About a year ago today, the tag team division in the WWE was just about non-existent.
There were very few, if any, established duos, little to no storyline writing and tag title matches on a pay-per-view card became a rarity.
The then-champions Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne seemed to be the only glimmers of hope given their solid chemistry and high-flying ability. But even those two, after the suspension of Bourne, quickly flamed out.
We fast forward to today and there's no doubt that the situation has changed.
As a lifelong fan of the company, I can once again say that I'm excited for what the tag teams have in store.
The WWE should be commended for their reconstruction of the tag team division and I'll tell you why after the jump.
1. Developing Daniel Bryan and Kane into Team Hell No.
As I stated earlier, the only credible duo a year ago was Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne. But can we honestly say that they had the draw power to headline the division?
Probably not.
But does Kane and Daniel Bryan? Excuse the lame sense of humor, but hell yes!
Before they came together to form the most must-see tag team in the company, Bryan and Kane were well over with the fan base. The Big Red Machine was interesting for the first time in a long time while the "Yes" and "No" crowd battles as well as his World title reign made Bryan the most viable he's ever been in the WWE.
Many consider the WWE's "Attitude Era" as the golden age for the company's tag team division. It was a time of breathtaking action headlined by legendary teams such as Edge & Christian, The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz.
And even though Team Hell No is your traditional partnering, what's wrong with the star power between the two?
Plenty of power tag teams have excelled in the WWE. As evidence for that, we can reference The Power Trip (Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H), The Brothers of Destruction (Undertaker and Kane), and of course, The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage.)
Kane and Bryan aren't in the same realm as those aforementioned names. But given their recent individual success, the pairing can be considered somewhat of a fantasy duo.
There's no question the tag division can thrive with Team Hell No at the steering wheel.
2. Hey, there's storylines!
In addition to the lack of star power, the tag division received little to no storyline attention from the WWE creative team. Luckily, that has changed.
With Team Hell No delivering a nice shot in the arm for the tag team sector, creative has begun to devise some actual intrigue for most involved.
Let's take the diner scenes with Kane, Bryan and Dr. Shelby for instance...
Segment 1:
Segment 2:
Even though these segments come across as cheesy, it makes for great television.
The corny jokes, the on-scene filming and the witty writing of these scenes just scream "Attitude Era." It's a nice change of pace from the usual in-ring and backstage promos we often see.
And did you hear the crowd reaction to these clips? They absolutely popped for these two. If the WWE can continue to get the audience behind Team Hell No, they will definitely invest more of their interest in the company's tag teams.
Hopefully, we'll be getting some more anger management story angles from these two.
3. The increasing depth of the division.
Don't look now but there are multiple challengers to Team Hell No and their tag titles.
We have the Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow), The Primetime Players, Primo & Epico and even the luchadore duo of Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara. By the way, how genius is that "Rhodes Scholars" name?
In implementing this tag team tournament leading into the Hell in Cell pay-per-view, the WWE has made a statement.
They are telling their fans that there is indeed a field of competitors and we do care about tag teams being included in our product.
All in all, there's no where but up for Team Hell No and the rest of the tag division.
And after watching Kane and Bryan close out last week's SmackDown! and this week's Raw episodes, we can believe that there will be a lot of effort spent into building up this part of the business.
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