In WWE, every tag team has a limited shelf life - unless it's The New Day. We rarely see tag teams have extensive runs together, and more often than not, break-ups are pointless and they don't result in a satisfying payoff.
While a lot of tag team breakups happen to establish new character directions and new feuds, these breakups were ultimately pointless decisions made by WWE:
#6. Rusev Day - WWE split them up without any payoff
Now that both Aiden English and Rusev have been released from WWE, it's incredible to think about how WWE dropped the ball with 'Rusev Day'. The entire Rusev Day gimmick started unintentionally.
It was a segment on SmackDown where Rusev called the Mayor of Bulgaria after he 'defeated' Randy Orton, while Aiden English declared that it was Rusev Day. In WWE and wrestling in general, the most random things can pick up steam, and this did too.
Once fans began to frequently chant 'Rusev Day', it was clear that they viewed him as a babyface despite WWE booking him as a heel. It was at Clash of Champions 2017 where fans made it clear just how much they appreciated Rusev.
Although it was Rusev who had the momentum and popularity, Aiden English must be given nearly, if not as much credit for helping to get Rusev Day over. He was a great hypeman and tag team partner, but WWE never gave any indication that they were taking Rusev seriously.
The perfect moment for him would have been at WrestleMania 34 in 2018, where Rusev was part of a Fatal-Four-Way match for the WWE United States Championship. His opponents were Champion Randy Orton, Bobby (Robert) Roode, and Jinder Mahal.
Rusev had all the momentum in the world, but WWE decided that the right finish was for Jinder Mahal to pin him and win the title. Given that Mahal lost the title to Jeff Hardy eight days later, it all seemed so pointless.
Rusev Day's alliance continued until later in 2018, and they had turned face by the summer. However, Aiden English claimed that he had an affair with Lana with "video proof".
It was a pointless break-up, and nothing major came of it. The "payoff" was a measly match on SmackDown that most people have forgotten about. WWE decided to break up the duo just for the sake of it, and neither star benefited from it in the slightest.
#5. American Alpha - WWE's biggest wasted opportunity with tag teams?
American Alpha was the most highly-touted tag team in WWE at one point. Even before they moved to SmackDown in the 2016 WWE Draft, NXT fans knew them as two stars with massive tag team potential.
That potential was squandered rather quickly and they were underutilized despite being Tag Team Champions from late December 2016 to the week before WrestleMania 33 in 2017.
Later in 2017, they were abruptly split up after Jason Jordan was announced as Kurt Angle's son. It was clear that WWE had Jason Jordan lined up for a massive main event push down the line, and the stars he was facing became a big indicator of his potential push.
Ultimately, Jordan's neck injury in early 2018 saw the end of his in-ring career (that we know of), and Chad Gable continued to get TV time, but as an underutilized star. Since then, WWE has made Chad Gable jump between different brands, tag teams, and alliances. The break-up of American Alpha seemed pointless by WWE, in hindsight.
#4. The Bella Twins - WWE broke them up only to re-align the duo months later
The Bella Twins era in WWE has long passed. 2015 was the last year that we saw them both compete as serious full-time WWE Superstars, and after that, Nikki Bella had to deal with major injuries, while Brie Bella stopped wrestling for approximately two years after WrestleMania 32.
Two years before that, however, there was a WWE title angle involving Daniel Bryan. Brie Bella was on the verge of getting fired, but she "quit" anyway to save her husband's WWE title reign.
Ultimately, it ended up as an angle at SummerSlam, where Brie Bella faced Stephanie McMahon. Nikki Bella turned on her sister, giving Stephanie McMahon her first WWE PPV win in a decade.
It was a pointless break-up, especially since there was an uncomfortable segment where the line "I wish you died in the womb" was used. They ended up getting back together quietly a few months later, with Brie Bella even helping her sister capture the WWE Divas Championship from AJ Lee at Survivor Series 2014.
#3. The Dudley Boyz - Split by the 2002 WWE Draft
The Dudley Boyz are among the few most dominant tag teams in WWE history. Along with The Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian, they established the WWE Tag Team division in the Attitude Era.
In the 2002 WWE Draft, Ric Flair got Bubba Ray Dudley to RAW, while Vince McMahon drafted D-Von Dudley to SmackDown. It was a split that was forced, and not one that happened traditionally in WWE, with one partner turning on the other.
Bubba Ray Dudley turned face on RAW, while D-Von Dudley changed his gimmick to the "Reverend", where he had an assistant named Deacon Batista. The latter had his first main roster breakthrough via D-Von Dudley, but other than that, there wasn't much else of note in that run.
They would reunite later that year, perhaps after WWE felt that the break-up was pointless. It was a tag team break-up that failed because not much came of it. Bubba Ray Dudley's best singles run happened in TNA/Impact Wrestling, not in WWE.
#2. Heavy Machinery - A tag team break-up to cover for a booking mistake made by WWE?
Heavy Machinery was a fun tag team to watch on WWE television. While they were never going to become a focal point of WWE's tag team division, they had achieved decent success even without any tag team titles to their name.
Otis (Dozovic) and Tucker (Knight) had good chemistry together, and fans enjoyed watching them in the ring, especially Otis. It was clear that WWE intended on pushing Otis, and his storyline with Mandy Rose was a big indicator of that. His WrestleMania 36 match against Dolph Ziggler was good fun, and Tucker was a big source of support.
Otis' 2020 in WWE took a wilder turn as he ended up becoming the Men's Money in the Bank winner that year. Unfortunately, the World Champions happened to be Drew McIntyre on RAW (and briefly Randy Orton) and Roman Reigns on SmackDown.
There was no way that WWE was going to have Otis dethrone either of them, so they had him lose the MITB briefcase to The Miz. The briefcase switch occurred when Tucker turned on his partner at Hell in a Cell 2020, thus protecting Otis' momentum.
The decision to break Heavy Machinery up was pointless, especially since it was clear that WWE wanted to cover up the mistake of giving the MITB briefcase to Otis. Tucker hasn't received any major direction in the promotion since Heavy Machinery broke up last year.
#1. Enzo & Cass - The hottest WWE tag team in years?
The breakup of Enzo & Cass was quite a sad one, especially given the potential they had in WWE. The team of Enzo & Cass is the perfect example of how you don't need to be exceptional in the ring to get over with the audience. Big Cass was the muscle, while Enzo Amore was the charismatic talker.
The duo got over with WWE fans in no time, and within months of their debut, they were teaming up with John Cena in a solid pay-per-view victory. They had a good run together, but in 2017, WWE decided to have a "mystery attacker" angle, where Enzo Amore (and on one occasion, Big Cass) was assaulted week after week.
It was Corey Graves who revealed with proof of footage that Big Cass was the one carrying out the attacks. The payoff match was at the hilariously-named Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view, where Big Cass won. Big Show was involved in the feud as well, but Big Cass defeated him too.
It was clear that WWE wanted to push Big Cass, but he suffered a knee injury against Enzo Amore and was out of action until after WrestleMania in 2018. Enzo Amore, meanwhile, became a singles star and elevated the Cruiserweight division, but after allegations made against him, WWE stripped the star of the Cruiserweight title and fired him from the company.
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