What Went Wrong With WWE's Tag Team Divisions?

The art of tag team wrestling has defined professional wrestling since its inception, taking the collaboration of the sport to another level as pairs of competitors work together to deliver a spectacle.

Over the years, singles wrestling has almost always drawn more eyes than tag team work, but it was not an absolute standard, particularly during the territory days.

The Von Erichs vs. The Fabulous Freebirds and The Rock 'n' Roll Express vs. The Midnight Express were massive draws for fans throughout the United States.

WWE was never truly tag team-centric, but The Hart Foundation vs. The British Bulldogs and the TLC trios of The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian defined the sport in their time.

In 2026, tag team wrestling has never felt less relevant to WWE. The three champions of their divisions, The Wyatt Sicks, The Usos and Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky, are well-defined teams with extremely limited divisions.

Even when good stories are put together within the division, those stories rarely make the premium live events, and it is even less likely that the stories will sustain for long.

What led WWE to this moment? Why does tag team wrestling feel so unimportant to the company's present and future?

The Last Time the Tag Division Felt Relevant

At WrestleMania 39, The Usos vs. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens was just the second tag team match to main-event 'Mania, following the first Show of Shows where Hulk Hogan and Mr. T defeated Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper.

More importantly, it is the only time tag team gold was defended in a 'Mania main event, highlighting this contest's importance to the entire division.

What made this match so special? The main answer is simply its relevance to The Bloodline storyline, WWE's hottest angle at the time in 2023.

Zayn and KO were established as life-long friends and rivals who had traveled the road together and finally came together with a common goal strong enough to define WWE as a whole.

Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso had captured both sets of tag team titles and unified them, defining themselves as the greatest tag team of the modern era, daring anyone to take them down.

The match was spectacular, highlighting the bond of both teams and the importance victory would have for each team.

Zayn and KO winning was a major blow to WWE's most dominant stable and seemed to set a new standard for the rest of the division. Everyone needed to step up to earn their spot near the top of WWE.

However, the tag team division has not risen to these same heights since, particularly after Zayn and KO lost the gold and The Bloodline began to implode.

Where Did It All Go Wrong

One year after the first-ever WrestleMania main event featuring tag team gold, WrestleMania XL may have spelled the doom for the men's tag team division.

In a six-pack ladder match, WWE separated the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships.

Austin Theory and Grayson Waller won the WWE Tag Team Championships while The Miz and R-Truth won the World Tag Team Championships.

While it made sense for WWE to split up the Raw and SmackDown tag team titles again, both teams chosen to carry the gold did not last.

Miz turned on Truth before the year was up while Theory and Waller's pairing fizzled out over the next year without any kind of payoff, quietly separated during an injury hiatus for Theory.

Moreover, despite adding to the number of tag teams on both brands, WWE showed less interest in highlighting the Raw and SmackDown tag divisions.

The Raw tag team division mainly relied upon The Judgment Day, a group that could not stay on the same page, while SmackDown played hot potato between names such as The Street Profits, Motor City Machine Guns and DIY.

At WrestleMania 41, The War Raiders vs. The New Day for the World Tag Team Championships was simply an advertisement for mobile game Clash of Clans.

The WWE Tag Team Championships were left off the 'Mania card entirely followed by The Street Profits, MCMG and DIY delivering one of the best matches of the year, a TLC match on a random SmackDown.

While the in-ring work has been consistently solid, the spotlight has waned to the point that even the rare PLE opportunities feel like filler next to WWE's most important stories.

There is no Bloodline vs. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens-level hype for a tag title clash. The Wyatt Sicks vs. MFTs is a story limping along on SmackDown that is more faction warfare than tag team-focused.

Jey and Jimmy Uso regained their gold in a thrown-together challenge at the end of the year as a consolation prize after Jey's struggles to deliver as a singles star in 2025.

Nothing in the men's tag team division matters enough right now to truly matter to the central stories of 2026, and that is a real shame.

The Possible Caveat: Women's Tag Division

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While the men's tag team division limped along in 2025, the women's tag team division did show some signs of life.

Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss built an engaging dynamic as frenemies on SmackDown, dethroning The Judgment Day who dominated the early stretch of 2025.

The way these two charismatic babyfaces meshed held echoes of iconic WWE tag teams, including The Rock 'n' Sock Connection, leaving a question to any challengers on whether they could cause friction in the alliance.

Meanwhile, the longest reigning women's tag team champions in WWE history, Asuka and Kairi Sane, found a new hook for their dynamic as a dangerous alliance hell-bent on hurting everyone around them.

In particular, The Kabuki Warriors targeted Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky, leading to the best women's tag team match of the year at Crown Jewel between the friends turned rivals.

The Kabuki Warriors built off this feud to earn a shot at Charlotte and Bliss, dethroning them to tag team gold for the third time together.

Going into 2026, Flair and Bliss as well as Ripley and Sky were both teams seeking revenge against The Kabuki Warriors, and Rhiyo struck first, capturing the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship at the Netflix Anniversary show.

These three teams form the backbone of a women's tag team division that has never felt hotter, arguably even outshining the women's world title scenes.

It is almost inarguable at the moment that the women's tag team division is outshining the men's division.

Can It Be Salvaged?

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The women's tag team division was more or less an afterthought from the time WWE introduced the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships in 2019.

The ramp-up of the division in 2025 is a perfect modern example of how WWE can get the men's tag team division back on track as well.

The Usos' tag team title win could be a good sign for Raw's tag team division since Jey Uso is one of the bigger names in the company right now.

In particular, this could lead to The Vision going after tag team gold as well. Bronson Reed and Austin Theory may not be a well-established tag team, but it would immediately put a bigger spotlight on the division.

The important extra step is to build teams around this dynamic. AJ Styles is going to retire in 2026, so Dragon Lee needs a new tag team partner.

The War Raiders and The New Day need a refresh because both have been treated as lower-card talent for too long. Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh have been overexposed as forgettable champions and should stay out of the division for a while.

Beyond a possible massive elevation for Los Americanos or Alpha Academy, the only other way to add depth would be trading talent with SmackDown.

On SmackDown, the talent is there, but the spotlight is not. The Wyatt Sicks have an interesting dynamic as a stable all working together to keep the tag titles.

However, the most interesting teams have not been developed as real threats. The Street Profits lost multiple times to the champions. Fraxiom and DIY have traded wins without direction.

Motor City Machine Guns have struggled to get over with the fans. No one but Tama Tonga has gotten over in The MFTs, and he come off more as a solo act long term than the other struggling supports for Solo Sikoa.

The goal should be to give a strong story to at least a couple of these teams that connects to talent fans care about on SmackDown like Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton and Sami Zayn.

It would be mutually beneficial to both brands to exchange talent, giving teams fresh opponents going forward. New Day and War Raiders for Street Profits and MCMG is an easy trade to get the divisions moving again.

No matter who is on what brand though, especially with two separate divisions, it is important to create multiple story hooks for the live audience.

The 2026 Outlook

Both the World Tag Team Championships and WWE Women's Tag Team Championships recently changed hands on Raw.

This creates a fresh look for the women's and Raw men's tag team in 2026.

Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss and The Kabuki Warriors are looking for the gold back, but Bayley and Lyra Valkyria as well as Nia Jax and Lash Legend also have room to grow into real challengers.

Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky were the in-ring MVPs of the women's division in 2025, and they can keep this divisions elevating into 2026.

For Raw, The Usos need better competition that the current offering. They have fought The New Day too often to get excited about another rematch. The War Raiders don't come off as real threats.

Outside of a roster swap, the best answer would be fully establishing The Vision as tag team contenders while elevating underused names like The Creed Brothers and LWO.

SmackDown has an abundance of talent, but what is the hook? The crowd loves The Wyatt Sicks, but they lack for challengers.

Fraxiom has the highest upside to blow fans away early in 2026, making the most of ending the #DIY feud with a win and starting the ascent toward gold.

Especially with three hours of SmackDown in 2026, it is time to highlight the breadth of signed talent and maybe bring up some NXT stars as well.

Hank and Tank and OTM are both tag teams that have run their course in NXT. They could help either brand.

Je'Von Evans and Leon Slater might be the biggest potential tag team in all of WWE, assuming Slater is signed officially soon.

Fans would hardly be shocked to see the 21-year-old phenoms win gold quickly on the main roster with completely fresh opponents across Raw and SmackDown.

The name of the game is developing interesting stories, and that will come with evaluating the roster and figuring out who needs a change.

Will anything pan out for the new year? It is hard to say. Early signs are not positive in the Triple H creative era, but sometimes all it takes it one team to take the ball and truly run with it.