9 Thrown Together Tag Teams That Resurrected Careers
1. The New Age Outlaws
Is there a more lauded thrown-together tag team in modern wrestling history? As october 1997 came around, Billy Gunn and Jesse James were doing a grand total of absolutely nothing in the World Wrestling Federation. Gunn was going by the name of Rockabilly, working under the tutelage of The Honky Tonk Man and going nowhere fast. As for James, he was still 'The Real Double J', and the brief rivalry between the two didn't set the world alight.
One conversation on an episode of Saturday Night Shotgun later, everything had changed. James convinced Gunn to form a tag team, Rockabilly blasted Honky with his guitar and the rest was history. 'Badd Ass' Billy Gunn and the 'Road Dogg' Jesse James were born, Jim Ross christened them the New Age Outlaws and just a month after joining forces they were defeating the Legion of Doom for the WWF Tag Team Championships.
At this point, Billy Gunn had been in the company four years, and it was generally assumed that his best times were behind him in the shape of The Smoking Gunns. James had only been around on and off for three years, but was pretty much the definition of lower-mid card. Until the Outlaws took off, I dare say neither man's name came up at creative meetings too much.
They soon joined D-Generation X and became an integral part of one of wrestling's most important stables. They won tag gold on six occasions, and also both got singles championships out of their resurrected popularity. The New Age Outlaws will forever the benchmark against which thrown-together tag teams are judged.