Tyson Kidd and Erick Rowan Injuries Leave WWE Tag Division in Need of Repair
Just as the construction of the WWE's tag team division began to progress, Tyson Kidd and Erick Rowan heading to the disabled list knocks the half-built walls down.
The company is now left scrambling with a former tag champ surely out for a long stretch and a big bruiser unable to compete for the moment. A division already hurting from lack of depth is suddenly in need of some creative fixes.
One-half of the duo that captured the gold at Fastlane won't be around to provide his electric brand of offense. Kidd went down in early June "while competing in a non-televised match against Samoa Joe," per WWE.com.
PWInsider.com's Mike Johnson noted that a bump during the bout caused a "pretty bad neck injury." Kidd has since undergone surgery and surely is focused on getting healthy again.
And then, as WWE announced on its official website, Rowan suffered an injury during a live event in Saginaw, Michigan. Like with Kidd, the company is being quiet about the exact nature and severity of Rowan's injury. Even if he's out just a short time, though, it's bad news for a division that was just so recently on the upswing.
Consider, too, that Jey Uso isn't expected back until around October after undergoing shoulder surgery, as WWE.com notes.
As a result, The Prime Time Players and The New Day find themselves in a division missing much of its talent.
The members of both Los Matadores and The Ascension are healthy, but neither team has done much to connect with the audience. It's hard to take the neon-donning bullfighters seriously as contenders thanks to their gimmick. They are a comedy act that doesn't fit into any narrative that's the least bit serious.
And booking The Ascension like bottom-feeders has drained them of momentum before they could even generate any.
WWE has had teams walk all over them for the most part. To elevate them to the status of title contenders or division centerpieces is now a Herculean task due to how much the audience dismisses them at this point.
The list of the division's babyface teams beyond the current champs and Los Matadores is short. It just has two sets of names on it: The Lucha Dragons and the goofy pair of Damien Sandow and Curtis Axel, who currently employ a mock Mega Powers gimmick.
That leaves WWE with few options for The New Day to feud with once they're done with The Prime Time Players. That forces the company to use Fernando and Diego more often that it should. The violent play that WWE's writers pen has to unfold with far less characters.
While Jimmy, Rowan and Kidd heal, it's time to come up with some new pairings.
On the plus side, the roster features a number of wrestlers not being used nearly enough. Jack Swagger, Heath Slater, Stardust and Mark Henry are among those with little on their plate. As much talent as those guys have, though, there's not an obvious team in that group.
Stardust and Henry, for example, would feel random. Random has worked in the past, however. Both the Booker T-Goldust and X-Pac-Kane duos worked far better than most expected.
Bringing back The Dudley Boyz is a quick fix. The established, beloved team from one of the division's golden ages would bring a good amount of buzz with them.
Adding higher-rung stars to the division is a smart move as well. It's been too long since a wrestler of Randy Orton's or Edge's caliber has been battling among the tag teams on a regular basis. Moving Orton into a tag team role again would bring instant credibility to the tag scene.
Whatever the company decides to do, this wave of injuries can't just lead to complacency. WWE has options in front of it; it simply has to make some bold decisions.
