The 1980s were a very different time for wrestling. While the WWE and NWA were powerful, there were plenty of other promotions like the AWA, World Class Championship Wrestling, Mid-South/UWF, and more. Each of them had their versions of the couples titles, including a score of teams that are somewhat forgotten today. Many were ad hoc teams with little in common but worked to win a few belts.
What’s notable are the teams of seemingly random guys who come together and win more famous titles, but are now often ignored. They held some of the biggest titles, often for months, but many fans today can barely remember their reigns. It’s strange to see teams that won belts in that decade with titles held but are mostly forgotten by fans today despite how these random partners turned out to be some good champions.
eleven Rick Martel & Tito Santana, WWE Tag Team Championship
Had things been different, Rick Martel and Tom Zenk would have become WWE Tag Team Champions in 1987. The Can-Am Connection was an attractive tag team with the fans, but Zenk had a falling out with the company and left. Tito Santana, stuck in the middle of the card, was released along with Martel as Strike Force.
They beat the Hart Foundation for the titles in October for a reign that ended at the hands of Demolition at WrestleMania 4. They then parted ways with Martel’s good heel turn, making the Strike Force an often overlooked champion tag team in the 1980s.
10 Original Midnight Express, AWA Tag Team Championship
For years, Dennis Condrey had partnered with Bobby Eaton on the Midnight Express. In 1987, he was replaced by Stan Lane and wandered off. In the AWA, Condrey teamed with former partner Randy Rose under manager Paul E. Dangerously as the “Original” Midnight Express.
They beat Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee for the AWA Tag Team Titles for a few months before losing them to the Midnight Rockers. They then traveled to WCW to face the other Midnight Express in a match, so for a time, two Midnight teams were tag team champions at once.
9 Mike Rotunda & Barry Windham, WWE Tag Team Championship
As real-life brothers-in-law, it made sense that Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham would get along as a team. The pair broke out in 1984 as the US Express in WWE, with Captain Lou Albano as their manager. They defeated Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch for the WWE Tag Team Titles in early 1985.
They then had the dubious honor of being the first champions to lose a title at WrestleMania, relinquishing the belts to Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff in the inaugural event. They brought them back two and a half months later, only to lose them two months later to Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake. Windham departed soon after when the Express lost power.
8 Scott Hall & Curt Hennig, AWA Tag Team Championship
Before they were Razor Ramon or Mr. Perfect, Scott Hall and Curt Hennig were a pair of young AWA workers. After several tries, they won the AWA Tag Team Titles from Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal, a pretty decent tag team.
His reign ended four months after Doug Sommers and Buddy Rose under a strange rule that the title changed hands on countout. Both men achieved much greater fame in WWE where they teamed up and feuded with each other with little indication that they were once champion partners.
7 Rocky Johnson & Tony Atlas, WWE Tag Team Championship
For a historical couple, it’s remarkable how many fans forget “Soul Patrol.” In 1983, Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas defeated the Samoans for the WWE Tag Team Titles, thus becoming the first African American Tag Team Champions.
Their five-month reign was notable in that the WWE finally severed ties with the NWA and thus, technically, they are the first fully independent WWE Tag Team Champions. They parted ways shortly after losing the titles, with Johnson becoming more famous for being The Rock’s father than for his own accolades.
6 The Varsity Club, NWA World & US Tag Team Championship
One of the weirder heel stables in NWA/WCW, The Varsity Club was a group of workers under Kevin Sullivan who abandoned their usual sinister antics for boys based on college wrestlers. Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams surprised the Road Warriors for the NWA World tag team titles, their reign was not long but it was remarkable.
Sullivan and Williams later teamed up to beat the Fantastics for the US tag team belts, but that reign didn’t last long either. The entire group never got off the ground as planned, but can still boast a few titles with different partners.
5 Bob Backlund & Pedro Morales, WWE Tag Team Championship
There’s a good reason this champion couple is pretty much forgotten. Having two of the most popular champions of all time on the same side was a good move for WWE, as then-champion Bob Backlund recruited former WWE and IC Champion Pedro Morales to take on the Wild Samoans in 1980.
They won the match by a one day reign before the rules stated that Backlund could not hold two titles at once. The Samoans regained the belts in a special challenge, but for one day, two former world champions held the gold together.
4 Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake, WWE Tag Team Championship
For a couple called “The Dream Team,” the run of Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and Brutus Beefcake seemed fleeting. Managed by Johnny Valiant, the pair did well, beating the US Express for the WWE Tag Team Titles in August 1985.
Their reign lasted over seven months before losing the titles to the British Bulldogs at WrestleMania 2. The pair lasted longer before splitting at WrestleMania 3, with Beefcake becoming “the barber”. It’s rare among so many great tag teams in WWE right now, these two had one of the longest title reigns of the 1980s.
two Sting & Eddie Gilbert, UWF Tag Team Championship
Despite all of his incredible wrestling accolades, a fun trivia question is what was Sting’s first championship. The answer was when Bill Watts transformed his Mid-South territory into the Universal Wrestling Federation.
Sting was a heel then, working with Eddie Gilbert as they defeated the Fantastics for the belts. They had a controversial rematch and reigned for a month before losing the belts. Sting later teamed up with Rick Stiner to win the titles as this was the springboard to his great career.
1 Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez NWA World Tag Team Championship
Look at the great tag team champions of the NWA Jim Crockett era and one stands out in a weird way. Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez had little in common with Fernandez the wild cowboy and Rude the arrogant guy. They defeated the Rock n Roll Express for the NWA World Tag Team Titles in 1986 for a pretty good reign.
But in early 1987, Rude left for WWE still holding the titles. Crockett was forced to dub a non-title fight as the “title change” to the Express, meaning this team technically never lost the titles, a strange ending to his strange run.