10 Best Wrestling Tag Teams Of 2019 (So Far)
A good year for The New Day, but WWE's doubles division continues to suffer...
We are not in a sun-drenched time for mainstream tag team wrestling.
Vince McMahon spent much of 2018 undoing a lot of the good he'd permitted others to do in 2017, leaving 2019 resembling the mid-1990s nadir for his doubles division. NXT does what NXT always does and tries in vain to make magic with a limited number of spells left to cast, but that's feeling all the more futile when The Chairman takes the first opportunity to miss the point entirely upon calling an act up. He pulls the rabbit from the hat, saws it in half and makes both bludgeoned bits disappear, then wonders why the crowd aren't cheering (or, in the case of Stomping Grounds, turning up) for the show.
New Japan Pro Wrestling relegates tag wrestling to the undercard as a point of protecting it singles star, but a lack of direction for all of their paired titles in 2019 has rendered a selection of very serviceable wrestlers altogether rather meaningless.
All Elite Wrestling have enough of a roster to give the impression of a vibrant tag league, but have already made a hurdle for themselves with a convoluted tournament to crown the first champions. Quality pairs like the Best Friends may end up overwhelmed and undermined by The Dark Order. Ultra-quality pairs like The Young Bucks need to wrestle every week and stay over.
Every company continues to bristle with potential of course, but how much will actually be realised?
10. Private Party
A recent success story from All Elite Wrestling's Road To.../Being The Elite introductory video format, Private Party are megastars-in-waiting if AEW's practices can be maintained over the grind of a weekly television product.
Objectively cool at worst and subjectively futuristic at their brilliant best, Isiah Kassidy and Marc Quen built on the babyface momentum the videos provided with a jaw-dropping effort on Fyter Fest's "Buy-In" pre-show. Their loss on the night did little to hurt what's been a thrilling year for the pair, having rose quickly through the ranks of North East Wrestling and House Of Glory after previously standing out on some of the fabled Game Changer Wrestling events of 2017.
Getting the nod from AEW in 2019 isn't merely just some good luck, but All Elite's prominence is fortuitous for the pair - a WWE signing would surely have seen them stationed within NXT rather than gaining the substantially bigger spotlight they may now be afforded.
Unlike some of the acts in a locked and loaded league, they have time on their side - the wait for the big win stands to be as sweet as the victory itself.