Is The RAW Tag Team Division Too Much Of A Joke?

What makes me nervous about all this is that most of these wrestlers have it in them to be legitimate tag teams that aren’t viewed as weak, but the writers on Raw seem to actively WANT the division to look like it’s made up of a bunch of clowns.

The champions themselves were born out of a joke and can’t find any cohesion or credibility. Their entrance is just Matt Hardy’s and then Bray Wyatt’s, which is a sign WWE doesn’t want to invest in creating a unified theme for them, and their interview with Renee Young this week didn’t have the strongest reaction.

The joke seems to be dying down and yet, they’re not only holding the tag titles and representing the top of the division, their challengers can be best summed up as “the two biggest losers of the bunch who have gotten lucky for a few weeks, but isn’t it funny?”

Even when it comes to Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler, who are clearly supposed to be a threat, they were the first team eliminated in the battle royal. Why?! Wouldn’t it have made a lot more sense to have them steamroll through the competition and then have The B-Team get a fluke win?

Also, where have The Authors of Pain gone? They came into Raw like an unstoppable force and quickly disappeared, much like how SmackDown doesn’t seem to have any idea how to bring SAnitY into the fold.

If the reason for that is because WWE doesn’t want to have them do nothing, but they don’t want them to hold the tag titles quite yet, then that implies in a few months, Akam and Rezar will come back and wreck shop.

But there’s a problem with that scenario. If the division is treated like a laughing stock with The Deleters of Worlds, The B-Team and a bunch of others who can’t even measure up to those two teams, then it won’t matter when The Authors of Pain destroy everybody, as they’re just beating up a bunch of losers.

I understand the appeal of wanting to push The B-Team and go with the crowd’s reaction, but this is WWE we’re talking about—a company that refuses to turn Rusev babyface, for some reason—so I doubt this is the creative team wanting to “give the fans what they want” more than that they just happen to find this situation funny, too.

Maybe this is an active decision to book it this way to offset how SmackDown is treating things, since the tag team division on that brand is totally different.

The Deleters of Worlds are ridiculous, whereas The Bludgeon Brothers are dark, unbeatable monsters.

Titus Worldwide could be good, but aren’t, whereas The Usos have multiple title reigns and consistent matches of good quality.

Breezango are funny, but lose all the time, while The New Day are comedic and at this point, worthy of a Hall of Fame induction for being one of the best tag teams in a decade.

The Revival claim to be good and were in NXT, but haven’t shown it on Raw, while Sheamus and Cesaro are The Bar—a benchmark team with 4 title reigns together.

Heath Slater and Rhyno are awful, but Rusev Day, despite being humorous, has two members of that trio in Money in the Bank ladder matches to prove their value.

McIntyre and Ziggler are supposed to be dominant, but couldn’t even outlast The Ascension. Meanwhile, The Good Brothers are earning tag title shots for Money in the Bank and will be appearing on that card.

If the blue brand can have a tag team division that looks like they can be taken seriously, it’s strange that the red brand has essentially the polar opposite layout, rather than having a healthy mix of spreading out the joke tag teams and the ones that are more legitimate.

Whether this is a byproduct of an oversight during the Superstar Shake-up (which should have been thought of before making those trades), or an active decision to try to make Raw’s tag team division more of a comedic one (which will just cheapen the tag titles) or something the writers don’t see yet, the future for the Raw Tag Team Championships isn’t looking quite so hot.

Considering the reluctance to announce The B-Team vs. The Deleters of Worlds for Money in the Bank, that goes to show how little we should really invest going forward in seeing anything but a few laughs come out of this division.

Related: So… What Happened To All Those Tag Teams Trying To Qualify For Money In The Bank?