In professional wrestling, a tag team consists of two or more wrestlers who are working together as a team. Often they are close partners and backstage friends who team with each other almost exclusively, while other times they are singles competitors who are booked together for just one match.
They usually wrestle against a like number of opponents on the other team or teams, however in the occasional "handicap match" there may be an unequal number of competitors on the different teams, for example André the Giant was often pitted against two or more opponents.
The term "tag team" has since become used in a metaphorical sense in common language for two or more people who alternate or cooperate in participation in an activity, and "tag-teaming" for the act of alternating with an ally, e.g. a couple tag-teaming in an argument with another person.
According to the rules of pro wrestling, only one competitor per team is allowed in the ring at a time, and the only way that a wrestler can change places with a partner is for the competitor in the ring to "tag" him or touch him on some part of his body. The referee must also see a tag for it to be legal. Given the nature of pro wrestling, the "rules" are seldom adhered to and exist as part of kayfabe, the suspension of disbelief required for pro wrestling to work as entertainment. This means that often both members of teams, especially heel teams, are in the ring simultaneously with only one member of an ostensibly rule-abiding face team. A "bookend" tag team is a (usually derogatory) term for a tag team where the members look and/or dress alike (eg, The Killer Bees, British Bulldogs, Hart Foundation et al). Bookends are common in North America, Europe and Mexico, but not at all in Japan since promotion of wrestlers to singles championships is based (in a large part) on tag team results, as no secondary singles championships exist.
A frequent storyline is former tag team partners turning on each other, which will invariably ignite a feud. This can be used when one member is being called on to develop a new gimmick.
In 1901 the first tag team match was held in the United States, in San Francisco. San Francisco promoters introduced tag team wrestling as a way of improving the sport’s entertainment value. While tag team wrestling is now almost traditional in American professional wrestling, the innovation didn't become especially popular outside San Francisco until the 1930s. The first "World" tag team championship was also crowned in San Francisco in the early 1950's.
Tag Team was a Miami bass duo of DC the Brain Supreme (Cecil Glenn) and Steve Roll'n (Steve Gibson) from Florida, USA, best known for their 1993 hit "Whoomp! (There It Is)".
The song's lyrics were near identical to 95 South's "Whoot, There It Is", which had been released a month earlier. Later however, the iTunes single's artwork would credit the song as "Tag Team Featuring 95 South".
