5 of the best non-WWE tag teams today
The first officially sanctioned tag team wrestling match took place in 1901, in San Francisco, California. At the time, California was the hotbed for sudden growth in popularity that wrestling was getting. Eventually, tag team wrestling became a common component to professional wrestling.
As the sport and its popularity grew into the mainstream, wrestling began to evolve from sport, into pure entertainment...sports entertainment. With the new look, there was a new feel to professional wrestling, and while tag team wrestling never went extinct, so to speak, it did take a distant back-burner to singles action. I get that, I really do. Singles competition puts the spotlight on individual performers, rather than collective duos.
Fast forward to today. We are witnesses to a unique era in the industry. The action inside the ring moves at a much faster pace than ever before. The fast pace certainly favours singles wrestling, but even with the speed turned up to a higher octane, there is a new breed of tag team performers who are capable of keeping up with all of today's daredevils.
Here is a look at five of the best tag teams who are not under contract to WWE.
#5 Tencozy
New Japan Pro Wrestling has a history of churning out some of the very best in tag team wrestling. In fact, tag team wrestling is celebrated in NJPW with the series of IWGP tag titles being some of the most revered prizes in the industry. When it comes to the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles, Tencozy has held those very titles a total of 6 times, for a combined 929 days, which is a feat that only one tag team has been able to top since the belts were introduced in 1985.
Tencozy is made up of two of Japan’s top stars- Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Together, these two have a combined 52 years of in-ring experience to their credit.