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The “Title Formula” was created to assess the championship resumes of all relevant WWE and WCW wrestlers between November 1983 and August 2015. Each division was weighted according to its importance; the World Championship received top billing, beneath it the IC and US Titles were considered as equals followed by the Tag Team Titles. Belts such as the Cruiserweight, European, and Hardcore Championships were not taken into account because they were all short-lived; the major titles have been around throughout every period of the WrestleMania Era. The formula also accounts for the length of reigns versus the number of reigns.  Follow @TheDocLOP QUESTION OF THE DAY: Extracting the usual suspects from the argument, which wrestlers whose highest honor was the Tag Team, US, or IC Championship do you think did enough in the mid-card to warrant a spot in the WWE Hall of Fame? 110. Sylvain Grenier 109. Brian Kendrick 108. The Road Warriors 107. The Rock ‘n Roll Express 106. Jacques Rougeau 105. The Fabulous Freebirds \ 104. Kanyon 103. Bill DeMott 102. Val Venis 101. Ken Shamrock 110. Sylvain Grenier Recent WWE history has trended toward doing what so many diehard wrestling fans have always clamored for: let the best pro wrestlers in the world (who can talk and wrestle) get a chance to showcase their skills in the most recognizable promotion on the planet (WWE) regardless of how they look. The problem with Vince McMahon describing himself as being in the “entertainment” business is guys like Sylvain Grenier – the antithesis to the modern trend. Grenier looked like a male model. So, the fact that he through-a-garden-hose-level sucked didn’t matter. He became a 4-time WWE Tag Team Champion and ranks ahead of Andre the Friekin’ Giant as a WrestleMania Era titleholder. There are pros and cons when viewed both ways, but the greatest advantage to looking at WWE like the NBA instead of Hollywood is that looks don’t matter in pro sports; it only matters how good you are. If you look good but you’re no good, then you’re out. 109. Brian Kendrick The influence of the independent scene on modern day WWE would have greatly benefited Brian Kendrick a decade ago. Kendrick still had a more than respectable run in the first decade of the 21st century, peaking with his inclusion in a 5-man WWE Championship match in 2008, but WWE had to go through a lot of Greniers before they finally decided to go after Kevin Owens-types. Formerly nicknamed Spanky, Brian Kendrick came of age during the run of dominance on display in WWE by the OVW Class of 2002. Given his cruiserweight look and style, he was demoted to the floundering tag team division. Once partnered with a similar wrestler, Paul London, he found his niche en route to one of the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Title runs ever (331 days). The London/Kendrick duo currently holds the record reign for the lineage of the current Tag Team gold, originally debuted on Smackdown in 2002. If you add in their brief, South African house show tour-sponsored 3 day run with the Raw belts, then they are actually the 9th longest reigning tandem in the entire history of tag team wrestling in WWE. 108. The Road Warriors In terms of all-time great tag teams, everyone competes for second place behind The Road Warriors. With one year combined in their three mainstream Tag Team Championship reigns, they were not able to collect the amount of stats to be featured highly on this list, but combining all the categories that shape the term “greatness,” they are the cream of the crop. You name the team: either of the Expresses, the Freebirds, the Bulldogs, the Hart Foundation, Demolition, the Hardys, the Dudleys, Edge and Christian; it doesn’t matter. Hawk and Animal are almost above the tag team genre in pro wrestling, with all due respect to it. They belong in a conversation reserved for the World Heavyweight Champions, in terms of their impact and ability to captivate an audience. Call them The Legion of Doom or The Road Warriors; call them WWE Hall of Famers; call them the only team to win the NWA, AWA, and WWE Tag Team Championships. The bottom line is that if you ever saw their unique combination of hulking physiques complimented by intensely patterned face paint when they were in their prime, then you remember them in the same vein as you do Austin, Rock, Hogan, Flair, and the like. 107. The Rock ‘n Roll Express Whereas the Road Warriors transcended their era, The Rock ‘n Roll Express were perfect fits for their time. They are one of those teams that achieved so much in the WrestleMania Era, but are virtually unknown to a great deal of the modern wrestling fanbase. I’ve been writing about wrestling for over a decade and there is a big difference in the group of writers that join me today across the vast worldwide web and the ones that were around when I began scratching my journalistic itch. Some of the best, most knowledgeable columnists know little to nothing about a team in the conversation for the greatest babyface tag team ever. With 400 days combined as NWA Tag Team Champions, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson are more decorated than the Road Warriors and Midnight Express who, outside of Arn Anderson’s Four Horsemen teams, were the primary historical rivals for Rock ‘n Roll in the NWA of the early Mania Era. Yet, they get a lot less of the all-time hype. They are a team worthy of your educational energy. WWE Network was made, in part, so that you could emphasize that old tagline from WWE 24/7: Play, Rewind, Relive. You’ll get a lesson in the basic craft of tag wrestling from Morton and Gibson. 106. Jacques Rougeau Jacques Rougeau holds the unique distinction of being one half of a historically celebrated tag team who earned the majority of his professional championship accolades in a far less historically celebrated tag team. He and Raymond formed the Fabulous Rougeaus. In an era when house shows meant more to the business than they have in twenty years, the Rougeaus were very well received as an opponent of all the late 1980s greats in WWE. Yet, they never won the Tag Team Championships, meaning that Rougeau might be better remembered for winning the Tag Team Titles three times in what many would call an inferior team in an inferior time period. After Raymond moved on, Jacques was repackaged as The Mountie in a gimmick annoying enough as a heel to earn a 2 day reign as Intercontinental Champion. Then, another wrestler showed up wearing the same outfit and the Quebecers were born. Thus, Pierre makes this list many pages ago and Raymond is sadly just a footnote. 105. The Fabulous Freebirds The erratic history of the Tag Team Championships in mainstream pro wrestling history is reflected in the fact that so many of the recent entries are all-time great tag teams. Next up is The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael “PS” Hayes, Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy, Buddy “Jack” Roberts, and (sometimes) Jimmy “Jam” Garvin. As alluded to in The WrestleMania Era, The Four Horsemen surely deserve to be the reason that factions are also called stables, but the team that laid the groundwork for what pro wrestling groups could be was the Freebirds. The “Freebird Rule” (allowing all members of a faction to defend Tag Team gold) has given them a lasting legacy that most fans can identify, but they were also the first wrestlers to enter the arena to rock music and redefined the bond formed between stablemates. What The S.H.I.E.L.D. has been celebrated for – unity, brotherhood, and definiteness of purpose - is what the Freebirds believed to their core. They could have accomplished more, but they never wanted to split up. The consummate “package deal,” they stuck together even when it was potentially detrimental to their individual careers (especially Hayes, who was eventually a United States Champion in WCW while still repping the Freebirds). True legends. Look them up, too. 104. Kanyon While you’re going back through NWA/WCW history to take in some footage from these tag teams, take a detailed look at Chris Kanyon too. When researching The WrestleMania Era, a number of WCW talents whose skills I had forgotten about over the years stood out to me as being extremely underrated, particularly as it pertained to the creativity used in their move sets and counter wrestling. Perhaps the most underrated was Kanyon’s 3-time Tag Team Championship-winning partner, Diamond Dallas Page. Yet, Kanyon was amongst that group too. Though kind of like Test in that he had a lot of brief title reigns that positively skewed the perception of his relatively weak overall career (at least on the historical ranking scale), Kanyon was a lot of fun to watch in between those ropes. Once nicknamed “The Innovator of Offense,” he could work with anyone of any style. Akin to Cesaro today, Kanyon was a wrestler whose matches you didn’t want to miss. His longest title reign was a 48 day run with the United States Championship during the InVasion. 103. Bill DeMott We still have plenty of jabronis to get through, but the latest is Bill DeMott. First impressions matter. My initial exposure to DeMott was when he got mauled by Bill Goldberg. He came out to the ring as Hugh Morris. Yuk yuk. The next memory of him was when he portrayed General Hugh G. Rection. Pat Macrotch and Jack Meoff were taken I guess. Even when I was sophomoric, sophomoric humor was hit or miss with me. DeMott always missed. Nevertheless, the “Rection” persona won three major titles in the autumn of 2000. He won the United States Championship twice for a combined total of two months and held the WCW Tag Team Championships, as well. General Hugh G. Rection having any sort of prominent place in professional wrestling’s history books is embarrassing. I’ve written an epic book and a couple of smaller books on this pro wrestling genre of sport/entertainment. Don’t you know how much I love it that I’m writing about General Hugh G. Rection right now and attempting to be serious? Dying days of WCW to us wrestling historians is what the Lockout Season is to NBA historians. 102. Val Venis Now, here’s a guy whose sophomoric character was a big hit with me. If you were somewhere between middle school and college when Val Venis was climaxing in the Attitude Era and you tell me that you never cut a Big Valbowski promo, I’m going to assume you’re a liar. WWE owned WCW when it came to the brand of television that made Venis famous. The wrestling porn star gimmick was portrayed well enough to where I can sit here right now in my mid-thirties and remember the images from his Titan Tron visage – the hot dog and the drill (LOL). It didn’t hurt that Sean Morley was a helluva talent who could cut those hilarious pre-match promos and then get it done as well anyone in the ring. His 83 days combined as Intercontinental Champion were well-deserved. From 1998 to 2000, he was a legitimate second-tier star in WWE during the most competitive stretch in the history of the business. That says something. The Tag Team Title run with Lance Storm when he converted to his real name as an Eric Bischoff lackey was well after his peak. 101. Ken Shamrock Only two men held the Intercontinental Championship for longer than 100 days during the Attitude Era. One was The Rock and the other perhaps his second greatest Intercontinental Title rival, Ken Shamrock. Coming from UFC back in the day when WWE was the far superior draw and the better place to earn a living, Shamrock brought something unique to the table with his credentials alone. That was a time characterized by finding ways to stand out. He did not need a flashy persona or catchphrase or gimmick to separate himself from his peers amidst the most competitive stretch in WWE lore. Shamrock being Shamrock was quite enough. From his run in 1997 as a borderline psychopathic babyface to his heel turn and stint as a member of the Corporation, “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” was a gamer. In addition to his IC title, he also had a short-lived WWE Tag Team Championship reign with Big Bossman.
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