Tag teams usually need a strong act to get over and to stay relevant in a company as big as WWE. Two wrestlers having to effectively play a unique gimmick while being on the same page can go in many directions.
WWE, unfortunately, had many of the worst team gimmicks in wrestling history. The teams in question were expected to find success with characters that had little to no upside in the grand scheme of WWE. Without further ado, let's find out what caused these ambitious ideas to miss the mark and just how far they were able to go with it.
10 Billy & Chuck
WWE paired Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo together in a tag team when both wrestlers were struggling to find a role. The implied gimmick was that they were involved in a relationship during their big wins with the WWE Tag Team Championship.
Rico becoming their manager made all three wrestlers play borderline offensive stereotypes. The wedding saw Billy and Chuck revealing their relationship was a publicity stunt to make the payoff even worse.
9 The Bodydonnas
Chris Candido, Tom Prichard, and Tammy Sytch were all tasked with playing difficult characters as Skip, Kip, and Sunny in the Bodydonnas. Both male wrestlers worked together in the tag division and even won the WWE Tag Team Championship together.
Sunny was the only talent of the three to have major success by gaining momentum as a personality. The Bodydonnas saw their run end faster than expected due to the terrible gimmick mocking the weight of the fan base. WWE pushed Sunny on her own when the team ended for good.
8 Blue World Order
The Blue World Order originated in ECW with Stevie Richards, The Blue Meanie, and Nova playing a parody of the New World Order from WCW. However, the act returned in WWE when all three wrestlers were placed together on the SmackDown brand in 2005.
bWo wrestlers mostly competed in tag team action against The Mexicools. Most fans didn’t care for the Blue World Order since the act was outdated by about eight years. WWE clearly didn’t put enough thought into this team.
7 The Smoking Gunns
Billy Gunn finds his way on the list again with another ridiculous gimmick that missed the mark for long-term value. The duo of Billy and Bart Gunn played brothers in The Smoking Gunns tag team during the New Generation Era.
Both wrestlers adopted the cowboy gimmick that was meant to get over as faces for many years. There was some short-term success, but the duo jumped the shark quickly. WWE split them up to push Billy on his own before he moved back into tag team action.
6 Los Matadores
Primo and Epico tried to get over in WWE with a few different gimmicks in their careers. The Colon cousins each had great in-ring potential, but their characters always lacked the "it factor" to get a consistent spot in the tag division.
WWE removing Rosa Mendes as their manager saw Primo and Epico rebranded as Los Matadores with El Torito as their manager and mascot. Los Matadores failed to get over and became an afterthought before another gimmick change.
5 Spirit Squad
Five wrestlers were called up from developmental to WWE with the gimmick of The Spirit Squad. The act saw them all playing male cheerleaders as heel characters trying to get cheap heel heat with the audience.
WWE elevated The Spirit Squad into matches with bigger names like Big Show, Kane, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels. Unfortunately, the group couldn’t get over enough to have any value after their feud with D-Generation X. Four of the five wrestlers left the brand with Kenny Doane getting repackaged on the main roster.
4 Tekno Team 2000
WWE came up with the concept of Tekno Team 2000 in the New Generation Era hoping to find a tag team ahead of its time. Erik Watts and Chad Fortune were paired together with the futuristic gimmick planned to make them a fixture in the tag division.
Tekno Team 2000 completely flopped and struggled to build any attention from the WWE fan base. The gimmick ended up becoming more confusing with lackluster results. Neither wrestler made it in the industry, and this represented their best shot flopping with the wrong booking.
3 Deuce 'n Domino
The trio of Cherry, Deuce, and Domino all built momentum in developmental and got called up to the WWE main roster together. SmackDown saw Deuce and Domino wearing the black leather jackets with slicked-back hair and Cherry roller skating to the ring.
WWE wanted to push them as a trio stuck in the 1950s looking to take over the late 2000s tag team division. Deuce and Domino flopped instantly as the gimmick missed the mark. Not even the replacement of Maryse in Cherry’s place was enough to save them.
2 The Godwinns
Henry and Phineas Godwinn played brothers having a background as pig farmers when joining WWE in the mid-90s. The Godwinns played face character from the start with the legendary Hilbilly Jim as their manager.
WWE tried to push them on a few occasions with the act running its course faster than planned. The Godwinns had no long-term value after a successful feud against Sunny ended. WWE rebranding them as Southern Justice when ditching the farmer gimmick wasn’t enough to make the audience care about them.
1 The Basham Brothers
WWE paired together Doug and Danny Basham to play brothers in the tag team division when getting called up to the SmackDown brand. Tough Enough winner Linda Miles was renamed Shaniqua and joined them as a manager.
The strange gimmick portrayal of the BDSM community saw the Bashams wearing bondage outfits and Shanique as a dominatrix. WWE couldn’t find success with the gimmick and the Bashams were repackaged as members of JBL’s Cabinet faction where they also flopped again.