Post by TheShowJordanRichards on Feb 14, 2017 13:22:17 GMT -5
In the spirit of tournament season (since we're less than a month away from "March Madness") and in the interest of reliving the "glory days" of professional wrestling, I have devised the Ultimate Crockett Cup Tag Team Tournament. For those who have been fans for many years, they will be reminded of the Jim Crockett, Sr., Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournaments that took place in 1986, 1987, and 1988. They featured twenty-four of the "best tag teams in the world," or so they were advertised to. These were single-elimination, bracket style tourneys that saw the top ten teams seeded each year. I have decided to improve upon that format. I am including a total of forty-eight of the greatest teams from several eras in history, all of which will be seeded for this tournament.
I would ask that all of our readers take the time to pass through this tournament and vote on winners for each round. We will begin with round one, which will see all but the top sixteen teams compete. The first sixteen teams have received byes directly into the second round. I will include a PDF bracket at the bottom of this post so that readers may see the pairings and vote accordingly. As I understand that not every fan considers himself a pro wrestling historian, such as I do, I will include a very brief explanation of the teams included in the Ultimate Crockett Cup (listed by seeds):
1. "Enforcer" Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (2-time NWA World Tag Team Champions; 1-time WWF World Tag Team Champions; first team to win both)
2. The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) {1-time NWA World Tag Team Champions; 2-time WWF World Tag Team Champions; 1-time AWA World Tag Team Champions; 1986 Crockett Cup winners}
3. Rick & Scott Steiner (6-time NWA/WCW World Tag Team Champions; 2-time WWF World Tag Team Champions; 2-time IWGP Tag Team Champions)
4. The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Ole & Gene Anderson) {7-time NWA World Tag Team Champions}
5. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael "P.S." Hayes, Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy, Buddy "Jack" Roberts, & "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin) {6-time WCCW Six-Man Tag Team Champions; 2-time NWA World Tag Team Champions; 3-time National Tag Team Champions}
6. The Rock-n-Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) {4-time NWA World Tag Team Champions}
7. The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & The Dynamite Kid) {1-time WWF World Tag Team Champions; 2-time Stampede International Tag Team Champions}
8. The Midnight Express ("Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, "Sweet" Stan Lane, & "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey) {2-time NWA World Tag Team Champions; 3-time United States Tag Team Champions}
9. Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher (5-time AWA World Tag Team Champions)
10. Dory, Jr., & Terry Funk (3-time All-Japan World Tag Team League Winners; multiple tag team championships)
11. Rick Steamboat & Jay Youngblood (5-time NWA World Tag Team Champions)
12. The Miracle Power Connection (Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody) {1-time All-Japan World Tag Team League Winners; 1-time PWF "World" Tag Team Champions}
13. Jack & Jerry Brisco (3-time NWA World Tag Team Champions; 8-time Florida Tag Team Champions; 5-time United States Tag Team Champions)
14. Shohei "Giant" Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta (6-time International Tag Team Champions; 2-time All-Japan World Tag Team League Winners)
15. Miracle Violence Connection (Steve "Dr. Death" Williams & Terry Gordy) {2-time All-Japan World Tag Team League Winners; 1-time NWA World Tag Team Champions; 1-time WCW World Tag Team Champions}
16. The Hart Foundation (Bret "Hitman" Hart & Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart) {2-time WWF World Tag Team Champions}
17. Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue) {6-time All-Japan "World" Tag Team Champions; 2-time All-Japan World Tag Team League Winners}
18. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (3-time All-Japan World Tag Team League Winners; 2-time All-Japan "World " Tag Team Champions)
19. Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley (8-time WWE World Tag Team Champions; 8-time ECW World Tag Team Champions)
20. Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens (3-time AWA World Tag Team Champions)
21. The U.S. Express (Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo) {2-time WWF World Tag Team Champions; 3-time United States Tag Team Champions}
22. Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) {10-time WCW World Tag Team Champions}
23. The Outsiders (Scott Hall & Kevin Nash) {6-time WCW World Tag Team Champions}
24. The Von Erich family (Fritz, Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike, & Chris) {6-time WCCW Six-Man Tag Team Champions}
25. Harley Race & Larry "The Axe" Hennig (3-time AWA World Tag Team Champions)
26. The Dream Team ("Nature Boy" Ric Flair & Greg "The Hammer" Valentine) {2-time NWA World Tag Team Champions; 1-time Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions}
27. Ted DiBiase & Steve Williams (2-time Mid-South Tag Team Champions)
28. Demolition (Ax, Smash, & Crush) {3-time WWF World Tag Team Champions}
29. The High Flyers (Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell) {2-time AWA World Tag Team Champions}
30. Kakuryu (Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu) {2-time International Tag Team Champions; 2-time All-Japan World Tag Team League Winners}
31. The Wild Samoans (Afa & Sika) {3-time WWF World Tag Team Champions}
32. The (Midnight) Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) {2-time AWA World Tag Team Champions; 2-time AWA Southern Tag Team Champions}
33. The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Saggs) {3-time WCW World Tag Team Champions; 1-time WWF World Tag Team Champions}
34. Ray Stevens & Pat Patterson (1-time AWA World Tag Team Champions}
35. Money, Inc. ("Million-Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Shyster) {3-time WWF World Tag Team Champions}
36. Matt & Jeff Hardy (6-time WWE World Tag Team Champions; 2-time TNA World Tag Team Champions)
37. Edge & Christian (7-time WWF World Tag Team Champions)
38. The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & "Bad A**" Billy Gunn) {6-time WWE World Tag Team Champions}
39. Jimmy & Johnny Valiant (1-time WWF World Tag Team Champions)
40. Ben & Mike Sharpe (18-time NWA {San Francisco} World Tag Team Champions}
41. The Moondogs (Rex, Spot, & King) {6-time USWA Tag Team Champions; 1-time WWC "World" Tag Team Champions; 1-time AWA Southern Tag Team Champions}
42. Professor Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji (3-time WWF World Tag Team Champions)
43. The East-West Connection (Adrian Adonis & Jesse "The Body" Ventura) {1-time AWA World Tag Team Champions}
44. The Sheepherders (Butch Miller & Luke Williams) {multiple tag team championships}
45. The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton) {2-time UWF Tag Team Champions; 2-time United States Tag Team Champions}
46. The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn & Stan Lane) {15-time AWA Southern Tag Team Champions; 2-time United States Tag Team Champions}
47. Ivan & Nikita Koloff (2-time NWA World Tag Team Champions)
48. Jay & Mark Briscoe (8-time ROH World Tag Team Champions)
Before voting, take a moment to check out any of the teams you are unfamiliar with. This tournament is meant to be a retrospective of tag team wrestling, which has been a staple of the sport since the first one was held in America (1901). I will update the PDF brackets after every round and voting will continue until one team is left standing: the Ultimate Crockett Cup Champions! Happy voting!
Ultimate Crockett Cup.pdf (194.67 KB)