WWE: Did NXT need to add women’s tag titles?

Tag team wrestling is a major part of professional wrestling, one that is enjoyed by large swaths of fans. On Wednesday, WWE introduced the NXT Women’s Tag Team titles, awarding them to Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez, but eventually seeing them placed around the waists of Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart before the night was over. While these titles create another opportunity for women on the WWE roster, one must wonder if WWE’s track record with booking women and tag teams in general bodes well for these belts. In fact, early thoughts are these titles were not needed at this time.

To begin, one must look at the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles first. Kai and Gonzalez unsuccessfully challenged for these belts, currently held by Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax. But looking further into how these titles have been booked since their inception creates anxiety about how the titles in NXT will fare.

Created back in 2019, the WWE Women’s Tag Titles were looked at as an opportunity for WWE to feature more of their uber-talented women’s division. Sasha Banks and Bayley were crowned as the stewards of the titles after pushing for their creation for months. But from that point, the presence and use of the titles have left much to be desired. The IIconics’ reign was filled with three-minute matches and sporadic appearances on television – ending in four title defenses in four months. Then the belts were nothing more than a story point to push angles involving the singles women’s titles, leaving out the potential for mid-card feuds across the women’s division.

Perhaps the biggest issue is the fact that the WWE Women’s titles were mean to “float” between brands. This was an opportune time to show off that the women’s NXT division is just as deep as those on the main roster – if not more so. Unfortunately, those belts only appeared on NXT three times from 2019 to 2021, each time resulting in the NXT team losing.

So instead of having NXT teams compete and challenge for the titles that were already there, new titles are created. This gives off the appearance that NXT competitors are “less than” those of Raw and SmackDown, years after NXT was being pushed as “main roster.”

On top of those issues, WWE has not booked tag team wrestling well for years. NXT used to be the bastion for some of the best tag team wrestling in the industry, but that has long since expired. Take Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. Their tag team title run is 100+ days long, but they have had two title defenses in that span. Creating these belts for the ladies on NXT means that more time will have to be dedicated to building up not only the champions, but multiple contenders under them to pose as future challengers. NXT has the depth to do so, just look at the Women’s Dusty Classic as an example. But the question is whether the desire to book these teams in such a fashion is there.

There is a lot to question when it comes to creative decisions in the WWE. On one hand, these new titles are a chance to get more women on television. However, it is hard to trust the WWE to do right by these talented performers when much of the last decade has left a lot to be desired for booking across the entire promotion.