The year 2000 saw the strongest crop of tag teams ever to compete in the World Wrestling Federation at one time. Never before has a team holding the Federation's Tag Team Championship been so threatened by the prospect of losing it at a moment's notice. In many ways however, the year in tag teams belonged to Edge & Christian.
      How Edge & Christian rose to the top of the tag team scene in the World Wrestling Federation is not necessarily surprising. The year saw the two brothers finally mesh, putting the feud they once had behind them, and begin channeling all their energy into winning Federation gold and annoying Federation fans.
      "Let's be brutally honest - people love us," says Edge. "A lot of the time, we can't say that we reciprocate that feeling, but we do the best we can by giving them that one nugget in their humdrum lives that makes them feel good. Of course, that's their five seconds to take a picture of us."
      "A lot of the younger kids come up to us in the dressing room and ask us for our wise and grizzled veteran-like critiques," adds Christian. "We're happy to give them advice, a pat on the head, and tell them which way to go - which is usually away from us."
      This attitude didn't exactly endear them to fans, but nevertheless they earned a lot of accolades for some of their performances - both in and out of the ring.
      Inside the ring, Edge & Christian managed to outlast both the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz en route to winning their first Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania. The Triangle Ladder Match became an instant classic and was an encore of last year's classic Ladder Match at No Mercy '99. And while one could argue that the WrestleMania match transformed their careers in the Federation, it was what happened outside the ring that propelled them to new heights.
      Success brings with it many rewards and benefits. However oftentimes, it also breeds arrogance. This was the case for the two Canadian nationals, who soon began to lash out at American fans.
       "Stupid people are everywhere, and nowhere more so than in the United States," says Christian. "It's pretty pathetic when Americans don't know anything about their own country."
      "People from Louisiana are pretty lacking upstairs, but it's pretty much the same in any state you go to in the U.S.," adds Edge. "Europe, on the other hand, is fantastic. I mean, how can you compare a European to someone from Milwaukee whose priorities in life are cheese, beer and Happy Days"?
      Federation fans did find an alternative to the two Canucks in the form of homegrown heroes. Matt and Jeff Hardy - the pride and joy of North Carolina - have cemented their place in fans' hearts with their amazing athleticism and courage. Giving their all in the ring is the only these two brothers know how to perform.
       Matt and Jeff began the year still trying to find their identities. Even after their amazing match with Edge & Christian at No Mercy, the brothers were still looking to officially break out. Their chance came when their manager, Terri, turned her back on them, throwing in with their rivals.
      Instead of letting this betrayal bring them down, Matt and Jeff used it to propel them to new heights. Although they didn't win the Triangle Ladder Match at WrestleMania, everyone recognized their stellar performance. Their popularity continued to grow as the year progressed. And it soared when they befriended the lovely Lita. What also increased, however, was their heat with Edge & Christian.
      "Every time we've built up steam in the Federation, they've tried to stomp out our fire," says Matt. "We've always feuded with them. They've been our nemeses from the get-go. There was the Ladder Match at No Mercy. Then, they were involved in the three-way Ladder Match at WrestleMania. They just can't let us shine without trying to steal some of our spotlight."
      Another tag team in the spotlight this year was the Dudley Boyz. The duo from Dudleyville became synonymous with tables. Woman after woman in the Federation was planted through a table as Buh-Buh Ray satisfied his twisted fetish.
      "Look," says Buh-Buy Ray, "You watch Raw Is War and SmackDown! every week, and you see the Dudley Boyz putting men and women through tables. If you get in our face, you're going to get put through a table, or you're going to feel the pain and devastation of the 3D - the Dudley Death Drop.""Our intent in the ring," says D-Von, "is to cause any and everybody pain. That's what it all boils down to - making people suffer; making people bow at the Dudley Boyz' feet; making people scared of the Dudleyz; putting fear in their hearts. And I think the Dudley Boyz are doing a damn good job of it. Just ask J.R. [Jim Ross] and everybody else."
      This year, the Dudleyz found themselves involved in battles with all the Federation's top teams. They're also responsible for breaking up one of them.
      In February at No Way Out, the Dudleyz took out the New Age Outlaws, who claimed to be the greatest Federation Tag Team Champions of all time. After Buh-Buh Ray nailed Mr. Ass in the arm with a lead pipe, the Dudleyz became Tag Team champs, and also asserted just how aggressive they could be.
      "Do I have any remorse?" asks D-Von about Mr. Ass' injury. "No, I don't have any remorse. Why would I have remorse for somebody who probably would have done it to us before we did it to him? So, I'm glad we did it to Mr. Ass. And anybody else in DX who wants to jump in the Dudleyz' face, the same thing's gonna happen to them."
      With Mr. Ass out, Road Dogg had to find himself another partner. He didn't have to look too far for an answer. X-Pac and Road Dogg became a tag team. And though they tried to assert that they were the greatest tag team in the Federation, neither Road Dogg nor X-Pac really believed it.
      Great performers in their own right, Road Dogg and X-Pac never really showed the chemistry of the NAO. And though they scored some impressive victories, tension between the two mounted as losses began to rack up. After a series of challenges to each other, the sparring finally escalated into a one-on-one bout at SummerSlam. X-Pac won that battle, with Road Dogg being none too happy about it. It'll be interesting to continue to follow what lies ahead for these two.
      Because Edge & Christian held the titles for so long, it's easy to forget that they were not alone. Sandwiched between their first and second title reigns was the way popular team of Too Cool. Scotty Too Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay surprised many with their win over Edge & Christian. But for Too Cool and their fans, the win was far from a fluke.
      "I'll tell ya what," says Scotty Too Hotty. "Those other teams better keep their eyes open. Size don't mean nuttin to Too Cool. The bigger they are, the more face we got to dance all over."
      Another team that did its fair share of smilin' while beating up their opponents was the Acolytes. Farooq and Bradshaw offered their services for sale in 2000, forming the Acolytes Protection Agency (APA). Federation Superstars did business with the Acolytes in public and in the strictest confidence, trying to gain an advantage in their ring wars.
      "I'd like to say that there's a lot of injustices happening in the world, and that we're righting those," says Bradshaw. "But that would be totally false. Basically, we're just working for the money. There's a lot of money in the world, and we want our share."
      The Acolytes weren't the only ones doing business in the tag team ranks of the World Wrestling Federation. Trish Stratus put together two of the Federation's biggest and most hardened Superstars, Test and Albert, to form T&A. This is a team that's not going away anytime soon.
      Along with T&A, the Federation also saw some other singles try their hands at tag team competition. D'Lo Brown and Chaz formed LoDown earlier this year.
      And recently the Right to Censor, headed by Steven Richards, put together Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather (formerly The Godfather), with Val Venis later joining the group.
      All in all, 2001 promises to be an even greater year for tag teams in the Federation as the competition intensifies and the stakes get higher. With more and more teams vying for the most coveted Tag Team belts in sports-entertainment, Federation fanatics will have to brace themselves for all the hard-hitting action headed their way in the new year.