Lost on the Lists: The Other Best Professional Wrestling Tag Teams of All-Time

Every few weeks a new slate of lists will pop up on social media, yet another reminder that most people don’t know shit about shit. Yesterday the topic was “pro wrestling tag teams” and, friends, let me tell you, there were some doozies.

It’s one thing, as a fan, to have a list of favorites. We all have entertainment acts we have a special affinity for and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. There’s only a problem, for me at least, when people attempt to compile a list of the “greatest” ever when that list is based on an interest in the subject matter that barely spans fifteen minutes. As a bonafide curmudgeon, a status hard-earned thanks to decades of internet-based fandom, I feel a duty to correct the record and point out that all these other lists are, in fact, WRONG.¹

When you’re new to a fandom, your excitement and enthusiasm is contagious. We want your participation—except in this area. You just haven’t seen enough to compile a “best ever” list. That’s fine—as we’d say in the olden days, why not lurk and learn before wading in to the deep end?

The greatest tag teams ever might have all wrestled in the five years you’ve been a fan. But, considering wrestling’s substantial history and the fact that almost all of it for the last 40 years has been preserved for posterity, that chance is slim-to-none. And slim just ordered a 40 pack of McNuggets at McDonalds.²

I digress.

Now, I won’t attempt to list the greatest tag teams of all-time here. After all, despite being old when dirt was new, I’ve only seen a small sample of historically great teams like the Graham Brothers, the Fabulous Kangaroos, Rocca and Perez or even the famous Andersons. What I’ve seen of Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens has been amazing. Same too Dusty Rhodes and Dick Murdoch. But there’s just not enough existing video tape on any of these acts to inform an educated opinion about their aesthetic value. We can only wonder what might have been and hope for the discovery of a treasure trove of hidden gems like the ones that emerged from Houston several years ago or the Chicago Film Archives that were dumped on YouTube one glorious day, opening up our eyes to just how good the wrestlers of the 50s and 60s were.

When people make these lists, typically they include seven teams from the era in which the list-maker was a big fan, one or two cursory teams from the 80s they’ve heard about and maybe a 90’s team from Japan to establish their bonafides. But many of the best teams from the last few decades are conspicuous by their absence.

You don’t know what you don’t know. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s an opportunity to discover great wresters and matches you may have never heard of before. With that in mind, here are four tag teams for your consideration, as well as one of the matches that defined their greatness. How cool is that?

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Las Cachorras Orientales

The “world’s most dangerous tag team” brought a level of vitriol to late 90’s Joshi Puroresu that was occasionally a little uncomfortable. Sure, they looked like stylish mean girls—Oedo Tai before there was an Oedo Tai. But LCO fought like they were preparing for a post-apocalyptic future where guns were outlawed and steel chairs became the main currency of violence.

Gleeful rule-breakers who weren’t afraid to bite and scratch their way to success, Etsuko Mita³ and Mima Shimoda were chair-swinging psychopaths every bit as good as contemporaries like Manami Toyota who inexplicably became the only joshi of the time to survive the era to become part of the wrestling lexicon.

Signature Match: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs. LCO (8/8/97)

Exploding off the undercard, Mita and Shimoda were making their mark as the unrepenant bad girls of AJW. The promotion’s top stars, not usually on the same side, came together to teach them a lesson. The result was one of the great garbage matches of all-time.

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Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta

Giant Baba has always gotten a bad rap as an in-ring wrestler, most likely because a generation of taste-makers mostly saw him as a comedy act underneath the incomparable Four Pillars in the 1990s. But during the 1970s, no one in wrestling was a better babyface star than Baba—and when I say no one, I didn’t stutter.

Teaming with his protege Jumbo Tsuruta throughout the decade, the two battled a who’s who of tag teams from around the globe. Those used to seeing Jumbo as a surly old man trying to hang on to past glory against Misawa and company will get a kick out of him as the weaker link of a team, often selling throughout a bout to make the hot tag to the big man. It’s a different Jumbo than you might be used to, but he’s equally exceptional in this role.

Signature Match: Tsuruta and Baba vs. The Funks (12/11/1980)

This match would crown the winner of the 1980 AJPW Real World Tag League. The previous two years these teams had gone to a 45-minute draw. But this year, the Japanese duo were down a point in the standings and a draw wouldn’t be enough. To take home the top prize, they’d need to win over the two brothers who had both been NWA World Champion. No big deal!

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The Funks

While best known in the United States as singles wrestlers, in Japan, the Funks were primarily a tag team. Like most foreign acts, they were initially cast as heels. But, over time, the two brothers from Umbarger, Texas won the crowd over with their tenacity, passion and pure excellence. By the end of their run, Japanese fans treated them as two of their own, the most beloved foreign babyfaces in the history of puroresu.

There have been a lot of great sibling tag teams—but, with due respect, they are the best.

Signature Match: Terry Funk/Dory Funk Jr vs. Abdullah the Butcher/The Sheik (12/13/1979)

One of many insane bloodbaths between these two iconic teams. The crowd here is so rabid at times they feel in danger of becoming completely unglued. Fantastic stuff. One of the best matches of the decade.

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The Can-Am Express

While the heavyweight headliners got the bulk of the attention (and rightfully so), All Japan Pro Wrestling had a secondary tag division that often did their level best to steal the show. The province of smaller guys and young wrestlers on the come-up, the All-Asia titles were the centerpiece of many great matches. And, in the middle of the action, you could count on finding Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat—the Can-Am Express⁴.

When you watch them wrestle today, it just looks like wrestling. That’s a testament to their act—30 years ago, what is commonplace in 2023 was on the sharpest cutting edge of what wrestling could be.

Signature Match: Kroffat and Furnas vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (5/25/92)

Voted “Match of the Year” by the readers of the Wrestling Observer, this bout is professional wrestling perfection. Filmed in Kikuchi’s hometown, the perpetual underdog is the crowd’s favorite, adding drama and passion to a match that was already a high-level display of technique and aptitude. God, I love this match.

Jonathan Snowden is a long-time combat sports journalist. His books include Total MMA, Shooters and Shamrock: The World’s Most Dangerous Man. His work has appeared in USA Today, Bleacher Report, Fox Sports and The Ringer. Subscribe to this newsletter to keep up with his latest work.

1. Extreme Donald Trump voice here.

2. This is a real thing. Please don’t eat it at one sitting. I beg you.

3. Etsuko Mita was the creator of the Death Valley Driver.

4. Not to be confused with WWF’s Can-Am Connection.