When was the downfall of tag team wrestling in the WWE?

For the WWF, it had to be when they stopped pushing the Steiner Brothers. After that, it was a baren waist land for tag teams. So much so, that they had to start putting singles stars together as champions (HBK & Diesel, Owen & Yoko, Owen & Davey, Austin & HBK/Foley, etc.) It wasn't until the New Age Outlaws came along and started feuding with the Legion of Doom and Cactus Jack/Chainsaw Charlie that the division started to grow. Then came the Hardy's, Dudley Boyz, Edge & Christian, and the APA, that's when the WWF/WWE tag team division was good again. When they started splitting those teams, and no new teams could reach their level in popularity or talent, that's when the division ended. I've watched wrestling over the last decade, on an off, and the tag team division is not good. They seem to have a lot of teams, but the brand split weakens the division in my opinion, and the same teams wrestle each other all the time. One week it will be a tag match, the next week it will be a singles match between a member of each team, then the next week the other members of each team have a singles match, then repeat. How many times did the Uso's and the New Day wrestle each other on TV. They need to do away with the brand split, especially for the tag division and women's division - they just don't have the roster depth to work well in the split. Personally, what they should do is make RAW the show that tells the stories/angles, and some have matches, then make Smackdown more of an old school wrestling show, no real angles or stories, just show matches and let the announcers tell the stories/angels. And the matches don't have to be of people in a feud, this way matches, and feuds don't get stale. I always liked the old superstars and wrestling challenges', they would show matches of guys that weren't even feuding, just two random wrestlers putting on a match. For instance, in 1989, they put Bret Hart vs Rick Martel on wrestling challenge, they weren't feuding with each other; they just had a great match. They should do this more in today's wrestling, how many times do the same people wrestle on each raw prior to the PPV, makes the PPV worthless if you've already seen the match.

Personally, I hate when they just put two single stars together and make them a tag team. I really like it when they build a tag team together, and that they look like they should be in a team. Maybe that's because I grew up in the late 80s and early 90s, when all tag teams were actual teams. 

Another signal of when the tag team division went downhill is when they quit using these title belts - always my favorite:



These just look ridiculous:

In my opinion, the tag team division started going downhill during the New Generation era. I feel like the only decent tag team around 1994-5 was the Smoking Gunns, most others were a joke. They might have been champions at one point, but I could never take Men on a Mission seriously.

There have been good tag teams since then, like the Hardy Boyz, but they are few and far between. I don't think tag team wrestling will ever be as good as it was in the 80s/early 90s.

Agreed those matches on Smackdown in late-2002 were great, but it highlighted just how shallow the division was. Outside of the Guerreros, every other team in the tag-title tournament were random singles competitors thrown together, with the majority of them never teaming again afterwards.

Interesting, never even considered that. But if they would have rebuilt the Disasters as a monster heel team, they would have been good opponents for the Steiners. 

yup they sure would. Strange....after their ill timed face run(literally nothing about the NDs was face worthy)and loss of the titles to Money Inc the NDs disappeared as a team really....only made sporadic appearances as singles then. in 1993 the WWF had

Steiners
Bevery Brothers
Heavenly Bodies
Smokin Gunns
Natural Disasters
Nasty Boys
Headshrinkers
Quebecers

but seemingly had zero interest in doing anything with 90% of the teams. Weird.

Much better than current 

The few matches they taped(Raw and European tour) were fun brawls. I enjoyed the hell outta em

While there were some thrown together teams I enjoyed(Austin/Foley,Owen/Yoko,BookDust),I'm still not a fan of em in general.

Give me legit teams any day

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