5 Great NXT Tag Teams that failed on the main roster

Vince McMahon hates Tag Team wrestling in WWE. This is a rumor that is prevalent in the wrestling industry and there is ample evidence to support that.

Ever since NXT's inception in 2012, they have produced phenomenal tag teams. From their first ever Champions, Neville and Oliver Grey, to the current Champions, Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong), all tag team champions in NXT have been exemplary wrestlers.

But they never seem to be breaking the glass ceiling on the main roster, as there is a tendency to push a couple of singles wrestlers paired together rather than push actual tag teams. Case in point - Cesaro and Sheamus.

As soon as the celebrated teams in NXT reach the main roster, it becomes anyone's guess how long they are going to last. They are either turned into jobbers or broken up way sooner than they should have; the main roster never seems to utilize these teams to their full potential.

As of today, only two tag teams that have been NXT Champions have gone on to win Tag team gold on the main roster. American Alpha won the SmackDown Tag Team title late into 2016 but they were separated soon after that, and Eric Rowan and Luke Harper won the NXT Tag Team Championships as part of the Wyatt Family and won the SmackDown Live Tag Titles as the Bludgeon Brothers.

Let us take a look at five tag teams which have been hugely successful in NXT but failed to make any sort of impact on the main roster. Honorable mentions include:

Blake and Murphy - Blake and Murphy with their on-screen manager, Alexa Bliss, were one of the most over tag teams in NXT during their time. They were champions for over 200 days. But their team went absolutely nowhere as soon as Alexa Bliss was separated from them.

The reason they are not on the list is that Wesley Blake is yet to make his main roster debut as he remains a jobber on NXT, while Buddy Murphy has a decent role on 205 Live.

Authors of Pain - The only reason AOP are being mentioned here is that they went from being undefeated in NXT and main eventing TakeOver events to losing to Apollo Crews within one year. There is still time for AOP to find success on the main roster, but feuding with Titus Worldwide won't make that happen any time soon.

5. Enzo and Cass

Enzo Amore and Collin Cassidy paired with Carmella were one of the most over acts in NXT history. Their feud against Buddy Murphy, Wesley Blake and Alexa Bliss was the best Tag team feud in NXT History at the time.

Even though the Tag Team quality of NXT has risen meteorically since then, Enzo and Cass were something unique. Big Cass' imposing size and Enzo's unbelievable skill on the mic made these two awesome.

They received a huge pop when they made their debut on the Raw after Wrestlemania 32. The team was immediately thrown into the Tag team title picture but never managed to capture the gold.

However, they were kept relevant with a high profile feud against Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. When they were still kept away from the Tag Team titles, people assumed WWE was waiting till Wrestlemania to pull the trigger but even at Mania they failed to win the titles.

This is where everything went downhill. A strange, confusing and weird storyline started in which both Enzo and Cass were attacked backstage. The attacker was revealed to be Cass himself and somehow this entire ordeal culminated in a Summerslam match between Cass and Big Show of all people.

Oh, and Enzo was hung above the ring in a Shark Cage.

Cass got injured on Raw the next night and their entire storyline lead nowhere and made zero sense. Enzo would go on to be a two-time Cruiserweight Champion before being controversially fired on Raw while Cass would return after almost a year, on Smackdown and lose to Daniel Bryan 2 PPVs in a row before getting fired himself.

All in all, we can say both of them failed on the main roster individually and the biggest success they had was when paired together. Sure, Enzo won the Cruiserweight title twice but it was during a time when the Cruiserweight division was in dire need of relevance and Enzo's mic work was the best way to get them some exposure on the main stage.

Moreover, it can safely be said that the thing we miss the most about the tag team, is Enzo's promos.

4. The Lucha Dragons

The Lucha Dragons initially comprised of Kalisto and El Local (The former Ricardo Rodriguez, Alberto Del Rio's personal ring announcer). After a feud loss to The Ascension, the duo separated and Kalisto found a new partner in Sin Cara who was having a hard time on the main roster.

With Sin Cara and Kalisto, The Lucha Dragons went on the win the NXT Tag team Championships from the Ascension ending their record 344-day reign. They would hold on to the title for 140 days before losing it to Blake and Murphy.

The duo made their main roster debut on the Raw after Wrestlemania 31. They received Tag team title shots at Elimination Chamber and Summerslam in multi-man matches but failed to win the titles once.

next shot at the title was arguably their career peak as they participated in a fantastic ladder match at Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2015 against The Usos and defending Champions, New Day. Kalisto's Salida del Sol over a ladder was later awarded the "OMG! Shocking Moment of the Year" by WWE during their Slammy awards.

But that would be all that the team would achieve. An injury to Sin Cara forced Kalisto into singles competition. Kalisto took the opportunity and won the United States title defending it on the Pre Show of Wrestlemania whereas Sin Cara returned and was in a 7 man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship.

From there on they were rarely seen as a team and would officially separate before the WWE Draft 2016. With just 3 PPV appearances and no title wins, their main roster run was certainly a letdown.

3. The Vaudevillains

The Vaudevillains were a fresh new gimmick in NXT. Aiden English and Simon Gotch played their roles to perfection and once paired with Leva 'Blue Pants' Bates, they won the NXT Tag Team Championships to huge fanfare at TakeOver Brooklyn. They were booked properly from then on and dropped the titles to the more 'over' Revival. They had a reign lasting 82 days but their natural charisma showed that they were worth far more.

They made their debut on Smackdown after Mania 32 but as heels. They were put in a #1 contender tournament for the Tag Titles and won it after Enzo got injured in the finals of said tournament declaring the match a no contest.

This botched title opportunity, and was followed up with another shot at the titles in a Fatal 4 Way Tag match and that was that. They were reduced to being jobbers from that point losing to the likes of Breezango and The Hype Bros and they never recovered. Simon Gotch was fired from the company in April 2017 which disbanded the team.

Another case where a gimmick couldn't resonate with the main roster crowd, Vaudevillains were buried faster than any other NXT call-up in recent memory for that time. A mistake WWE made was debuting them as heels when their best work in NXT came as baby-faces.

However, since Gotch was fired, Aiden English has done pretty well for himself teaming up with Rusev in a very entertaining act. But the failure of the Vaudevillains will always be a dark spot in NXT's history.

2. The Ascension

Now, this is where we go from completely unsuccessful to utter tragedies. Of all the burials in WWE over the last few years, and trust me there have been a few, The Ascension's burial was one of the most uncalled for and shocking.

One of the most over teams in NXT history, Ascension was another Road Warriors knock off that seemed to work. Ruling the NXT Tag division and winning the titles one time, they had a reign of 344 days, the longest in NXT history.

But disaster struck as soon as they made their main roster debut. Their first mistake was cementing their status as heels in a terrible promo. The promo instantly diminished the aura these 2 possessed.

The commentators kept on running down the Ascension and they were buried by 3 teams of old legends of all people. The New Age Outlaws, The APA and the NWO beat them up on Raw. However, they beat New Age Outlaws on PPV but by then fans had lost all interest by then.

They did go on a winning streak but it soon ended in a loss to Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan. From there, they lost all the time. They were buried deeper than Curt Hawkins at this point.

The Ascension went from being the best heels on NXT to a couple of jobbers on Raw within a couple of months only. Their burial was shocking and really shows how out of touch Vince McMahon is. Any normal promoter would have pushed the Ascension properly and used them to their full potential.

They still exist somewhere in the Raw roster. The last time they had somewhat of a relevant role on TV was when they were paired with Breezango in comedy skits on Smackdown.

1. The Revival

Now, this is straight up ridiculous. Imagine AJ Styles debuting and losing to Curtis Axel. Imagine Charlotte Flair debuting and becoming fodder for Alicia Fox. That was what it felt like when The Revival was jobbed out to Gallows and Anderson for a cheap pop at Raw 25.

Never before has Vince buried THE Best in the World at their division. The Revival was so over in NXT, even in independent shows The Young Bucks kept referencing them to get themselves more 'over'.

They were the first two-time NXT Tag Team Champions and provided us with some of the best matches in WWE history notably against DiY, Authors of Pain and American Alpha.

They received a huge pop when they debuted after Wrestlemania 33 and defeated the New Day. They won their feud against New Day and looked to be primed for a Title shot but Dash Wilder got injured for about 2 months.

They returned and were involved in the terrible Enzo and Cass breaking up storyline. The team then attacked the Hardy Boyz and initiated a feud with them but this time Dawson got injured. They returned in time for Raw 25 and got buried by Gallows and Anderson and then got beat up by DX.

The most surprising thing here is Triple H, the man who created the Revival, actively participated in burying them.

Revival hasn't recovered from their abysmal Raw 25 appearance as of yet. They have been pushed far down the card and only now do they look like they might be getting somewhere as they have been repeatedly seen on TV observing the current Tag Team Champions, The B Team.

Hopefully, they get a shot and win the titles rightfully reclaiming their spot atop the Tag team division as it is painful to see the once best tag team on the planet be reduced to jobbers.

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Edited by Anirban Banerjee