10 Worst Tag Team Gimmicks In Wrestling (Given To Great Duos)

The wrestling industry has seen promotions planning gimmicks for tag team acts to get over for years. Single wrestlers have gimmicks planned for them, but more effort is required for two names to find that same level of success together. WWE and all other major companies have witnessed ideas failing the talents involved for some scenarios.

RELATED: 10 Best Tag Team Gimmicks In Wrestling History (Wasted On Poor Duos)

Quite a few talented tandems that should have thrived on paper had lackluster runs due to the gimmicks given to them. A bad character can hold back even the best performers from getting over together. Each situation in question had the same result despite playing different characters. The following worst tag team gimmicks were given to great wrestlers.

10 The New Blackjacks

WWE tried to use an old gimmick that worked in a much earlier time of the Blackjacks. JBL and Barry Windham are both Hall of Fame worthy wrestlers that were given this terribly conceived gimmick trying to act like the 1970s duo.

RELATED: 5 Best WWE Tag Team Champions Of The New Generation Era (& 5 Worst)

The New Blackjacks was an instant flop with fans showing no interest whatsoever. JBL was in a terrible spot until forming a much more successful tag team with Ron Simmons in the APA. Unfortunately, Windham never got another strong chance at success in WWE again.

9 Team Pacman

The TNA experiment of signing NFL player Adam “Pacman” Jones turned into a nightmare scenario. Pacman couldn’t get in any physical contact due to his NFL contract, but TNA still booked him to win the TNA Tag Team Championship with R-Truth.

Team Pacman evolved into Xavier Woods getting a chance during his time as Consequences Creed. TNA had Creed and R-Truth teaming up as the Team Pacman wrestlers. The act had no chance at success after all the Pacman drama, but they were clearly both talented.

8 The Mexicools

WWE signed former WCW cruiserweights Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis to join Super Crazy in the Mexicools. Juvie often competing in the cruiserweight division saw Super Crazy and Psychosis teaming up with more tag matches under their belt.

The Mexicools gimmick was an all-time bad idea that doomed any chance of success for the talented wrestlers. Fans witnessed them riding to the ring in a lawn mower and playing into offensive stereotypes. WWE ended the Mexicools before any of the great wrestlers involved could get over.

7 Wrath & Mortis

WCW tried to tap into the Mortal Kombat style of video game characters when coming up with gimmicks like Glacier, Wrath and Mortis. Chris Kanyon and Bryan Clark both had impressive strengths as performers when getting placed into the Mortis and Wrath personas.

The lackluster gimmicks prevented the talented tag team from doing anything of note. If anything, it pigeonholed them into a feud with fellow Mortal Kombat inspired gimmicks Glacier and The Cat. WCW did nothing with them until both moved into new characters.

6 Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch

The short-lived tag team of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch had a decent push winning the World Tag Team Championship three times on the Raw brand. However, their run proved that a push doesn’t mean fans will care about a limiting gimmick.

RELATED: 5 Best WWE Tag Team Champions Of The Ruthless Aggression Era (& 5 Worst)

WWE went all in on the Southern cowboys act that wasn’t defined enough to come off effectively. Cade and Murdoch started to come across as generic heels with a confusing gimmick. Both talented wrestlers rarely did much of note in the company after the tag run ended.

5 Sarita & Rosita

Zelina Vega’s success in WWE today makes it clear that TNA dropped the ball with her as Rosita. Sarah Stock was another extremely talented wrestler working as Sarita in TNA forming a tag team with Rosita as part of the Mexican America faction.

The male wrestlers of Hernandez and Anarquia had such a terrible run that it killed any chance of the already flawed gimmick working. Mexican America ruined the extremely talented team of Rosita and Sarita from having a fair chance at long-term success in TNA.

4 The Dark Carnival

WCW tried to throw things against the wall in the final year to see if anything stuck. The Dark Carnival featured Vampiro and The Great Muta teaming up. Vampiro was a Mexican wrestling legend with a solid in WCW, and Muta was an all-time great Japanese legend.

A tag team with two talented and respected face painted wrestlers didn’t work due to the confusing element of the gimmick. Vampiro tried to have a more sinister version of his previous faction known as The Deadpool. Fans just didn’t buy into it despite having two names that should have thrived.

3 Los Matadores

The WWE tenure of Primo and Epico saw them trying a few different gimmicks to get over. WWE’s biggest push came as Los Matadores with El Torito as their manager and mascot. There was only one effective program with 3 Man Band, mostly successful for El Torito and Hornswoggle.

Primo and Epico pretending to be matadors turned them into jokes that took away from their strong in-ring skills. The audience never looked at them as a credible act, even when WWE tried to change the gimmick up with other disappointing character arcs.

2 Rock 'n' Rave Infection

TNA tried to come up with topical gimmicks for their performers that often came off more embarrassing than anything else. A tag team with talented technical wrestler Jimmy Rave and big man badass Lance Hoyt should have worked, especially with Christy Hemme as their manager when she was quite popular.

However, the gimmick in mind by TNA saw them playing the Rock 'n' Rave Infection as bad musicians based on the Guitar Hero and Rockband video games. Hoyt aka Lance Archer proved he was worthy of a better gimmick, and Rave was a tremendous heel in Ring of Honor until this gimmick doomed the rest of his career.

1 The Bludgeon Brothers

The Wyatt Family ending led to Luke Harper and Erick Rowan having time apart before WWE realized they were most effective as a team. WWE reunited the duo with the polarizing gimmick of the Bludgeon Brothers carrying around comically oversized weapons.

Some fans were just happy to see Harper and Rowan back together again, but the gimmick held them back from the same success as the Wyatt Family. WWE wanted them to be terrifying until the presentation took away that feeling that was already there.