The AEW Tag Team Tournament must re-establish the division in the company

All Elite Wrestling is going back to the well once again, dusting off the tournament gimmick to crown a new set of champions and build new angles. This time, it’s the AEW World Tag Team Championship that is looking for a new duo of holders. AEW’s tag team division used to be one of its crowning features, but that went away from 2022 through 2023. It’s time to turn that around and the tournament can do that in a few different ways. 

As of March 7 no teams, brackets, or even a format have been announced for this tournament. All that is known is the goal is to crown new title holders after Darby Allin and Sting vacated the belts. AEW has done tournaments often, and the debate around whether they’ve been done well or not depends on who you ask. Oftentimes, those tournaments create great matchups, but they are built in a way that is completely predictable. Hopefully, this will be different. 

First, this tournament should be the moment where a new team is elevated as champions. A duo like Private Party or The Workhorsemen should go for a deep run, not only to make it to the finals, but take home the victory. Perhaps this is the time that the House of Black takes some tag team gold, they are an established group of champions that fans are strongly invested in. Plus, that would open the door to see Malakai Black go on a singles run towards the title. While teams like FTR, The Acclaimed, The Young Bucks and others are some of the best in the business, putting them right back at the top as champions is way too soon. 

This tournament should also have a feeling of unpredictability to it. AEW is surging because fans look forward to each week, knowing something big will happen. If this tournament kicks off with a huge upset in the first round, that would go a long way in establishing that anything can happen. Remember when Private Party beat The Bucks during one of the early AEW tournaments? That was meant to sky rocket them but their momentum was soon curbed. Re-create that moment this time around but do it with a team that will get a sustained push. 

The AEW Tag Team division was once another big reason why so many fans turned to the company to accommodate their pro wrestling fix. That has changed as priorities shifted, but AEW seems to be getting back to what made them a fan favorite organization. This tournament has to rekindle that flame through elevating a new team and keeping an air of unpredictability.