5 WWE Tag Team Champions Who Simply Couldn’t Get Along

Last Sunday at WWE Clash of Champions, Braun Strowman challenged the Universal Champion Seth Rollins for his title.

The twist: the two rivals happened to also be the Raw Tag Team Champions at the time. This is not the first time that Tag Team Champions have not been on the same page. In fact, WWE’s storied past is littered with teams barely able to coexist.

Some of these teams even managed to win championship gold. In this list, we take a look at five of them and explain how some even managed to become a cohesive unit in the end.

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5. William Regal & Tajiri

Certainly an odd pairing as it stood, these two were never able to see eye-to-eye. The unlikely duo of ‘English Gentleman’ and ‘Japanese Buzzsaw’ surprisingly won Tag Team Gold in 2005 during a Raw episode emanating from Japan.

In later interviews, Regal explained that Tajiri would often get on his nerves, despite the two having undeniable chemistry together. For example, Tajiri once forced Regal to sit in silence for a 300-mile car journey, simply because he claimed to hate music. He did all this to just to drive Regal insane. Lovely.

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4. Matt Hardy & MVP

The rivalry between this pair resulted in one of the more entertaining segments in 2007, when MVP and Matt Hardy tried to one-up each other in an assortment of challenges, like arm-wrestling contests and boxing matches.

MVP, who was already the United States Champion at the time, realised that he had to add to his collection in order to truly trump Matt Hardy for good. So he went to General Manager Theodore Long and proudly claimed that he could become Tag Team Champion with anybody.

Long picked Matt Hardy as his partner and the two men were forced to work together, which in the end resulted in them becoming WWE Tag Team Champions.

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3. Chad Gable & Jason Jordan

Some may not remember this, but there was time when Jason Jordan and Chad Gable simply couldn’t get along.

After Jordan split from his then tag team partner, Tye Dillinger, he went on the hunt for a replacement. While there was no shortage of suitors, those who showed interest were routinely dismissed by Jordan.

Gable however decided not to take “no” for an answer and spent months trying to convince Jordan that he was the perfect fit. Jordan eventually relented and soon thereafter American Alpha was born.

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2. Sheamus & Cesaro

The ‘Swiss Cyborg’ and ‘Celtic Warrior’ probably had the most bad blood of anyone on this entire list. After the second brand extension came to pass, the two had some hard-fought brawls, with each looking to get noticed and eventually receive a WWE Championship shot.

Then General Manager Mick Foley decided to put them in in a Best-of-Seven Series to allow the men to settle their differences and determine a definitive victor. Instead, the resulting contests not only won audiences over, but also led to begrudging respect forming between the two.

On that basis and because the final match ended in a draw, Foley rewarded the duo with an opportunity to capture the Tag Team Titles. This sparked a lengthy tag team run and a total of five Championship reigns as a pair.

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1. Kane & Daniel Bryan

Back in 2012, both Kane and Daniel Bryan were known to have a temper. So much so that General Manager, AJ Lee, sent both of them to Anger Management Classes with Dr. Shelby.

These segments got over so much that WWE decided to make Bryan and Kane a tag team. A fan vote was used to decide their name and ‘Team Hell No’ was born. The stereotypical odd couple quickly rose through the ranks and received a Tag Team Title shot.

Winning the gold didn’t bring their discord to an end though. Kane loudly asserted that he was the Tag Team Champions, while a combative Daniel Bryan claimed that he was the Tag Team Champions. Hugs, tremendous tag team title defences and Dr. Shelby’s unique set of skills eventually resolved the duo’s issues. But their run as distrustful tag team champions will long live on in memory.

Can you think of any other WWE Tag Team Champions who simply couldn’t get along? Don’t forget to follow WrestleTalk on Twitter to keep up with all the latest wrestling news and join the community over on Discord for a chat.

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