The WWE tag team division is in pretty rough shape right now, for a number of reasons, but the SmackDown side is particularly bad. The Hardy Boyz relinquishing the titles combined with the Superstar Shake-up left the blue brand with just four legitimate tag teams. When the company website wrote up editorials on who may be awarded the titles, it was forced to come up with multiple teams who do not exist.
It was only natural, then, that a team that was not on that list ultimately won the tag team titles — Daniel Bryan and Rowan.
This actually makes a lot of sense — Bryan just lost a rematch for the WWE championship and was recently injured, so sharing the load in tag matches is ideal — but any doubts over it should be erased by the above promo he cut after SmackDown Live this week. It’s the usual fire we’ve come to expect from Bryan:
“There’s lots of joking around in the tag team division, apparently. Like it’s a joke, like I’m not going to have these changed. But speaking of jokes, speaking of the tag team division… think of The Usos, right? What were they doing on Raw last night? Joking around, as if the tag team division is some sort of joke. And what about Heavy Machinery? Joking around, as if the tag team division is some sort of a joke. And what about The New Day? Joking around, like being the tag team champions is some sort of joke.
”You know, they talk about a women’s evolution, about women main eventing WrestleMania — you know who has never talked about main eventing WrestleMania? It’s the tag team division. And do you know why? Because for years they’ve been led by jokers like The New Day, like The Usos, like Heavy Machinery, and they go out there and they do Thanksgiving turkey fights, and they’ll do Halloween contests. You know what? We are not those kind of tag team champions.
”Speaking of which, you know what? There’s going to be a tag team evolution. This isn’t going to be one dictated to us by the McMahons, no, this is going to be self-led, a self-led tag team evolution. Because Kofi Kingston, The New Day, they never aspired to that. They never aspired to that level. Neither did The Usos. They were content to just be great tag teams; we’re not content to just be great. We are going to be the greatest tag team of all time, we are going to main event WrestleMania as tag team champions, and we are going to aspire higher, and nobody — NOBODY — is going to stop the planet’s tag team champions.”
Hot damn, he just sold me on tag team wrestling again.
