Opinion: Why the Raw Tag Team Division has lost its appeal

If you are a wrestling fan, then you may already know about the condition of the Raw Tag Team Championships at the moment.

At one point in their history, the tag titles were one of the most revered belts on the red brand, but now they have been reduced to nothing more than props in the ongoing feud between the Shield and Braun Strowman & his "Dogs of War" (Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre).

However, not so long ago, the belts had prestige; holding them earned you the respect of fellow wrestlers and fans. But now, no one really talks about them anymore. The decline in the significance of Raw's tag titles is also the direct catalyst for the deteriorating status of its tag team division.

When the belts were introduced in 2002, the first duo to hold them were Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle--two of the most technically gifted wrestlers to ever step foot into the squared circle. This was the beginning of what would be the golden age of tag teams on Raw. Around this time, tag teams such as Dudley Boyz, Edge & Rey Mysterio, Los Guerreros, and Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas competed for the belts intensely.

During the 'golden age' of Raw's tag teams, WWE correctly 'pushed' the division, gave it interesting storylines, which ensured the fans still cared about who ended up winning titles. However, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore, so what went wrong?

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#3 Dearth of merchandise movers

DX was one of the most marketable tag teams in WWE history.

Merchandise is one of the most important things in the world of WWE. It determines the popularity and fan appeal of a superstar, which in turn decides how seriously management would take him and whether he would be in the title picture in the near future.

Statistically, the biggest merchandise movers have not been in the tag team division which has led to the WWE management focusing more on the singles competitors to build their company around. The lack of big merchandise movers in Raw's tag team division is one of the main reasons why it has stagnated and lost its old charm.

The only tag team among WWE's top 5 merchandise movers is D-Generation X, and the last time they held the title was 8 years ago.

#2 Inadequate number of tag teams

Singles stars like Rollins and Ambrose have to make up for the lack of tag teams on Raw.

The one thing the WWE will never lack is a large roster of talented superstars, thanks to the fact that almost every wrestler wants to work there at least once in his career. Everyone works so hard to prove himself in the biggest pro wrestling promotion in the world that the management regularly faces dilemmas as to whom to promote next from an excessively large pool of deserving talent.

Despite having a huge number of exciting possibilities, Raw creative team has regularly failed to deliver a good pairing of wrestlers who share some chemistry. This is the reason why, more often than not, we see WWE rely on an unusual tandem of singles superstars to keep the sinking tag team division afloat.

#1 Egos and the coveted 'push'

Many times, tag teams break up to allow the members to work on their singles career.

Every WWE superstar understandably sports a big ego, that's why they are in the wrestling industry slugging it out every other night trying to be the best. This ego makes every single superstar want to be the best, and that's especially true in the tag team division where you want to be better than everyone including your own tag team partner.

When a superstar outshines his partner, management is most likely to take notice, break up the team and give the predominant one-half a push as part of the singles division. However, the best tag teams in many people's opinions are teams like the Dudley Boyz, who stick together for a long time and, together, dominate the entire industry.

These are some of the reasons why the Raw Tag Team Division has been on a decline lately, and if WWE wants to fix this, they should act quickly with firm intent.