Everyone remembers the most iconic tag teams in ECW history. The Dudley Boyz, Rob Van Dam and Sabu, The Eliminators, and The Impact Players are just a few of the duos who helped define that company's history. However, the promotion was not shy about having makeshift teams get major opportunities in the division.
In fact, a deep look into ECW's history will show that the tag team title picture was often filled with surprises. There was a point where D-Von Dudley battled RVD in a singles match for the championships. Still, the oddest happenings had to come from these strange pairings getting opportunities at gold.
10 Chris Chetti & Jerry Lynn
On their own, Chris Chetti and Jerry Lynn were on two different levels in ECW. Chetti was mostly known as Taz's cousin who teamed with Nova and that was basically the height of his notoriety for his entire career. Lynn went on to become an ECW World Champion.
They didn't have matching personalities but that didn't stop them from getting a shot at the Tag Titles. In March of 1998, they defeated The FBI en route to facing Chris Candido and Lance Storm for the straps, losing out. Lynn would break out as a star in the following year.
9 Balls Mahoney & Masato Tanaka
A lot of fans might remember that Balls Mahoney and Masato Tanaka actually competed as opponents at the second One Night Stand PPV. It didn't live up to Tanaka's battle with Mike Awesome a year prior but was still notable enough to be mentioned.
However, their history actually goes back much further than that. At November to Remember 1998, Tanaka and Mahoney managed to beat The Dudley Boyz for the titles, though they lost them back to the Dudleys five days later.
8 Raven & Tommy Dreamer
Of every team on this list, the one that fans most remember is the pairing of Raven and Tommy Dreamer. That's because they were such heated rivals throughout most of their careers. Raven's shocking return in 1999 to help Dreamer wrestle the titles from The Dudley Boyz on their final night with the company is iconic.
Although it's memorable, it makes the list for the other half of the title in that it was just so odd. Dreamer and Raven loathed each other and had a feud that spanned several years. Seeing them on the same team was one of the strangest sights imaginable.
7 Chris Candido & Rhino
Despite their longstanding problems, Tommy Dreamer and Raven actually had a long reign as champions. They held the straps for 136 days, losing them in early 2000 at Guilty as Charged to The Impact Players.
During their reign, Dreamer and Rhino faced off against another unexpected duo. That would be the one consisting of Chris Candido and Rhino. Although Mr. "No Gimmicks Needed" and The "Man-Beast" came up short, they got another chance as being top contenders but also lost to The Impact Players.
6 Axl Rotten & D-Von Dudley
The Dudley Boyz are obviously the biggest and most successful tag team to come out of ECW. That's why it's so surprising to see that D-Von Dudley had opportunities at tag gold with someone other than Bubba Ray. Meanwhile, Axl Rotten is also most known for other teams.
He partnered up with Balls Mahoney and his brother Ian often. Still, Rotten and D-Von made strange bedfellows in 1996 when they got a shot at The Gangstas. More shockingly is that they actually teamed again in 1997 and competed for the titles against The Eliminators.
5 Mikey Whipwreck & Sabu
You'd be hard-pressed to find two wrestlers more different than Mikey Whipwreck and Sabu. One was the plucky underdog who became a bigger star in ECW than anyone expected. The other is a maniac who didn't care what he did to his body.
Somehow, they found themselves as a tandem who got a chance to become ECW Tag Team Champions. It happened in the summer of 1996 when they took on The Eliminators. Ultimately, they were unsuccessful but it's a novel team to go back and watch.
4 JT Smith & The Sandman
To most ECW fans, these guys were total opposites on the card. The Sandman won the ECW World Title more than anyone else in history, while JT Smith was typically used as a jobber and comedic relief within the FBI. Things were different in the early days, though.
Long before either guy had that position in ECW, they were a tag team, at least for a short while. Way back in late 1993, JT Smith and The Sandman challenged Johnny Hot Body and Tony Stetson for the titles on two occasions.
3 Mikey Whipwreck & Raven
It's often forgotten that Raven was still working in ECW a few months into 2000. Even if you remembered that, there's a good chance you don't recall that he formed a tag team with Mikey Whipwreck in a Tag Team Title match.
After all, Whipwreck was known for teaming with Yoshihiro Tajiri as The Unholy Alliance at the time. Regardless, Whipwreck and Raven took on The Impact Players and lost on an episode of ECW on TNN in April of 2000.
2 Mike Awesome & Raven
Raven's second tenure with ECW was one of the strangest in history considering how many tag teams he was randomly part of. After he and Tommy Dreamer dropped the Tag Team Titles to The Impact Players, Dreamer won them with Masato Tanaka as his partner instead.
To retaliate, Raven went out and joined forces with Tanaka's greatest rival, Mike Awesome. The two former ECW World Champions actually managed to win the titles and defend them at Living Dangerously. Alas, The Impact Players won them back and beat Raven and Awesome in a rematch a few weeks later.
1 Luna Vachon & Tommy Dreamer
Intergender wrestling has become a bit more mainstream thanks to companies like Lucha Underground and PWG. It was still a rarity in the '90s but ECW certainly did it a fair few times. One of them actually involved the Tag Team Titles and the legendary Luna Vachon.
This came in 1995 at the Hardcore Heaven event. Luna Vachon teamed with Tommy Dreamer to take on Raven and Stevie Richards for the gold. They didn't win but they made it competitive and Vachon made a bit of history in the process.