5 Steps to Revitalizing the WWE Tag Team Division in 2024

WWE had an interesting 2023 both in and out of the ring. The company was sold, Vince McMahon relinquished creative duties, Roman Reigns continued his historic reign as undisputed WWE universal champion, Gunther became the longest-reigning intercontinental champion, and a new world title was won by Seth Rollins.

The women's division has also seen some advancements. The tag team titles are being featured more regularly, Rhea Ripley has ruled The Judgment Day as women's world champion with an iron fist, and Iyo Sky has produced several memorable moments during her WWE women's title reign.

However, the tag team division always seems to be prioritized last. Despite the fact that WWE has a fantastic roster of teams at its disposal, the division feels like it hasn't been utilized properly since The Usos unified both sets of tag titles in May 2022. And for many, the bad booking goes back much further than that.

Let's take a look at what steps WWE can take to revitalize tag team wrestling on its roster in 2024.

Split the Titles or Permanently Unify Them

When The Usos unified the Raw and SmackDown tag team titles on the May 20, 2022 episode of SmackDown, it was another impressive accolade for The Bloodline, but it was also the first step in the wrong direction.

Since then, the belts have only been defended as separate titles one time each, so for all intents and purposes, WWE has one set of tag team championships now.

Current champions Finn Bálor and Damian Priest still carry around both red and blue belts, which looks good aesthetically but makes no sense from a logical standpoint if they only hold one title.

Management needs to make a decision. Either a new set of belts should be created to symbolize the undisputed tag titles, or they should be separated so each brand has its own set of belts for Superstars to chase.

WWE has enough main roster tag teams to support two sets of championships right now, which brings us to our next point...

Prioritize the Tag Team Division

The only way for management to fix the issues in the tag team division is to make its booking a priority, and that means doing a better job featuring the existing teams on the roster.

Here is a list of all of the current tag teams other than Bálor and Priest:

• Authors of Pain
• Alpha Academy (any combination)
• The Creed Brothers
• DIY
• Imperium (Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser)
• The Viking Raiders (once Erik returns from injury)
• The New Day
• Indus Sher
• Los Lotharios
• LWO (Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro)
• The Street Profits
• Pretty Deadly
• The Good Brothers

It's unclear if The Brawling Brutes will remain together or if Butch will be teaming with Tyler Bate regularly moving forward, but either way, they are two options for Butch's tag team partner.

On top of all that, you could also include The Miz and R-Truth if WWE plans to keep their reunited team together past their current Judgment Day storyline. Then there's The Usos. They are on separate brands and not seeing eye-to-eye right now, but the odds of them eventually reuniting are high.

In NXT, there are at least three or four tag teams who will be main roster-ready in 2024, too. WWE has a good foundation to successfully book separate tag team divisions for both the red and blue brands if it wants to.

If management is determined to have just one set of tag titles, then there are more than enough teams to have one of the most competitive divisions in any company.

If the tag team championships were more important, people might be more willing to accept a pay-per-view with that match as the main event.

Other than Night 1 of WrestleMania 39 with The Usos vs. Owens and Zayn, when was the last time you remember the tag titles feeling important enough to be in the main event of a PPV? If it takes you more than 10 seconds to think of an answer, that's indicative of the problem.

Keep Working on the Women's Tag Team Division

This article is mostly going to address issues within the men's tag team division, but we also need to talk about the women's scene and where it stands.

When WWE introduced the belts, six teams were formed to fight inside the Elimination Chamber in 2019 to determine who would be the first holders. Bayley and Sasha Banks became the inaugural champions after defeating five other duos that have all since broken up.

Over the last couple of months, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven have done a fantastic job carrying the belts while WWE spent a little time figuring out who it wanted to make up the division. Kayden Carter and Katana Chance recently won the titles, but now they have a few other teams to worry about.

There are obviously the former champions, but now there are teams like Natalya and Tegan Nox, Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn, Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupri, and even duos such as Elektra Lopez and Lola Vice in NXT.

The women's tag titles are supposed to be defended across all three brands, so Vice and Lopez are just as likely to challenge for them as anyone.

WWE might even turn Fallon Henley and Tiffany Stratton into an odd-couple tag team and have them challenge for the titles at some point.

Allowing these duos to build chemistry and remain together for longer than a few months is going to go a long way toward making the championships feel more important.

WWE has a big roster of women and nothing says a tag team has to break up if one person wants to pursue a singles belt for a while, so there is no reason why wrestlers can't remain on teams while cycling in and out of the world title scene, too.

Create a Main Roster Tournament Like the Dusty Cup

NXT just kicked off a new Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament. The almost yearly tradition began in 2015 and was won by Finn Bálor and Samoa Joe.

The concept is a tag team version of The King of the Ring tournament, a single-elimination bracket with the winning team having to go through three sets of opponents to claim the Dusty Cup.

WWE will occasionally hold random tournaments like the recent United States Championship tourney to find a No. 1 contender for Logan Paul, but it would be beneficial for the main roster tag team division to have an annual tradition, especially if there is only going to be one set of tag titles moving forward.

This tournament would act as a secondary prize of sorts. It would be something the winning team could tout for a year just like a championship belt, but nobody can take it from them. It would be a great way to push a young, new tandem like The Creed Brothers or reinvigorate existing teams such as The New Day.

WWE could even use it as a sponsorship opportunity. Everyone was going wild for that Pop-Tart Bowl trophy on social media. It would be funny if a tag team got to carry around a Slim Jim version for a year.

The company could either hold the tournament over several weeks or base an entire PPV around it like it once did with the King of the Ring. Having to fight three times in one night to win the tournament was what made it special in the first place. The tag team division can do the same thing while telling its own unique stories.

WWE loves the angle where a partner gets injured, gets taken to the back and then returns triumphantly to help their partner win the match. Imagine if it ran that angle in the tournament but did so across all three rounds.

One partner is injured during the first match, but their partner bravely declares they will keep fighting. They somehow win the second match alone but go into the final round at a huge disadvantage. Then, out of nowhere, the partner comes down to the ring, gets the hot tag, hits the finisher and win the whole thing. This stuff writes itself.

When the Rhodes family introduced the Dusty Cup, it made it feel important to be tied to such a legendary figure both in the ring and behind the scenes. If a tournament was created for the main roster, something similar should be done to help get it off the ground.

Stop Using Tag Titles to Push Singles Stars Who Will Break Up Right Away

Tag teams form and break up all the time, so there tends to be more turnover than in the singles division, but you still want teams with a history together in which the fans can invest.

The Viking Raiders have remained a team across multiple promotions, so their hardcore fans are going to follow them wherever they go. That kind of loyalty only comes after forming a longstanding connection to the crowd.

WWE will sometimes randomly pair up two singles stars, have them win the tag titles and then immediately break up as soon as they lose the belts or when someone turns on the other and causes them to lose.

Sometimes, randomly pairing two stars together will lead to a great run. Sheamus and Cesaro had fantastic chemistry as The Bar, but the intention of putting them together was to form a new long-term team, not to break them up right away. It took years before they split up, so it carried more weight when they stopped working together.

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are another exception because of their on-off alliance over the years, but Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso winning the titles just to lose them a week later felt like a useless change once The Judgment Day got the belts back.

If the tag team division is going to feel important, then it has to be almost completely focused on itself. WWE has enough titles for individual Superstars to go around, so the belts designated for duos should almost exclusively be held by people who are not just going to break up because they lose them eventually.

Tag team wrestling doesn't have to be seen as a stepping stone. It can be its own great thing if WWE lets it.