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Raw
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Monday, Sep 17 | 8/7 PMC
Where to watch
Raw: Sept. 17, 2012
Results, photos and videos for the Sept. 17, 2012 episode of Raw.
Raw Results : Quick Hits
Raw results: Cena pins Punk, but controversy still reigns The 15 oddest couples to win the Tag Team ChampionshipsRaw Results : Full Details
John Cena interrupted Paul Heyman's interrogation of Chad Patton, challenged CM Punk to a rematch
PHOTOS | VIDEO | RAW EXCLUSIVES
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Raw began only 24 hours after the conclusion to Night of Champions, but the controversial coda to the pay-per-view left a fallout so severe it felt like it had been brewing for years. From the second the opening pyro boomed, the WWE Universe was riled up, hungry for answers as to what the implications of the WWE Championship Match — a double pinfall draw that saw CM Punk retain his title against John Cena — would be. Salvation seemingly arrived moments into the show as the opening chords of "Cult of Personality" ripped through the Webster Bank Arena, and who should arrive but ... Paul Heyman.
Far from a glimpse into the future, though, the mad scientist was only on hand to bring vindication to his friend's dubious retention. Heyman wasted no time in summoning WWE referee Chad Patton, who officiated the title contest, to the ring to bring vindication to the double pinfall that left the title in Punk's hands. Heyman produced not only a still photo from the title match, but somehow procured fan-shot footage from a camera phone in the front row of the fateful German suplex that led to the double pinfall. His work seemingly done, Heyman began to extol the virtues of The Second City Saint and took up the champion's cause of demanding respect.
John Cena, however, was having none of it. The Cenation leader, showing no ill effects of the ankle injury he suffered at Night of Champions, stormed down to the ring and shockingly agreed with Patton's decision, but not the "finality" of it. Unable and unwilling to accept that Punk and Cena's roiling rivalry could possibly conclude in a double pinfall (and unwilling to give Punk respect based off of same), Cena offered up a solution: a title rematch later that same night.
Heyman, evoking his status as "The Voice of the Voice of the Voiceless," began to respond until the overture of Alberto Del Rio's music cut him and Cena off mid-sentence. The Essence of Excellence, still flanked by the injured Ricardo Rodriguez, wasted no time in condemning SmackDown General Manager Booker T's reinstatement of the Brogue Kick, and the fact that it (according to Del Rio) cost him the World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions. As "the man who never lies," Del Rio demanded that he receive a title rematch.
That brought out Raw GM AJ Lee to settle the debate: Eyes wide with the fire of inspiration, AJ declared she'd come up with a "super main event": A tag match pitting WWE Champion CM Punk & Del Rio against World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus & Cena. "And who knows?" she concluded. "Whoever wins will go a long way toward determining if there will be a rematch and who will be in it."
Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara def. Primo & Epico; The Prime Time Players attacked
Sure, they had a tense moment or two at Night of Champions, but there was no animosity between Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara when they teamed up against Primo & Epico in an electrifying tag team match that showcased the best of all four performers. Mysterio & Sin Cara, continuing what WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross (helping fill in for Jerry "The King" Lawler on commentary) referred to as a teacher-student relationship, showcased their dazzling lucha libre prowess against the former WWE Tag Team Champions, eventually sealing Primo & Epico's fate with a 619 into both men, followed by a senton bomb from Sin Cara to notch the three-count.
This, however, brought out an unwanted pair of interlopers: The Prime Time Players, who, still steaming from losing their No. 1 contenders' spot to the Tag Titles to Kane & Daniel Bryan, attacked Mysterio & Sin Cara from behind, planting the dynamic victors with a pair of punishing moves before grabbing the microphones and declaring that the No. 1 contenders' spot was "taken" from them. From then on, Titus O'Neil declared, nobody would take anything from them, because they would "take what [they] want" ( APP EXCLUSIVE: THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS WILL TAKE WHAT THEY WANT).
Divas Champion Eve def. Beth Phoenix
The conclusion of the CM Punk–John Cena WWE Title Match wasn't the only controversy at Night of Champions: Eve, who won the Divas Title under slightly suspect circumstances after Kaitlyn (who was set to challenge Layla for the butterfly-emblazoned title) was mysteriously incapacitated backstage, opening the door for Eve to take her place and claim the championship as her own. Still, Eve wasted no time in proving her prowess as Divas Champion, besting The Glamazon, Beth Phoenix, in a one-on-one contest between two stalwarts of the Divas division while Layla sat at commentary.
Beth seemed like she would get the best of Eve early on, punishing the champion with her signature power moves, but Eve surprised the former Divas Champion with a rollup after she was slammed into the turnbuckle, sealing the match and, in a reversal of her recent sportsmanship, mugging with the title in front of Layla for good measure ( APP EXCLUSIVE: TEDDY LONG TALKS EVE)
Brodus Clay def. Heath Slater
Brodus Clay took to the ring to do battle with The One-Man Band, Heath Slater, just one night after they took part in a Battle Royal to determine the No. 1 contender to the U.S. Title at the live-streamed Pre-Show for Night of Champions. However, unlike their previous encounters, Slater was able to fend off the funky one for a few minutes, mounting some impressive offense against The Funkasaurus while Cesaro, who had some strong words for Clay following the big man's attack of him last week on SmackDown, sat at commentary.
However, befitting his hooligan background, Cesaro didn't seem content sitting at ringside, as he nearly stormed the ring in an attempt to put hands on the massive "disgrace" (yes, he said it in five languages) who he felt disrespected him the previous Friday. It wasn't enough to distract big Brodus from the task at hand, though, because one headbutt and splash later and The One-Man Band's set came to a crashing halt.
Ryback crashed the debut of "Miz TV"
Admit it, you knew in your heart of hearts it was only a matter of time. The Miz's mouth could never be contained by a simple microphone. Mere speeches would never satiate the mouthy Intercontinental Champion and he would never be satisfied with anything less than "The Most Must-See Talk Show in WWE History." And so it was that "Miz TV" was born, amid a flurry of self-aggrandizing pontification from The Awesome One, who wasted no time in extolling his own controversy, charisma and AAAAAWESOOOMMEEEE-ness when stacked against previous WWE talk show hosts like "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Chris Jericho and Edge. And unwilling to settle for anything less than a public shaming of some kind, The Miz also wasted no time in bringing SmackDown General Manager Booker T to the cushy-looking “Miz TV” set for the inaugural interview.
The Master of the Spinaroonie obliged, despite Miz's clear-cut desire to slam the SmackDown GM for setting him up in a Fatal 4-Way Match at Night of Champions, but Miz refused to let Booker get a word in edgewise. "Why are you against me?" The Awesome One sneered. "Why did you put me up against three different competitors last night?" Miz also took Booker to task for banning and reinstating the Brogue Kick before attempting to answer for him. "You miss the spotlight, don't you? You so miss being the center of attention that it drives you insane."
"Your time is over," Miz continued while Booker stared daggers at The Awesome One before taking the mic from his hands.
"That was interesting," Booker said. "You like to talk a lot, but I think it's time you got a new guest for your show, Miz. A Superstar who's used to defeating multiple competitors at one time." And if Miz didn't pick up what Booker was putting down right away, the booming "FEED ME" through the loudspeakers certainly got the point across: The guest of the guest was Ryback.
The human wrecking machine thundered down to the set and, while Miz and Booker both made themselves scarce, Ryback commenced to dismantling the “Miz TV” set bit by bit. He tossed furniture left and right before sending Miz scurrying with a couch as his projectile weapon of choice (yes, a couch). It would appear the food chain has itself a new link ( APP EXCLUSIVE: MIZ AIRS HIS FRUSTRATION) .
Dolph Ziggler def. Santino Marella
Both Santino Marella and Dolph Ziggler didn't have the most fortuitous Night of Champions. Santino came up short in the Pre-Show Battle Royal and, despite taking Randy Orton to the absolute limit, The Showoff fell victim to The Apex Predator in a show-stopping contest. Both Superstars came to Raw looking to reverse their fortunes, but it was ultimately Ziggler who came out with the win, countering The Italian Stallion's unorthodox offense to notch an impressive victory in the win column.
Ziggler admittedly didn't know what to make of Santino for the first half of the contest, but he ultimately got a leg up on The Milan Miracle when he separated the former U.S. Champion from The Cobra. Ziggler attempted to demoralize Santino by screaming that he was a "joke" before discarding The Cobra near the ropes. Santino was quick to rally, though, felling Ziggler with a hiptoss, but he found himself unable to finish the job after Vickie Guerrero snatched the fallen Cobra from the apron, leaving Santino's back exposed for Ziggler to strike with the Zig Zag. Not satisfied with a simple pin, The Showoff administered his signature maneuver a second time, with Vickie shoving The Cobra into Santino's maw for good measure after the referee counted to three.
Wade Barrett def. Justin Gabriel
The brutal reinvention of Wade Barrett continued on Raw when the brawling Brit took to the ring against Justin Gabriel, where he proceeded to make a furious example of the "Cape Town Werewolf" before the Bridgeport, Conn., crowd.
Despite Barrett's history with Gabriel as members of The Nexus, there was no old-time easiness to the way Barrett manhandled his former comrade, dropping Gabriel with brutal strikes to the body.Barrett paused only occasionally to resort to a technical ground game. Gabriel countered handsomely with his signature high-flying dynamism, but the brawler from across the pond would not be denied: A skull-rattling elbow to Gabriel's cranium put any hopes of an upset (not to mention a Nexus reunion) to rest.
WWE Superstars presented Jared from Subway their ideas for sandwiches
What's a WWE Tag Team Title Match to get in the way of Little Jimmy's birthday? R-Truth & Kofi Kingston were only minutes away from their Tag Team Championship rematch against Kane & Daniel Bryan, but it didn't stop Truth from throwing his buddy a shindig with Jared from Subway catering the proceedings. No sooner did Kofi & Truth take their leave, though, than a series of WWE Superstars made their way to Jared, offering their ideas for new Subway sandwiches.
First came Damien Sandow, whose eponymous sandwich promised to satiate any and all appetites. Jared, however, satisfied “The Intellectual Savior of the Masses” with a meatball parm offering of his own. Zack Ryder was up next, and his "Woo Woo Woo You Know It" sub was the next idea to pass by Jared. The Ultimate Broski got an Italian BMT instead. Seemingly satisfied, Jared took the scene until he became uncomfortably aware of an unseen visitor. He slowly turned around to reveal Ryback, who demanded the sandwich spokesman "FEED. [HIM.] MORE." Jared cautiously handed the rampaging Superstar a sub, but Ryback grabbed a second one before taking his leave. At least the couches remained blessedly un-thrown.
WWE Tag Team Champions Kane & Daniel Bryan def. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth
They're (still) the Tag Team Champions! Following their unlikely victory over Kofi Kingston & R-Truth at Night of Champions, the perpetually dysfunctional Kane & Daniel Bryan took to the ring to defend their titles in a rematch on Monday Night Raw and, despite some continued bickering (including arguing over just which of them, exactly, is the Tag Team Champions), the anger management buddies stood tall when the final bell tolled.
It didn't look like it would be so easy, though: Following an extended argument over who would start the match, Bryan found himself being worked over by Kofi & Truth, whose own chemistry wasn't in doubt for a moment of the contest. Bryan eventually relented, tagging in Kane and allowing The Devil's Favorite Demon to try his hand against the former champions. The decision proved wise, as Kane managed to withstand a barrage of Kingston's kicks but ultimately found himself tossed over the ropes. Bryan's attempt to equalize the contest backfired when Kofi tossed him over the ropes and onto his masked partner, sowing seeds of dissent between the fragile twosome.
Still, the two eventually settled into a rhythm, systematically dismantling R-Truth during the commercial break in action that streamed exclusively on the WWE App. Truth tilted the match toward his team's favor after a tag to a fresh Kofi, whose high-octane offense seemed to stymie The Big Red Monster. But the Boom Squad General took too long to set up Trouble in Paradise, allowing Kane to recover and deck the Ghanaian Superstar with an uppercut. Bryan cut Kane off before he could set up for the Chokeslam, though, wanting to hog the victory for himself. Truth nearly denied the "No!" man the pleasure, mounting a flurry that left Bryan reeling and tagging in Kofi again in an attempt to finish the job.
Bryan eventually managed a tag to Kane, however. The Devil's Favorite Demon seemed to have the match finished when he set Truth up for a Chokeslam, and then a series of strange things happened. Bryan attempted to steal the pin again, but before he could get the tag to Kane, The Big Red Monster grabbed his irritable partner by the throat. Bryan countered, bouncing Kane's head off the ropes, causing him to stumble directly into a Lie Detector from Truth. Bryan managed to break up the pin, opening the door for Kane to finally hit the Chokeslam. Bryan then finally got his tag in, twisting Truth into the "No!" Lock and retaining the championships.
The two didn't let five minutes pass before the bickering resumed, with each grabbing hold of the titles and screaming that he was the Tag Team Champions. And then, heeding the cries of the WWE Universe, they hugged it out. Of course, Bryan snatched one of the titles off Kane's shoulder, and the back and forth began anew. The saga continues.
Randy Orton def. Tensai
Randy Orton had one of the harder-won victories of his life against Dolph Ziggler at Night of Champions, but there was no rest for the weary as The Viper clashed with the towering Tensai just 24 hours later. And make no mistake: Tensai did not make it easy for The Viper. The big man made a point to target Orton's lower back, mauling The Viper with vicious power maneuvers and attempting to keep The Apex Predator grounded with a series of punishing elbows and strikes. The contest was every bit as brutal as their match on SmackDown, and ultimately, the result was the same.
Orton's comeback came following a crushing nerve hold from Tensai that brought The Viper to his knees. The Apex Predator then withstood a series of kidney shots before taking Tensai down with a powerslam and hauling him over the ropes for a hanging DDT. Hobbled by Tensai's strikes, The Viper still found it in him to fell Tensai with an RKO, securing his second win in as many nights.
Damien Sandow def. Zack Ryder
It was a classic matchup of summer fun vs. academic tenacity and, in a result sure to disappoint schoolchildren everywhere, Damien Sandow (representing the highfalutin intellectualism of back-to-school season) managed to overcome Zack Ryder (representing the bros of summer) in an impromptu matchup made by Raw GM AJ Lee.
Sandow was the one who inadvertently got the matchup made in the first place when he attempted to expand the WWE Universe's vocabulary at the end of the "season of sloth," or summer vacation. As The Intellectual Savior of the Masses ran through his lesson plan, The Ultimate Broski made his presence known and declared that he had a few vocab words of his own: "Shut" and "Up." He also had a surprise for Sandow: AJ had made a matchup between the two of them for right then. The Long Island Iced-Z wasted no time in taking it to Sandow, unleashing a series of offensive strikes to leave the "soverign of civility" stunned outside the ropes.
Sandow rallied after Ryder tossed him back into the ring though, stomping The Ultimate Broski's ribcage and dropping an un-padded knee on Ryder's neck before pummeling him with the Elbow of Disdain. Ryder was the next to rally though, trapping Sandow in a small package before decking the enlightened one with a series of clotheslienes. Sandow narrowly avoided the Broski Boot, but Ryder rolled him back into the ring and connected with the move quickly thereafter. Even then, though, it wasn't enough to defeat Sandow, who recovered from the broski's strike and felled Ryder for the 1-2-3. Cue the "Hallelujahs."
World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus & John Cena def. WWE Champion CM Punk & Alberto Del Rio
"Super main event" was, as it turns out, an understatement. Raw General Manager AJ Lee's big idea for Raw's main event — a tag match pitting Sheamus & John Cena against CM Punk & Alberto Del Rio — was a battle for the age. With four of WWE's most dynamic competitors clashing between the ropes, rematch implications were on the line for the victors. And, when all was said and done, it was Cena who got the monkey off his back, finally getting a hard-earned pin over The Second City Saint to seal the contest for his team.
Surprisingly, The Voice of the Voiceless seemed to want no part of Cena following his narrow retention of the WWE Title at Night of Champions. Punk went out of his way to avoid a one-on-one matchup with the Cenation leader and either sent Del Rio in to do the dirty work or waited until Cena was outnumbered to get his licks in. The strategy didn't last long, though. After ending up on the wrong exchange of a Cena offense, Sheamus tagged in and promptly pounded The Second City Saint into the corner before Punk managed to tag in Del Rio. The longtime rivals from opposite ends of the social spectrum clashed yet again, with victory seemingly in hand as Sheamus called for the Brogue Kick.
Punk's instincts kicked in and a cheap shot on The Celtic Warrior saved the match for his team, leaving him an opportunity to tag in again. The WWE Champion got the better of Sheamus this time, trapping The Great White in a torturous-looking submission hold and slowing him down enough for Del Rio to re-enter the match. A strong surge from Del Rio met a brick wall, though, after The Celtic Warrior felled The Essence of Excellence with the Irish Curse.
Two tags later and Cena and Punk re-entered the fray, with Cena unleashing his signature sequence of moves, countering Punk's counter into an STF before Del Rio broke up the hold ... only to suffer a Brogue Kick that sent him into next week. Punk was next to strike, but his sneak attack on Sheamus left Cena just enough of an opportunity to send Punk flying with an AA and notch that long-elusive pin over the WWE Champion
But …
The victory, hard-earned as it was, did not come without controversy. As Cena finally secured that three-count, Punk placed his foot on the bottom rope, negating the pin. But the official didn't see Punk's foot on the ropes, and counted the pin anyway. And so, 24 hours after controversy favored CM Punk, the scales tilted back in Cena's favor. As Raw drew to a close, the final images were of Punk screaming at the official all the way up the ramp, with respect, peace of mind and a decisive victory over John Cena still eluding him.
Featured Superstars
So, Kane & Daniel Bryan are the Tag Team Champions. And, after a contentious title defense on Monday Night Raw, they are still the Tag Team Champions. And now it can be told: We did not see this coming. It takes a special kind of luck/providence/benevolence from the sports-entertainment Mount Olympus for such a mismatched duo to scale the heights of their division and clutch the twin championships for themselves. But, what’s even odder is this isn’t the first time it’s happened … and Kane & Bryan aren’t even the strangest team to hoist the championships. In celebration of Kane & Bryan’s unlikely and fortuitous union, here are our picks for the 15 oddest tag team champions of all time.
CM Punk & Kofi Kingston
Yep. Believe it or not, The Second City Saint held tag team gold in the past, and alongside Kofi Kingston, no less. The duo of CM Punk & Kofi ended up being convenient in a lot of ways; the two were also part of Team Batista at Survivor Series 2008.
The surprise, though, lies in the philosophical differences between the two: Kofi is a free-wheeling, whirling dervish of a Superstar who finds the fun in everything he does, while Punk abides by a lifestyle of the strictest discipline, keeping a straight edge code and grounding himself in an almost monk-like style of preparation and focus. And yet, the two made magic together, holding onto the titles for nearly two months before losing them to John Morrison & The Miz at a WWE Live Event. Hey, as long as Kofi’s willing to give Punk the proper respect, perhaps a reunion is in the future?
William Regal & Tajiri
When old school European grappling meets the dynamic “puroresu” style of Japan , you get … William Regal & Tajiri! We’re not sure we need to stress the cornerstone of why this was an unexpected tag team, but what we do know is the two went together like peanut butter and jelly despite seeming like water and vinegar, or blood pudding and sushi, on paper. They won the Tag Titles in Tajiri’s native Japan and held onto those bad boys for several months, reigniting the old flame left over from their comedic antics of the Attitude Era.
The team eventually lost the titles to Rosey & The Hurricane in a Tag Team Turmoil Match, but Tajiri’s emotional hometown celebration remains one of the most heartwarming moments in WWE history. Cheerio, old boys.
Hollywood Hogan & Edge
Like most WWE Superstars, Edge grew up as a lil’ Hulkamaniac. Imagine the elation of The Ultimate Opportunist, then, when he found himself toting tag team gold alongside Hollywood Hogan following a team-up against Billy & Chuck on SmackDown in July 2002. Though they regrettably only held the twin championships for a few weeks before The Un-Americans relieved them of the titles at Vengeance, few will ever forget the post-match celebration when Edge & Hogan celebrated their win by waving an American flag. You see? The odd couple was so great they made Edge forget he was a Canadian for a minute there.
Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov
In a perfect inverse of the Rocky Balboa–Ivan Drago situation, the peoples of Italy and Russia found themselves a team to believe in with Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov. The pair joined forces in late 2010 to shock the tag team division with some good old fashioned odd-couple dominance. Formed at the insistence of The Italian Stallion, Santino & Kozlov proved to be a surprisingly formidable presence in a division full of like-minded Superstars who seemed tailor-made for a twosome. However, the unlikely duo of Santino’s manic scrappiness and Kozlov’s stoicism made for an endlessly entertaining and oddly forceful duo.
They captured the WWE Tag Team Championships from The Nexus in late 2010 following an assist from John Cena, prompting one of the biggest explosions of unadulterated joy the WWE Universe has ever seen. And to think, Kozlov wasn’t nuts about this idea in the first place. But then again: If he can change, and Santino can change …
The Two-Man Power Trip
This wasn’t so much an odd pairing as far as physical stature or star power, but when it comes to ideological differences, you’d be hard pressed to come up with a stranger marriage than the talents of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Triple H in the early 2000s. After abandoning his crusade to torment Mr. McMahon and joining up with his corporate foil, The Texas Rattlesnake cemented his change in philosophy by joining forces with The Chairman’s chief enforcer, Triple H. Of course, once the shock of seeing the two together initially wore off, the WWE Universe was faced with a terrifying realization: These guys were good.
Known collectively as The Two-Man Power Trip, Austin and The Game proceeded to run rampant over the WWE roster, demonstrating their dominance by collectively amassing every major championship (they are only the second duo in WWE history to do so). Their championship monopoly came to an end after Austin inadvertently cost Triple H the Intercontinental Title to Kane at Judgment Day 2001, but the union remained unbroken. That is, until fate did what the locker room could not and struck The King of Kings down with the notorious quadriceps tear that cost him a year of his career, ending the Power Trip for good.
TIE: Jeri-Show and ShowMiz
There’s a very long list of big men who would be obvious partners for the towering Big Show: The Undertaker. Kane. The Great Khali. And while The World’s Largest Athlete has found success with several of those Superstars, his most prolific tag team run came, ironically, when he teamed with two men who were roughly half his size. First came Chris Jericho, who recruited Show as a replacement for Edge after the Canadian duo won the Unified Tag Team Championships at The Bash 2009. The ensuing duo, “Jeri-Show,” saw The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla remake The World’s Largest Athlete in his own image, decking him out in the finest threads and coaching him in the fine-spoken ways of being “The Best in the World at What He Does.” The two dominated the tag scene for the latter half of ’09, but eventually fell victim to the cunning of D-Generation X when they defeated Jeri-Show for the tag titles, then intentionally disqualified themselves in the rematch to retain. Jericho was eventually forced off of Raw, leaving The World’s Largest Athlete bereft of a tag partner.
Enter The Miz.
The Awesome One stepped up handily to fill the void left by Y2J, uniting with Big Show to win the Tag Titles from DX and kick off the era of “ShowMiz.” The powerhouse-scrapper combo that worked with Jericho proved just as effective with Miz. The two held the Unified Titles for several months, including a successful WrestleMania title defense against John Morrison & R-Truth. It was ultimately a little excellence of execution that stopped ShowMiz short, after Miz tapped to the Sharpshooter in a title match against The Hart Dynasty, costing ShowMiz the titles and ultimately leading to the same, sad ending that every Miz tag team has ever seen: His partner gets fed up, the partnership disintegrates and The Awesome One sustains bodily harm in the process. In this case, it was a WMD from The World’s Largest Athlete that sent The Miz into La-La Land (not Los Angeles … unconsciousness) and brought one of the stranger tag sagas of WWE history to a crashing end.
John Cena & various foes
We’ll say this for John Cena: He is nothing if not cooperative when he’s tossed into a tag team with his bitterest blood rivals and asked to challenge for the Tag Team Championships. The Cenation leader is four-for-four when thrust into these unceremonious situations, and to his credit, his tenuous grip on harmony with Shawn Michaels actually lasted long enough to amount for a pretty lengthy tag reign. By the way, this was while Michaels was challenging for Cena’s WWE Title.
The Champ’s other unions had less longevity to them, however. He was tag champions with Batista for only one week and later clashed with The Animal at SummerSlam. He also won the twin titles with David Otunga during his sordid saga with The Nexus only to have Wade Barrett force Cena & Otunga to lose their titles to Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel. As for The Miz? Well, Cena memorably united with The Awesome One to capture the championships from Slater & Gabriel while he prepared to challenge for Miz’s WWE Title at WrestleMania XXVII. But, the two lost the titles mere minutes later when Slater & Gabriel immediately evoked their rematch clause, and Miz turned on Cena to cost the team their titles. The moral of the story? It ain’t easy being John Cena and holding a Tag Team Championship, folks.
Kane & Daniel Bryan
A wise man once said that all you need is love. Kane & Daniel Bryan might need a little bit of luck to go with it, but against all odds, a tag team that was formed on a wing and a prayer has become one of the most fascinating duos in WWE today. The Devil’s Favorite Demon’s first interaction with Bryan came as part of the romantic Gordian Knot between them, AJ Lee and CM Punk. Eventually the love died down and Kane and Bryan found themselves targeting each other after Punk became thirsty for John Cena’s respect and AJ took office as the Raw General Manager. What ensued was something rarely seen in the squared circle: A rivalry that was deemed too intense for WWE. To help nip Kane and Bryan’s destructive tendencies in the bud, AJ sent them to anger management, where the soft-spoken Dr. Shelby managed to corral the furious foes and, as a last-ditch effort to achieve harmony, made them a tag team.
Radical therapy, but Shelby’s strategy was far from armchair quackery, because it worked! Well, kind of. Kane & Bryan did manage to hug it out (Yes, Kane hugged a man. It was on TV and everything.) and coexist well enough to win the WWE Tag Team Championships from Kofi Kingston & R-Truth. The win was far from harmonious (Bryan basically threw Kane on top of Kofi for the pin), and immediately opened up a can of worms as to which of them was the Tag Team Champions. Time will tell as to how dominant the two rivals will be with the twin titles, but they’ve already got our attention in the way few duos in WWE ever have.
The Rock & The Undertaker
The People’s Champion and The Lord of Darkness together? Believe it or not, it happened. In the halcyon days of the Attitude Era, when Superstars oscillated between allegiances and principles, perhaps the most mind-boggling instance of teamwork was when The Rock found himself teamed up with The Demon of Death Valley. The two didn’t remain champions for too long, and eventually lost the titles to Edge & Christian less than a week after winning them. The two never sniffed tag team gold again, but goodness gracious, what might have been.
The Colossal Connection
Perhaps it’s not quite strange for two members of the Heenan Family to team up, but the notion of seeing two human wrecking machines like Haku & Andre the Giant together was an odd notion in the nascent days of WWE. And as the WWE Universe might expect, they were a holy terror to compete against. Haku & Andre reached the pinnacle of the tag division in December ’89 when they defeated Demolition for the Tag Team Titles, keeping the title gold around their massive waists until April, when Demolition regained them at WrestleMania VI. The loss led to the severing of “The Colossal Connection,” but perhaps it was for the best: No one team should have all that power, and we mean that in the brute strength sense of the word.
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin & Dude Love
Sometimes the biggest saving graces are the ones that you never, ever (ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, etc.) see coming. So when “Stone Cold” Steve Austin captured the Tag Team Championships alongside Shawn Michaels, he never expected to be forced to vacate them when The Showstopper suffered an injury. And we’re sure he never expected that he’d get an offer from Mankind to challenge The Hart Foundation together. And we’re sure he NEVER expected that, despite The Rattlesnake’s rejection of Mankind, Mick Foley would create a whole new personality to team with “Stone Cold”: a peace-and-love daddy-o named Dude Love who Foley conjured up in his childhood fantasies of becoming a WWE Superstar.
Quite frankly, we’re sure nobody ever expected they’d win the titles and retain them for months, to say nothing of the fact that nobody expected Austin & El Duderino (if you’re not into the whole brevity thing) would have to vacate the titles after Austin suffered a neck injury against Owen Hart. In any case, we’re beyond sure that we’ll never, ever (ever, ever, ever, ever … you get the idea) see a tag team this gloriously weird ever again.
Owen Hart & Yokozuna
Brains met brawn in this eye-popping tag team when Owen Hart, he of the Hart Family Dungeon, brother of Bret and all-around technical maven, teamed with the mighty Yokozuna, he of the Banzai Drop and earth-shattering power, to achieve tag team glory in 1995. It began at WrestleMania IX when Yokozuna was revealed as Hart’s mystery partner in a title opportunity against The Smoking Gunns. The pair won the match and proceeded to dominate the tag division for months and months, until a controversial defense against Diesel & Shawn Michaels cost them the championships, despite the fact that Hart was replaced by The British Bulldog. The title change was revoked the next day, but the end result was basically the same: The Smoking Gunns reclaimed the titles that very evening.
Kane & X-Pac
OK, admit it: Nobody saw this one coming. The Big Red Machine had already been a crony of The Corporation’s when the magnanimous faction attempted to have him institutionalized. To counter the suits’ nefarious plot to have Kane committed, D-Generation X came to the rescue of The Devil’s Favorite Demon and assimilated him into their ranks. It was X-Pac, though, who took the biggest liking to the demon in red, joining forces to win the World Tag Team Championships twice. The shaggy-haired degenerate even helped The Big Red Monster speak his first two unaided words, the signature DX catchphrase “suck it.” Like all things that were too good to last, the team eventually went down in flames after Kane’s girlfriend Tori left him for X-Pac. But we’ll always have the memories.
Booker T & Goldust
Was there ever such a mismatched pair of bros in the history of WWE? When you match the streetwise toughness of the five-time, five-time, five-time, five-time, FIVE-TIME WCW Champion Booker T with the “it” factor that made Goldust so great ( … well, we’re not even sure what to call), this odd couple turned out to be not only beloved by the WWE Universe, but also a force to be reckoned with in the ring. It was an admittedly rocky start for the bromance, with The Bizarre One inadvertently costing Booker several matches while trying to convince The Master of the Spinaroonie to form a tag team. Booker eventually came around, though, and the two proved to be among the most dynamic personalities in WWE.
Their backstage antics are still the stuff of WWE legend (see: Booker with the lightsaber), and they ultimately reached the peak of the tag division as well. Booker & Goldust captured tag team gold at Armageddon 2002, defeating Edge & Christian, Lance Storm & William Regal and The Dudley Boyz to adorn their mismatched waists with the twin titles. Their reign was sadly short-lived, but as a brief reunion last year on SmackDown showed, the friendship lived on.
The Rock 'n' Sock Connection
Combine the opulent braggadocio of The People’s Champion with the shambling scruffiness of Mankind and you get our No. 1 pick, and one of the most memorable and beloved tag teams in WWE history to boot. Born out of Mankind’s innate desire to cozy up to people who can’t stand him (remember: Mr. Socko started out kissing Mr. McMahon’s boo-boo), the “Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection” was basically a result of Mankind badgering The Rock into becoming a tag team following The Great One’s attack at the hands of The Unholy Alliance (The Undertaker & Big Show). The Brahma Bull accepted and, against all odds, the team won the Tag Titles from their monstrous opponents later that very same evening.
The two’s unlikely union was far from perfect, but the combination of Mankind’s mad desire to emulate The People’s Champion with The Rock’s odd affection for his offbeat buddy produced some of the most memorable moments in Attitude Era history. The two were an unforgettable mix of dominance and comedy. Mankind’s wacky innovation and propensity to humiliate combined with The Rock’s poised execution led to multiple Tag Title reigns and a reunion against Evolution at WrestleMania XX. Let’s just say, when you can successfully conspire to Rock Bottom a man onto a platter of doggy doo-doo, you’ve truly encapsulated the best of two ideologies.
