Prime Time Players Are Poor Choice for Tag Team Champions in Loaded Division

The Prime Time Players feel wrong as tag team champions in a division with so many strong options.

Their win at Money in the Bank over scorching hot heels The New Day came out of nowhere. It was not preceded by a chase or any intense buildup.

As I mentioned on the PodNasty Wrestling Podcast, to quickly extinguish The New Day's previous run without building to a crescendo hurts The New Day, The Prime Time Players and the tag team division.

The New Day evolved over the course of months to become one of WWE's top acts. We can't say the same about The Prime Time Players. WWE's idea of character development with this pair was a slew of brief, lame parody vignettes.

The awkward ending to the match symbolized a scattershot rise to the tag team titles for The Prime Time Players. James Caldwell of PWTorch.com criticized the match:

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Oddly-structured match not getting much juice from the Tag Title change squeeze. They tried a long beat down on D-Young to set up the tag to Titus, but it was almost too one-sided that it took the crowd out of the match and they did not re-engage for the tag, finishing sequence, and anti-climatic three count.

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The lack of a true journey toward the tag team title makes them underwhelming champions. This is even more apparent given the amount of thriving tag teams in WWE. Despite the division being ravaged by injuries, Los Matadores, the Lucha Dragons and The New Day all remain viable.

Fans immediately connected with rising star Kalisto, and given their popularity, the Lucha Dragons would have made for the perfect choice as babyfaces to chase The New Day.

The company did not take time to portray the Prime Time Players as true top contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship.

Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net was one of many who were taken aback by the title change: 

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A flat tag title change. There was one guy in the crowd who hugged his son because he was so excited, which got some laughs in my house. The crowd seemed surprised, but how excited can anyone get about The Players beat New Day to win the tag titles.

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It feels like the division is unnecessarily starting at square one after having so much momentum.

Villains are justified when they create a demand for a hero who connects with an audience and builds character before a dramatic triumph. In the case of The Prime Time Players, however, the last two steps were neglected, and the result is a weak tag team champion.

Alfred Konuwa is a featured columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter and subscribe to his weekly wrestling podcast.