Opinion: Why Cruiserweight Tag Titles would flop

Various sources have reported that WWE is going to introduce a pair of brand new tag team titles, exclusive to the 205 Live division, rumored to be named the Cruiserweight Tag Team Championships. This rumor first caught flame when TMZ reported that WWE filed "legal docs" to stop bootleggers from selling fake WWE merchandise ahead of WrestleMania 34 and sent a plethora of official merchandise designs to the court for fulfillment of their cause. Out of all those designs sent by WWE, one certain belt design was unknown to the WWE Universe and, hence, sparked the rumor of a new title being introduced in the near future. Following this, Twitter user BeltFanDan tweeted a picture of a blueprint belt design, which is anticipated to be the basis for the new Cruiserweight Tag Team Championships. The picture has since gone viral and generated divided opinion among fans.

Looking at the current landscape of 205 Live where a new version of the Lucha Dragons (Kalisto, Gran Metalik, and Lince Dorado) have realized their growing differences with Hideo Itami and Akira Tozawa, it is a viable option for 205 Live management to contest such teams in a match for a tangible prize rather than for mere pride and honor. But as far as storylines go, this feud is currently the only way the Cruiserweight Tag Titles can be emphatically installed on the purple brand. However, this single, undercooked storyline isn't enough to justify the introduction of another new title at this point of time in WWE; unless, of course, they want to further ostracize the cruiserweights and reinforce the glass ceiling that exists between the main roster of both brands and the 205 Live roster despite the latter being a unique asset of Raw.

Hideo Itami (with Tozawa) looks to settle the score against Lince Dorado and his allies (Kalisto and Gran Metalik).

After the Cruiserweight Classic tournament reintroduced the Cruiserweight Championship, the cruiserweight division became exclusive to Monday Night Raw, although the wrestlers of this division still can't stake their claim for any other Raw title but the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Additionally, the cruiserweights who are a part of Raw but not explicitly in the cruiserweight roster can't challenge for the purple title. The reduced screen time and minute impact on Monday nights gave birth to Tuesday's 205 Live, which quickly became a trade-off as it gave more screen time to the division while further increasing the separation between the cruiserweights and the main roster. The introduction of Cruiserweight Tag Team Championships would add to the alienation, which the 205 Live roster has long been experiencing. The tag team scenario, as of now, provides slim hopes for the striving cruiserweight stables to make it to the main roster in search of tag team glory, but if the Cruiserweight Tag Team Championships are introduced, they could be forever forsaken to their high-flying division until WWE themselves decide to give some of them a major push. Even if Kalisto, Metalik and Dorado go on to intensify their feud with Itami and Tozawa in the coming weeks, it would still make less sense to announce 205 Live-specific tag titles.

What would be more reasonable for WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to do is reward the groundbreaking emergence of all-women stables like Absolution and Riott Squad by reintroducing the Women's Tag Team Championships, which haven't been a part of the company since being vacated in 1989. This will also fall in line with the ongoing Women's Revolution sweeping across WWE, which has successfully broken the norm and given us Women's Hell-in-a-Cell, Iron Man, and Royal Rumble matches, with a first-ever Women's Battle Royal in the pipeline for WrestleMania 34.

Stables like Riott Squad have gained momentum since their inception.

When, how, and if the seemingly impending announcement of the new tag titles would be made in the near future is anyone's guess, but what reaction it would invoke from the pro wrestling faithfuls is the million dollar question. Clearly, from a long-term perspective, it isn't the direction WWE should be headed right now.