Just a few days ago, the Raw Tag Team picture was looking pretty stale, to put it brutally honestly. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, then Champions, have been hugely misused since their debut and are currently nowhere near the force that they should be as a team. Their challengers at WrestleMania were Enzo Amore & Big Cass, who have slowly been losing traction and fan support for a while now, and the makeshift team of Sheamus and Cesaro.
Aside from these duos, the only other recognised teams are The Shining Stars, who have long since consigned to a position near the bottom of the card and New Day, who have also lost a tonne of momentum in recent times. It all looked fairly bleak, and it didn’t really seem to matter who won the Raw Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania; none of the teams has been made to look like anything resembling significant or threatening for a very long time, so why would it matter who the champions are?
Suddenly, the landscape totally changed. The Hardy Boyz returned from their exploits around the world at WrestleMania 33, becoming a surprise entrant in the Raw Tag Team Championship Ladder Match and going on to win those titles to the delight of the 75,245 spectators in attendance. The very next night on Raw, The Revival burst onto the scene to make their main roster debut, the crowd gleefully chanting their approval as they confronted, then defeated New Day in tag team action. The future suddenly looks a whole lot more exciting.
But why will the addition of these two new teams have such a vast impact on the tag team division? One reason is that, as has already been briefly covered, none of the tag teams currently on Raw have been allowed or able to stand out. Whether it’s through inability to generate a crowd reaction, average in-ring work or straight up bad booking, every single tag team on Raw seems to sit on the same level. However, with two brand new teams entering the fray, WWE can create new stars.
The Hardy Boyz have been around for what seems like an eternity, having made their WWE debuts over 20 years ago, and are undoubtedly legendary names in the industry. What separates them from other legendary teams who have made comebacks in the past few years, such as The Dudley Boyz, is that Matt and Jeff have returned to WWE at a stage in their careers where they have reinvented themselves entirely, and are currently putting in some of the best work of their lives.
Also read: The reason why Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy originally left WWE
Last year, The Broken Hardys were one of the biggest talking points anywhere in sports entertainment, and the reaction they got at WrestleMania proves that they are still extremely hot. No other team in WWE is regarded in the same light as The Hardy Boyz, and this must be used to elevate both themselves and the teams who come into contact with them.
Their mere presence in the division makes it a more important part of the show. Teams who get the opportunity to work with The Hardy Boyz will learn an incredible amount, as well as being featured on TV against a stronger opponent than was previously possible. If that’s not good news for the Raw Tag Team division as a whole, I don’t know what is.
As for The Revival, perhaps more of an introduction will be needed. Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder made their NXT debut as a team in 2014 as The Mechanics. Slowly but surely, they improved immeasurably to the point where in 2016, many people were proclaiming them as the best team on the planet. The battles they had last year in NXT with teams such as American Alpha and DIY were nothing short of breathtaking, certainly some of the best tag team wrestling produced under the WWE umbrella in many years.
Their final action in developmental came at NXT TakeOver: Orlando the night before WrestleMania, where they battled DIY and The Authors of Pain in an absolutely incredible Triple Threat Elimination match, proving yet again that they can wrestle in their unique, old school manner yet still produce a match that the modern internet fan will go crazy for, which is an incredibly difficult feat.
“No Flips, Just Fists” is a catchphrase that The Revival are fond of, and it perfectly captures their mentality; they may not be the flashiest team in the world, but they will beat you up however they can. So far, this approach has allowed them to become hugely popular with the crowds. The Revival must not be diluted and should be allowed to remain as close to their NXT characters as possible. It is what has got them this far, the crowd are into their act, and it would be a foolish move to change anything at this point.
In the blink of an eye, the Raw Tag Team Division as taken on an entirely new identity. In The Hardy Boyz and The Revival, WWE has two teams on their hands who have the potential to transform and revitalise everything totally. Their addition to the main roster may just light a new spark under stagnant teams such as Enzo and Cass. A whole new set of feuds, matches and storylines are now possible. It seems as though the future is bright for tag team wrestling on Raw.
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