Don’t expect WWE to ever care about tag teams.
A report from False Finish this week indicates that WWE is looking to rebuild their tag team division after many either left or were cut in the last month. That’s good, as the tag team divisions right now on both brands are nothing much to talk about right now. But the company has such a terrible track record with tag teams dating back to the turn of the century, should we really expect things to be better this time around?
The peak era of tag team wrestling in WWE was around 2000, with the likes of Edge & Christian, The Dudley Boyz, and The Hardy Boyz keeping the division hot. But after the brand split, tag teams pretty much fell to the wayside. Any new teams were either treated like comedy acts or would always be fodder for the main event stars. In fact, the only time the titles ever meant much was when WWE put them on top stars to further a singles feud. The emphasis would always be on the stars but never the titles, which were just props for the eventual big singles match. If there is one trope WWE has put out time and time again, it’s the infamous “but can they get along??” storyline.
I thought maybe things would change once Triple H took charge of creative in 2022. After all, AEW has outclassed WWE time and time again with tag team wrestling, and surely they weren’t about to let the gap widen, right? Well, recent events seem to indicate WWE’s malaise toward tag team wrestling is an inherent problem within the company. On Raw, The Judgment Day held those titles for a long, long time without a title defense, so much so that it actually became a storyline on television. The Vision currently hold the titles but the only other babyface team besides The Usos right now are The Street Profits, who are already teasing a split after returning just one month ago. Stacked division!
On SmackDown the scene is somehow worse. Most of last year had a bunch of teams trading wins and losses with no real direction. Fraxiom, Motor City Machine Guns, and DIY all constantly fought but somehow managed to go nowhere at the same time. They were pushed aside for the MFTs and the Wyatts, who traded the titles back and forth until mostly everyone involved got cut. Now the titles are around the waists of R-Truth and Damian Priest, a thrown-together team that hardly suggests a serious rebuild. And with the division cleared out, the only other team feuding with them is The Miz & Kit Wilson, who should hardly be taken seriously.
Who are they going to bring in to rebuild? They just cut the Motor City Machine Guns, who are still one of the best tag teams in professional wrestling. What sense does that make? It doesn’t seem reassuring either that one of the teams being bandied about for a potential return are Enzo and Cass, which I am not exactly clamoring for. Cass has potential as a singles wrestler and actually has built a far bigger and better resume than he ever did teaming with Enzo.
Could WWE really make a serious effort to rebuild their tag team division? Sure, anything is possible. But history shows that whenever WWE emphasizes rebuilding the division, the feeling rarely lasts before falling back to their same, familiar tropes. I would like to see a healthy tag team division on both brands, and there’s a wealth of talent out there in WWE and NXT to make it happen. But it’s up to the company itself to prove that this time they mean business.
