10 B-Team WWE Tag Team Champions

5. Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov

The B Team WWE Tag TEam Champions
WWE.com

One of the more egregious examples of Vince McMahon attempting to shove a lumbering monster heel down his audience's throats, Vladimir Kozlov's greatest achievement was dragging a historically bad WWE Championship match out of Triple H at Survivor Series 2008.

He remained in the spotlight for a short while after, before eventually transitioning to the ECW brand where he was part of the Ruthless Roundtable. This ended in 2010, and Kozlov was sent to SmackDown, forming a goofy, comedic duo with WWE's court jester supreme, Santino Marella. A long Tag Team Title pursuit followed, with the duo eating many defeats along the way, before eventually taking the straps from the Nexus duo of Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel in December.

The bronze belts became no more than props on a comedy act's shoulders. Like Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel in 2018, it's impossible to take titles seriously when they're held by jesters, and the Kozlov/Marella era yielded nought but in-ring clangers and dumb skits.

Slater and Gabriel took the belts back 76 days later, and the former champions' partnership ended when Kofi Kingston was subbed in for Kozlov at WrestleMania XXVII.

In this post: 
the b-team
 
Posted On: 
Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.