The history of makeshift tag teams has featured wrestlers with little in common teaming up for short runs in the tag division. Both wrestlers involved in each team were either struggling to find a role on television or just needed something new to get them momentum in the WWE landscape.
The booking of the two wrestlers uniting worked enough to get a tag title reign for the names involved. However, results would be mixed ranging from the success stories to get over with the audience to the duos who just couldn’t generate interest. Find out what happened to make the runs in question not work out too long. The following makeshift tag teams won gold in WWE during their time together.
10 Edge & Hulk Hogan
WWE utilized Hulk Hogan in a more unselfish manner during his return in 2002 once turning face. Hogan worked with some of the young rising stars instead of dominating the main event picture during the summer.
The timing saw him teaming with Edge to form a fun makeshift tag team. Edge and Hogan feuded with the Un-Americans faction and won the WWE Tag Team Championship together in a memorable moment for both wrestlers at the time.
9 Rhyno & Heath Slater
The 2016 brand split featured WWE needing to develop new tag teams to have depth on both rosters. WWE signed Rhyno to a main roster deal after a short stint in NXT to team up with the one undrafted free agent Heath Slater.
The storyline culminated with Slater needing a title win to get a contract offer. Rhyno and Heath shocked the world by winning the tournament to become the first-ever Smackdown Tag Team Champions. The team remained a duo for a couple of years even though the peak ended after a few months.
8 Drew McIntyre & Cody Rhodes
WWE paired together Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes in a gauntlet for the WWE Tag Team Championship despite never teaming up before then. Both heels had potential but struggled to break out in singles roles.
The makeshift tag team won the tag gold together in their first outing and had a short reign as champs. WWE did not want them together in the long run, but Drew and Cody showed enough promise to make fans wonder what could have been.
7 Charlie Haas & Rico
The odd couple tag team of Charlie Haas and Rico was a product of Haas needing a new role after his run with Shelton Benjamin ended. Rico was also treading water on his own after splitting up from 3-Minute Warning.
WWE placed Rico and Haas into a feud with MNM defeating the top heels to become the WWE Tag Team Championship. The act of Haas, Rico and Jackie Gayda didn’t work out and WWE had to split them with no one benefiting from it.
6 Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov
The main event push of Vladimir Kozlov saw him scoring a victory over The Undertaker and entering a feud with WWE Champion Triple H. Fans didn’t buy Kozlov as a serious threat which led to him moving lower down the card.
WWE eventually teamed Kozlov up with the comedic Santino Marella as a complete character shift from being serious to humorous. Kozlov and Santino won the WWE Tag Team Championship as they found chemistry with an act that made the audience laugh with them.
5 The Rock & Sock Connection
WWE paired The Rock and Mick Foley together as one of the most star-studded makeshift teams in wrestling history. The story was already there as Foley and Rock were bloody rivals just months before forming The Rock & Sock Connection.
Rock turning face put him on the same page as Foley with both men eventually thriving in their short-term duo. The Rock & Sock Connection found enough popularity for Rock to reunite with Foley at WrestleMania 20 for their last match together putting over Evolution.
4 Kenzo Suzuki & Rene Dupree
Both Rene Dupree and Kenzo Suzuki were failing singles acts with the same heel characters of the anti-American gimmicks. Neither wrestler was thriving on their own, so they were placed together in a team for the Smackdown brand.
Suzuki and Dupree won the WWE Tag Team Championship by defeating Paul London and Brian Kendrick. WWE ended up getting little from the push as both wrestlers still struggled in the act. The tag title reign ended at the hands of Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio as Dupree and Suzuki would each get released shortly after.
3 Owen Hart & Yokozuna
The return of Yokozuna after an extended break came at WrestleMania 11 as the mystery partner of Owen Hart. Both wrestlers were established heels as Yokozuna was a former WWE Champion and Owen was a credible challenger.
Yokozuna and Owen won the WWE Tag Team Championship in their first match together defeating the Smoking Gunns. Jim Cornette managed the duo with Davey Boy Smith eventually joining them in Team Cornette. Owen eventually pivoted into a team with brother-in-law Davey as Yoko’s weight gain harmed his career.
2 Kofi Kingston & R-Truth
WWE placed Kofi Kingston into a few tag teams throughout his career until he found the right fit in New Day. One of the forgotten makeshift teams for Kofi came when he teamed up with R-Truth to join the tag division.
Kofi and R-Truth defeated Primo and Epico to have their sole reign as the WWE Tag Team Champions. WWE did not see them as a long-term fix in the tag division as they dropped the belts quickly to Team Hell No of Daniel Bryan and Kane. Both R-Truth and Kingston went their separate ways to end the tag run.
1 Chad Gable & Bobby Roode
Both Chad Gable and Bobby Roode have been involved in tag teams with multiple partners throughout their WWE careers. The short stint together saw Gable and Roode winning the Raw Tag Team Championship from Authors of Pain.
Roode and Gable each brought a different style to the table and worked well together in their tag matches. The title reign ended at the hands of The Revival before WWE split them up. Both wrestlers are in new makeshift tag teams today with Roode becoming the partner of Dolph Ziggler and Gable teaming up with Otis.