


    Jimmy Jacobs/ BJ Whitmer was pretty great, too. I dunno..those are just some of the great ones I could think of.

    I'm not trying to be a pretentious indie jerk.... I just think the indies allow guys to really have a hand in their own feuds and they end up booking like the fan they still were a year or two before.

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  48. Punk was over before the title reign, but then they treated him like a total secondary champion and killed all of his heat in the process.

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  49. Piper-Adonis. So many connections - Orton, Muraco, Beefcake, and ends with Piper winning and Beefcake getting revenge/turning face.

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  50. 'Warrior v. Savage had a terrific story progression in 91. And one of the greatest payoffs of any wrestling storyline, ever!"

    He means Crying Glasses Kid

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  51. I liked Shawn and Austin to. It was the tag team champions who hate each other I remember so it was actually fresh at the time.

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  52. Sting vs The Four Horsemen

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  53. Easily Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol/Tommy Rich. Went the perfect amount of time, with an awesome FALSE blowoff cage match, and culminated in a scaffold match with Rich getting his arm broken, and Dangerously getting hospitalized

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  54. I spent a night going on youtube through all of his podcasts he did with Jericho and others.
    It is entertaining when he talks about when he was booking for Smackdown.
    I've always loved him since the Dangerous Alliance. How bad does Curtis Axel have to be when Heyman can't even get him over? Sucks if the rumors are true that him and Brock won't be back until July when they start promoting Summerslam.

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  55. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogApril 6, 2015 at 10:39 AM

    Kane & Xpac in 99
    Team Hell No
    Warrior & Savage
    Benoit & Angle
    Raven& Dreamer

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  56. I remember a great line in WWE Magazine: "Never has a team with so much mutual hate achieved so much success together."

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  57. I did love when Dreamer faces the Dudleyz alone before they jump to WWF in '99, getting his ass kicked but Raven (in WCW just weeks before) shows up out of nowhere to help him win the belts. Just the idea of the men in the greatest feud in ECW history now champions was great and loved Joey Styles selling it: "Tommy Dreamer has finally won an ECW title but he has to share it with the man he hates most in the world!"

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  58. CruelConnectionNumber2April 6, 2015 at 10:55 AM

    Kane & X-Pac, Booker T & Goldust, Stone Cold & Dude Love

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  59. CruelConnectionNumber2April 6, 2015 at 10:55 AM

    That killed Raven dead. Raven as a babyface was the lamest thing ever and fizzled out in like 3 months.

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  60. CruelConnectionNumber2April 6, 2015 at 10:58 AM

    Do you recall the run-in at the beginning of their match?

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  61. My favorite, is Batista turning on Evolution...SO good, you could see it coming a mile away, but executed so perfectly, it was still a satisfying payoff.

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  62. Has anyone been in more oddball teams than Kane? He tagged with Mankind, X-Pac, RVD & Bryan and I'm pretty sure I'm missing at least one more "wacky" team up. He's captain wacky.

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  63. Sting and Lex Luger in 1995. I always liked the dynamic between the two and how Luger was a heel but stayed loyal (to a degree) to his friend, Sting. It was a nice twist on the usual formula where a guy turns heel and then all of sudden his old face friends all hate him, even if the turn had nothing to do with him. Luger turned on Savage and Hogan, not Sting. Why should Sting hate or resent him for that? They had their trust issues, obviously, and the matches were interesting because Luger would cheat and cut corners and Sting would take issue with that. I thought WWE was trying to go this route with Kane and X-Pac where X-Pac promised Kane that they'd still be partners and friends even though X-Pac was joining up with a heel-turned DX. But they just had X-Pac turn on him.

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  64. Which went on for years.

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  65. Savage/Steamboat was great.

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  66. Not since Shaq and Kobe.

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  67. A person being a terrible boss doesn't equal being a terrible person. And it doesn't even mean that they were a terrible boss, just that there way of doing things clashed with your way.

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  68. Now reading this, Steph was 100% in the right here. Unless he had PTO and put in for it well in advance. Sounds like he's just a lazy fuck who doesn't get that work means working.

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  69. He and Big Show won the tag belts in '05, which was kinda wacky since they were put together as a result of "losing" the top contender vote at Taboo Tuesday.

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  70. He and Bryan were getting Austin/Rock level reactions before they killed them dead and sent them to IC title hell.

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  71. The child who fell over the rail?

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  72. That's a good one. I felt like the Batista portion of the Evolution story was handled perfectly. It was a very enjoyable story.

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  73. Rock's farewell tour of 2003. He puts Brock over like a champ to become a movie star. Returns to get victories over both legends like Hogan and Austin before jobbing out to Goldberg. Outside of 2004, that was it.

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  74. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogApril 6, 2015 at 11:45 AM

    Kayfabe-wise, Flair vs. Luger, at least the first phase in NWA/WCW. Luger fails at Bash '88 and again at Starrcade '88. Then he can't get the job done in early 1990. He's supposed to finally beat Flair at Bash '91, but Flair gets fired before it can happen. From his WCW return in 1995 on, it just didn't really matter anymore.

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  75. Hogan destroying Randy Orton. I always dreamed the end of the "legend killer" gimmick would be Hogan coming back and destroying Orton and it happened!!!!

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  76. What was the C M Punk pipe bomb match all about. I didn't watch the WWE then and I really don't watch it now.

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  77. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogApril 6, 2015 at 11:53 AM

    Biggest feuds with worst payoffs? Pretty much every big Sting feud ever.
    - He beats Flair at Bash '90, only to job the belt back by the end of the year and move back to mid-card stuff.
    - Despite the awesome series of matches, it's not Sting who finally gets the big win at the end of '93. That's Flair. Sting beat him here and there, but Flair got the definitive wins to end Vader's monster run.
    - Sting gets the back seat while Hogan & Savage are up top, never getting an important win over either one in '95/95.
    - Gets the biggest angle and feud of his career with Hogan...then they shit the bed in the Starrcade '97 payoff.
    - He finally gets the title at SuperBrawl, but doesn't get to be the guy to kill off the nWo.
    - Makes his big debut in WWE, only to lay down in a cartoonish match with HHH at Wrestlemania 31.

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  78. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogApril 6, 2015 at 11:54 AM

    Absolutely. Orton should have gotten a chip on his shoulder after the Taker loss at Mania 21, then get his big definitive "Legend Killer" moments against Hogan, Flair, etc.

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  79. Worked better than Orton. And I kind of loved the John Cena feud with Carlitos and "Hey Zeus." (Which is spelled Jesus)

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  80. Head Cheese was bad-good.

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  81. The New Age Outlaws would qualify wouldn't they or are they in the thrown together after their previous gimmicks flamed out pile?

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  82. Pretty sure the latter, classic case of two guys doing nothing, they just put together and somehow it turned great.

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  83. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogApril 6, 2015 at 12:15 PM

    1. Sting & Lex Luger
    2. The Rock & Mankind
    3. Booker T. & Goldust
    4. Kane & Daniel Bryan
    5. Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit

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  84. I really, really, really hate the "wacky tag partners who don't get along" gimmick. Not to my tastes at all.

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  85. They had feuded, but by the time they got together, they were both heels and got along from Day One, so I wouldn't classify them as "wacky tag partners who don't get along."

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  86. Austin-Bret. Probably moreso in hindsight, because I know the Austin/Hart Foundation stuff went on for a while. Or maybe the monster double-turn kept it relatively fresh. But yeah, Austin and Bret were so good against each other.

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  87. WWE vs The Fans


    The feud that never ends.

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  88. To be fair, he's also been around (and in a prominent role) for about twenty years.

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  89. Very underrated pairing from the wasteland era of 2007-2010: Matt Hardy and MVP quietly brought some life to the "wacky tag partners" idea.

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  90. "You damn right it sound delicious!"

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  91. AverageJoeEverymanApril 6, 2015 at 2:21 PM

    He should have gone back to WCW, it was where the big boys played. Just look at the adjective. . . .

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  92. AverageJoeEverymanApril 6, 2015 at 2:22 PM

    BIG SHOW'S JEW VOICE!!

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  93. Oh, I agree. I'm just saying putting him with Heyman was a bad idea unless they were turning Heyman face at the time, which clearly wasn't in the cards.

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  94. AverageJoeEverymanApril 6, 2015 at 3:02 PM

    PICK ME STEEEEVE!

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  95. Came in to say this.

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  96. Oh, that's gold - Austin almost cracks a smile when HBK takes a shot at Vince.

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  97. I guess you have to be in the business in order to understand it, but how you can just cut the feet off of 2 of the most popular guys to ever come along for a 50+ year old who wrestles once a year is puzzling. I mean we're not talking about Zach Ryder here, these guys are future main eventers. It's like a fast food resteraunt that has this food that everyone loves and you discontinue it and say "no no, you'll have this instead". But like I said I guess you need to be in the business because as a person outside looking in it makes no sense whatsoever. And according to everything ive read Vince likes Dean amd Bray. Jeez!

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  98. Dean and Bray were specifically named as people he approved in his infamous "Brass Ring" response.


    Although not sure if the fast food analogy is apt. The amount of insanely popular fast food items with good sales and demand for a comeback that got dropped for strange reasons is legion.

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  99. https://mitchandal.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/img_1721.png

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  100. Don't forget HurriKane!

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  101. From 88-91. That was a nice arc. Only time they feuded again was 95

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  102. Rock and Mankind. Too bad they had no one to feud with.

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  103. Rock has to be on some kind of Top 5 list.

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  104. Has to be HBK v Jericho for me. It's seeds were actually planted in Jan/Feb 2008, ran a whole year , encompassed lots of different story points and culminated in the HBK v Jericho title match which had the great twist of the heel actually winning out.


    The start point was essentially Mcmahon telling Flair that next time he loses he retires, this transitioned into the WM retirement match, then Batista looking disapprovingly at HBK on Flairs retirement celebration, the Batista v HBK match with Jericho as referee and subsequent knee tweak, Jericho calling out HBK, the Jeritron heel turn, the birth of one of the most fantastic heel characters of all time (since copied by , well, everyone), Rebecca getting punched and culminating in the matches between the two.


    From start to finish it was logical, progressed and build fantastically and was never rushed. Absolutely perfect.

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