WWE RAW’s tag team division has no top babyface

WWE’s tag team division is the best it has been in a while. But RAW’s tag team division has a critical flaw that could halt that momentum.

The Hardy Boyz, battered and bruised following a brutal best 2-out-of-3 falls match against Cesaro and Sheamus for the RAW Tag Team titles at Great Balls of Fire, were not about to back down from their next challenge. They promptly answered the call from Anderson and Gallows for a match the next night on RAW.

By all accounts, the Hardy Boyz had a third shot to regain their tag team titles coming. Jeff Hardy had Cesaro pinned for the tying fall, but the buzzer sounded before the official’s final count. Cesaro and Sheamus escaped with their titles.

The now-super strong RAW Tag Team Champions were literally sitting back watching the rest of the RAW tag teams jockey for position and challenge them.

And who are they waiting for? That is the difficult question facing the RAW tag team division with SummerSlam quickly approaching.

It is hard to find a good challenger to the RAW tag team titles at the moment. The list of viable candidates has dried up quickly.

Sheamus and Cesaro have beaten the Hardy Boyz plenty of times. As great as those matches were, are they really the only challengers left? And it is only a matter of time before Matt and Jeff Hardy resolve their legal issues and introduce the Broken Universe to WWE and go off to their own storyline.

Who else will step up to the plate?

The other likely challengers would have been Enzo and Cass. It would have been a good storybook ending to have the duo finally win their first WWE tag team gold in their hometown of Brooklyn at SummerSlam. WWE nixed that scenario, however, breaking the tag team up and pulling the trigger on that vicious heel turn for Cass before the last pay-per-view.

The rest of the RAW tag team scene? It leaves a lot to be desired.

Anderson and Gallows beat the Hardy Boyz two weeks ago. The Club has largely been used as jobbers since the team’s title run heading into WrestleMania. They do not figure as much of a threat at the moment. They are reliable workers who probably deserve some bigger shine for their work in the ring. But they are not likely opponents for Sheamus and Cesaro.

As you can see, all the main contenders are all heels with little character flexibility to turn face and be a reliable foil for Sheamus and Cesaro at the moment.

In any case, Gallows and Anderson have not done much to build momentum at the moment. Their win over the Hardyz was done more to build up another young tag team.

The Revival has run through the Hardys twice now — first in a post-match attack following that loss to Anderson and Gallows and then again last week on RAW in a regular match. It appears Matt and Jeff Hardy are going to start a program with Dash and Dawson leading up to SummerSlam.

Heath Slater and Rhyno are in the picture, too, but mostly because they are the only babyfaces left. Their mostly fan-pushed run to become the first-ever SmackDown Tag Team Champions was nice. But no one is confusing them as serious threats to reset the bar and dethrone Sheamus and Cesaro.

The other face tag team in the brand — the Golden Truth — broke up as well, just like Enzo and Cass.

For Cesaro and Sheamus, there simply is no logical opponent that makes sense narratively or character-wise for the duo.

As much as WWE has changed and allowed for characters who fit a grayer scale, the matches still rely on the same basic formula. Face and heel. Good guy and bad guy. The fans need to know who to cheer for and who to boo, even if it is a mere formality. It is hard to get fans invested in a battle between heels.

That is the main problem with the RAW tag team division. The Hardyz are the only real faces who can challenge a heel team like Cesaro and Sheamus. There is no one else ready to step up to the plate and satisfy this basic core of wrestling storytelling.

In the last few months, RAW split up nearly all of its “good guy” tag teams. They turned Cesaro and Sheamus heel by having them attack the Hardys after their match at Payback a few months ago. And they broke up the Golden Truth just as it seemed they were about to get a title push.

Not to mention, the Hardyz may not be too far behind whenever the Broken Universe gets unlocked from legal purgatory.

To their credit, Cesaro and Sheamus have played the roles well. After spending most of their run as a half-face/half-heel duo as a mismatched group, they have found their groove as a team and as characters as heels. They revel in doing whatever it takes to win, even if that means being a bit underhanded. Cesaro can get over with the crowd, but it is hard to see Sheamus turning face anytime soon. He plays the annoyed former champion too well.

The simple fact is, WWE may have no choice but to turn this group back face soon.

WWE seems to be grooming The Revival for their first title shot with this feud with the Hardyz. While the Revival is a great tag team and fantastic performers, their characters work because they are willing to take a knee out to win a match. Their “No Flips Just Fists” motto is more about the grind of winning matches, no matter what it takes. They are not against attacking a team after the bell or going after an injury to get an advantage.

Their “No Flips Just Fists” motto is more about the grind of winning matches, no matter what it takes. They are not against attacking a team after the bell or going after an injury to get an advantage.

That is not what a face does.

The Revival is a perfect heel team. There is no scenario for their characters to make that face turn.

Anderson and Gallows could take a face turn if they joined with Finn Balor to form a WWE version of the (Bullet) Club. Their characters could use a bit of a refresh, so maybe that is an option on the table. But they would need Balor, another character seemingly lost in the shuffle at the moment, to give them a moral anchor.

WWE has teased a mini-SHIELD reunion with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins joining forces to fight The Miz and the Miztourage of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. But it seems unlikely for WWE to keep Rollins out of the Universal Championship picture for long. He is still one of the brand’s biggest draws.

The list of potential tag teams dries up pretty quickly.

Sheamus and Cesaro are the unquestioned leaders of the division at the moment. And all their challengers are old-fashioned wrestling heels.

Someone’s characters will have to change to make a real challenge for the belts. After building Sheamus and Cesaro as heels for the last few months, a character change does not seem likely or wise. So who challenges them — and who fans can get behind — remains a difficult question to answer.

Next: 15 WWE Superstars who could take on White Walkers

Until then, Sheamus and Cesaro are waiting for the right challengers, and there does not seem to be one that presents itself in a fresh way.