I just finished watching Impact. How did Rockstar Spud get anywhere with that name? I also don’t want Abyss to come back. Can’t we put the mask on another guy and have TNA’s Brothers of Destruction?
Sometimes you just can’t kill Superman on your own. So you ask Brainiac for some help, and you both beat down The Man of Steel, worse than any Kryptonite Crunch. That’s what I wanted to focus on here. Sometimes one man isn’t enough to take on a wrestling hero and his maniacal fans. When you can’t win, you call on an enemy of your enemy. I wanted to show some of my favorite heel team-ups, and the reasons behind them. This isn’t a countdown or anything, but I chose partnerships of upper mid-carders, or main eventers. Sadly that means I will have to leave out Eddie and Jericho, in WCW. This is also based on impact, company, and my personal marking-out.
Ric Flair and Van Vader: By Spring of 1995, Big Van Vader and Ric Flair were neck-deep in Hulkamania. Being a child of the eighties I can tell you that there is nothing more foul than orange Hulkamania Ooze. Vader was screwed out of the WCW World Title by Hogan, and poor Ric Flair was forced to dress in drag…well for no reason. When Vader and Flair collided with Hogan and Randy Savage, it could have been better. First I have no idea why the heels didn’t win here? It wasn’t a title match, and would’ve continued this feud. Flair got the worse of it, since he had to sell an attack by the 80000 year old Angelo Poffo. Vader eventually turned face, and did nothing. Flair would join forces with The Dungeon of Doom, in his quest to takeout Hogan. The Horsemen/Dungeon of Doom alliance only further degraded Flair’s wrestle-cred.
Team Rated RKO: Edge was livid when he lost his last chance to get the WWE Title from John Cena. The reason he lost was interference from DX. Edge was itching for vengeance after this, and knew of one guy that might be willing to help. Edge recruited Randy Orton. Orton had his life ruined two years before by Triple H, when Hunter ordered the beat down of Orton, by Evolution. Edge and Orton became Team Rated RKO, and despite looking like a success, they ultimately failed to beat DX. Triple H (now a face) would pin Orton several times. Edge and Orton, as a tag team, would only beat DX with the help of a cheating Eric Bischoff, who was referee of the match. Team Rated RKO would finally get a break when Triple H (not kayfabe) blew out his knee, and had to leave the match. Edge would go on to hold the WWE Title and World Title at the same time, while Orton would finally get his hands on Triple H. I actually felt Orton was the face in his 2009 feud. He had every right to destroy Triple H’s life, like Triple H did to him in 2004.
Goldust & Mankind: I know this didn’t really go anywhere, but it was an awesome idea. Goldust and Mankind were hot properties in 1996, and it seemed that the storyline was playing out that Goldust was responsible for Mankind, and Paul Bearer’s heel turn. This could’ve been great and Goldust could finally get a main event PPV shot at Michaels. Instead, after the Mind Games PPV, Mankind and Goldust harassed Marc Mero and Sable a bit, and ended their brief team up. I was pretty deflated by this not going forward. I’d later switch to Nitro for my heel violence. Which brings me to my next team up
The Outsiders: Kevin Nash and Scott Hall didn’t come to WCW to join The Dungeon of Doom, and be another Anti-Hulkamania cartoon character. They came for money and power. They’d already been jerked around once in Turner Land, and it wasn’t going to happen again. They had few allies in the redneck dominated WCW. For months, their ten minute segments on Nitro, were better than the rest of the show. They finally demanded a six man match at Bash at the Beach ’96, and as we know The Outsiders found the one guy that was also definitely not interested in seeing them become the next challengers to Hogan.
The Unholy Alliance: This is a ECW heel team up of Raven and Mike Awesome in 2000. At the time Tommy Dreamer and Masato Tanaka were The ECW Tag Team Champions. The Champs greatest rivals were Awesome and Raven. So Awesome and Raven teamed up, and beat Dreamer and Tanaka for the tag belts, and became, “The Unholy Alliance”. This team didn’t last very long due to Awesome leaving to WCW a few weeks later, but this was Raven with an actual partner, not just a lackey. It was a interesting direction for him. I’m also a huge Raven mark, but who isn’t?
MegaBucks: This is probably the greatest heel team-up of the 20th century. After André the Giant beat Hogan for the WWE Belt, it was fairly bought by The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase. Instead of DiBiase getting to enjoy his long title reign, the senile Jack Tunney claimed Andre’s attempt to sell the belt actually vacated the title. The Urban Wrestling Federation wasn’t around yet, so Ted had to come up with a new idea. It was to have André interfere, in DiBiase’s matches and help the Million Dollar Man win the WrestleMania 4 WWE Title Tourney. He would nearly win the title until Hogan cheated and bludgeoned Ted with a chair, causing Randy Savage to become The WWE Champ. So it was time to settle things once and for all, Ted DiBiase and André The Giant would team up to take on Savage and Hogan, at the first Summer Slam in 1988. The match was pretty good, considering Andre was crippled and Hogan felt like doing everything but wrestle. Although Hogan and Savage won this match, Mega Bucks was the ultimate heel team up. The WWF SuperStars arcade game, has Mega Bucks as the final boss in the game. Sadly I can’t find any record of a Mega Bucks figure set. You’d think Jakks or Mattel could’ve slipped these two in a double pack? The only stupid idea to come from this was The Million Dollar Belt. DiBiase made his own title, after losing several attempts at the WWE Belt. This belt meant nothing because it was hardly defended, and the only other guy to win it was Virgil, with the help of a coked up Roddy Piper.
So this is my list of heel team ups. If I missed one of your favorites, I apologize. I wanted to include JeriShow too, but felt it didn’t belong on the list because Big Show was just floundering when Jericho chose him. It’s not like Show was laying waste to the WWE at the time.
This has been Forever Heel, where you will never get that hot tag because you’ll be too busy taking kicks in the corner.
