Great partner v partner matches

[tiger_rick]

Watching Meng v Barbarian got me thinking about great matches between regular tag partners - this not being one!

Shawn v Marty, particularly the IC Title change in May 1993 might be my favourite. Brilliant stuff between two guys with incredible chemistry on a great episode of Raw.

Shawn v Diesel at IYH 7 would count too, I reckon. That's a really good match.

In modern times, you can't get better than Hangman and Kenny's 7* classic at Full Gear 2021. Possibly AEW's greatest match.

What comes to mind for you?

[Chris B]

Before it became absolutely never-ending, the first Giargano/Ciampa feud and match was really good at the time.

[boshealecta]

Ax vs Smash coming in as number 1 and 2 at the 1989 Rumble. I remember loving it at the time and had never seen a tag team go at it before. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Owen v Davey Boy for the Euro title on Raw was a belter

Eddie v Rey to kick off WM21 was another decent match

[Glenryck Pilchards]

The UK Special PPV's were usually a bag of shite, but I remember a fun match between Edge and Christian in the old-school steel cage for the IC strap at Rebellion 2001.

It was a unique finish, where Christian climbed over the cage, but Edge grabbed his legs and tied them up with his wrist tape, then clambered over the top, retaining the belt.  

[Carbomb]

29 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Before it became absolutely never-ending, the first Triple H/Shawn Michaels feud and match was really good at the time.

Plus ça change...

[Chico Torres]

Headhunter A vs Headhunter B. Obese identical twins in a glass death match stabbing and carving each other up and they moonsault through glass panels and then they make up and become friends when all is said and done. Incredible pro wrestling.

 

Edited May 27, 2025 by Chico Torres

[The Reverend]

Brian Pillman vs Tom Zenk at Wrestlewar '92. Their tag days are sort of forgotten now, in fact I had to look it up to make sure I wasn't getting confused with the team I made with their Galoob figures. 

One that seemed to drag on for ages, with random matches lasting until at least '92, but did get one quite good match (as far as I recall) on a SNME was Tito Santana vs Rick Martel. With the big bust-up happening at WMV, they should've gone for a proper ending of this feud at Summerslam '89, but I suppose they were trying to keep both of them hot.

Edited May 27, 2025 by The Reverend

[The Reverend]

Not sure it's great, but certainly a rarity: 

 

I would've quite liked to have seen Neidhart turn late 91/early 92 and had some matches with Bret then. Neidhart was less porky then and had he got back with Jimmy Hart it may have made for a few interesting matches with the babyface roster. 

[The Gaffer]

8 hours ago, Glenryck Pilchards said:

The UK Special PPV's were usually a bag of shite, but I remember a fun match between Edge and Christian in the old-school steel cage for the IC strap at Rebellion 2001.

It was a unique finish, where Christian climbed over the cage, but Edge grabbed his legs and tied them up with his wrist tape, then clambered over the top, retaining the belt.  

I'd completely forgotten that. It is indeed a great little match. 

Combination of the goofy but totally logical tying somebody's legs to the cage finish and the cage itself being of the old school variety made it feel like a New Gen match happening in 2001. 

[air_raid]

8 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said:

Owen v Davey Boy for the Euro title on Raw was a belter

As were all their matches. They were forced to wrestle each other in the first round of the ICT tournament on the Raw after SummerSlam 96 which was a good match with a schmozz finish although it did lead to them relieving the Smoking Gunns of the tag belts at Mind Games.

8 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said:

Eddie v Rey to kick off WM21 was another decent match

Definitely not one I'd have thought of. Biggest disappointment of all time with the shadow of Halloween Havoc looming over them, instantly forgettable. They'd have far better matches after Eddy went full blown heel, especially at the Bash.

8 hours ago, Chico Torres said:

Headhunter A vs Headhunter B. Obese identical twins in a glass death match stabbing and carving each other up and they moonsault through glass panels and then they make up and become friends when all is said and done. Incredible pro wrestling.

Are you by any chance familiar with the Taipei Death Match between Ian and Axl Rotten?

8 hours ago, The Reverend said:

One that seemed to drag on for ages, with random matches lasting until at least '92, but did get one quite good match (as far as I recall) on a SNME was Tito Santana vs Rick Martel. With the big bust-up happening at WMV, they should've gone for a proper ending of this feud at Summerslam '89, but I suppose they were trying to keep both of them hot.

To borrow from my forthcoming review of Mania VI - having been on opposite sides at both SummerSlam and Survivors it always struck me as odd that they didn't get a big match at WrestleMania and Barbar squash Koko instead. Presumably their plans for Martel were big so he needed a strong win and they didn't want to squash Tito as they were about to use him to put Mr Perfect over on TV for the ICT. A match was announced for SummerSlam 90 but The Model needed time off, so it didn't happen.

Ummmm... are we counting the MegaPowers as regular partners?? They had a few fucking belters.

[Sheffbag]

10 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Watching Meng v Barbarian got me thinking about great matches between regular tag partners - this not being one!

 

Where can i find this? 

if its between partners who split up then the whole Shield set of matches would be the example i would use

[tiger_rick]

10 minutes ago, Sheffbag said:

Where can i find this? 

It's the opener. Not terrible, just not great either.

[Merzbow]

Dory Jr vs Terry

And yes, the video is over an hour long. I think it's their one and only singles match, at least the only one to be recorded. It's almost torturously slow but it makes perfect sense, they're only wrestling because of being drawn and not be choice so there's no malice, just brotherly respect while trying to see who's best.

 

[Lorne Malvo]

FTR faced each other on Dynamite a few years back in a belter. Noticeable for them just wanting to find out who was the better man, then it never leading to any further animosity or issues, which just felt like a nice change.