State Of The WWE Tag Team Division: January 2014

I talked about the current situation of the diva division a while ago. Why not do the same for the WWE tag team division? The tag division in this company used to be very hot at one time. You had teams becoming legends in TLC matches. You had two sets of titles when the brands were split. On the other side of that, there was a time when Otunga and McGillicutty held the titles, did nothing great with them, and were buried. The WWE hyped a revival of the division, but that didn't go far. In terms of the overall status quo of the tag division right now, it is still a playground for midcarders and upper-midcarders. You might rarely get some lower-midcarders or main-eventers winning the titles, but the division typically revolves around guys you would expect to be getting good singles pushes or guys that eventually will get those singles pushes. Legitimate 2-man teams typically do not get featured enough. Consistent feuds and storylines are not there for those kinds of teams. But what about the specific situation the division is currently in?

Starting right at the top, The Rhodes are still Tag Champions. I saw someone mention recently how Cody and Goldust looked so great a few months ago and the WWE dropped the ball so badly with them. What does that make me think of? People that complain about the Nexus angle being buried so badly a few years ago. Some people blame Cena. Even though I do not like John Cena, I would say the guy gets blamed for things that are not his fault. Some people act like those rookies would have had such bright futures if things had gone differently in that Summerslam match. Is that the argument people make with The Rhodes? Cody Rhodes and Goldust got a big win against The Shield. They won the tag titles. They have been retaining the tag titles. And yet, their momentum has definitely taken a hit. You want to argue that John Cena buried them? You want to argue that The Shield buried them? Is it failure to connect with the fans that is to blame? It really isn't any of that. They have simply lost momentum. Blame the WWE for that. They have not developed proper tag-team feuds and storylines for them. The storyline they are currently running with them could be the one that leads to them losing the titles and splitting up. What does that do for the tag division? You had to have expected them breaking up soon. That is just the typical tag division these days.

The New Age Outlaws are back! And this might actually be the team that wins the titles off The Rhodes? Why not? Who else is there? Swagger & Cesaro? The NAO are a legendary tag team. They were there when the tag division was so hot. Their return does not actually make things like they used to be. Only the WWE's development of the feuds and storylines can make that happen. Another example of the WWE relying on past stars to help them now, but I'm not going to complain.

How about The Shield? Why don't I think they are the likely options to get back the tag titles? I don't see why the WWE would need to shoot the titles back to them. They have moved on. They have their issues with CM Punk. They are developing Roman Reigns to most likely be the breakout star of the group. They are still henchmen for The Authority. Even though this team still has momentum, I don't think it is momentum to get them another run with the titles.

The last team I will mention are The Usos. They got a big win on Raw last week. Of course, it was one of those matches where more attention was put on the loser for the sake of the storyline than the winner. The feud between Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt kind of overshadowed The Usos win. Nevertheless, this is a team I would like to believe will win the tag titles this year. The first step would be to transition it to a heel team. I cannot picture The Usos beating The Rhodes for the titles themselves. The Usos are great in the ring, they are over, and I would like to believe the WWE will run out of makeshift teams they want to give the titles to sooner or later.

I am not going to mention much about teams like The Wyatts, Real Americans, Los Matadores, and whomever else I am forgetting right now. Right now, these teams are just supporting cast in the tag division. Yes, The Wyatts are getting a huge angle right now, but that angle is really just a feud against Daniel Bryan. From the time they have come on the scene, they have targeted really just one wrestler at a time, not tag teams. The only exception was their feud against CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, but those two aren't exactly a legitimate team in the tag division. These teams are not major players in actual tag division at the moment.

Let me say a little about the diva division. And it does relate to tag teams. The Bellas have stated that they would like tag titles for the diva division. Do I like that idea? No. The WWE can't even properly keep two diva angles going at the same time these days. You can even say they have enough trouble keeping up one good diva angle around the Diva's Championship. The priority should be to get that momentum to keep more than one diva angle going properly. If they cannot motivate themselves to do that, how can you believe they will suddenly force themselves to run things better with another set of titles in the diva division? The WWE is not above tossing a title on someone and not have them do anything with it. Is Dean Ambrose still US Champion? If the WWE created tag titles for the diva division at this time, it would die faster than TNA's KO tag titles died on ODB and Eric Young.