10 Tag Teams That Should Never Have Worked (But Did)
3. Nikita Koloff & Dusty Rhodes
Two of wrestling's biggest stars throughout the 1980s, Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes sat at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Koloff was the archetypal 'evil Russian,' whose big, bad Soviet stylings were used to draw easy heat from an audience drenched with Cold War paranoia. Rhodes, meanwhile, was the 'American Dream' - a man who connected not only because he stood up for his country, but for his aspirational everyman charm. You won't find a bigger contrast of characters, but while Rhodes and Koloff seemed tailor-made to war with each other, they also made a great NWA tag team.
Nikita turned face when Dusty's old partner, Magnum TA, was severely injured in the car crash that eventually ended his career. He joined 'Dream' in his years-long rivalry with the Four Horsemen, and while Koloff had spent much of his career spouting anti-USA rhetoric, he was immediately accepted by the fans, becoming one of the organisation's biggest babyfaces.
They were tremendously successful, too, winning the Jim Crockett Memorial Tag Tournament in 1987, and endless critical acclaim for their wars with the Horsemen. Despite this, their greatest achievement may just be succeeding as a perfect union of two seemingly incompatible forces.