WWE: Has the Tag Team Title Division Been Resurrected?

On the Dec. 6 airing of Monday Night Raw, we saw a four-way tag team elimination match for the WWE Tag Team title.

The teams consisted of current champions Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater, two members of the popular Nexus, defending their title against the teams of Mark Henry and Yoshi Tatsu, Santino Marella and Vladimir Koslov and The Usos with their valet Tamina. While these four pairs may not sound like traditional teams, history has shown us that any combination of two wrestlers of any varying size or style could very well form a successful tag team. 

The match proved to be entertaining, with the wrestling going back and forth as well as keeping up with the Nexus storyline and advancing the Marella-Koslov story as well.

The team of Henry and Tatsu was eliminated first by team Nexus, which then allowed the Usos to enter the fray. Koslov made a tag to one of the Nexus members to enter himself in the match, where he single-handedly dismissed both Uso brothers, quickly getting a pin and making this a match between Slater and Gabriel vs. Santino and Vladimir. 

Tamina, the valet of the Uso brothers, stayed behind after her team was eliminated to watch Santino in his bout. Most probably felt that his would be the thing that causes the international Men of Misery to be distracted and miss a tag or a save leaving Nexus our champions.

However, the fired John Cena and sworn enemy to the Nexus appeared from under the ring and hopped up on the apron, distracting Gabriel and giving Santino enough time to prepare the Cobra Strike. As CM Punk described it, "I thought it was Grimace coming up from the ring, all I saw was this big purple thing."

The crowd erupted, not merely because of the presence of the WWE Universe's champion Cena, but because they thought to themselves, as did I, there is no way we are getting new champs via The Cobra. A three-count later, history was made.

Some will scoff at this win as being no big deal and say that Santino as champion is bad because he brings humor to the show. Punk said this about Santino: "I don't hate him, but I don't like him. He's like the Jar Jar Binks of the WWE Universe." They fail to realize that characters like Marella and Koslov are exactly what the tag division needs.

When the two new champs paired up with the legends Nikolai Volkov and The Iron Sheik a couple of weeks ago to sing Nikolai's famous national anthem, we saw the start of things to come. Legends such as Volkov and Sheik, The US Express, Strike Force, Andre and Haku or Owen Hart and Yokozuna, were all unlikely tag teams that went on to forge successful championships as a team.

Does this win mean a new direction for the tag team titles? Obviously we will have a rivalry between the Uso brothers and Marella and Koslov with Tamina in the middle being the focus, but who else will be in the mix?

Some tag teams that could:

Lets not rule out Nexus for coming back and going after their titles.

Tatsu and Henry are a good team, but I feel Tatsu is only with Henry while Evan Bourne heals.

McGillicuty and Harris should team up and break away from Nexus and call themselves The New Legacy or Legacy 2.0

Christian is a legendary tag team champion. Let's pair him up with someone like Chris Masters combining the ring skills of Captain Charisma with the power of the Masterlock.

The Rhodes boys should partner up as well. Goldust and Cody Rhodes have been clearly showing everyone they are brothers, why not have the two keep both of their gimmicks and tag up as The Golden Idols.

Internet enthusiasts everywhere are calling for the teaming of Kaval and Daniel Bryan, the two would make a fantastic quick-paced tag team similar to that of the former London and Kendrick.

With Santino and Koslov as tag champs this also allows the two superstars to travel between both shows. Will we see more tag team matches over on Smackdown with this win? The team does seem to be more Smackdown friendly and it would allow a resurgence in the division having both shows carry the belts and matches.

Congratulations to Santino and Vladimir. Let's hope for a long title reign with many many matches and championship bouts.

For some holiday cheer check out my WWE Christmas Carol slideshow.

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