Grading the 10 best tag teams of 2017
2017 is the year tag team wrestling made a comeback, with fans thrilling to the exploits of such stars as the New Day and the Young Bucks. We grade ten of the top tag teams on the following scales to see who comes out on top.
#1 Win/Loss record: Wins matter and a dominant team should be expected to at least have as many victories as defeats.
#2 Championships: Holding a title belt comes with a measure of prestige and certainly counts toward the overall grade.
#3 Cross-Media appeal: How many outlets cover the team? Are they likely to be known on sight by non-wrestling fans? This measure should never be taken lightly. Arn Anderson may have been a hundred times the technical wrestler Hulk Hogan was, but ask any non-wrestling fan who the greatest wrestler of all time was and they'll name the Hulkster over Arn every time.
Without further ado, let's look at the teams:
The Bar
The odd pairing of the Irishman and the Swede has led to an astonishing amount of success, being as the gimmick was never meant to carry the duo as far as it has.
Looking at IWD, as a duo, they have 51 losses and 38 wins. Ouch! It's not the worst record in the world, but far from the best. Grade: D
Now let's look at their championship statistic. As a duo, the Bar entered 2017 as WWE Raw tag champs, then quickly dropped the belts. They regained them in November and look to close out the year as the champions. Not bad, but not a long title reign in either case. Grade: C
Factoring in their cross-media appeal, we note that the duo is well-loved by the internet, who often complain that the team isn't pushed hard enough. There's no doubting that a lot of wrestling fans have their eyes on Sheamus and Ceasaro. However, no one outside of wrestling is likely to recognise them on sight. Grade: C