The 2000s was a transformative time for WWE in between the success of winning the Monday Night Wars and moving to a new business model. Vince McMahon wanted enough star power all over both Raw and Smackdown shows to start the brand split. However, the tag team division had its fair share of ups and downs thanks to the timing.

10 Best High Flyers Of The 2000s, Ranked
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WWE needed two separate tag teams holding gold for their respective shows of each brand. TNA became the other major promotion and tried to have a strong division as well during that decade. Some were great acts that thrived before their downfall, while others never got over. The following tag teams overstayed their welcome in the 2000s decade.

10 New Legion Of Doom Upset Fans Of Original Team

Heidenreich Replacing The Late Hawk Had No Chance Of Working

  • WWE Rehired Animal As Part Of Veteran Effort For Roster Depth
  • Replacing Road Warrior Hawk With Heidenreich Upset Many Fans
  • Tag Team Failed Badly To End Push After A Few Months

WWE hired Road Warrior Animal to return in the 2000s without his usual tag team partner Hawk since Hawk unfortunately passed away a few years before that. Animal joined the roster when WWE was adding multiple veterans like him, Jim Duggan and Tatanka for roster depth.

5 Best Wrestling Trilogies Of The 2000s (& 5 Worst)
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Unfortunately, the biggest push for Animal was his worst booked angle rebooting the Legion of Doom team with Heidenreich in place of Hawk. There was hope that old school fans would rally behind them, but it turned into a failed act overstaying its welcome just a few weeks into the idea.

9 Spirit Squad Worked With Legends Before Fans Were Sick Of Them

Cheap Heel Heat Gimmick Had Short Shelf Life For Talented Prospects

  • Received Major Push Winning Tag Titles Shortly Into Debut
  • Got Honor Of Facing DX In Their First Matches Back Reuniting
  • Everyone Had To Rebuild Careers When DX Feud Ended Gimmick

WWE introduced five new wrestlers together at the same time when hand picking top prospects to get called up in the Spirit Squad as male cheerleaders. The push saw the Spirit Squad winning the tag titles and using the heat from fans that despised watching them.

D-Generation X reunited as a huge story with Triple H and Shawn Michaels facing Spirit Squad members first since they represented Vince McMahon. The Spirit Squad got buried badly and all members had to rebuild afterwards, but Dolph Ziggler was the only one to become a noteworthy name.

8 Deuce & Domino Felt Too Far From The Past

WWE’s Terrible Gimmick Ruined Three Careers

  • 1950s Gimmick Didn't Connect With WWE Fans Of 2000s
  • Cherry Never Had Another Push In WWE After Being Removed
  • Maryse Couldn't Even Save The Act Despite Being Stronger Heel

The duo of Deuce & Domino got called up to WWE with the gimmick of being greasers from the 1950s like old school movie characters. Cherry joined them as a manager that went to the ring on rollerblades to play into the outdated characters.

WWE pushed Deuce & Domino to win the WWE Tag Team Championship and even had them ditch Cherry for the more over Maryse. Nothing worked since fans viewed it as a dead end gimmick making them feel stale from day one.

7 The Naturals Failed To Become Top TNA Tag Team

Working With Multiple Legendary Managers Couldn’t Help

The Naturals
  • TNA Wanted The Naturals To Become Cornerstone Team
  • Managers With Bigger Names Couldn't Get Them Over
  • Never Achieved More Success After TNA Departures

The early years of TNA saw them investing in some of the right names that became part of their history, like AJ Styles, James Storm and Abyss. However, there were some misses with acts like The Naturals once being viewed as the future of the company.

Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas had youth and management behind them, but something was always missing. Failed stints with names like Jimmy Hart and Shane Douglas managing them showed the pushes never working. The Naturals wore out their welcome before their TNA runs ended with nothing much coming from them afterwards.

6 Jesse & Festus Never Got More Than Occasional Laughter

Bold Gimmick Had Shorter Shelf Life That Ruined Their Push

  • Tag Team Act Had Limited Chances To Grow & Get Over With Fans
  • Luke Gallows Had To Overcome Multiple Terrible WWE Gimmicks
  • Jesse Never Had Another Real Push In WWE Once This Failed

WWE had a few misfires with Luke Gallows before fans knew his name during the early 2000s opportunities. Everyone remembers the awful Imposter Kane gimmick and storyline, but Gallows had another absurd run as Festus.

The story of Jesse and Festus is that Festus aka Gallows was comatose until the bell rang and he became a force. This was fun the first few times, but it quickly became predictable with little logic behind the characters.

5 D-Generation X Had A Different Approach As Older Guys

Triple H & Shawn Michaels’ DX Reunion Became Polarizing Act

  • Reunion Was Universally Loved At First When It Happened
  • Sophomoric Comedy Felt Less Fun Coming From Older Wrestlers
  • DX Run Took Away From The End Of Their Singles Careers

Most fans were ecstatic when Shawn Michaels and Triple H first reunited in 2006 to make D-Generation X a top act again. Things were different now with both guys much older and the entire company having a different roster.

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The comedy went from a strength in the 1990s to a weak point in the 2000s decade. DX making forced vulgar jokes felt like a huge decline from the early days. WWE picking names like the McMahon family and Spirit Squad as early rivals caused them to overstay their welcome quickly.

4 New Age Outlaws Mocking DX Ruined Their Act Too

TNA Getting A Little Too Desperate About WWE Was Mistake

  • Felt Stale In TNA For Their Entire Reunion Run As Tag Team
  • Gimmick Shifting Towards Mocking WWE's DX Was Low Point
  • Didn't Feel Like Top Tag Team In TNA Like During WWE Peak

Road Dogg and Billy Gunn reunited the former New Age Outlaws act in TNA during the 2000s after WWE respectively released them both. Voodoo Kin Mafia was the main name used when they got the idea to start mocking Triple H and Shawn Michaels.

The former D-Generation X members started cutting weekly promos mocking Triple H and Michaels for using the group name they were all part of. Fans were already getting sick of the New Age Outlaws before this, but they became a joke in the wrestling world once mocking DX and WWE.

3 La Resistance Was Another Outdated Foreign Heel Act

WWE Placed Three Promising Developmental Wrestlers In Limiting Group

  • Anti-American Foreigner Act Felt Stale By 2000s To Keep Going Back
  • La Resistance Got Easy Heat In The Early Months Of Push
  • Tag Team Couldn't Work Once Fans Got Used To Same Weekly Promos

The first version of La Resistance featured Rene Dupree and Sylvan Grenier using the post-9/11 society of patriotism in the United States. Both wrestlers used their French background to talk down to the American fans since France being anti-war somehow led to wrestling heel heat.

Rob Conway eventually joined the act as a third and even replaced Dupree when he was moved in the draft. La Resistance had some pros at the start, but they wore out of their welcome by playing an overdone and lazy gimmick that WWE went back to in the 2000s.

2 The Basham Brothers Couldn’t Outlast Bad Gimmicks

Top Developmental Wrestlers Were Placed In Difficult Situations

  • BDSM Tag Team Gimmick Ruined Their First WWE Push
  • Couldn't Get Over In Better Role In JBL's Cabinet Group
  • Had Final Chance In TNA With Forgotten Stint There

Doug and Danny Basham were called up together for the tag team division after both stood out in OVW. The first push already gave them a strike when playing the love slaves of dominatrix manager Shaniqua for a rare BDSM gimmick in the world of wrestling.

WWE gave them more traditional character routes when they started dressing normally and became the tag team of JBL’s Cabinet faction. Both stints featured them winning tag gold, but fans never got behind them. TNA witnessed the same problem bringing them over with them jumping the shark early there as well.

1 Billy & Chuck Had No Purpose After Publicity Stunt

Incredible Wedding Segment Also Was End Of Their Relevance

  • Controversial Gimmick Gave Them Both Much Needed New Roles
  • Original Characters Were Sparking Interest For Billy & Chuck
  • Wedding Publicity Stint Ending Couple Story Made Tag Team Pointless

WWE went with a bold storyline of placing Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo in a tag team based on them being a couple. There were both pros and cons to the act and how WWE portrayed it, but the two wrestlers committing to the team and act made it work.

The payoff to the story was a wedding with the swerve of Billy and Chuck revealing they weren’t gay and just doing this as a publicity stunt. Once fans had no reason to believe they were a couple, the tag act flopped with the rest of their run being pointless before moving back to singles roles.