For the better part of the last decade, the WWE Tag Team division has seen a dearth of development. It has become a landing spot for stagnated singles careers, instead of a destination for unique and original tag team gimmicks.
However, in the last five years the company has pieced together one of its best rosters in a generation. This initiative towards world-class talent will mean the dawning of a new age in team wrestling for the promotion. The likes of which we may have never seen before.
Some of you may read this and ponder on what was the best period of tag team wrestling you ever saw. One group may picture battles with The Fabulous Freebirds against the Von Erich’s and The Road Warriors. Others may be imagine the Hart Foundation, Rockers, Demolition and British Bulldogs fighting for championship supremacy.
And of course there are those that saw Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz take tag team wrestling to extreme heights it had never attained before.
Though with great peaks there often comes deep valleys.
Imagining era’s when pairs like Billy and Chuck, David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty, The Basham Brothers, Money Inc., The Godwins and La Résistance were the best team in the company can often bring a chill down a fans spine.
Though, if you look off into the WWE universal horizon, you will notice a glow. It’s the glow illuminating off of a new dawn. That dawn is of the third great renaissance in WWE tag team history.
We might even be able to pinpoint the exact date of this shift in history.
August 23, 2015 was the night that New Day recaptured the World Tag Team Championship at Summerslam. Since that day, the threesome of Xavier Woods, Big E and Kofi Kingston have gone from the best heel team in the business to its most popular champions since The Hardy Boyz made young girls swoon at their electrifying entrance.
Along with the New Day’s rise, there has been a subtle rise in the divisions’ prospects. With that in mind, a great way to display the greatness that may be in store for fans, is by dividing the division into the key sections that will allow it to be a consistent source for entertaining segments and matches for years to come.
The Core
A key part of any great era in a division’s history is the existence of an anchoring force. Be it someone you love to hate or love to love, there needs to be a straw that stirs the drink and brings attention to things. The New Day have mastered both attributes on the microphone and in the ring. They have become a mainstay on WWE programming for good reason. Going forward their notoriety and main event aura will lead the division to its next great age.
The Veterans
With a strong, established, base the division can build from the bottom up. And boy has the company started to strengthen the structure of this division with a plethora of brick and mortar teams. Love them or loathe them, The Usos are an invaluable team to the promotion. Be it their colorful gear and entrance drawing in youthful fans, or their risk taking style, this team is one that can be relied on to have a solid to good match with anyone. And their prominent tenure in the division the last few years adds credibility to any opponent they have a feud with.
The Dudley Boyz time in this new era won’t be very long, but it doesn’t make it any less important. Having a team that has won 21 tag titles in an illustrious career, while still being capable in the ring, will be pivotal in developing the stars of the future. What they can impart on other teams in front of, and behind, the camera will have ramifications on the division for years to come.
The New Blood
An injection of talent is always key in keeping an entertainment product fresh. With the April 4th and 11th editions of Raw, the WWE mainlined two serious teams into the tag team bloodstream.
One of the most popular (though never champions) teams in NXT history—Enzo Amore and Big Cass—have just entered the fray. And they put their special brand of showmanship on display during their first night on the main roster by verbally dismantling the legendary Dudley Boyz. And they aren’t too shabby in the ring either.
However, the very next week we got the debut of another highly touted team. This time, instead of new blood coming from the developmental system, the duo of Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows arrived via free agency from New Japan Pro Wrestling. The former three time IWGP tag champs put the division on notice by going after another notable team—The Usos. The Samoan duo took the brunt of an assault that proclaimed the former Bullet Club members had arrived, and are a force to be reckoned with.
Waiting in the Wings
The wealth of talent doesn’t end there for the company. NXT has become a legitimate brand unto itself, any talent that eventually makes the jump to the main roster are less work in-progress and (to coin a phrase from former ECW World Champion Taz) more plug-and-play.
Two of those plug-and-play pairings are current NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha and the former champs The Revival Dash and Dawson. Both teams are highly talented and wholly distinct. American Alpha bring an amateur wrestling pedigree, along with a natural charisma, akin to The World’s Greatest Tag Team. While Dash and Dawson come at opponents with an approach that has been missing in the company for years—a tag team that goes heavy on tag team maneuvers. Plus their dynamic is an old-school rip off of The Brain Busters, and that’s not a bad thing.
The long-term depth doesn’t end there. Another team soon to be on your WWE Network screens are the Australian duo, and recent signees, Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste—also known as The Mighty Don’t Kneel. The former Pro Wrestling NOAH Tag Team Champions are highly gifted (check out their YouTube highlight package) and sure to be a threat to tag titles on any brand in the coming years.
So, if you are a lover of tag team action, rest assured—a new age is upon you. An age where the tag team division is so deep, a title change would be justifiable at any time. Where tag team gimmick matches are the must-see bouts on a televised card. Where the tag division has so much talent you’ll notice a future world champion honing their skills.
Prepare yourself, change is coming, and the WWE Tag Team division will never be the same (thankfully)…again.
Jason Burgos
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