I tried. Honestly, I thought I could narrow down the most wanted tag teams to a comprehensive Top 5, but then that quickly expanded to a Top 10, and then eventually the reality set in – there are just too many tag teams. So in the interest of fairness, (or because I’m too wishy-washy to just commit to a Top 5), I’ve decided to break this up a bit and take a promotional tour in breaking down the Top 5 must-have tag teams for our Mattel line. And with the rumor of Elite 30 including the line’s first tag team within one series with The Legion of Doom, I figured this was the perfect time to start this segment since Mattel now seems open to testing the demand for tag teams. This week, I’m starting off with the NWA.
In the mid-’80s, Jim Crockett Promotions was the alternative to the glitzy, larger-than-life sports entertainment spectacle that was Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation. The major stars of the NWA weren’t bronzed musclemen; they looked more like your plumber or the high school janitor, but to a man they were all legitimate tough guys who would take no crap from anyone. Back in these good old days of wrestling, when two wrestlers would team up, especially in the NWA, we were in for something special. Here’s who we absolutely have to own to have a great representation of some of the NWA’s best.
Honorable Mention:
The Russians 
Nikita and “uncle” Ivan Koloff raised hell in the NWA as they battled fan-favorites like Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T.A., The Rock-N-Roll Express, and The Road Warriors. While Jakks managed to get out a tag-team set of the two, and albeit a lousy one as Jakks was prone to do, that made the only version of these two Cold War standard-bearers for the foreseeable future.
5. The Powers of Pain
Before arriving in the WWF as McMahon’s Road Warriors stand-in, The Warlord and The Barbarian were two of the final members of Paul Jones’ Army and were engaged in a heated rivalry with the Road Warriors that resulted in Animal’s eye socket being damaged. Partnering with stablemate Ivan Koloff, the POP battled the Warriors and their six-man tag-team partner, Dusty Rhodes, in several memorable battles during the summer of 1988, culminating in a barbed-wire brawl at the initial Clash of the Champions. Since neither POP had ring wear, Mattel can recreate their infamous weight-lifting contest with the Warriors and include a set of weights and a weight-lifting bench with either member. For fun, maybe Mattel can toss in a pan of powder as well.
4. The Fantastics
Don’t let the pretty boy looks and bow ties fool you. Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton took part in two of the more vicious and bloody tag team rivalries in the ’80s. First, the team from the City of Angels clashed with The Sheepherders (I refuse to call them The Bushwackers) in the UWF before coming to the NWA and exchanging the U.S. tag-team titles with The Midnight Express. The Fantastics have a basic ring-wear look — I’m partial to yellow or blue — so their ring vests and bow ties are essential.
3. The Varsity Club
After converting fan favorite Mike Rotunda to the dark side, Kevin Sullivan based his latest stable on superior college programs, stacking his team with top-flight collegiate wrestling stars like Rotuna, Rick Steiner, and “Dr. Death” Steve Williams. The Varsity Club proved a major threat to all the NWA faces from Sting, The Garvins, The Fantastics, and The Road Warriors, whom they controversially defeated for the NWA world tag-team titles. For this pairing, which provides welcome adversaries for our existing Road Warriors, let’s get Rotunda and “Dr. Death” in their singlets and matching varsity letter jackets.
2. The Rock-N-Roll Express
The pinnacle of NWA tag-team wrestling was Ricky and Robert, the Rock-N-Roll Express. The duo captured four NWA tag titles and had memorable feuds with The Four Horsemen, The Russians, and their arch-nemesis The Midnight Express. No line is complete without the Rock-n-Rolls and, hopefully, unlike Jakks, Mattel can get their hair color correct. Using The Rockers as a bit of a template, the Rock-n-Rolls should come with removable t-shirts and some two-toned tights with multi-colored fabric wraps for accent.
1. The Midnight Express
This one kinda became obvious, didn’t it? Aside form having some of the coolest entrance music in all of wrestling, “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton and “Sweet” Stan Lane were arguably the flashiest tag team. The duo had not one, not two, but multiple tag-team finishers that could take out any opponent. Managed by Jim Cornette, The Midnights battled The Fantastics, The SST, The Freebirds, The Superpowers (Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff), and Ron Garvin and Barry Windham, the latter whom they defeated for the U.S. tag-team titles. The Midnights are collection essentials as they are unquestionably one of the best tag teams in wrestling history, and Mattel has already given us two of their biggest rivals: The Road Warriors and Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, whom they beat to become the undisputed tag team champions and first to hold both the World and U.S. tag team titles. I’m up for any color, save red or black (the legends line has too much of that already), but the team needs their swank vests or entrance robes with whatever color is chosen.