New Day and Usos Are the New Blueprint to Attracting Younger WWE Fans

In WWE, it's not easy being cool. Just don't tell that to The New Day and The Usos. 

As WWE's tag team division comes closer to collapsing into itself, The New Day and The Usos have propped it up on SmackDown Live as part of the only tag team program representing a true rivalry.

In addition to serious, heat-seeking beatdowns—like the one issued by The Usos last week—the two have effortlessly weaved in hip hop and Afrocentric slang in a promotion in desperate need of new-generation flavor. 

Earlier this year, John Lombardo and David Broughton of the Sports Business Journal reported the age of WWE's median audience has nearly doubled since 2000. With WWE coming off a pay-per-view filled with angles pitting evil foreigners against American heroes, in an era where young Americans are less patriotic than ever according to a Gallup poll from Jeffrey M. Jones, it's easy to understand why.

Right on cue, the opening match at WWE Battleground pitting The Usos against The New Day was seen as the lone bright spot of what has been widely considered the worst WWE pay-per-view of 2017. Said Jason Powell of Prowrestling.net: 

"

A good match with both teams kicking out of a lot of big moves. The crowd was fairly quiet early, but they definitely warmed up to the match even though it was more of a “this is awesome” style of reaction than having a strong preference for one team over the other. 

"

Battleground served as somewhat of a microcosm depicting the current dynamic of The Usos-New Day rivalry compared to the rest of the roster. The New Day and Usos, slotted in the opening match as undercard performers, did more with less. They thrilled with highly athletic maneuvers in a wrestling capacity the same way they did with an entertaining rap battle in a non-wrestling capacity. 

Everything else on the show just seemed uninteresting. The Don Tony and Kevin Castle Show, among others, referred to the pay-per-view as "very lackluster." 

The New Day has not been shy about discussing the creative freedom of their own characters. In order to truly capture a new-school voice that is congruent with the tastes of a younger audience, they won't dare leave it in the hands of an at-times out-of-touch WWE Creative team. 

Said Big E in a recent interview with NDTV Gadgets 360 (h/t WrestlingInc): 

"

We have a long leash for sure. That's taken time to get trust from the higher ups and people of importance. But yeah, we don't write everything. A lot of times we're given scripts and we disagree with the script's directions and we have some leniency to retool. A lot of times it's 'hey we need an overhaul and none of it works' and sometimes it's just a few tweaks here and there.

"

Big E continued: 

"

We're on Twitter, we're on Instagram, we like viral videos. It's something we felt was needed in WWE. Something that was contemporary, something that was just hot on Instagram or Twitter or when Vine was still a thing, we wanted to implement that stuff immediately.

"

The Usos seem to be taking cues from The New Day. Per hiphopdx.com (h/t WrestlingInc), New Day worked with rapper Mega Ran in order to nail their aforementioned rap battle, but promos like the Usos' back-and-forth rhyming monologue against The New Day Tuesday night certainly seem to be an extension of that. 

As both teams continue to shine in the little feud that could, WWE can learn a valuable lesson about giving a roster full of millennial and 30-somethings a chance to find their own voice, thereby piquing the interest of a younger audience. 

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.