Women’s tag team wrestling is so back.

Again, maybe WWE is feeling pressure from the main competition’s blossoming women’s tag division, or maybe Triple H is still reveling in the Christmas spirit. Either way, the WWE women’s tag team division gets deeper and deeper, complex and complex, with every passing week. For a division that was thoroughly ignored, banished to the Shadow Realm known as catering, until it was time to stick a match on a premium live event preshow, the variety within the division has blossomed. We’ve been seeing it on both shows with the teams of RHIYO, The Kabuki Warriors, and Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. We’ve been seeing it on “WWE SmackDown” with Lash Legend and Nia Jax. Now, we’re seeing it on “WWE Raw,” with the team of Bayley and Lyra Valkyria.

WWE took a gamble by putting all of their top stars in a infamously overlooked and cast-aside division, and it’s working. Bayley and Valkyria made a brief appearance in Adam Pearce’s office during a backstage segment of “Raw,” where Valkyria demanded a title shot at whoever walked out of The Kabuki Warriors’ upcoming title defense. We’re making active plans for the future of this division, and considering just how inconsistent and unstable the division used to be, I’m glad for the clear roadmap. It gives a wrestling fan hope that this huge push for women’s tag team wrestling in WWE isn’t just a flash in the pan, but rather, is a sustained effort over multiple weeks, months, within WWE creative. WWE is investing big into women’s tag team wrestling right now, and if the opinions expressed in this column and the columns of weeks past are any indication, it is working.

WWE is making active plans for the future of its women’s tag division, and is doing so with top stars. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria have become an extremely underrated act within the “Raw” landscape, but even when they’re overshadowed by acts like RHIYO and The Judgement Day, they still manage to be entertaining and crowd-pleasers. I pop whenever Valkyria smacks Bayley into her “Ding-dong, hello?!” gimmick, and I root for Bayley whenever she’s fighting an uphill battle against Roxanne Perez, Raquel Rodriguez, or any other heel “Raw” has to offer. It’s good to see them have direction. It’s good to see them have a clear goal in the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. Again, we are making active plans for their future, for this division’s future.

Do I think Bayley and Valkyria will be the new champs any time soon? No. We’re still shaking the table, however. We’re still putting matches on the cards. We’re still making investments for the future.

Written by Angeline Phu