In my opinion, the WWE Tag Team Division has been struggling for a long time. The need for change is painfully obvious. When Tyson Kidd and Cesaro won the Tag Team Championship I was over the moon. I thought they could bring that change. Both men are extremely talented and evidently underutilized in the WWE. Holding any sort of gold in the company is better than being lost in the bottom of the midcard and barely making it on MainEvent.
I had high expectations of this duo. Kidd and Cesaro are not only a well-oiled wrestling machine. They are also two fresh faces in the stale WWE Tag Team Division. The Masters of the WWE Universe, as they sometimes refer to themselves on social media, have a distinct gimmick with a good healthy dose of humor added to it. The dynamic in the relationship between Cesaro, Tyson and Natalya, paired up with some “fact dropping”, gives the champs individuality. That’s something that most teams on the roaster lack.
Kidd and Cesaro are likable and can easily switch between face and heel, if needed. The core of their gimmick is that they are arrogant and cocky but can live up to the hype they themselves create. Who they face determines whether the audience perceives them as good or bad.
The perfect rivals for the champions seemed obvious. A feud against the Usos, who have been sitting at the top of the WWE Tag Team Division for almost two years, would produce great wrestling, worth watching. Naomi and Natalya, each supporting her husband’s team, were a great addition to the scene. It allowed for more combinations – mixed tag team matches, backstage segments and outside interferences. It all seemed to be going well until last week when Jey Uso got injured by his own teammate at the time – Xavier Woods.
When the Usos were taken out for an indefinite amount of time, the WWE was left in a bad position. Suddenly, the weakness of the Tag Team Division was painfully exposed. Jimmy and Jey were the spine of the division and with them gone it’s now crippled. The Ascension and The New Day are both victims of their own terrible gimmicks. Konnor and Viktor could have been a brutal, merciless power of destruction. Kofi, Big E and Xavier Woods had the potential to be a strong stable, full of energy. Both got butchered by the WWE Creative instead. The Prime Time Players are back but this reunion was so badly staged and insufficiently addressed that some people might still wonder why Slator Gator are not on TV any more. And then we have Los Matadores who were comic relief characters with mediocre wrestling skills from the get-go.
With WrestleMania coming in a week, the WWE somehow decided that turning Los Matadores heel and having Natalya wrestle a short person in a bull suit was the best course of action. The WWE Creative has its moments of genius but this was not one of them. Having El Torito outwrestle Cesaro and toss him out of the ring was not funny. It’s frustrating. It’s hard to argue with the critics who say that Cesaro and Tyson are being wasted as tag team champions when the WWE itself relies on comedy and cheap gimmick spots, instead of building a solid feud for the titles.
This would have been the perfect time to rebuild the Ascension. Have them stop tilting at windmills and trying to feud with teams that don’t even exist anymore. The tag team champions are there and they are very real. Konnor and Viktor, given their original, darker and much more impressive entrance from NXT, could hunt down Cesaro and Kidd like animals. The crowd would immediately get behind the champs. The matches would also be much better than those against Los Matadores.
In my personal opinion, whether you call them Diego and Fernando or Primo and Epico, these two have never stood out in the ring or otherwise. They are good but not great. And their gimmick makes it worse. In wrestling a good character can save an otherwise unexciting rivalry. However, Los Matadores are a joke. They were created to be that and dressing them in red, instead of ninja turtle green or baby pink, won’t change that. Can anyone seriously imagine Los Matadores as the WWE Tag Team Champions?
If by any chance Los Matadores do win at Wrestle Mania, I suggest making J&J Security the #1 contenders. Compared to Diego and Fernando, Mercury and Noble have powerful character development. Well, at least we know which one is which. Also, J&J know what they are fighting for, even if it is to protect Seth Rollins at any cost. And although this idea started out as a joke, putting the tag team titles in the hands of the Authority might elevate the standing of the championship. It’s almost unbelievable how the WWE has lost control of the tag team scene so badly that Rollins’ security guards have more character and popularity than half of the actual teams on the roster.
The WWE tag team division needs a change. Sadly, I don’t think there’s enough time to do any major improvements before Wrestle Mania. Nonetheless, most teams need major reconstruction, character-wise. The wrestlers are there. The talent is strong. The writing is not. The WWE must take action soon.
What do you think? Comment below with your thoughts, opinions, feedback and anything else that was raised.