Who is the most prolific tag team wrestler

In my lifetime there have been a few teams with longevity that is unreal.  For example The Rock n' Roll Express have been teaming since 1983 and are still going strong and The Road Warriors and The Dudley Boys were together for twenty years.

I'm a big fan of tag team wrestling and some wrestlers are better at it than others.  Some guys, like Billy Gunn, are good singles wrestlers but great tag team wrestlers.  In this post I take a look at wrestlers who excelled at tag team wrestling with different partners. 

"Enforcer" Arn Anderson
A member of the legendary Four Horsemen and Anderson Family "The Enforcer" first began teaming with Jerry Stubbs in the Alabama territory Southeast Championship Wrestling capturing the NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship three times.  He had a fourth title reign with Pat Rose before leaving for Jim Crockett Promotions.

Once he arrived in the Carolina's he began teaming with Ole Anderson as The Minnesota Wrecking Crew.  Together the Anderson's captured the NWA National Tag Team Championships on April 28, 1985 holding them until early 1986 when Ole was injured.  The titles were later abandoned and replaced with the United States Tag Team Championships.

Next Anderson began teaming with Tully Blanchard, one of the greatest tag team of all time.  The duo would capture two NWA and one WWF World Tag Team Championships.  In the WWF Anderson and Blanchard were known as the Brain Busters.  Returning to WCW Anderson held the WCW World Tag Team Championships with Larry Zbyszko, "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, and Paul Roma.

In total Anderson had 11 reigns as Tag Team Champion with 7 different partners.

Stan Lane
Stan Lane was a Fabulous One, a Heavenly Body, a former member of the Midnight Express, and a 33 time tag team champion.

From 1982 until 1987 Steve Keirn and Stan Lane teamed as the Fabulous Ones touring the Southern territories and setting them on fire.  They captured the tag team championships twenty times in four different promotions including becoming 15 time AWA Southern Champions.  After breaking up they reunited briefly in 1991 in the USWA adding championship to their Legacy.

Lane joined the Midnight Express in early 1987 and it didn't take long for the duo to win tag team gold as he and partner Bobby Eaton defeated Ronnie Garvin & Barry Windham just four months after their formation.  They would hold the US Tag Team titles twice and the World Tag Team Championships one time during their near four year run as partners.

 April 9, 1992 Lane arrived in Smoky Mountain wrestling teaming with Tom Prichard to form The Heavenly Bodies managed by Jim Cornette.  The were the first ever SMW Tag Team Champions and just over a year later in May 1993 Lane left the team having held the titles five times.

In an interesting twist, Stan Lane wrestled his first match as a member of the Midnight Express on January 1, 1987 in Atlanta for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and is final match as a member of The Fabulous Ones in a Barbed-Wire Cage Match in the CWA on February 16, 1987.

"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton
Best known as being one half of the Midnight Express with "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey and later "Sweet" Stan Lane, Eaton has 23 reigns as tag team champion with ten different partners.

With Dennis Condrey they held 7 different championships a total of nine times ranging from little known regional and independent titles and the NWA World Tag Team Championship 3 times. With Stan Lane the duo held the NWA United States Tag Team Championships three times and the NWA World Tag Team Championship once.

Eaton held tag team championships with "Enforcer" Arn Anderson, Rikki Nelson, Sweet Brown Sugar, Duke Myers, Lanny Poffo, George Gulas, Mexican Angel, Great Togo, and others.

Billy Gunn
Gunn had three long term tag team partners starting with Bart Gunn than the Road Dog Jesse James and finally Chuck Palumbo.  With these three partners Gunn held six different championships 16 times.

As one half of the Smoking Gunns in the WWE they are three time tag team champions.  Prior to joining the WWE they wrestled as The Long Riders holding the International Wrestling Federation tag team championships twice.  They teamed together just for 3.5 years.

Gunn first teamed with Road Dogg Jesse James on the October 4, 1997 episode of Monday Night Raw.  over the next 18 years the duo would team on and off in multiple promotions including the WWE, TNA, and a few dozen independent promotions.  Known primarily as New Age Outlaws and being a part of Degeneration-X they also teamed under the names James Gang and Voodoo Kin Mafia in TNA.

In between his time teaming with Road Dogg, Gunn teamed with Chuck Palumbo under the tag team Billy & Chuck.  The duo were only together for about a year holding the World Tag Team Championships two times.  They created a tremendous buzz as their characters portrayed being in a relationship together.

Other men holding multiple tag team championships with different partners includes

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Roy's Review: Ring of Honor Midnight Express Reunion

Here is my review of ROH's Midnight Express Reunion on October 2, 2004.

Match 1: Tag Team Champions: The Rottweilers: Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes w/Julius Smokes defeated Special K: Izzy & Angeldust w/Lacy, Becky Bayless, Dixie and Cheech to retain

This was a solid match. Nothing really great but solid. This was the first time I've really seen Special K actually hang with another team. Reyes pinned Angeldust after a double guillotine knee drop off the top. After the match Lacey and Becky got into a fight that was broken up the rest of Special K.
6.5/10

Match 2: Jimmy Rave w/Prince Nana and The Outcast Killers defeated Trent Acid, BJ Whitmer and Josh Daniels in a Four Corner's Survival Match

This was okay but not really anything special. There wasn't really any of the fast paced chaos you would expect from a match like this, especially with the names in this one. Throughout the match you could hear Allison Danger, who was at ringside, yell to kill Whitmer. She is still pissed that he quit The Prophecy. Prince Nana grabbed the mic, near the end, and was talking about some random shit I couldn't understand. This was enough of a distraction for Rave to get the win with a Rave Clash on Acid. After the match Allison Danger begged the Embassy to kill Whitmer but they left. Then out of nowhere, The Carnage Crew comes out and annihilates Whitmer, but putting a trash can over his head and beating it with baseball bats. They are pissed that Mick Foley called Whitmer and Maff the Ring of Hardcore and not them.
6.25/10

Match 3: Low Ki w/Julius Smokes defeated Jay Lethal

This match continues with the what seems like the theme of the night, a decent match but nothing really more than that. This is the 3rd match I have seen with Low Ki as a member of the Rottweilers and I've decided that he is really boring with the group. He was way better as a bad ass face. During the match Smokes and Ki taunted and even spit on Lethal's mother, who was in the front row. This really fired up the crowd. Ki got the win with a Dragon Sleeper. After the match he hit Lethal with a vicious head kick.
6.75/10

Match 4: Nigel McGuinness defeated Homicide w/Julius Smokes

A great technical performance from Nigel but the match was kinda boring because it was so one sided. Homicide didn't really get much offense in but when he did, he did a great job of selling his arm injury. Nigel go the win with a surprise roll up.
6.5/10

Match 5: Generation Next: Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Jack Evans defeated CM Punk, Ace Steel, John Walters & Jimmy Jacobs w/Ricky Steamboat in an Elimination Match

A good solid match and I really liked the fact that it went about 35 minutes. I can't stand elimination matches that only go about 10-15 minutes. There is no time to build anything. Jimmy Jacobs took a massive beating and was out first. About 5+ minutes later Ace eliminates Evans after a Spinal Shock. 40 seconds later Aries eliminates Ace after a crucifix bomb. Strong introduces a chair that Punk intercepts but gets caught using it and is DQed.

Steamboat gets pissed because he had given a promo about how he hates the garbage wrestling that Mick Foley did and Punk did just that by using a chair. This was a really stupid way for Punk to be eliminated. Walters is left 3 on 1. Walters did manage to eliminate Strong after 3 back stabbers. Strong then tried to introduced a chair again but was intercepted by Steamboat and they battled to the back. Walters then gets dominated by Shelley and Aries and finally goes down after a 450 Splash from Aries. After the match Shelley and Aries argued over who was gonna take the ROH Title from Samoa Joe.
7/10

Midnight Express Reunion

In Ring: Jim Cornette, Bobby Eaton, Stan Lane and Dennis Condrey come out talk about how much they like working with each other and how great they thought ROH was. Cornette says that the only one missing was Big Bubba. Prince Nana then comes out and says that he has a new member of the Embassy. Out comes Ricky Morton with Jimmy Rave and The Outcast Killers. Morton says that ROH shouldn't be honoring The Midnight Express because they only won the tag titles twice and the Rock N' Roll Express won the 5 times. Not mention The Rock N' Roll kicked their ass the last time they were in Philadelphia. Cornette and Morton then go back and forth with a good verbal battle. This leads to a brawl between The Embassy and The Midnight Express. The Express fight off Rave and the Outcast Killers. Morton the shoves Prince Nana to the wolves so he can make his getaway. The Express then annihilates him with a Rocket Launcher. Cornette then puts on his crown. Good segment. Very entertaining.

Match 6: Ring of Honor Champion: Samoa Joe defeated "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson to retain

Great match. Check this one out. Tons of great techincal wrestling with a bunch of ringside brawling mixed in. Danielson even called Joe a Mother F*cker, which really surprised me. Danielson fought extremely hard but ended up tapping to a Coquina Clutch. After the match CM Punk comes out and says he wants a rematch with Joe because he was the only man that Joe hasn't beaten since he became champion. Danielson then said that Punk's match wasn't as hard as his and he deserves a rematch more.

Generation Next then comes out and attacks Punk. Joe and Danielson just watch. Aries got in their faces so they joined in the fight. The Rottweilers then join the fight, taunting Joe with his stolen title belt. The fight continues until Low Ki and Danielson stare down Joe. Danielson then announces his partner will be Low Ki in the match vs. Joe and Jushin Liger.
9/10

Overall this show scored a 42 out of 60 for an overall score of 70%. Check this show out for two things. The Midnight Express segment and the Title match. Both were great.

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Smoky Mountain Wrestling in WCW & the WWE

 

Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a wrestling territory based out of Knoxville, TN that operated from October 1991 to December 1995 and it was run by one of the best talkers in the business James E. Cornette. 

Smoky Mountain was a traditional southern style wrestling territory that ran with the simply black and white formula of the good guys vs. the bad guys at a time when wrestling was beginning to shift to shades of gray. 

The top stars of the promotion were Brian Lee, The Dirty White Boy, Tracy Smothers, The Rock N Roll Express, The Heavenly Bodies and more.  The Heavenly Bodies has two incarnations, the first of Stan Lane & Dr. Tom Pritchard and the second Jimmy Del Ray taking over to Stan Lane.  Smoky Mountain was also the major American debut for Chris Jericho & Lance Storm as The Thrillseekers. 

For me one of the most unique things that Smoky Mountain managed to pull off was in 1993 when Jim Cornette used his connections to get SMW wrestlers and matches on major WCW & WWE Pay Per View events just a few months apart.

SMW Tag Team Champions: The Heavenly Bodies: Stan Lane & Dr. Tom Prichard lost two matches to Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton the Rock N Roll Express the first by disqualification on the February 6^th edition of WCW Saturday Night.  The second was a non-title match at the Superbrawl III pay-per-view on February 21^st.

Starting with at television taping in Alexandria Bay, New York on July 25, 1993 Smoky Mountain Wrestling started a working relationship with the WWE with Cornette appearing on WWE programing issuing a challenge to The WWE Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers on behalf of the Heavenly Bodies, now comprised of Dr. Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray.  On this card The Heavenly Bodies defeated Bobby Who & Mike Bucci, this matched aired on the 8/9/1993 episode of RAW.

July 26, 1993 in Utica, NY Superstars television taping:

Dark Match: Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers defeated the Heavenly Bodies by disqualification when Jim Cornette interfered.

Aired 8/14/93: The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette defeated Bert Centeno & Rich Meyers

Aired 8/28/93: The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette defeated Tony Roy & Jason Headings

July 27, 1993 Plattsburg, NY Wrestling Challenge & All American Wrestling television taping:

Aired 8/15/93: The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette defeated Virgil & Glen Ruth

Aired 8/22/93: The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette defeated Darren Trujillo & Curt Sloan

Summer Slam, August 30, 1993 Auburn Hills, MI

Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers defeated The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette

August 31, 1993 Grand Rapids, MI Superstars television taping:

Aired 9/19/93: The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette defeated the Smoking Gunns after Cornette hit Bart with his tennis racquet.

Aired 10/2/93: The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette defeated Reno Riggins & John Paul

So Far the Heavenly Bodies were representing the Smoky Mountain Wrestling and the WWE built them as contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship, something that would never happen today.  It would be like if REDragon: Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly from ROH were brought in and given a push to contend for the belts.

At the next set of tapings the Smoky Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Champions: The Rock n’ Roll Express: Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson were brought in to build towards a match against the Bodies on a WWE PPV.  That’s right WWE let another company build a program to between two tag teams that lead to a championship match on a WWE PPV something that would never happen today.

September 27, 1993 New Haven, CT Monday Night Raw taping:

Aired 10/4/93: The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette defeated Mark Taylor & Scott Thomas

Aired 10/11/93: SMW Tag Team Champions: The Rock n’ Roll Express defeated Duane Gill & Barry Hardy

September 28, 1993 Worcester, MA Superstars taping:

Aired 10/30/93: The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette defeated PJ Walker & Mark Thomas, during the match in an insert promo the SMW Tag Team Champions: The Rock n’ Roll Express cut a promo about facing the Bodies a the Survivor Series.

Aired 10/23/93 SMW Tag Team Champions: The Rock n’ Roll Express defeated Flex Armstrong & Richie Rich

September 29, 1993 Portland, ME Wrestling Challenge & All American Wrestling taping:

Aired 10/17/93: The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette defeated Tom McNeany & Ray Roy

Aired 10/10/93: Well Dunn w/ Harvey Wippleman defeated the SMW Tag Team Champions: The Rock n’ Roll Express via count-out The Heavenly Bodies attacked Gibson in the aisle.

For some reason the WWE had the Rock n’ Roll Express do a house show tour leading up to the Survivor Series, and yet they had them lose every night.

November 18, 1993 Niagara Falls, NY House Show

November 19, 1993 Syracuse, NY House Show

November 20, 1993 Philadelphia, PA

November 21, 1993 Hartford, CT

The Headshrinkers defeated the SMW Tag Team Champions: The Rock n’ Roll Express in a non-title match

Survivor Series, November 24, 1993 Boston, MA Boston Garden

The Heavenly Bodies w/ Jim Cornette defeated SMW Tag Team Champions: Rock n’ Roll Express to win the championships.  Jim Ross noted in commentary the Cornette had been feuding with the Rock n’ Roll Express for 10 years starting with the Midnight Express.  Also because the match was under WWE rules there was no disqualification when Ricky Morton was thrown over the top rope to the floor, which was against the rules in Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

This essentially ended the run of Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the WWE.  In Early 1994 the Bodies were the SMW Tag Team Champions and made a couple defenses on WWE Television against jobbers.  Through-out 1994 The Heavenly Bodies competed in the WWE, the mostly defeated jobbers at television tapings and lost on the house show tours to either the Bushwackers or Smoking Gunns.   They also continued to appear through the Summer of 1995 and appeared on a couple In Your House PPV’s.   The Heavenly Bodies were the last Smoky Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Champions defeating The Dirty White Boy & Tracy Smothers on August 4, 1995 and reigning until the promotion folded on November 26, 1995.  

After the loss at Survivor Series The Rock n’ Roll Express didn’t work for the WWE again until they went on a tour of Eastern European countries in July of 1994 where they jobbed to the Smoking Gunns each night.  That seems pretty odd to me.   The Rock n’ Roll Express would return to the WWE in 1998 this time as heels with Jim Cornette as their manager as they represented the National Wrestling Alliance as the NWA World Tag Team Champions. 

I would like to thank and credit www.thehistoryofwwe.com

for the match results.