Ryan Dilbert's 10-Count: WWE Tag Team Wrestling Is the Best It's Been in Years

1. WWE's Squads Shining

Tag team wrestling is experiencing a renaissance in WWE.

On both Raw and SmackDown, the tag division is consistently delivering some of the best action on TV and pay-per-view. Star power and foot-on-the-gas offense have WWE's teams electrifying the product. 

The New Day and The Usos have thrilled several times over, superkicking and suplexing their way to one of 2017's best feuds. Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins have flourished opposite Cesaro and Sheamus. The tag division is also home to an under-the-radar drama unfolding with The Hype Bros.

And The Hardy Boyz have been a huge addition, banging out some of the better matches from the past several months.

Tag teams have often been the neglected part of the WWE menagerie. There are often stretches when so little is going on in that division and when it lacks any real buzz.

That's far from true right now.

Welcoming back The Hardy Boyz at WrestleMania was key to the resurgence of the tag division. Suddenly, the Raw tag scene felt so much deeper and more interesting when they arrived. A beloved duo with a glut of championships to their name will do that. 

Pairing Rollins and Ambrose is turning out to be one of the smartest moves of the year.

The two former world champs have been great as a duo. Their alliance has built on the audience's sustained emotional attachment to The Shield. And great matches have followed that up.

The Raw tag champs tore down the house against Cesaro and Sheamus at Sunday's No Mercy. SiriusXM host Sam Roberts was among those who raved about the contest:

That excellent clash was not an anomaly but a continuation of a pattern.

Each rendition of The New Day vs. The Usos has been a clear success. The Hardys' battles with Cesaro and Sheamus have been quite fun. And time and time again, the tag division has stolen the show of late.

There was no better match at No Mercy than the Raw tag team title bout. Two of the three best matches at SummerSlam belonged to the tag teams.

Both the Raw and SmackDown tag team title bouts earned four stars from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t the Internet Wrestling Database).

And more awesomeness is on the way. On Tuesday's SmackDown, The New Day challenged The Usos to a match inside the Hell in a Cell. That is going to be special.

Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable are an intriguing team that will thrive with added opportunities. And once Scott Dawson's arm injury is healed, The Revival is going to bring its top-flight brand of smashmouth wrestling to Raw each Monday.

If WWE can figure out what it wants to do with the underutilized Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson and take advantage of Breezango's popularity by putting them in the ring more, the company will be even more rich with tag team wrestling gold.

2. Since The Shield's Split

Roman Reigns looks poised to join forces with Ambrose and Rollins again. Monday's Raw hinted hard at the possibility of The Shield reforming.

The Miz and The Miztourage doing The Shield's triple fist bump over Reigns' fallen body was as clear a sign as you can get.

If Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins do reunite, it will be the first time since their split on June 2, 2014, that they have been a unit. A ton has changed in the WWE landscape since then.

That night's results speak to that.

A good number of the Superstars in action on that Raw have since exited the company: Rob Van Dam, Bad News Barrett, Batista, Damien Sandow, Ryback, Adam Rose, Jack Swagger, El Torito, Aksana, Alberto Del Rio.

The Colons were still Los Matadores back then. Paul Heyman managed Cesaro. RybAxel was still a team.

Credit: WWE.com

And Paige held the Divas Championship, a title that no longer exists. 

Time moves fast in WWE. It's an ever-shifting world where three years can feel like an eon. 

3. Throwback Video of the Week: 1st Tag Team Hell in a Cell Match

It's rare that tag teams enter The Devil's Playground. In fact, there have only been two tag team matches inside the Hell in a Cell and none any since 2009. 

The Usos vs. The New Day will change that when they meet in that steel October 8.

The first time teams met in Hell in a Cell was on June 15, 1998, on Raw. Steve Austin and Undertaker teamed up against Kane and Mankind in a match that left Paul Bearer bloodied.

The New Day and The Usos are bound to top this effort. The 1998 bout was savage at points, but it's far from one of the better Hell in a Cell contests. 

4. Predator on the Rise

WWE's stock of engrossing, unsettling monsters continues to grow. Lars Sullivan is looking more and more like he'll be the next great rampaging beast.

The big man first made his name by smashing his tag team partners after they failed him in the ring. His latest showing, a beatdown of No Way Jose on last week's NXT, showed glimpses of the star he could become.

Sullivan was impressive here. He swallowed Jose whole with convincing aggressive offense. 

It's clear fans should be keeping an eye on this beastly big man.

5. Viking Championship Wrestling

In another example that wrestling is everywhere, the Minnesota Vikings produced a video that would be right at home on Southpaw Regional Wrestling. The Vikes put together a wrestling-themed promo with a '80s tinge to promote a mascot showdown:

"

New Nacho, same domination! pic.twitter.com/b5fN8u4TCq

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 21, 2017"

Now if we can just get Nacho Man to take on the bear that teamed with The Miz in June.

6. Bryan vs. Rhodes?

Ring of Honor world champion Cody Rhodes is building toward a match that may never happen.

Rhodes continues to hint and tease a future collision with Daniel Bryan. During his clash with Minoru Suzuki at Death Before Dishonor, the second-generation star pulled one of Bryan's signature moves out of his bag—the Yes! Lock.

Rhodes also mimicked Bryan's Yes! gesture. The SmackDown general manager took notice:

It's smart of Rhodes to start this hype train regardless if Bryan ever wrestles again or if he faces the ROH champ at any point. Just the tease of this match will get people talking. And the more Rhodes can keep himself and the promotion he represents in the news, the better.

7. Amore's Impact

Making Enzo Amore a key part of the cruiserweight division means an increase in ugly matches, but it also it means more eyes on the product.

Since Amore joined 205 Live, the numbers are clear. The audience is interested in him.

A look at WWE's YouTube page reveals that the tag match Amore was in on the Sept. 5 edition of 205 Live garnered close to 550,000 views. Nothing else on the show touched the 100,000 mark.

Last week, more than 600,000 people watched Amore attack Neville on YouTube. That's well more than the views for the three matches on that episode of 205 Live combined. 

The Neville and Amore collision from Monday night pulled in over 900,000 views, putting it on the same level as Reigns vs. The Miz and Ambrose vs. Braun Strowman.

You can bet WWE is watching these figures closely and coming to the conclusion that Muscles Marinara is good for the cruiserweight division. The era of Amore won't be ending anytime soon. 

8. Underappreciated Cena Bouts

John Cena's loss to Reigns at No Mercy had all the big spots and near-falls one would expect from a great match, but it simply didn't resonate the way his best work has.

For a look back at what Cena at the top of his game looks like, check out these underrated matches that are not as talked about as his greatest hits:

• John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels: Taboo Tuesday 2005
• John Cena vs. Edge vs. Triple H: Backlash 2006
• John Cena vs. Bobby Lashley: Great American Bash 2007
• John Cena vs. Wade Barrett: TLC 2010 (Chairs)
• John Cena vs. Seth Rollins: Live From MSG (Steel Cage)

One of the most impressive things about Cena's resume is how long he's been able to bring down the house. Cena was excelling during the Ruthless Aggression Era. Some of his best performances came as far back as 2003.

And he's still nailing it in the ring well over a decade later.

9. This is the Zayn We Need to See

Sami Zayn has been a non-factor on SmackDown for too long, but for at least one night that changed.

The Underdog from the Underground confronted Kevin Owens on Tuesday's SmackDown, delivering one of the most heartfelt promos of his career in the process. Zayn talked about his failings to this point and how he refuses to take any shortcuts.

He was compelling and genuine, a righteous, emotional warrior who's impossible not to root for.

Why don't we see this kind of drama play out with more often? Why isn't he given opportunities to connect as he did here?

Zayn was tremendous and would be more often with a more steady diet of air time. This version of the former NXT champ needs to be on TV regularly. The nerdy pushover he's been in recent weeks needs to be shelved.

10. A Reflective Gargano

It's been a full year since Johnny Gargano officially left behind independent wrestling. Johnny Wrestling is now one of NXT's hottest prospects, a magnetic, electric babyface.

As much as he has to be focused on making an impact for WWE's third brand, Gargano clearly has his roots on his mind:

His last night on the indys saw him lose a tag team match at an Absolute Intense Wrestling event dedicated to celebrating his farewell. A Catholic school in Cleveland hosted the show.

Just two months after being draped in streamers and saying his goodbyes, he and Tommaso Ciampa won the NXT Tag Team Championships in front of over 12,000 people.

More spotlight and success is on its way. The stage will get bigger. As will the names of his opponents.

But one can bet on Gargano never forgetting the earlier stages of his journey, the matches in rec centers and bars, the grind, the dreaming.