The following editorial was written by Tyler Treese and does not reflect the views of WrestleZone as a whole. Feel free to chime in on the state of the WWE tag team division in the comments below.
Monday Night RAW opened with a tag team battle royale. It was an odd spotlight for the oft forgotten division as rarely do they get such a prominent role in the show, let alone open an episode. However, it’s one that made sense as they fast-paced action of the tag team division is a great fit for starting an event.
A fun tag team match was going on until Braun Strowman of all people started coming to the ring. He quickly beat up both members of the Ascension that ran towards him, and then made everyone from Lucha House Party to the B-Team look like a joke as he cleared a ring full of people out. It was a great look for Braun, but it did even more damage to an already neglected section of the WWE roster.
This isn’t a relatively new phenomenon. In fact, WWE did the same exact thing with Braun Strowman earlier this year as he won a tag team battle royal in order to compete for the belts at WrestleMania. This led to him infamously teaming up with a small child named Nicholas, as he defeated the reigning champions, The Bar, by himself.
Shooting Themselves In The Foot
This is a classic example of WWE not thinking long-term with their talent. For years they have treated tag teams as a lesser division instead of a specialty. It’s a division where even the best of teams will routinely lose to two singles stars that were just paired up, or even worse, lose to a strong singles competitor in a handicap match like when Roman Reigns defeated Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson when they were both RAW Tag Team Champions.
Why make the entire division look weak for no reason when World Wrestling Entertainment has dozens of performers that specialize in tag team wrestling? What’s the point of even having talent like The Club, The Ascension, and The Revival when they are relegated to being a joke to the viewer? It’s yet another waste of talent, and it makes RAW a frustrating show to watch since they still appear on television regularly despite not having respectful booking.
So, while WWE will inevitably try to push the Authors of Pain as the next big tag team they’ll be going up against a series of teams that nobody really cares about. Not because of the performers doing a bad job, but because they’ve been booked into a joke. By treating so many like a joke it hurts the entire product, even the few that are pushed.
It Could Be Better
What makes it all the more frustrating is that WWE has seen how amazing tag team wrestling can be when it’s done right. The New Day has spent several years as one of the company’s hottest acts, The Usos have put on great matches when they’ve been allowed to, and undeniable classics have happened in NXT thanks to teams such as The Revival and the now defunct DIY (Ciampa and Gargano).
Tag team wrestling should be a treat. It allows for fast-paced matches with more moving parts than single contests, and helps hides weaknesses of wrestlers due to the team dynamic. It’s a refreshing way to use characters. I just wish WWE would realize that more often as they’re wasting such a large part of their roster due to it.
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