WWE Is Finally Giving Tag Team Wrestling The Spotlight It Deserves

With the recent reunion of Matt and Jeff Hardy, combined with major matches for new teams like Aleister Black and Ricochet, it seems like WWE may finally be ready to give tag team wrestling the spotlight it deserves.

In recent years, some of the most memorable matches in WWE have been between two teams willing to go to war with one another when the company gives them a chance to shine.

From the amazing ladder match between DIY and Authors of Pain at NXT Takeover: Chicago to The Usos taking on New Day in a brutal Hell In A Cell match, tag team matches have frequently been in the discussion for match of the year in WWE lately

Those bouts are only just two of the more high-profile examples of some of the incredible tag team action WWE has hosted as well.

When you take a step back and remember some of the under the radar classics like Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch versus Undisputed Era, it becomes even more obvious that the company has shown some of the best tag team wrestling in the world in recent years.

Despite that growing track record of epic encounters, WWE has seemed hesitant to give their tag team divisions a spotlight however.

Over the last few months, the Raw and SmackDown tag divisions have been stuck in an endless morass of repeated rivalries, oftentimes leading to teams struggling to make a connection with fans.

Chad Gable and Bobby Roode, a thrown together team essentially, suddenly were in the Raw Tag Team Championship picture for months in a nonsensical rivalry with the woefully misused Authors of Pain. It was quickly evident that fans really struggled to care about this feud, which wasn’t helped by the extremely poor booking that surrounded it.

While I won’t go in to too many details about the, ahem, unfortunate incidents that occurred in the build of this rivalry, let’s just say it wasn’t befitting of the quality of storylines and competition WWE could have provided these teams and the Raw tag division as a whole.

SmackDown, on the other hand, also struggled through the last few months. With stale rivalries between established tag teams, it felt difficult to fully invest in feuds which had already been played out in much more intriguing fashion in months and years prior.

It quickly became clear there needed to be an infusion of fresh talent as soon as possible in order to add some excitement to the division again, which as it turns out, is exactly what WWE has done now.

Aleister Black and Ricochet have recently debuted as a dynamic team capable of exciting matches on SmackDown. While their partnership still feels somewhat thrown together, their ongoing angle with Undisputed Era in NXT is likely to help strengthen the perceived bond between the two.

Black and Ricochet could easily be future world champions on SmackDown, and would likely be able to have their own match of the year candidates against the likes of The Usos and New Day.

Similarly, the reemergence of Matt and Jeff Hardy as a tag team could provide a spark in the form of future rivalries with SmackDown’s established teams, and even Ricochet and Black as well.

Fresh teams have also begun to appear on Raw, already bringing with them the crucial connection to fans that the recent Raw title picture, sans The Revival, has lacked.

Heavy Machinery already has proven their comedic chops through multiple segments and matches on the main roster, while DIY has made an impact by pinning the current Raw Tag Team Champions.

Both those teams have already established a sizable fan base through their runs in NXT, meaning they can likely only reach new heights on the main roster if utilized correctly.

These new and fresh teams have already helped make the main roster tag team divisions feel more vibrant and exciting than they have in years.

Perhaps even more importantly though, they have also led to WWE heavily featuring tag teams throughout their programming on both shows. It’s a change that is not only long overdue, but hopefully signifies that the company realizes the value that its exceptional tag teams can bring when given the chance to shine.