I haven’t done a blog in a while, so I thought I’d write about an issue within WWE that’s been a concern of mine and many others for quite some time. Recently I’ve noticed a great deal of talk about WWE’s tag-team division – or lack thereof. I’ve seen several proposed ‘answers’ to the decline of the division as well as suggestions as to who on the current WWE roster could be paired in a rejuvenation of the division. I find the solution to this problem far simpler.

As far as I see it, what the WWE of 2012 are failing to realise is that there is a difference between a tag-team and two singles wrestlers who have been paired together. In WWE’s contemporary era, we’ve seen several singles wrestlers simply thrown together in an attempt to create tag-teams. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work like that. I can only speak for myself but I really see no value in the likes of Kofi Kingston and R Truth as a tag-team. I felt exactly the same with Kingston/Bourne and with Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov. They’re hardly 2012’s Road Warriors or New Age Outlaws are they? I think these pairings are a simple case of WWE insulting their audience’s intelligence. They can’t seriously think that we believe time and patience will be put into putting these teams over as credible. Their reasoning for these pairings is quite clear-cut in my view; there’s just no other place for these guys on the card. By putting the likes of Kingston/Bourne into a tag-team, they’re killing two birds with one stone and getting them both on TV. But they’re not on TV as a credible tag-team and as an unconvincing tag-team, they’re no longer being pushed as singles wrestlers.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it works. The pairing of two singles wrestlers can be a good thing in the short-term. I thought both The Miz & Big Show and Jericho & Big Show worked great as a team. As partners, these teams had a common ground and they were a believable tag-team whilst being credible singles wrestlers at the same time. The problem with some recent pairings is that the team have no common ground, they don’t have enough chemistry on screen which makes it really uninteresting on television. I find nothing interesting about Kingston and R Truth as a tag team; but I find Kingston an exciting performer in the ring and Truth a fun and interesting guy on the mic. I just don’t think it works in the same way as The Miz & Big Show. But as I say, although certain pairings may work, it is only in the short-term before they break off and return to their own singles paths.

In my eyes, the emphasis should be on the real tag-teams; Primo & Epico, The Usos; teams which there aren’t enough of in WWE. It’s a difficult task to rebrand two singles superstars as a tag-team and for that reason, I think the answer to that problem is a lot easier. Instead of introducing new singles wrestlers to the roster, WWE should also be gradually introducing and establishing new tag-teams from developmental. These teams – like Primo & Epico and The Usos should have a common ground. No, they don’t need to be related but there should be something common about these pairings. MNM instantly came to mind. When introduced in 2005, Nitro and Mercury were a believable tag-team who were a success as well as credible to the WWE audience. I felt the same about the (far too short-lived) Hart Dynasty, Hawkins & Ryder and Haas & Benjamin.

Granted, on the splitting of some teams, one or both of the members go on to enjoy singles successes in their own right. Of the teams listed above, Shelton Benjamin enjoyed some success before being released by WWE in 2010 and Zack Ryder has gained popularity as an individual of late. However in most cases, this isn't the case and both wrestlers tend to linger on the roster as 'enhancement talent' or worse; back on the unemployed list.

Instead of introducing tag-teams and splitting them up before they’ve even got started, WWE should be putting more effort and patience into pushing and establishing teams like the Hart Dynasty. That team was over before it had even started. If they put some real energy into pushing these interesting teams who have chemistry and credibility, this problem could be over in no time. All it would take is the gradual implementation of tag-teams from FCW and maybe a couple from the independent scene. If they did this, they wouldn’t need to throw together a team like Kingston and Truth who are no longer being pushed as singles wrestlers, have little credibility and chemistry as a tag-team, whilst at the same time, letting the credibility of the championships that they hold plummet with them.