Opinionated: WWE’s Tag Team Problem
A new year marks a new column for Nerdly… Opinionated. Where we give you our thoughts on everything and anything geeky and nerdy. Last time Phil tackled the issues with Impact Wrestling, this time round – following the superb NXT Takeover: Philadelphia – he looks at the WW’sE huge tag team division problem.
Sanity, Authors of Pain, Shock to the Sytem/Undisputed Era, newcomers War Machine – what do theses NXT tag teams have in common? They absolutely put the WWE main roster tag teams to shame. You only have to watch NXY pay per views like War Games or the recent Takeover Philadelphia to see that!
The WWE main roster comparises of some great tag teams and more importantly, at least in terms of TV production, some great showmen but in comparison to those tag teams in NXT, those men who actually put WRESTLING up there with putting on show, the main roster flounders. Imagine Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins taking on AoP? Squash match city for Authors Of Pain… Sanity taking on The New Day? Either The New Day make a mockery of Sanity, using their ridiculous (and frankly stupid) pancake gimmick; or again it would HAVE to be something of a squash match for Sanity over Big E and co. Anything less and we end up with the situation we have right now with former NXT tag teams talent on the main roster:
A complete and utter waste of what made said tag teams so good on NXT.
Ascension and The Revival… Two teams that dominated the NXT scene in their day and yet, once moved to the main roster, become little more than jobbers. hell The Ascension aren’t even jobbers – they’re a footnote in the ridiculous Fashion Files skits. OK, so seeing Undisputed Era take on The Shield? Now that would be at least interesting – especially given that The Shield are so over with the crowd (and are also former NXT talents who have at least had an impact on the main roster) and Undisputed Era features some of the hottest indie talent out there. Though, to be fair, I can see WWE splitting Shock to the Sytem from Adam Cole and misusing the tag team duo just like they have done with other NXT call-ups.
So what are WWE to do? They have to understand that fans want to see more than just The Uso’s putting on a clinic (hey, at least that pair put on kick-ass matches when they have to); fans want more than the Bludgeon Brothers squashing local talent (an utter waste of Harper and Rowan for sure). What fans want, and what the WWE should realise, is that fans would be happy to see current tag team talent actually put to the test. Stop protecting talent, put guys like The New Day in more dangerous matches like last years Hell in a Cell; forget forcing “constructed” tag teams like Jordan and Rollins on fans; expand the tag team roster immensely – maybe then we won’t have multiple, and I mean multiple, tag team championship changes each year. The New Days huge tag team streak was a joy to behold but since then the titles have changed hands over and over and over again lie a game of hot potato.
Can you imagine Sanity or Authors of Pain dropping the belts on a monthly basis like current main roster tag teams do? Not only would it continue to do damage to the championships but it would also reverse all the hard work both teams have put in during their time in NXT. The hard work that will have got them to the main roster in the first place.
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