'Fresh Blood' of Breezango Will Define Future of WWE SmackDown Tag Team Division

WWE has long labeled SmackDown Live as the Land of Opportunity, but this has only recently been felt, including in the tag team division.

After a recent surprise victory in the first-ever tag team Beat The Clock Challenge, the new No. 1 contenders to the tag titles are none other than The Fashion Police, Breezango.

This charismatic duo, comprising Fandango and Tyler Breeze, has long been underutilized in WWE despite both becoming extremely popular during their time developing in WWE. Now they finally have a chance at championship gold, adding a fresh angle to a tag team division in need of support. They bring such a unique element  that they may just be the answer to elevating the tag division into the future.

SmackDown Live has long had a tag team division problem, dating back to the WWE draft that saw The New Day, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson and Enzo and Big Cass all drafted to Monday Night Raw. It left SmackDown woefully short on credible tag teams.

However, the brand has never lacked for quantity, beginning in July 2016 with a roster of American Alpha, The Usos, Heath Slater and Rhyno, The Hype Bros, The Ascension, The Vaudevillains and Breezango. On the surface, this looked like a competitive division, but SmackDown quickly dismissed half the roster as not being viable contenders.

With Zack Ryder's injury occurring just as The Hype Bros moved into title contention, SmackDown has been relying almost purely upon Alpha vs. The Usos, which has been the major feud in the division since the brand split, for far too long. Luckily, SmackDown had one ace in the hole on which they finally took a chance when the rest of their options had dried up.

No one has ever doubted the talent of Fandango and Breeze, but their flamboyant gimmicks have made it hard for WWE to book them with serious intent. Even though Fandango's entrance theme was popular enough to garner mainstream media attention and Breeze often competed for the NXT Championship while in NXT, the two faded into the background because of unenviable booking.

SmackDown has frequently relied on Breezango for quality matches, with their battles against American Alpha among the strongest tag team bouts the division has produced. Now WWE is relying upon them as complete entertainers, almost solely carrying their feud with the tag team champions, Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso, with funny and corny vignettes called the Fashion Files.

It is possible that Breeze and Fandango are only temporary contenders, meant to lose to The Usos to bolster their championship prestige. However, the division simply cannot afford this type of booking. If it is to succeed, it must embrace Breezango as the top contenders because that's what their talent warrants, accepting the wild silliness that they will bring.

The Fashion Police do not need to win the championships, but they must not fade into the background after a loss. The division would return to being stuck in neutral without a third major tag team at the helm until The New Day, recently drafted to SmackDown, makes its official debut.

Even when New Day does debut on SmackDown, Fandango and Breeze make for an enticing pair to compete against the best the division has to offer. They are solid workers and quality entertainers who have a gimmick that clashes well with The Usos' threatening demeanor, as well as matching up nicely with New Day's similar brand of insanity.

Recently, Raw was bolstered by the addition of The Hardy Boyz, who have given new life to the tag team scene, which has made its SmackDown counterpart look even more out of place. Unless WWE plans to quickly add even more talent to the division, perhaps including NXT's DIY, SmackDown can only use the talent on the roster, and Breezango have quickly proved to be worthy of any chance they can be given.

SmackDown's tag team division cannot succeed if the show does not fully embrace Breezango as a viable member, and it is possible it will find more success than ever before by embracing the duo's silliness.