10 Thrown Together WWE Tag Teams That Totally Saved Careers

Career salvation sometimes turns up in the strangest places.

The New Day
WWE.com

Staying fresh is absolutely vital in professional wrestling. A wrestler may start off hot, but once that initial shine wears off it can be an alarmingly fast route to mediocrity for some. Reinventing yourself is paramount, especially when one considers the constant stream of younger talent that jumps onto the pro graps conveyor belt.

Luckily for some, pro wrestling has this novelty division called tag team wrestling. Putting a somewhat stale singles performer into a duo can often breathe new life in his or her career. WWE history is littered with thrown together tag teams that came to nothing (how you doin', Rhyno & Tajiri?!), but every now and then the promotion strikes gold.

Chemistry is priceless in pro wrestling, and it often turns up in the most unlikely places. A stint in a tag team did wonders for the careers of these men, bringing championship gold and career revivals along the way.

10. Heath Slater & Rhyno

Heath Slater Rhyno
WWE.com

For the first couple of months of the revamped WWE brand split, it seemed as though Heath Slater was the biggest winner of the draft. Despite not being drafted by either show, Slater had received more screen time than just about anyone else. For the first time in forever, Slater's popularity was on the rise.

The story of the Hottest Free Agent in Sports Entertainment ended with Slater and new partner Rhyno becoming the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champions. Slater's career benefited hugely from the partnership, but it is the resurrection of his tag team partner that is the most striking.

Sure, Rhyno isn't likely to find himself challenging for singles titles any time soon, but this time last year the Man Beast was an occasional NXT performer and pro wrestling afterthought. This thrown together team has seen Rhyno and his love of crackers return to WWE TV.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.