AEW Crowning Hurt Syndicate as Champs Potentially Mortgages Tag Division’s Future
When Private Party became tag team champions and ended the Young Bucks’ 192-day reign I viewed that moment as a shift toward freshening the divisional landscape.
The lore between the Bucks and FTR has defined the division’s identity. Between the two teams they have held the belts five times for a total of 770 days. To put that into perspective, the remaining title reigns amount to 972 days across 11 teams. They have been the constant with the duos being tag team champions for 44% of the time the titles have existed.
I previously argued that AEW sorely needed to reset its multi-person divisions and define their identities. Additionally, this could also establish new blood to build toward the future so that it can stand on its own. I said that before even looking at the math of the two teams’ title reigns, and now I have to say that while crowning Private Party in October 2024 was a good step forward I’m unsure of what the intention was with that particular switch. Looking at it in hindsight, considering the Bucks reportedly wanted to drop the straps to the Outrunners, the division doesn’t feel any different three months later.
Looking at Private Party’s run, it lasted 84 days which puts their single reign just ahead of SoCal Uncensored as the 8th longest AEW tag team title reign. Their reign consisted of two successful defenses:
- a tag team Fatal Four Way against Kings of the Black Throne, the Outrunners and the Acclaimed; and
- against Lio Rush and Action Andretti. What’s especially puzzling with their run is that they didn’t defend the titles once between November 23 and January 4, and then dropped them on their third defense.
Taking their run as a whole we need to consider two things. Firstly, their run was not demonstrably treated with much care or value. It doesn’t feel like they were utilized with the intent of establishing them as a potential focal point in the division’s future. In that regard I think the lull between defenses is telling. Secondly, if they were only ever going to be transitional champions, having the Hurt Syndicate thump them so soundly made them look weaker than necessary and undercut their momentum. This was hardly as rough as when Brock Lesnar rinse-cycled Kofi Kingston for the WWE title, but the prevailing tone of how we should view the failing champion after the fact is the same. In sports terms they were both blowouts.
I think you can make a sound argument for making the Hurt Syndicate tag team champions this early. While that’s counter to what I’ve laid out above, there’s also no denying:
- Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin are seasoned professionals who realistically should thump Private Party; and
- The new faction has been getting good reactions and it would be stupid to not capitalize on that.
Taking both perspectives into account, while they don’t mesh conceptually there’s middle ground between rehabbing the Syndicate’s image with Benjamin coming up short in the Continental Classic among other losses and the utter blowout we saw on Wednesday’s Dynamite. Where there could have been better focus on the minutiae of how to execute the title change, the company — i.e. whomever booked this — instead chose to cut their own homegrown talent off at the knees.
That is not conducive to progress for a division that has frankly been all over the place for the last year and has been inconsistent. If not for the Bucks longer reign, who knows what the division would have looked like now. Even then, while they were champions the division did not progress toward establishing new long-term contenders to fight the Bucks. Even if you wanted to say Private Party fit that role, while I would agree in theory hindsight betrays that perception now three days removed from the rise of the Hurt Syndicate.
AEW’s plan for 2024 relating to the tag division was essentially, “we have nothing planned past Revolution, just put the belts on the Bucks and then we can nap.” I don’t think that point can really be countered. Over the course of the Bucks’ reign they had five defenses against:
- The Acclaimed
- FTR and The Acclaimed
- Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio and Yuta)
- Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher
- Private Party
Among those, The Acclaimed and FTR were both arguing over who should contest the titles coming out of Sting and Darby Allin’s vacation of the straps. In sequence the Bucks beat FTR to claim them, retained over the Acclaimed via DQ, and then beat both teams in a triple threat.
The BCC was never going to be a long term threat considering the other elements of the team’s story as it played over 2024, and Ospreay and Fletcher only served to kickstart their feud and Ospreay’s split from Don Callis. The juncture that Private Party came into the picture was the first time in the entire year since Revolution where it felt like the division had some focus, characterized by the Bucks turning away Quen and Zay before losing their titles to them weeks later. This was the one time where purpose was evident. Where the AEW tag division was once strong, it’s currently a weak point and we’re left to wonder where the division is headed.
(Not as weak as the non-existent trios division, but I digress.)
I think the issue from above is fairly evident. Aside from the first match with Private Party, not one of the Bucks’ defenses amounted to building the division, establishing clear threats to the title that can be long-lasting, and now with Quen and Zay’s reign ending we have to ask question whether the division is better off now than a year ago. It’s arguable that it isn’t.
The impact of the Hurt Syndicate’s win needs to be examined a little more, and for that we have to give them time so the larger vision (presuming that even exists) can materialize. Right now the endgame isn’t clear, and it may not be immediately evident.
Taking nothing away from Lashley and Benjamin, they are both deserving of the success and it’s clear this group means something to the trio. In that regard it opens the door for magic to happen surrounding what they do, and I’m looking forward to what they can do unconstrained in AEW. Regardless of that concession, while admitting this can be a good move for the division the outcome is worth considering. At the conclusion of the Hurt Syndicate’s run, where will the division be?
That’s an important question to consider because it determines the course forward of what was formally a founding piece of AEW. Tag team wrestling, specifically FTR and the Bucks, has been such an important attraction to the makeup of the company. Great tag team wrestling has become synonymous with AEW’s presentation. Unfortunately that’s less the case now in my perspective as we close out the first month of 2025. Fair criticism is important here, and with all due respect to them we need to ask what the objective is and how this will benefit AEW’s tag division.
There’s no denying the impact of two decorated men holding the belts, and I think there’s value in them having a good run with them. That being said, I find there’s little value in turning around in a few months to play the averages and likely end up with either a fourth or third reign for the Bucks or FTR. I ask what the purpose of the loss is because it’s a frank reality — again, given the averages — the Jacksons and FTR can’t wrestle indefinitely. It’s unrealistic. With that fact in mind we have to ask if it’s unwise to mortgage a young team’s viability that has been with AEW since the beginning for two veterans who are aged 48 and 49 respectively. It’s a fair question.
The purpose behind the switch is important. If the Hurt Syndicate’s run can be used to build another team, or re-establish Private Party with a second title reign. There is some value in either scenario, however a longer protracted feud between the Hurt Syndicate and Private Party is more favourable. Lashley and Benjamin have value as an act and that can be relayed into a rub for other teams. However in order to ensure the last year of the division is not a complete wash Private Party need to be the team to dethrone Lashley and Benjamin. It need not be right away, but without any other fresh teams on the horizon it’s the only logical choice. There are other options, but none that correct a glaring issue in the division’s booking.
Unfortunately in this case, for now, saying AEW is actively mortgaging its future for short term gain is all too accurate.
