TNA Impact Wrestling has had some legendary tag teams over its history. Talk to fans about teams like America's Most Wanted, Beer Money, Triple H, or Team Canada, and you will likely get smiles and good memories. Add in teams like AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels, and LAX and TNA almost beats out WWE when it comes to tag wrestling.
However, there were also times that TNA followed in WWE's footsteps by putting together mismatched tag teams, or just unusual bedfellows, and let those men win the tag team championship. Here is a look at 10 duos you might have forgotten won the TNA tag team titles.
10 STING AND KURT ANGLE
Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe were feuding in TNA in 2007, and the two men fought in a match where their individual titles were on the line. Samoa Joe was the sole holder of the tag team titles because he had pinned Bully Ray in a match where the Dudley Boyz tag titles were on the line, as was Joe's X-Division title and Angle's world title.
With Joe as the sole champion, he then battled Angle in a match where the world, tag, and X-Division titles were all on the line. Angle won that match and held every TNA title. Sting then beat AJ Styles, Christian, and Samoa Joe to become Angles' new tag team championship partner. They held the titles for only 13 days.
9 R-TRUTH AND PACMAN JONES
In a moment that rivals WCW putting their world title on David Arquette, TNA signed NFL star Pacman Jones to a contract to work as a tag team partner for Ron Killings. The problems were many. For one thing, Pacman was suspended from the NFL, so this was not a smart addition to the roster.
For another, he couldn't wrestle. He literally couldn't wrestle. The Tennessee Titans forbade him to wrestle after he and Killings won the TNA tag team titles from Sting and Kurt Angle. Consequences Creed (Xavier Woods) wrestled in his place, defending the titles.
8 NICK ALDIS AND SAMOA JOE
From 2011 to 2012, Nick Aldis and Samoa Joe were involved in a feud in TNA Impact Wrestling. Joe was an original, and Aldis (then known as Magnus) was making his name as one of the stars of the future. The two started working together in one of the Wild Card tournaments, where mismatched teams were created.
They went on to beat Crimson and Matt Morgan at Against All Odds in 2012 to win the tag team titles. They had some nice title defenses before losing the belts three months later and began to feud with each other again.
7 CURT HAWKINS AND CAMERON GRIMES
In one of the most bizarre pairings of tag team champions for fans who only watch WWE, in 2015, Curt Hawkins and Cameron Grimes were TNA tag team champions. Most WWE fans know Hawkins as a jobber who lost a record number of matches before re-teaming with old partner Zack Ryder.
As for Grimes, he is a great mid-card wrestler on NXT. However, in TNA, they were Bryan Myers and Trevor Lee, and they beat The American Wolves for the tag team titles. Their title reign lasted for one week.
6 JAY LETHAL AND XAVIER WOODS
Xavier Woods has carved out a great career in WWE as part of New Day. He has always been very talented, and in TNA, he was known as Consequences Creed. He was a former tag champion reservist when he replaced Pacman Jones to team with Ron Killings, but he also had a legit tag partner as well.
Jay Lethal, arguably the greatest Ring of Honor champion in history, worked in TNA for years. In 2018, the two teamed up as Lethal Consequences and went on to win the tag team titles from Beet Money. Their title reign lasted for three days.
5 BOOKER T AND SCOTT STEINER
TNA, for a period, chose to try to become the new WCW, which was something that hurt their growth, and it took them years to rebound from this mistake. While some wrestlers they brought back were still great, such as Booker T, others were slowing down, such as Scott Steiner.
In 2009, the two men who at one time feuded for the WCW World Championship teamed up in TNA. They were members of the Main Event Mafia and won the tag titles from Beer Money at Victory Road in July and lost them in October at Bound for Glory.
4 ERIC YOUNG AND THE OUTSIDERS
In one of the strangest versions of the Freebird Rule in tag team wrestling, in 2010, Eric Young was part of the TNA World Tag Team Champions with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. This all started when Eric Young tried to come to Nash's aid when Hall and Sean Waltman turned on him.
However, it was all a ruse, and Nash turned on Young. This led to yet another swerve where Eric Young joined The Band (their faction name), and then when Hall and Nash won the tag titles, Nash named Young their third partner so he could help defend the titles. They only held the titles for less than a month.
3 BOBBY ROODE AND AUSTIN ARIES
Bobby Roode can work with almost anyone in a tag team. In TNA, he was part of Team Canada and then ended up creating Beer Money with James Storm. In WWE, he is working with Dolph Ziggler and has proven to be a tag team specialist. However, one partner no one talks about is Austin Aries.
This was after Beer Money split up, and Storm had become a world championship contender. This also came after Roode lost his world title to Aries in 2012 after a 256-day reign. Six months later, they were tag team partners and won the TNA tag titles, holding them for 76 days.
2 JACKSON RYKER AND JAMES STORM
Much like Bobby Roode, James Storm was one of the best tag team wrestlers that TNA had ever seen. When the company started, he was part of America's Most Wanted, winning the tag titles six times. He then created Beer Money with Bobby Roode and won five more tag team titles.
However, he also had another tag team partner in TNA when he teamed up with Gunner in 2013. They won the titles and held them for 140 days before losing them and feuding. Gunner is now in NXT as Jackson Ryker.
1 ELI DRAKE AND SCOTT STEINER
Eli Drake was one of the biggest success stories in latter-day TNA Impact Wrestling. However, while he was great on the mic and above average in the ring, he never seemed to keep a sustained push. He finally got a 146-day world title reign but is now in NWA.
In 2017, he was moved into a tag team role with Scott Steiner. While Scott could no longer move anywhere near as well as he used to, they still got a win over LAX to win the TNA tag titles. They held the belts for less than a month.