Abstract: We study real (massive) antisymmetric tensors of rank two in holographic models of QCD based on the gauge/string duality. Our aim is to understand in detail how the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory correspondence describes correlators with tensor currents in QCD. To this end we study a set of bootstrapped correlators with spin-1 vector and tensor currents, imposing matching to QCD at the partonic level. We show that a consistent description of this set of correlators yields a very predictive picture. For instance, it imposes strong constraints on infrared boundary conditions and precludes the introduction of dilatonic backgrounds as a mechanism to achieve linear confinement. Additionally, correlators with tensor currents turn out to be especially sensitive to chiral symmetry breaking, thus offering an ideal testing ground for genuine QCD effects. Several phenomenological consequences are explored, such as the nontrivial interplay between 1(+-) states and conventional 1(--) vector mesons.