State of the WWE heading into 2019
Raw and Smackdown might always battle each other for brand supremacy, but they are both ultimately a part of WWE. Wrestlers switching brands can sometimes really help or hurt the shows.
2018 saw the return of Daniel Bryan as a World Champion and the loss and regaining of the Universal Title by Brock Lesnar. The Shield also reunited and then broke up, and Nia Jax became the Big Show of face/heel turns. Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch also brought the women's division to the forefront with their feud prior to Survivor Series.
Rusev Day captured the hearts of millions of fans and we witnessed the main roster debuts of Sanity, Andrade 'Cien' Almas, the Authors of Pain and the IIconics.
Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley also returned to WWE after stints away, though the former spent some time in NXT . Rey Mysterio returned in the Royal Rumble and then joined Smackdown.
We also witnessed the first-ever all-women's PPV in Evolution.
What is the state of WWE heading into 2019?
Smackdown Tag Team Division
Grade: B-
Current Champions: The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro)
The Bar won a four team tournament to become the number one contenders to the New Day, and then they won the titles on Smackdown 1000.
As has been the case with the Bar, the Usos and the New Day, all three teams have dominated the tag team scene of Smackdown and Raw.
While it's true that they are the most reliable tag teams on the roster and usually always deliver, we've seen the teams battle each other almost to exhaustion over the last two years. The Bludgeon Brothers were starting to break that trend, but WWE was forced to rely on their three go-to teams because of the injury.
Rusev Day was red hot at points in 2018, but WWE failed to capitalize on their growing popularity by putting the titles on them. Because of this reluctance, WWE missed an opportunity to create another reliable tag team. It also would have allowed the Rusev/Aiden English split to play out even further.
Sanity was called up and has been on Smackdown like five times in 2018. And the same goes for Gallows and Anderson. The Colons are talented in the ring but have never connected with the crowd.
Had Smackdown built up Sanity as monsters and given Rusev Day a face run with the belts, it would have helped build up the division. Like I said, the Usos, New Day and Bar are all great teams; I'm just bored of their constant feuds over the titles.
The division is top heavy and has the potential for depth with some of its other teams, but the depth hasn't been utilized that well. That won't change after TLC.