The purpose of booking wrestlers in Extreme Championship Wrestling has been quoted by Paul Heyman as attempting to "accentuate the positives and hide the negatives." To that end, a lot of wrestlers were able to accomplish more than any other company would have allowed them to because of ECW's ability to showcase their strengths.
Some of these wrestlers comprised the iconic ECW tag teams that are still talked about today for either their commitment to violence, technical acumen, or a combination of both along with their footprint within the organization. Let's look at 10 tag teams that defined the history of ECW.
10 The Tazmaniac & Sabu
In the earlier days of ECW, the Tazmaniac (now simply Taz) was primarily a tag team wrestler who found himself aligned with the reckless up-and-comer Sabu. Together, the team captured the ECW Tag Team Championship, but it was what happened off the books that would define their time together. During their time as champions, Sabu was fired by Paul Heyman for no-showing a scheduled event in favor of working dates for NJPW. This, combined with an untimely injury for Taz, would kickstart a rivalry in 1996 that became one of the defining feuds in ECW history.
9 Mikey Whipwreck & Cactus Jack
In the same year that he was named the Wrestling Observer Newsletter "Rookie of the Year", Whipwreck continued his bafflingly winning ways by filling in for an injured Terry Funk and winning the tag titles with Cactus Jack. Whipwreck, an underdog character who seemed to fluke his way into big wins, became Jack's tag team partner and would go on to be one of his final matches in ECW. The odd couple tandem served to bolster Whipwreck's popularity among the cynical ECW faithful and is a memorable point in the career of both he and Jack.
8 The Full-Blooded Italians (F.B.I.)
The team of Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke, along with various other faction members, were one of ECW's most recognizable acts in the latter half of its life-cycle.
Guido and Mamaluke served as a technically sound young team whose stereotypical gimmick belied in-ring acumen that got the job done and would net them the ECW Tag Team Championships. The F.B.I. gimmick would be transplanted to WWE after the fall of ECW along with Little Guido, but it was in ECW that it was used to its comedic and in-ring potential the best.
7 The Impact Players
The team of Justin Credible and Lance Storm came together in the late 1990s and they swiftly became a cornerstone of ECW programming. The duo feuded with the likes of The Sandman, Shane Douglas, and Tommy Dreamer, winning the tag team titles from the latter and his surprising partner, Raven. Their cocky attitude and brash actions, coupled with manager Jason and valet Dawn Marie, made them a focal point of the focus of ECW until Storm left the company for WCW, allowing Credible the opportunity to capture the ECW World Championship.
6 The Pitbulls
Pitbull #1 and Pitbull #2 were no strangers to each other upon entering ECW in 1994, but they would finesse their chemistry together into a dominant team that embodied the violence inherent in classic ECW. The Pitbulls engaged in chaotic battles with the likes of Raven and Stevie Richards and The Eliminators, teams whom they faced in their signature dog collar match. Although they only captured the tag titles once, the look and intensity of the Pitbulls is one that ECW fans to this day remember well as evocative of what the company was all about.
5 Sabu & Rob Van Dam
Though successful in their own right as singles stars, the team headed by Bill Alfonso was an iconic tandem during the heyday of ECW. Formerly rivals, Van Dam and Sabu mended fences and managed to capture the tag team championships twice together and were forever associated with one another.
The team feuded with practically every top team in ECW and even fought invading teams like Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki in classic bouts. Van Dam and Sabu, both trained by the original Sheik, became one of ECW's most decorated teams in its history.
4 The Public Enemy
Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge were one of the first notable acts to emerge out of ECW (then known as Eastern Championship Wrestling), as they were colorful characters that also knew how to bring the violence. Public Enemy was known in ECW for their hip-hop antics and their penchant for using multiple tables in their various matches, which helped them capture the tag team championships four times. Despite moving on to both WWE and WCW in the 1990s, Public Enemy is still remembered as one of the most popular teams in ECW of any time.
3 The Gangstas
No other team exemplified the type of violence ECW called its own than the infamous team comprised of New Jack and Mustafa. Having honed their act together in Smokey Mountain Wrestling, the Gangstas brought a hard edge to the proceedings in ECW, battering their opponents with all manner of objects until they bled, the rap song "Natural Born Killaz" blaring all throughout the match.
In a land full of wrestlers unlike what was seen on national TV, the Gangstas stood out even more than any other unit and are emblematic of how counter-cultural ECW was.
2 The Eliminators
The team of Perry Saturn and John Kronus hit their collective stride in ECW, becoming the promotion's equivalent to the unstoppable tag teams of the 1980s territories. Together, the team faced and defeated practically all of the notable teams to emerge in ECW in the mid-1990s, establishing themselves as the top dogs amid classic ECW tandems like The Pitbulls, The Gangstas, and Public Enemy. The Eliminators stand as one of the promotion's greatest booking successes, as Saturn & Kronus became the most unstoppable force in the history of the ECW tag team division.
1 The Dudley Boyz
The team that is synonymous with the letters ECW, Bubba Ray & D-Von became a household name to wrestling fans in the 1990s through their violent brawls and unbelievably scathing attitudes. The Dudleys were promoted as the ultimate heel team, cursing out fans and using their patented 3D to destroy anyone in their path. Their success in ECW led to them becoming globally known during their time in WWE and it cannot be understated how important the Dudley gimmick was to ECW being as fondly remembered as it is today.