WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship: Keys to Establishing Blue Brand's New Title

The newly created WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship can become a holy grail for the blue brand if nurtured properly.

The formula for bolstering the belts from the get-go isn't complicated. A blend of collective hunger, a flood of battles to seize them and a host of quality challengers will do the trick over time.

That process began on Tuesday's SmackDown.

SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon and general manager Daniel Bryan revealed the new championship belts to open the show. They announced that a tournament set to end at Backlash will decide the inaugural champions.

The arrival of those straps is a major step in developing SmackDown's tag team division. Jason Jordan and Chad Gable of American Alpha, The Ascension, The Usos and the flashy braggarts Tyler Breeze and Fandango all now have a tangible goal.

It must be a goal they openly pine for.

Display Desire

It's vital that those in contention for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship view them as prizes worth any price.

American Alpha has to talk about how much winning them would mean to them. The Vaudevillains must cheat and ambush their way to a title shot. The Hype Bros have to dream aloud about being champions.

And once a squad wins the titles, it has to gush over the accomplishment. 

When Dean Ambrose won the Intercontinental Championship last December, he exhibited exactly the kind of passion the SmackDown champs should. He said, "I will defend the Intercontinental Championship like it was my own child, like it was the only thing in this world that mattered to me."

The Usos' interview on Talking Smack Tuesday night was a good start in that direction:

Fresh off advancing to the second round of the tournament, the brothers were giddy about the new titles. They discussed the championship belts as if they were precious gems.

That enthusiasm needs to continue across the division, and the volume on it must be turned up.

These blue and silver straps have zero history. An impassioned present will help make up for that. 

A Flurry of Challenges 

WWE's championships have mostly lost momentum when they go unused, when the company neglects them.

Ambrose's United States lengthy title reign was hugely forgettable because he so rarely put the belt up for grabs. The same for Sheamus' turn with the title in 2014.

Prestige came flooding in, though, when John Cena won the title and began issuing open challenges each week.

Sure, a part of that was Cena's star power elevating a midcard prize, but the flurry of fights over the U.S. title had the wrestling world talking about the belt. The championship was at the center of a series of great matches. It was a key component to Raw each Monday.

WWE doesn't need to follow that same pattern with the SmackDown tag titles, but Cena's success is a reminder of how powerful frequent title defenses can be. 

This championship needs to create memories and lasting images in a hurry to establish its relevance. Hard-fought battles on many a Tuesday night will do just that.

Bolster the Division's Depth

A strong collection of teams will make ruling the division more impressive. If American Alpha clobbers a bunch of punching bags and remains kings of a cream-puff division, the titles will have little meaning.

Credit: WWE.com

Plus, the SmackDown tag team scene will suffer if WWE has to trot out the same small group of duos again and again.

As Aubrey Sitterson, host of the Straight Shoot podcast, pointed out, the division has not maximized its potential:

The Ascension has been bottom-feeders for so long, it's hard to take the bruisers seriously. Breezango has mostly been presented as a joke with flashes of being formidable here and there. The Vaudevillains have been non-factors just a few months after moving from NXT.

Changing how the audience perceives those pairings will elevate the division and the titles that belong to its alpha males.

WWE can't have all those duos go on winning streaks at the same time, however. The company has to commit to a handful of teams and push them hard.  

The eventual champs will need worthy rivals, and that can come from the division's lower tier with work.