Remember when AEW was all about tag teams?
By Scott Keith on 8th October 2022
Like everyone else, I love the Acclaimed, but when thinking about their rise the past couple of months I couldn't help but think about the overall tag scene in AEW and it's not pretty.
For a variety of reasons, we've lost the following teams in 2022: Santana & Ortiz, Jurassic Express, SCU, the Hardyz, reDragon, Men of the Year, Top Flight, House of Black, Team Taz, and multiple Dark Order combinations. The Varsity Blondes seem all but kaput. Who knows when the Bucks will be back, but when we last saw them they were in trios land. Lucha Bros, Best Friends and what's left of Dark Order have been similarly focused on trios.
There's not much left. For heels you have Swerve in our Glory (who are on borrowed time unless Lee goes full heel), the Gunns, Butcher & the Blade and assorted Dark fodder. It seems like Neese and Woods are a thing that's happening. Andrade and Rush could've been a top heel option, but who knows if we see them again. On the face side you have Private Party and a bunch of loose affiliations like the BCC and WarJoe. I guess Sting & Darby count, but Sting should be a special attraction only. The 10 ton elephant in the room is obviously FTR. I have to believe they're being kept far away from the Acclaimed right now because, quite frankly, FTR is in a different class and will stop the Acclaimed's momentum dead in their tracks should they cross paths.
All that said, once this Swerve thing plays out, where do you go? Any teams you could see being heated up into legit contenders? Do they find a way to get the Briscoes on tv? How long do you think scissoring can carry an entire division? The trump card is always going to be FTR/Bucks 3, but who knows if/when that happens.
There’s always Top Flight but who knows what’s up with Darius at this point. I think Silver and Reynolds have top level potential if they’d ever stop doing jobs. Agreed though, prospects are rough.