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2017 in WWE has had a lot of ups and downs. While they didn't do as good a job with the women's division as they did in 2016, one area where they were fairly consistent throughout the year was the tag team division.
The tag team division in WWE saw quite the resurgence this year with several of the top teams seeing vast improvement and the overall match quality has gone up leaps and bounds. There has been far more than one occasion when the tag teams have stolen the show, not even being on the main card! (New Day vs Usos at SummerSlam comes to mind).
Hype Bros, American Alpha, The Colons and Golden Truth are not included in this list, primarily because they're all broken up. American Alpha and Hype Bros do undoubtedly deserve an honorary spot on this list.
#10 The Revival
While The Revival has all the tools and potential to be #1 on this list down the line (or maybe even next year), the sole reason they stand this far down in the list is that they've both been out with injuries for a good part of 2017.
It's a shame that it happened when it did because they got called up to the main roster at the right time: on the RAW after WrestleMania. The Revival established themselves in NXT as one of the best tag teams in the entire world, a title which you could argue they still hold.
First Dash Wilder suffered a fractured jaw shortly after their main roster call-up and around July, Scott Dawson suffered a ruptured bicep. They were feuding with The Hardy Boyz on their first return and no one knows what plans the WWE had for the 2-time NXT tag team champions.
The hard-hitting, throwback team has all the potential to make it to the top of the card and they should be one of the few tag teams in WWE history who never splits up.
However, they returned on the 18th December episode of RAW and hopefully they stay clear of injury because 2018 can very well be the year of The Revival. It makes the prospect of the RAW Tag Team division even more exciting.
#9 Heath Slater & Rhyno
It's a shame that Heath Slater & Rhyno haven't done anything worth noting in 2017 because when they were a newly formed team on SmackDown Live, they were absolutely hot and fans were begging and hoping for the duo to become the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champions.
That was, of course, thanks to the brilliant "Heath Slater Free Agent" storyline where he went from brand to brand trying to earn his contract with hilarious results. It made him a babyface very easy to get behind and they were rightfully crowned the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champions.
Since dropping the titles to Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt in December of 2016, however, they haven't really been involved in any real program and in the 2017 Superstar Shake-up, they were drafted over to RAW for no apparent reason.
Of course, with the RAW Tag Team division being as stacked as it is, there really is no place for Slater & Rhyno to shine except in being enhancement talent for the other teams. On the December 18th edition of RAW, General Manager Kurt Angle warned the duo of their place on the roster amidst the competition after their loss to the returning Revival and Rhyno told Slater that he needs to start getting more serious and that he knew "exactly how" that could happen. Hopefully, this gives them something to do and puts them in a comedy storyline of some sort.
Although they teased breaking up a few times towards the end of their SmackDown Live run, it seems as though WWE has entirely forgotten about that and chose to keep them as a team anyway.
#8 Gallows & Anderson
This is by far the most depressing one on the list. When Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson came into WWE in 2016, there was so much hope that they would align with Finn Balor or possibly AJ Styles for a proper WWE-version of the Bullet Club, but it seems like WWE has other plans.
In fact, the only reason Gallows & Anderson are this high up on the list is because of the first three months of the year leading up to WrestleMania. They were the RAW Tag Team Champions heading into WrestleMania 33 before losing it to the returning Hardy Boyz in a Fatal-4-Way ladder match at the grandest stage of them all.
After that, they've been utilised for absolutely nothing other than being enhancement talent and comedy segments. Now the most you really see of them is somewhere backstage where the duo will be calling some babyfaces "nerds".
#7 Gable & Benjamin
Shelton Benjamin came across as a last-minute replacement for Jason Jordan when the latter was moved to RAW to join his kayfabe father Kurt Angle. Many people (including The Usos themselves) have dubbed Gable & Benjamin as American Alpha 2.0.
However, with performances such as the one at Clash Of Champions, the athletic duo have started to prove that they need to be taken way more seriously. While Benjamin does have the star-power of having a WWE run before, Gable comes across as a true potential break-out star.
Although Gable has shown instances of masterclass performances on several occasions, his "suplex city" moment at the Clash Of Champions tag title match displayed his freakish strength and athleticism. Hitting vicious suplexes on Rusev, Aiden English and Big E, the former tag team champion showed that he and Benjamin are to be taken seriously.
It is true that Benjamin and Gable haven't seemed like they gelled well right away, but sometimes great things take time and the duo seem poised to improve and become future SmackDown Tag Team Champions.
Until then, people will always wonder why WWE chose Jason Jordan to be Kurt Angle's kayfabe son and not Gable, who seemingly has far more of Angle's qualities(personality and in-ring wise).
#6 Breezango
Breezango is perhaps the only team on this list who has gotten acclaim solely because of their work outside the ring. While Breezango did have a really entertaining match with The Usos at Backlash(and on the SmackDown Live episode two days after), their Fashion Files segments are what got them real acclaim from the WWE Universe.
Both Tyler Breeze and Fandango excelled in character development this year and this was exemplified by the consistently entertaining and hilarious Fashion Files, where the duo mimic and parody popular detective shows and films.
Breezango had a match prior to WrestleMania 33 against John Cena and Nikki Bella, where Breeze was dressed as Nikki and called himself "Breezy Bella". It seems that both Cena and Nikki loved this because John Cena personally went and told Vince McMahon that Breezango needs more screen-time.
It seems like his request came true because Breezango has been a fairly consistent part of SmackDown Live programming since WrestleMania 33.
#5 The Hardy Boyz
When The Hardy Boyz returned at WrestleMania 33, the entire Camping World Stadium(or Citrus Bowl, as WWE still likes to call it) erupted in thunderous cheers, elated to see the two legends finally return home.
The Hardyz won the tag titles that night and would go on to hold it for a couple of more months before dropping it to Sheamus & Cesaro.
Although their role clearly shifted to being the veterans putting over younger teams(albeit not to the same level as The Dudley Boyz), it seemed that the two were headed towards the "Broken/Woken" storyline at some point. There were even rumours that WWE planned to give Jeff Hardy a solid singles run and viewed him as a bigger singles prospect.
In September, Jeff, unfortunately, suffered a torn rotator cuff which was said to keep him out of action for four to six months. It's still unsure whether he'll return on time for WrestleMania 34, but he seems to be confident that he will.
If he does return on time, could we see him return as Brother Nero.
#4 Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose
After losing his feud to The Miz and dropping the Intercontinental Championship, Dean Ambrose began a storyline with Seth Rollins. The last time the two had interacted, it was in 2015 and the two were bitter rivals as Rollins was representing The Authority as WWE Champion.
This time around, things were different, with Rollins being a babyface. However, that didn't stop Ambrose from not being able to trust his old brother and for weeks and weeks, Rollins tried to reconcile with Ambrose.
The storyline was tremendous in its continuity and it didn't feel as random as Rollins & Roman suddenly patching up out of nowhere on RAW last year. The tension seemed very real and when the two finally bumped fists in unity on the RAW before SummerSlam, it was a moment to remember.
The reunited duo would win the RAW Tag Team Championships from The Bar at SummerSlam and a feud with The Miz, The Bar, Kane & Braun Strowman would set up a Shield reunion.
In retrospect, The Shield reunion was quite rushed together and Roman Reigns was out for a while with mumps, while Dean Ambrose was written off TV in December due to a legitimate triceps injury. It's still uncertain at this point whether he'll be back on time for WrestleMania 34, but according to a report from PWInsider from a few months ago, the plan was to have Seth and Dean go at it at WrestleMania 34, with Dean Ambrose being the heel this time around.
Ambrose is due for a heel turn to freshen up his character and loyal fans of The Lunatic Fringe know that he could pull off the role convincingly.
As for Rollins & Ambrose, they had been embroiled in a feud with Cesaro & Sheamus for months together and at this point, the WWE Universe seems quite tired for their never-ending feud.
However, Rollins & Ambrose in the tag team division was quite exciting when it happened because the two started to stray away from the main event scene and elevate the tag team division with their star power. They also became the top babyface tag team on RAW in their time. Seth Rollins himself in an interview stated that he was happy to be away from the Universal title picture.
What happens to the team when Ambrose does return is yet to be seen. However, Ambrose hopefully enjoys his time off because he truly deserves it after being arguably WWE's biggest workhorse in the last two years.
#3 The New Day
Although The New Day were very over during their time as Tag Team champions, there is no denying that in the last few months, people were dying to see them drop the titles. They finally did at Roadblock: End Of The Line on December last year, and they would still manage to keep themselves relevant after that.
Since there probably wasn't any plans for them at WrestleMania 33, they were made the hosts of the show, which they did a great job at. Soon after, they moved to SmackDown Live during the superstar shake-up and they seemed poised to be the top babyface tag team of the blue brand.
They would go on to feud with The Usos in an absolute classic rivalry, putting on the match of the night with The Usos on a constant basis. Battleground, SummerSlam and Hell In A Cell were three PPVs where The New Day and The Usos stole the show like nobody's business.
The New Day seemed to gel as a unit so much better in 2017 and the matches they would put on increased to a new level. Although the hot potato between them and The Usos was criticised(similar to Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair in 2016), there is no denying that the two teams brought the best out of each other.
Having captured the SmackDown Tag Team titles two times already, the 4-time champions will continue to impress and may likely have an even better 2019.
#2 The Bar
Who has ruled the RAW tag team division in 2017 more than The Bar? From start to finish, The Bar has been in the tag team title picture, whether it's been challenging for the championships or being the champions themselves.
In a one-year period, The Bar has already become 3-time tag team champions and their matches with The Hardy Boyz and Rollins & Ambrose helped establish them as the top dogs of the tag division.
It's incredible because from being the team of two completely opposite personalities who couldn't gel along, the two function with the most discipline and unity of almost all teams in the tag team division. Their in-ring ability and psychology is tremendous and they manage to bring the best out of each other and the teams that they're facing on a consistent basis.
Cesaro even told us in an interview that the reason they're able to have consistently good matches with The Shield is that they aren't lazy and that they keep pushing each other to new limits.
The Bar has been the best thing that's happened to both Sheamus & Cesaro in the past few years and it's helped them develop new elements to their character while also improving in the ring.
#1 The Usos
Like Corey Graves said at Survivor Series, The Usos have been functioning on a different level. This is true in every sense of the word because there has been no team in WWE in 2017 better than The Usos.
What's crazy is that just over a year and a half ago, people were absolutely sick of The Usos and their bubbly babyface characters with face paint. However, after their move to SmackDown Live, they turned heel and changed their characters entirely.
They changed their personas to that of Samoan thugs and removed the face paint and stopped shouting "Uce" for the crowd to respond "O!". They hit the refresh button on their characters and it was successful in every way possible.
Apart from just putting out classic match after match with American Alpha, The New Day, The Bar and more, The Usos showed a new side to themselves in the ring that had never been seen throughout their careers.
An example is their Survivor Series match with The Bar. The two teams worked so well and turned a rather mellow crowd in Houston to start chanting "This is awesome!". Due to their consistently great matches and increasingly positive crowd reaction, The Usos organically turned babyface again without even having an official moment where they turned.
From being a hated babyface tag team(their association with Roman Reigns could be blamed), they've turned into the face of the SmackDown Tag Team division, and if you're looking for the top team in WWE, look no further than the SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos.
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