Bryan Alvarez has pushed back on the beief that WWE is looking to sign outside tag teams to rebuild its post-WrestleMania 42 tag team division, telling subscribers on X that the company’s actual focus is on newly-formed in-house teams and on bringing NXT pairings up to the main roster.
The Alvarez update came after False Finish reported on Wednesday that WWE was planning a tag team division rebuild that included signing outside tag teams. Alvarez’s reporting tightens the focus of the WWE plan.
“Also, regarding tag teams, we are told WWE does not really have much interest in outside tag teams at the time, but there are newly-made teams on TV like Miz & Kit that will remain tag teams, and a few teams in NXT likely called up soon as well.”
The Miz and Kit Wilson reference is to The Miz’s recent pairing with Kit Wilson of the Wilson Brothers (formerly Pretty Deadly), with the two teaming on WWE TV since Backlash. The pairing was initially positioned as a temporary in-storyline alliance but is now confirmed to be a longer-term tag team configuration. Kit Wilson’s tag team partner Elton Prince was released in the April 24 post-WrestleMania 42 cuts wave, which is what opened the door for Wilson to be paired with The Miz.
NXT currently houses several tag teams that have been positioned for main roster call-up over the past several months, including The Vanity Project, The Culling, the D’Angelo Family tag teams, and several singles wrestlers who could be paired into new tag teams.
The post-WrestleMania 42 cuts wave hit the tag team division particularly hard. Departures since the cuts began in late April include:
- Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston of The New Day, who requested releases after being asked to take pay cuts on their five-year deals
- Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin of the Motor City Machine Guns
- Every member of the Wyatt Sicks, who have been renamed and are now working the indies under new identities
- Jeff Cobb and Tonga Loa of the MFTs
