Why WWE has done Tucker horribly wrong on Raw already

Otis and Tucker didn’t need to break up at all, and their separation has harmed both wrestlers, especially the latter on WWE Raw.

It only took weeks for Tucker to go from a tag team wrestler in a compelling storyline on WWE SmackDown to a member of the “24/7 Title Division” on WWE Raw.

On this week’s episode of Raw, we saw Tucker in the ring as one of six wrestlers competing for the 24/7 Championship against R-Truth. Alongside him were the likes of Akira Tozawa and Erik, whose tag team partner Ivar is out due to injury.

It’s never a good sign to be stuck in limbo in the 24/7 Division, which isn’t an actual division at all but a collection of wrestlers whom Vince McMahon has no idea what to do with, other than wily veteran R-Truth. Because Truth is basically synonymous with the championship and is the only reason why wrestling fans tolerate the USA Network’s annoying idea.

The 24/7 Title is usually good fun, but it’s starting to run its course. And that match exemplified why. There were a ridiculous seven title changes during the “match”, if it can even be called a match, including Tucker winning his first career title in WWE twice on roll-up exchanges with Drew Gulak. What a memorable way to win the championship, right?

Tucker’s start to life on WWE Raw has been the opposite of ideal

This 24/7 Title adventure comes a week after Tucker had his first match on Raw since turning heel, and it was a losing effort against Ricochet. Now, it was good for Tucker to get that match, RETRIBUTION’s involvement may have boosted his heel character a little, and there was no way he should have went over Ricochet.

But take these two events together, and you can see why so many wrestling fans are worried about Tucker’s future as a singles competitor on Monday nights.

WWE did a good job of getting the Money in the Bank briefcase on The Miz, but they could have easily done that at Hell in a Cell without having Tucker betray Otis. That storyline may be revisited with Otis getting revenge – perhaps with both brands in the same room, so to speak at Survivor Series – but I honestly don’t think WWE thought this through at all. I mean that with respect to Otis, but I mostly meant that with respect to Tucker.

So now, Tucker is in a serious situation. It is sink-or-swim for the former Heavy Machinery man, and WWE aren’t giving him much to work with. They are scripting him promos that don’t make sense, including the one where he justified turning on Otis. What he said didn’t make sense, nor was his promo to Ricochet the week before inspiring.

And the 24/7 Title Division? You can forget about it. Unless Tucker shows more comedic chops than he did with Heavy Machinery, which was Otis’ show from a comedic standpoint, then he’s not going to benefit from being in what is akin to WWE’s “jobber’s” division where EC3 and No Way Jose once toiled each week.

WWE could have kept a great tag team together. Instead, they turned Tucker heel without any sort of a plan, and now two wrestlers may be worse off because of it.