In the wrestling industry, tag team wrestling is an art form in and of itself. In a profession where making a name for yourself and becoming adored (or despised) by the fans is key to success, many performers have taken the route of entering tag teams and seen their careers flourish as a result. There are many factors that can make a great tag team. From their chemistry in the ring together, to their athleticism and power, to their ability to cut promos and get a reaction from the fans, all of these things can make or break a tag team.

In professional wrestling, nothing is completely new or unique anymore. With so many years now in the books, there are only so many combinations or variations of gimmicks that make sense for a wrestler to use. Characters may change but some of the elements of that character will surely have been done before and are being borrowed from the past or in some cases, Hollywood. Some of the greatest tag teams of all time have been revived years later, sometimes to great success, and other times far less successfully. Also, sometimes teams will form under a different name to a team years prior but a very similar gimmick and have varying degrees of success.

With that in mind, let's take a look at times reincarnations of older tag times knocked it out of the park, and the times they never even got going.

20 FLOPPED: THE PITBULLS (2006 REINCARNATION)

In one of the more unusual entries on the list, in May 2006 Kid Kash and Jamie Noble were tasked with forming a modern day version of a tag team from the late 80s known as The Pitbulls. What makes it bizarre is the fact that despite moderate success as a tag team in ECW, the original Pitbulls were largely unsuccessful during their brief stint in WWE.

While pairing two former Cruiserweight champions together seemed like a good idea on paper, having the duo wear dog collars to the ring while barking at and often biting their opponents was hardly the ideal execution. Their sole tag title shot came in July at the Great American Bash when they were defeated by Paul London and Brian Kendrick. After a largely underwhelming four months as a team, the duo disbanded in September 06' when Kid Kash was released for behavioural problems.

19 WORKED: NEW DAY (REVEREND D-VON AND DEACON BATISTA)

With a string of tag title reigns and huge reactions from the fans, the new day have become one of the greatest tag teams of the modern era. Believe it or not, they weren't the first team with preaching at the epicentre of their gimmick. After the 2002 brand split saw the Dudley Boyz break up, D-Von landed on Smackdown where he became Reverend D-Von, initially serving as Mr. McMahon's "spiritual advisor." Soon afterward he was paired with his enforcer (and collection box guardian) Deacon Batista as the pair entered the ranks of the tag division.

Their maiden bout as a tag team saw them score a huge victory over Faarooq and fellow Evolution alum Randy Orton. However, this early success was short-lived, as tension rose between the duo after D-Von accidentally struck Batista with his collection box during a singles match against Rikishi. After a couple of weeks of arguing, Batista eventually turned on D-Von, bringing their brief and largely uneventful stint as a tag team to a close.

18 FLOPPED: LEGION OF DOOM (2005 REINCARNATION)

There is no question that the Legion of Doom will go down as one of the greatest tag teams to ever grace the squared circle. That being said, the 2005 reincarnation of the legendary duo was a massive flop. While it was a nice touch to rehire Animal two years after the untimely passing of his old tag partner Hawk, his pairing with Heidenreich failed abysmally in their attempt to recreate the magic of the original Legion of Doom.

Top it all off with the fact that they were given a relatively green Christy Hemme as their manager, and it's easy to see why this pairing was doomed from the get go. The team did have a run with the tag titles after defeating MNM at the Great American Bash in 05', but after an underwhelming run they dropped the belts back to MNM a couple of months later. The team disbanded shortly after with all three members being released the following year.

17 WORKED: LONDON AND KENDRICK (HIGH ENERGY)

It wasn't for lack of talent within the ranks of the team, but for some reason Koko B. Ware and Owen Hart did not see a lot of success as a duo when they formed the tag team High Energy. They were probably best known for their bright colours, their suspenders and their poor win loss record. Their only Pay-Per-View match was a loss to The Headshrinkers at Survivor Series 1992.

In contrast, Paul London and Brian Kendrick had far more success as a tag team in the mid 2000s. After winning the tag titles from MNM in 2006, London and Kendrick went on to have one of the longest tag team title reigns in the company's history, holding the belts for almost a year before eventually dropping the belts to Deuce n' Domino in April 2007. From there, they were drafted to Raw in the era of the brand split where they went on to hold the world tag team championships. Not bad for two of the smaller members of the roster at the time.

16 FLOPPED: MNM (HOLLYWOOD BLONDS)

The Hollywood Blonds is a wrestling gimmick that has been used By many different teams in wrestling throughout the years, and while many have seen success with it, the most popular pairing to use the moniker was without question "Stunning" Steve Austin and "Flyin" Brian Pillman. In March of 1993, the entertaining duo would go on to capture the WCW tag team championship with a victory over the champions Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas.

Although it was their only run with the belts, they went on to have a great run with the belts, etching their names in tag team folklore in the process. When Joey Mercury and John Morrison tried to revive the gimmick in the mid 2000's in WWE, they did have some success and managed to capture the WWE tag team championships. However, this was at a time when the tag division in WWE was struggling and it's fair to say that despite a decent run as a duo, they were nowhere near as engaging as The Hollywood Blonds.

15 WORKED: THE WYATT FAMILY (THE BROOD)

As a group, The Brood had one of the coolest entrances in the entire wrestling industry during the attitude era. It had everything from fire to Gangrel drinking "blood" from a chalice, and also acted as the launching pad for Edge and Christian's iconic careers in the WWE. The group started hot, but unfortunately a lot of their mystique was lost once Gangrel broke his silence and started talking on the mic.

The Wyatt family also started hot, and had a similarly cool entrance with Bray Wyatt holding a lantern as the lights went out in the arena. Accompanied by Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and also Braun Strowman towards the tail end of the groups run, the Wyatts were an incredibly formidable and eerily dangerous stable. They had a feud with the Shield and terrorized the roster in a run that also had far more longevity than that of The Brood.

14 FLOPPED: WORLD'S GREATEST TAG TEAM (THE STEINER BROTHERS)

When it comes to tag team pedigree and accomplishments, Scott and Rick Steiner will go down as one of the greatest tag teams to ever lace up their boots. With careers spanning 30 years in the business, the Steiner brothers wrestled in over 20 different promotions with their gimmick focusing heavily on the fact that they were successful collegiate wrestlers. They went on to become 7 time WCW tag team champions and 2 time WWE tag team champions. Both men also went on to have singles success with Scott becoming WCW champion.

As The World's Greatest Tag Team, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas had the same gimmick when they joined up with olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle to form team angle. They had a couple of reigns as WWE tag team champions and even won PWI tag team of the year in 2003 with Benjamin as the breakout due to his athleticism. Despite a healthy run the duo never reached the heights of the Steiners in tag team or singles competition.

13 WORKED: ACOLYTES (DOOM)

One thing that these teams have in common is that Ron Simmons was a member of both of them. He wrestled as one half of the intimidating team known as doom Doom alongside Butch Reed for a year in WCW from 1990 to 1991 and alongside Bradshaw as one half of the equally intimidating Acolytes in WWE during the attitude era. So if both teams were intimidating and had tag title reigns, what made The Acolytes better?

Well, they had more title reigns, lasted longer as a team and also had a lot of great segments backstage playing poker with the Acolytes Protection Agency. Overall, The Acolytes just seemed to be more diverse, more over with the crowds and in general just a more fine tuned version of Doom. Both members still make occasional appearances on WWE television to this day.

12 FLOPPED: THE UN-AMERICANS (THE HART FOUNDATION)

While neither group had a run that lasted even a year in the WWE, when it comes to purpose and impact the Hart foundation were vastly more successful than The Un-Americans. Formed in 1997, the Hart Foundation was comprised of Bret, Owen, their brothers-in-law Neidhart and Davey Boy Smith and close friend of the family Brian Pillman.

The pro-Canadian, anti-American group would go on to hold all of the titles in the company at one point, cementing their legacy as an iconic stable in the process. The Un-Americans on the other hand had the same gimmick but it felt more like creative were just finding something to do for a group of directionless mid-carders. Test, Christian, Lance Storm and William Regal made up a decent mid-card stable and despite having a run as tag team champions they were never going to reach the heights of the Hart Foundation.

11 WORKED: AMERICA'S MOST WANTED (SMOKING GUNNS)

Sporting outlaw cowboy gimmicks, Chris Harris and James Storm had a great run in TNA during the mid 2000's as America's Most Wanted in a stint that saw them amass 6 NWA tag team championships. The team were a breath of fresh air in a company that was on the rise, with both guys being a natural fit for the gimmick while putting on great matches in the process. This catapulted Storm to another successful tag team run alongside Bobby Roode and he even went on the capture the TNA world heavyweight championship on one occasion.

The Smoking Gunns had a decent run together with the same gimmick, although the pair never seemed like as natural a fit for the role. And while Billy Gunn did go on to have decent success as a part of DX and in singles competition as King of the Ring winner and intercontinental champion, it's fair to say that in this occasion the reincarnation was better than the original.

10 FLOPPED: ASCENSION (LEGION OF DOOM)

The Legion of Doom won multiple tag titles everywhere they went and are undoubtedly one of the greatest tag teams of all time, and yet probably the most glowing reference of how great they were as a team is the amount of times other teams have tried to replicate the team in search of their own success. One such team who has tried and failed in their attempts to recreate the magic of Animal and Hawk are The Ascension. Konnor and Viktor started off in NXT with all of the potential in the world, and the future looked bright as the tandem had a dominant run as NXT tag team champions, wiping out the entire division in the process.

However, things took a turn for them on the main roster as they entered an angle where they got beaten down by many legendary tag teams and it was all downhill from there. They failed to capture the WWE tag team championships and have been seen less and less on TV, although their comedy segments with Breezango have been entertaining.

9 WORKED: HARLEM HEAT (SOUL PATROL)

As Harlem Heat, Booker T and Stevie Ray brought a very similar attitude and gimmick to the table as Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas had done nearly a decade prior with a few key differences. Firstly, their skill and athleticism was superior to that of their predecessors, which is no slight on Soul Patrol considering Harlem Heat were probably the best tag team of their generation in WCW. With a record 10 reigns as WCW tag champions, Harlem Heat proved their dominance throughout the 90s and etched their names into tag team wrestling folklore in the process.

While The Soul Patrol had a decent run in WWE, they didn't have the longevity or the more modern style of in-ring prowess of Harlem Heat. Booker T also went on to have major as a singles competitor as former 5 time WCW champion. While the efforts of Harlem Heat eclipse that of Soul Patrol, their contributions to tag team wrestling in the 80s should not be undermined.

8 FLOPPED: THE NEW ROCKERS

Although their only ever WWE tag team title reign has been rescinded by the company as it never officially aired on WWE television, The Rockers were a successful tag team who put on exciting matches and got over with fans whatever promotion they wrestled in. They teamed from 1985 to 1992 until Michaels famously turned on Jannetty, putting him through a barbershop window and turning into the heel Heartbreak Kid in the process.

To nobody's surprise, the second coming of the new rockers was not nearly as successful. It paired the less talented Jannetty with Leif Cassidy (who later became better known as Al Snow). The new pairing was underwhelming from the get go. They broke well under a year after they were formed and never really made an impact in the tag team ranks.

7 WORKED: USOS (HEADSHRINKERS)

There is a reason that The Uso's have gone on to become the longest tenured tag team in WWE history, and it's not just because the brothers look similar. Having debuted in 2010, the pair had a lot of success as crowd favourites in the early days, racking up tag titles in the process. It could be argued that the babyfaces act got a bit stale for a while, but a heel turn managed to completely reinvent the tag team, and since then they have been on an amazing run.

Not only have they done their best character work, but they put on an epic series of matches with The New Day for the WWE tag team championships in the process. It's no surprise that The Uso's have a similar gimmick to that of The Headshrinkers 25 years later considering their father was one half of the original team, but on longevity, reinvention and title reigns, the Usos are definitely the more successful of the two.

6 FLOPPED: MEXICOOLS (FILTHY ANIMALS)

When it comes to The Mexicools Vs Filthy Animals it's simple: one stable was correctly executed while the other was not. The Filthy Animals was a stable in WCW which consisted of Rey Mysterio, Konnan, Eddie Guerrero and Billy Kidman. The group were very entertaining and celebrated Mexican culture without being offensive. It's also important to note that the group served one of the key purposes of a faction as it helped elevate each of its members.

In essence, The Mexicools was the exact opposite of this. Psicosis, Juventud Guerrera and Super Crazy could have been a real breath of fresh air to WWE in the 2000's had they not been misused and saddled with this borderline offensive gimmick. Not only was the run a failure, but it did nothing to elevate the careers of any of the superstars in question.

5 WORKED: BULLET CLUB (NWO)

While many may dispute whether The Bullet Club have been more successful than the NWO, there is no question that they are the most successful stable in wrestling history with respect to keeping the group from becoming stale. While the NWO was brilliant for quite some time as the cool heel stable in WCW with Hogan, Nash and Hall at the helm, the group eventually outstayed its welcome and added far too many members in the end.

In contrast, The Bullet Club in NJPW continues to remain exciting. Originally founded by Prince Devitt (now known as Finn Balor in WWE) the heel faction have always changed up the group members just enough to keep it fresh and has seen the likes of AJ Styles, Adam Cole and Kenny Omega as group leaders.

4 FLOPPED: LA RESISTANCE (FABULOUS ROUGEAU BROTHERS)

When Rob Conway, Sylvain Grenier and Renee Dupree entered the WWE as Le Resistance, the company were in need of heels in their thg team ranks. Their gimmick was simple, copy what The Rougeau Brothers did in the 80's. Not only were they French Canadian heels, but they also used all of the same heel tactics in matches that The Rougeau Brothers had used to better effect many years prior. Only one problem; if you are going to copy an act from years gone by as blatantly as this, you best be sure that you do a better job than the originals.

While La Resistance made a fine stop gap in the tag division in a time where the company were desperate for heel teams, they certainly did not best the efforts of the The Rougeau Brothers. None of the group would have any success with WWE in singles competition.

3 WORKED: HOLLYWOOD BLONDES

Long before 'Stunning' Steve Austin and 'Flyin' Brian Pillman reprised their roles as The Hollywood Blondes, many other tag teams had taken on the roles. Given the level of talent on display, it's no surprise that the former WCW tag team champions went on to out-do them all. Energetic, entertaining and talented in the ring, Austin and Pillman had it all.

Not only were they a great tag team, but after they split the went on to produce one of the most controversial segments in WCW history when the cameras cut off in Pillman's home as Austin broke in and it appeared as though Pillman may have shot Austin. As we all know, Austin went on to have an iconic career as Stone Cold Steve Austin in WWE and Pillman himself would join up with the Hart Foundation before passing away in 1997.

2 FLOPPED: MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

No discussion about the greatest tag team of all time is complete without mention of The Midnight Express. The original team of Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose were formed in 1980, and later a second incarnation of the Midnight Express was formed consisting of Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane. At one point the two teams actually feuded with each other in the late 80s.

With both teams having had major success winning titles in multiple organizations, the stage was set for a reboot of the iconic Midnight Express in 1998. However, while Jim Cornette wanted to manage some up and coming talent, he instead got paired with longtime jobbers Hardcore Holly and Bart Gunn. The pairing was a disaster and the duo never clicked. Despite a brief run as NWA tag team champions, the pair never got over with the fans and their run was short lived.

1 WORKED: ROAD WARRIORS (MAD MAX)

Regarded by many as the greatest tag team of all time, whether they wrestled as the Road Warriors or the legion of doom one thing is for sure; success followed Hawk and Animal wherever they went. Just look at the amount of teams that tried to replicate them. The Powers of Pain, Demolition, The Ascension and even a reincarnation of The Legion of Doom under the same name all followed the iconic duo. So who did the team get the idea from?

Well, they didn't borrow the gimmick from another team. However, the whole idea for their characters came from the Mad Max movie franchise. The wrestling industry has been known to borrow from Hollywood over the years, and in this instance it was a huge success. Fans didn't seem to care and adored the team whatever organization they competed in.