Checklist for Making WWE Tag Team Division Relevant Again

Remember when the hottest thing WWE had going was its tag team division?

You don't have to flash all the way back to the days of The Hart Foundation and The British Bulldogs to discover a time when the division was deep, diverse and fueled by quality stories. It was just last year when the company's most consistent element was its tag teams.

Cody Rhodes and Goldust's fight to earn their spot back with WWE was a highlight of 2013. So was the ring work of The Wyatt Family and The Shield.

The Rhodes brothers vs. The Shield earned the highest rating from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t ProFightDB.com) of any match at Battleground 2013. At that year's Hell in a Cell event, the tag teams rocked it in the opening match, inciting a "This is awesome!" chant from the Miami crowd.

Of the nine matches at TLC 2013, three of them featured tag teams in action. It seemed that just about every Raw produced another dizzying display of tag team wrestling.

As 2014 closes, there is not nearly as much buzz with the division. 

The Shield is now three separate entities. The Real Americans are no more. The Wyatt Family doesn't team together anymore either.

For WWE to get the tag teams to reach that peak again, it has a number of fixes available to it. 

Give the Teams More Stories

Stardust and Goldust are feuding with both The Usos and Los Matadores, but neither of those rivalries has any momentum.

After winning the titles, the tag champs haven't been a focus for the WWE writers. There hasn't been much in the way in action after the bell. There is no real narrative beyond the normal pursuit of gold.

Last year, the Rhodes brothers' livelihood was on the line with their battles against The Shield. 

The Wyatt Family and The Shield brawled as the tension between two dominant teams overflowed. The Real Americans had an anti-immigrant agenda.

The current tag team division needs more stories like these. Quality in-ring action is great, but it's the stories beyond the competition that make for memorable wrestling. 

If Los Matadores are going to feud with Stardust and Goldust, give them subplots for their title bouts. Are the bullfighters seeking to prove that they aren't a laughing stock? Are all the champs' recent losses starting to make them more desperate and, as a result, more dangerous?

Use vengeance, ambushes and trash-talking more often. WWE's version of The Newlywed Game is not how you escalate a feud.

Address Division Depth

The reason you have seen The Usos and Goldust and Stardust lock horns so often is that WWE has few other options.

There are just too few teams right now:

• The Usos
• Goldust and Stardust
• Los Matadores
• The Miz and Mizdow
• Slater Gator
• The Bunny and Adam Rose

Big Show and Mark Henry split up and haven't been replaced. The Wyatt Family parted ways, and WWE hasn't inserted another pair of bruisers in its stead. It looks as if the Xavier Woods-led stable is now over with seeing that he is now gearing up for a James Brown/preacher gimmick.

Calling up The Ascension is an obvious way to make up for those losses.

Justin Gabriel, Curtis Axel and Zack Ryder would be good additions to the division with the right partner. It's better to let a guy like Ryder contribute as one half of a tag team than let him sit around backstage every Monday.

Add More Star Power

The Miz is the only former world champion in the tag team division right now. Rey Mysterio and Big Show were teaming up just last year—eight world title reigns between them.

There was a time that Edge and Randy Orton formed an alliance. Triple H and Steve Austin teamed together, as did Kane and Undertaker.

Going this route again would add an electricity to the tag division.

Now that Sheamus is no longer U.S. champ, why not find him a partner and let him try for the tag title, something he has never won? Jack Swagger's momentum as a babyface is slowing. He'd benefit from returning to the tag team ranks.

The more that former world champs and big names seek out the tag titles, the more prestigious they become. If only the bullfighters and The Usos are even attempting to go after them, they don't feel all that significant. 

Cut Down the Comedy

More than half of the division right now is made of comic relief. 

If you have Rose and The Bunny around, you don't also need Los Matadores and El Torito. One wrestler in an animal suit is plenty. 

Mizdow's act is fun, and Slater Gator could be as well. The problem is with percentages, though. There needs to be more of a balance of serious and silly.

Otherwise, you're left with options like Slater Gator vs. Rose and The Bunny and Miz and Mizdow vs. Los Matadores. Those may produce some laughs, but the golden ages of tag team wrestling weren't built on feuds like that.

It's not as if WWE has to invent a whole new system here. It has been highly successful with its tag teams really recently.

Return to what made that period so engrossing, and the tag team division can move out of popcorn-break territory again.