Two of the things wrestling I have always been an advocate for is good tag team wrestling and good women’s wrestling. There have been rumors going around now for a little while that the WWE is considering bringing in a Women’s Tag Team Division in the fold. In many other circumstances I would approve of this without giving it a second thought. However, the way the landscape is within the WWE women’s division the company will not and cannot properly support a women’s tag team division.
For those who do not know or do not remember, back in the day there was a women’s tag team division within the WWF. The first champions were officially recognized in 1983 with the titles being retired in 1989. Let’s fast forward to more recent history, TNA created the Knockouts Tag Team Titles to capitalize on the popularity of their division and to give more women a chance for championship success. The first champions were crowned in September 2009 with the titles being retired in June 2013. On paper while paying attention to history, there hasn’t been any consistent success for a women’s tag team division for a major wrestling promotion. The greatest success I have seen for that kind of division has been on the independents with all-women companies like SHINE and SHIMMER.
Companies such as SHINE and SHIMMER, as previously mentioned, are companies that exclusively feature women. Companies like that are able to have consistent success with a tag team division of their own. They have the luxury of concentrating on women in an otherwise male dominated product that are the major worldwide companies to form their own teams and spend the time to build up their credibility on that platform. This is where a women’s tag team division will not only be given the greatest chance of success but to thrive!
Let’s now get back to the WWE. RAW currently has thirteen women on their roster while SmackDown has ten. There is ZERO chance any success can be had if each brand had their own Women’s Tag Team Champions; it’s already hard enough to come up with interesting feuds for each brand’s exclusive singles belts with such thin women’s rosters. It would get stale really quick and this would be reminiscent of the Attitude Era where they had so many championships they’re just putting belts on people for the sake of doing it. This unfortunately would fall into that scenario. The only chance, if any, WWE has for long term success of a women’s tag team division are if these things were to happen:
One set of champions would be the only way to accomplish this. The championships in the current structure of WWE’s rosters would have to be available to both brands which means a greater workload for the reigning champions. The titles would have to be defended on the title holder’s current brand and PPV for out of brand challengers. This would then help defeat the purpose of the brand split. This could probably also open the door for “cross promotional” action between main roster and NXT talents which is something they want to keep separate other than special occasions like Evolution and the Royal Rumble.
The only other way would be to end the brand split. This way, as the roster currently stands, you have 23 full time women of the WWE roster fight for one singular Women’s singles Championship and Women’s Tag Team Titles. It makes things more interesting but I don’t foresee the brands merging any time soon.
On top of the lacking abundance of talent on both main rosters, I highly doubt the WWE will dedicate any amount of time to build up credible storylines for these championships and without those storylines it will be hard for people to take interest in the belts.
I am a fan of wrestling until the day I day. I, like most everyone else, likes GOOD wrestling whether it come from men or women. There are so many talent women pro wrestlers out there. If I want to see good women’s tag team wrestling I will stick to the independents.
I have no interest to see Women’s Tag Team Championships on WWE television until there is more depth and merge the brands. Keep the women’s tag team matches as exhibitions. There will be a time and a place to see if this will work. Even with all the momentum women’s wrestling has on major promotions, now isn’t the time to do this on WWE TV.
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