Being in a tag team just looks good on some wrestlers. Sometimes, singles competitors that don't have much of a story going on get partnered and everything suddenly clicks. The Broserweights or Sheamus & Cesaro are prime examples of this. Other times, fans only really know the duo as a tag team and can't imagine them separated, like The Revival or The Usos.
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But when a tag team like that does part ways, there often seems to be one member that makes it big and one that just sort of fades into the background. It's not like that wrestler doesn't achieve any success on their own, but one often ends up taking a bigger portion of the spotlight.
10 The Rockers
It's important to get this one out of the way immediately. Whenever wrestling fans have conversations about tag team members that broke out and left their partners in the dust, The Rockers are one of the first names to come up. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty made up the popular duo. Michaels broke up the team and turned heel when he sent Jannetty through the window of Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's shop. The Heartbreak Kid went on to become one of the most well respected and well known singles competitors of all time. Jannetty did not. In some circles, the tag team partner that doesn't make it is called the Jannetty, which is really unfair to such a talented wrestler.
9 APA
Acolytes Protection Agency was made up of Faarooq and Bradshaw, an angle that came directly out of their association with the Undertaker and his Ministry. They were no nonsense brawlers working for beer money. You kind of have to respect that.
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Faarooq, better known throughout his career as Ron Simmons, stepped away from the spotlight when the APA broke up in 2004. His biggest success in the industry happened before he partnered up with Bradshaw, who went on to become one of the greatest champion heels in wrestling during that era.
8 The British Bulldogs
Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid were first cousins who grew up together in the UK, cutting their teeth as wrestlers in Britain. They were invited to come to Canada and join Stampede Wrestling, which was in part how they connected with the Hart Family. After feuding for a while, they became a tag team called the British Bulldogs and wrestled for the WWF, NJPW, and AJPW. But after their team disintegrated, Davey Boy Smith became known as the British Bulldog and went on to achieve notoriety and success as a singles competitor before his death in 2002. The Dynamite Kid did not have much of a run on his own, in part due to personal issues that took him away from the squared circle.
7 Dudley Boyz
Wherever Bubba Ray and D-Von have wrestled as a tag team, they have achieved success. But singles success has primarily followed Bubba around. Throughout their runs in ECW and WWF/E, The Dudleys were primarily known of their tag team work. Across WWF/E, ECW, and TNA, the duo held 23 tag team championships. That's just with those three companies. There are other companies and other championships.
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But as singles competitors, Bubba has had more longevity and more impact. While Bubba is still out there with companies like Ring of Honor, D-Von chose to step behind the curtain and work backstage with WWE.
6 The Steiner Brothers
Sometimes being the guy who faded into the background a bit isn't a bad thing. As the Steiner Brothers, Scott and Rick became one of the most respected and dominant tag teams in the wrestling world. Over the years, they worked for WWF, WCW, NJPW, TNA, and more. When the real life brothers went their separate ways, it was Scott that had the most success on his own. But he dramatically changed up his look and his attitude on that path, and frequently courts controversy both in and out of the ring. When Rick wrestles, he just does his thing and that's the end of it.
5 The Hardy Boyz
This one depends on how you define success. The Hardy Boyz are one of the best tag teams of all time and helped define the Attitude Era alongside the Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian.
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But Jeff was the brother you could see pulling away early on due to his death defying moves and overwhelming popularity with the fans. He held multiple singles championship in WWF/E, including two runs as the World Heavyweight Champion. WWF/E never saw fit to put that belt on Matt. That being said, Matt Hardy changed the game with the Broken Universe and achieved a level of success few wrestlers have.
4 Hollywood Blonds
It's fun to mention the Hollywood Blonds simply because it requires posting a picture of Steve Austin in his pre-Stone Cold days when the man had hair. Multiple teams used the name Hollywood Blonds over the years, but the most famous was the pairing of "Stunning" Steve Austin and "Flyin" Bryan Pillman. They teamed together in WCW and held the tag team championships. Eventually, Austin was fired, went to work for WWF in 1995 and the rest is history. Pillman would sign with WWF in 1996 and would sadly pass away a little over a year later. Who knows what would have happened, but after the end of the Hollywood Blonds in 1994, he never seemed to get his feet under him the way Austin did.
3 Edge & Christian
To this day, it's strange to see Edge in the ring without Christian. It has been a long time since the duo competed as a tag team regularly but they are so connected with each other in the minds of wrestling fans that it seems like they were partners yesterday. Without question, Edge has the more successful singles run. He stayed with WWF/E for the vast majority of his career, winning several championships there.
That being said, Christian bounced around a bit more and has found success both in and out of the WWE. But Edge is one of the most decorated champions in the history of WWE, including seven runs as the World Heavyweight Champion and four as the World Champion.
2 Harlem Heat
One of WCW's greatest tag teams was Harlem Heat, made up of Booker T and his real life brother Stevie Ray. Together, they were the WCW Tag Team Champions a total of 10 times. Apart, Booker is the far more successful of the two men. He is a two time WWE Hall of Famer, the 2006 King of the Ring, and has held multiple Heavyweight Championships in both WWE and WCW. If you add his significant run in TNA into the mix, he has held 35 championships between the three companies. Stevie Ray also had a singles career but never came close to achieving the success his brother did.
1 The Hart Foundation
If you want to talk about the greatest tag teams of all time, you have to bring the Hart Foundation in to the conversation. If you want to talk about the greatest wrestlers of all time, you know Bret "The Hitman" Hart's name is going to get mentioned. Bret's partnership with Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart was legendary. They were an amazing team, holding the WWF Tag Team Championships together on two separate occasions. But Bret would go on to have one of the most epic singles careers in the history of the business. "The Anvil" remains one of the most respected wrestlers to set foot in the ring but he did not have the success on his own that Bret did.
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