Fixing The Dilemma In The WWE Tag Team Division

The tag-team division has been a complete afterthought for far too long. The tag division deserves to be featured and these tweaks will restore its greatness.

Tag-team wrestling was once a storied division that held some of the greatest matches of all time. Featuring some of the top talents to step foot in WWE. In recent years it’s been one of the most underused and forgotten divisions in the entire company. Often times legitimate teams being overshadowed by makeshift pairings of singles stars or being disbanded before reaching their potential.

Even amongst this tumultuous year where the teams are there to be used, the storylines haven’t been the greatest. So much so that our longest-reigning Raw tag champs are in the midst of a feud with their brand rivals way before Survivor Series season. We must first address the elephant in the room, as the WWE doesn’t have a depth issue. The issue is the way the tag teams are currently being used. Especially with injuries to the New Day, The Usos, Ivar, and the recent release of AOP, it’s time to consider reformatting the division. Within this reformat, there should only be one set of tag-team titles and do away with belts for separate brands.

The brand extension established back in 2016 holds little value today. Besides, since it was announced we’ve seen wildcard rules, brand-to-brand invitationals, trades, and now Raw Underground is fielding Smackdown Live stars. Condensing the tag titles to one set which all teams compete for helps establish the division as a strength. Raw, Smackdown, and NXT won’t have such thin tag team rosters and the titles can travel to all three brands as the women’s tag titles do.

The current format exposes WWE as having a thin tag division compared to its elite counterpart. When in reality, even with your popular teams hurt the division is rather deep across all three brands. Once the injuries subside they’re about fourteen teams deep before considering factions like the Hurt Business or Retribution.

Too often teams are split up because creative has nothing for them, which leads to failed singles runs. For example, if WWE would have let American Alpha cook we wouldn’t be looking at Shorty G today. Splits this year between Cedric Alexander and Ricochet, or Angel Garza and Andrade could be good things. But both teams were never given the ball to run with. Smackdown has been teasing divide within Lucha House Party, but instead could run a program with them versus Legado Del Fantasma on NXT. Kalisto could attempt to reclaim the Cruiserweight title. Condensing the tag division to create these types of interactions would keep everything fresh. You could also kill two birds with one stone and assist with Wednesday night ratings. Imagine the Usos or New Day appearing at Full Sail.

Tag-team wrestling is fun and its about time the company empowers its teams to perform. The Viking Profits bits were entertaining but nothing really stands out about this Street Profits title reign. Cesaro has had success with all of his tag partners but this current title reign features no opposition. There are several other tags in holding patterns or not featured at all. Fantasy booking only happens on wrestling Twitter, but this is an easy way to get fans excited about tag-team wrestling in WWE again.

While it may be too late to implement this change before Clash of Champions, this could be the perfect winner take all for Survivor Series. Take the current three tag champs from all three brands (Street Profits, Cesaro, and Shinsuke Nakamura, Breezango) and have them compete to be Undisputed tag champions. Once new champs are crowned the options for content are endless. Looking back at the success Sasha Banks and Bayley had traveling to all three bands can be a compass. This is also a safeguard in case the timetable to have fans back at shows is extended longer.