Ryan Dilbert's 10-Count: WWE SmackDown's Tag Teams Continue to Get the Shaft

1. A Division Deserted

The SmackDown tag team division finds itself shoved far from center stage, standing in a broom closet at the back of the theater. 

No section of the WWE roster is receiving less attention right now. Nowhere within the company is more talent going to waste.

So, it wasn't shocking when Tuesday's SmackDown dedicated zero airtime to its tag teams.

The brand's tag champs, The Usos, didn't appear. American Alpha didn't compete. Breezango remained off camera.

Credit: WWE.com

This is far from the first time that part of the roster has been ignored. It has become a running joke to a degree.

A.V. Club columnist LaToya Ferguson wrote after Tuesday's SmackDown: "Update: Tag teams still don't exist on SmackDown."

That's what it has felt like at times, WrestleMania 33 being one of them.

The SmackDown Tag Team Championship was the only title not to be defended at The Showcase of the Immortals. The Usos, The Vaudevillains, The Ascension and other blue brand squads were relegated to the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet joked about Pitbull getting a spot on the card over the tag teams:

Beyond being pushed into the midcard-purgatory contest, SmackDown's teams also played the pushovers. Simon Gotch, Heath Slater and Jey Uso were among the first four wrestlers eliminated from the contest. 

SmackDown's tag team issues were underscored by how much Raw invested in its own in the past few days.

Matt and Jeffy Hardy returned to WrestleMania, putting one of WWE's most popular teams ever back on top. The former hard-hitting NXT tag champs, The Revival, debuted on Raw the next night. 

The red brand proceeded to deliver three bouts featuring its tag division on the biggest Raw of the year.

That scenario is impossible to imagine for SmackDown at this point. The show has made little effort to do anything with NXT transplants The Ascension and The Vaudevillains. Breezango is criminally underutilized. Slater and Rhyno have barely been a part of the show after completing their Cinderella story last year.

And why WWE never fully dived into the feud between The Usos vs. American Alpha is hard to understand.

Last fall, The Usos ousted American Alpa from the tag title tournament by ripping Chad Gable's leg apart. Gable promised revenge. The stage was set for a war between the squads down the road.

They have since battled, but it took too long to get to that story, and it's one SmackDown has not explored to its full potential.

The show's two-hour format makes it tough to cram everything in, but it has to find a way to make more of The Usos and their peers. An act like Breezango could become a sleeper hit with as much flair as Tyler Breeze and Fandango wield. There's plenty more to tap into with the odd-couple relationship of Rhyno and Slater.

And American Alpha was surging when it first debuted, only to have been undercut until they lost great momentum.

During the Superstar Shake-Up next Monday, WWE has to think about how to invigorate the tag team side of SmackDown. The New Day heading to the new blue brand would be a big boost. Jettisoning one of the show's lower-tier teams could free up space for others to shine.

If something major doesn't change soon, the division will continue to be known for disappointing.

2. Goldberg's Workload

Goldberg clearly did not get paid by the hour.

The powerhouse's recent WWE tenure saw him only briefly step into battle each time. His fight with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 33 was the shortest contest on the card.

Adding the time he spent in the ring in his singles bouts, as seen on CageMatch.net, plus his three minutes and 21 seconds worth of action in this year's Royal Rumble, per WWE.com, Goldberg delivered a total of 9:53 in four matches.

That's essentially one-and-a-half Finn Balor entrances.

Goldberg's run was a surreal reimagining of what a headliner's role is. In the past, the top champions worked hourlong matches to provide the backbone of a show. Goldberg was a star, a name and a man who delivered a highlight here and there.

3. Throwback Video of the Week: Undertaker

Undertaker sang his swan song at WrestleMania, ending an iconic career over a quarter century after his WWE debut.

Looking back at his early WWE days is a reminder of just how much he evolved during his tenure. The Deadman was simply not the same performer when he took on The British Bulldog in 1992, for example:

He began as a movie monster in the ring, slowly stalking his prey. His character shifted. His arsenal expanded. And a Hall of Fame career was built.

4. Asuka the Unstoppable

Asuka fended off her last challenge at NXT TakeOver: Orlando when she outlasted Ember Moon.

The NXT women's champ remained undefeated and extended her record reign with the title. No one on the roster has been booked to be more dominant than Asuka. She's presented as a force of nature, a titan tiring off weak opposition.

WWE would be wise to continue this run of supremacy on the main roster.

She would relinquish the NXT title rather than drop it before going on a tear on either Raw or SmackDown. The company has an opportunity to tell a compelling story of a warrior who cannot be stopped.

Asuka could match and surpass Goldberg's 173-0 mark. She could be the wrestling equivalent of the UConn women's hoops team.

The longer WWE maintains her invulnerability, the more dramatic and memorable her eventual first stumble will be.

5. Echoes of the Hardys' Impact

The Hardys have fans from all over, including at CBS Sports apparently. After the North Carolina Tar Heels won the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship on Monday, the outlet spread the word in a tweet with a distinctly Hardy flair:

You know you're big when your catchphrases become part of the general lexicon. 

6. Keith Lee Killing It

WrestleMania weekend is as big for the indies as it is for WWE itself. A swarm of wrestling companies travel to the show's host city and put on some of their best-attended events of the year.

Keith Lee competed in many of those WrestleMania-adjacent shows this year, battling the likes of Lio Rush, Ricochet and Donovan Dijak.

The Evolve star delivered several times over. He added to the growing buzz around his career with a number of standout performances.

He's a big man with a cruiserweight's arsenal—a rising talent with plenty of presence. More and more people are finding that out.

7. Natalya's Longevity

When Natalya challenged for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 33, she added to a lengthy pay-per-view resume.

After The Show of Shows, she celebrated being the first women to reach the 40-match mark for PPVs: 

The tally might be slightly off as the Internet Wrestling Database lists her as having 39. Even so, Natalya has been a flag-bearer for the women's division for a long time. The Queen of Harts has wrestled at four WrestleManias, five Royal Rumble events and has had five matches at Survivor Series. 

Her first PPV contest came back at Backlash 2008. Of the wrestlers in that 12-women tag team match, only she and Mickie James are still with the company today.

8. A Revival Primer 

On Monday night, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson gave us a glimpse of their predatory ways in a new arena. 

The two-time NXT champs made their long-awaited arrival to the main roster on the latest Raw. The Revival took down The New Day in their first act for the red brand.

For those unfamiliar with what this smashmouth duo can do, be sure to check out these NXT bouts:

• The Revival vs. American Alpha: TakeOver: Dallas
• The Revival vs. Enzo Amore and Big Cass: Roadblock 2016
• The Revival vs. #DIY: TakeOver: Brooklyn
• The Revival vs. #DIY: TakeOver: Toronto (2-out-of-3 Falls)
• The Revival vs. #DIY vs. The Authors of Pain: TakeOver: Orlando

Imagining Wilder and Dawson now taking on the likes of The New Day, Cesaro and Sheamus and The Hardy Boyz is enough to leave one palpitating. Whether they match their NXT success on Raw or not, we are guaranteed some classics between the ropes.

9. Emma Needs to Be a Priority

If only for the sake of freshness, the returning Emma must be a major player in the Raw women's division.

There has been a long cycle of Bayley, Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair in the spotlight. The disdainful, merciless Emma needs to be in that spot, as well.

Fans have been waiting to see the Australian heel at work since last May. A back injury put her out of action. When she was healthy, though, WWE delayed her return to an absurd degree.

She then stepped back into the ring on Monday's Raw, teaming with Flair and Nia Jax.

This is the time to build momentum for her, to present her as a viable contender to Bayley's title. She's long been an excellent villain and an underrated in-ring worker. Raw has to tell her story in the coming weeks, letting us see the dark corners of her heart as she chases gold and glory.

10. Xavier Woods on the Art of Wrestling

Former NFL running back Arian Foster wondered aloud how people could love pro wrestling so much. 

A man with a Ph.D. helped him out. Xavier Woods of The New Day tweeted:

Woods summed it up quite well, but really one could write a full tome on the phenomenon. What unfolds in the squared circle is a strange medium, one like no other. And those who understand its appeal are treated to an amalgam of athleticism and savagery, theater and absurdity that is often magical.