Raw is a bit of a mess right now. You’ve got a  champion who never shows up. Poor writing and questionable booking decisions have bogged down Monday Nights. But one particular division of the roster has been hit particularly bad. I’m talking about the tag team division.

There are currently nine tag teams on Raw. Can you name all of them? It’s difficult right? But there’s more to the issue than just how forgettable the division is. It runs much deeper than that.

The Tag Team DiVision Is not competitive

Of the nine tag teams on Raw. only three of them actually seem credible at the moment. That’s exactly one-third of the whole division (in case you’re wondering, it’s Tag Team Champions Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy, the Authors of Pain, and Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre). The B-Team has been gaining traction and building a bit of momentum for themselves, but that’s it.

Breezango’s a far cry from where they were when they challenged the Usos for the Tag Team Championship last year. Titus Worldwide has never actually received a sustained push. The Revival has no momentum because of unfortunate back-to-back-to-back injuries. The Ascension and Heath Slater and Rhyno are pretty much non-factors at this point.

It’s hard to have an engaging and competitive division when more than half of the roster is a bunch of scrubs. Imagine if John Cena had the United States Championship, and his only competition was dudes like Mojo Rawley, Mike Kanellis, Zack Ryder, Tye Dillinger, Goldust, Sin Cara, and R-Truth. That’s not a diss or a knock against any of those guys. They’re all talented wrestlers. It’s just that they haven’t been presented as legitimate threats to anybody for a while.

This is nothing that some good and effective booking can’t fix. Pick a couple of teams (not everyone can be a winner), and then have them build some real momentum. Have Titus Worldwide pick up a couple of wins and don’t have them job out like a bunch of dorks. Have the Revival pick up some wins with some underhanded tactics over some beloved babyface teams. Don’t have them job out like a bunch of dorks.

The more legitimate teams there are in the roster, the more competitive it seems. The more competitive the division, the better off everyone ends up looking.

there’s no focus on the top stars

Did you guys remember that Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy are the Raw Tag Team Champions? Don’t feel bad if you forgot; WWE probably forgot as well. Jokes aside, they won the vacant titles at the Greatest Royal Rumble event and have done exactly nothing since then. They were left off the card at Backlash (not ideal, but somewhat understandable). However, at this point, I wouldn’t even be surprised if they were left off the card at Money in the Bank. The tag team champions could miss two PPVs in a row. It’s crazy.

Then there’s the Authors of Pain. They killed a bunch of jobbers for like two weeks and then disappeared. I don’t even remember if  they appeared on Raw this week. I get not wanting to rush them into the title picture. Not everyone needs to win the Tag Team Championship immediately. But at least put them on Raw. Put them in an interesting non-title feud. But who can they fight, though (see above point)?

The only top team I feel is getting adequate screen-time is Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre. I don’t quite know what the end-goal with them is. Do they go to the tag team division or do they just hang with the singles competitors and mess stuff up? Only time will tell.

I guess it would be hard to create an interesting and engaging feud over the tag team championship when hardly anyone is credible enough to pose a threat. Would anyone believe that. say, the Revival, have a chance of defeating Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt? That if they became number one contenders next week, people would think they could win? I don’t think so.

Hopefully Raw gets its tag team division, plus the rest of its show, in order soon.