Keith Lee and 8 WWE, AEW Tag Team Wrestlers Ready for a Solo Run

Many talented tag teams populate the current WWE and All Elite Wrestling rosters, but it wouldn't hurt for some of those stars to start branching out into one-on-one competition.

Keith Lee is perhaps the most prominent example of someone who is long overdue for a serious singles run. His tag team alongside Swerve Strickland has been terrific and even earned him a brief run as AEW world tag team champion, but he's barely scratched the surface of what he can do on his own.

WWE's Montez Ford is another singles star waiting to break out. He and Angelo Dawkins have had much success as The Street Profits, but once he's cleared to compete again, he should be given the opportunity to challenge for gold beyond the tag team ranks.

That isn't to say the Profits and Swerve In Our Glory necessarily need to break up, though. It might be commonplace for tag partners to turn on each other before feuding, but remaining aligned while chasing other goals is also a viable option.

The following eight tag team players are ready to show the world what they're capable of in a solo run.

Talk has heated up this year regarding Montez Ford transitioning into singles competition.

Although the 32-year-old was last spotted on the October 3 edition of Raw wearing a walking boot and has presumably been out injured since then, there's no reason not to try him out in a solo role upon his return to the ring.

The Street Profits debuted on NXT TV over five years ago and joined the main roster in 2019. In that time, they have held the NXT Tag Team Championship, the SmackDown Tag Team Championship and the Raw Tag Team Championship, all for a good chunk of time.

Seeing as how they've faced practically every team on the roster right now, there isn't much more for them to do. They work so well together that splitting them up would be the wrong call, but both guys deserve a shot as a singles star and can continue teaming on occasion.

Ford, in particular, has gotten himself into phenomenal shape this past year and has everything WWE looks for in top talent. He could well have main event potential, but starting out at the midcard level and working his way up would be ideal.

Keith Lee made a major splash the night he arrived in AEW on February 9. Unfortunately, the follow-up was underwhelming and he wasn't involved in much of note.

It wasn't until he joined forces with Swerve Strickland, who signed with the promotion a month later, that he began building momentum. The two had instant chemistry as partners and won the AEW World Tag Team Championship before long.

The duo dropped the titles to The Acclaimed in September but have remained a unit in an attempt to reclaim the gold. They'll get their chance to do so at Full Gear this Saturday, but beyond that, it's imperative they go their separate ways.

Lee was briefly involved in the main event picture on Raw in late 2020 and even contended for the WWE Championship on the first Raw of 2021 but was released before he could live up to his full potential.

Fans were excited to see him in AEW because of all the big names he'd be able to go up against, but none of those matches can happen until he escapes the tag team scene. It would be egregious for him to be underutilized any longer.

Of the few female tag teams WWE and AEW boast at the moment, Alexa Bliss is in the greatest need of a fresh coat of paint and another singles run.

Little Miss Bliss hasn't been able to find her footing as a character since returning to TV in the spring. She made the most of the "possessed" persona she was portraying previously, but nothing about her in the last six months has been remotely interesting due to how she's been handled.

The 31-year-old has spent the last three months feuding with Damage CTRL, a rivalry that will hopefully culminate in WarGames at Survivor Series. The WWE women's tag team division needs depth, but keeping Bliss and Asuka together as a tandem isn't the answer.

Other than her one-off Raw Women's Championship match against Charlotte Flair at Extreme Rules in 2021, Bliss hasn't been a fixture in a main title picture in over three years. She's a natural heel and could be a real asset on SmackDown.

As a three-time WWE women's tag team champion, she has nothing left to prove in the division and should move on immediately.

It's been so many months since Varsity Blonds (now known simply as The Blonds) were last featured regularly on AEW TV that it's possible fans forgot they were still together.

The decision to pair up Brian Pillman Jr. with Griff Garrison in late 2020 was a smart one on the company's part because they were on the fast track to nowhere otherwise.

They gradually got over with the audience despite almost always being utilized as an enhancement team whenever they appeared on Dynamite and Rampage.

They lost whatever momentum they had left when Julia Hart ditched them for House of Black earlier this year, and now they seldom compete on Dark and Elevation, let alone on the main shows.

At this point, it might be best for Pillman to cut bait and break away on his own. Garrison is an impressive athlete in his own right, but his teammate has shown he has the tools necessary to be a successful singles star with the right push.

It's possible he gets lost in the shuffle, but AEW could use another fresh face in the midcard at the moment and he would make the most of the opportunity.

In the six years Chad Gable has been on the WWE main roster, he has spent most of them in the tag team division.

The Olympian is an exceptionally skilled tag team wrestler. He and Jason Jordan were a terrific tandem for the two years they were together, and he has worked well with every other partner he's had since then, including Otis.

Alpha Academy's continued presence on Raw throughout 2022 has been an absolute treat. With the tag team titles still in possession of The Usos, they've been stuck in a holding pattern for months, bouncing around from feud to feud with no real direction.

It's easy for viewers to forget how talented the 36-year-old is, and a return to singles competition would remind them of that. Otis can stick with him to keep American Alpha a cohesive unit, but Gable's many standout one-on-one matches this year prove he's long overdue for an extended solo run.

For starters, a heel Gable chasing a babyface Seth Rollins for the United States Championship could make for a stellar series of matches. The possibilities are endless as far as what else he can do.

All eyes are on Keith Lee finally being booked as a singles star once Swerve In Our Glory are no more, but Swerve Strickland may end up outshining him if his exceptional heel work continues.

Interestingly, Strickland's AEW arrival didn't receive nearly as much fanfare as Lee's. His debut was almost an afterthought at the Revolution pay-per-view in March, while his teammate's first appearance for the promotion was heavily hyped.

Strickland can use that as his ultimate reasoning for why he turns on his partner, along with how he's perfectly content resorting to underhanded tactics to win matches unlike Lee.

The dynamic the two have had in recent months has been tremendous, but the tension between them is clearly building to a split soon. Once that happens, Strickland should be positioned as an important player on the AEW roster.

His current role is the one that suits him best, making him one of the most compelling characters in the company. He and Lee should both be prominently featured on the show once their inevitable rivalry runs its course.

It's well-documented that The New Day are never breaking up (nor should they), but as we've seen in the past, it's feasible for them to explore opportunities in singles competition while also appearing as a group.

Kofi Kingston won the WWE Championship while with New Day in 2019, as did Big E in 2021. Woods followed suit by becoming King of the Ring that October, a lifelong goal that marked his grandest achievement in his singles competition to date.

As much momentum as he had in the role, WWE had him drop the crown upon his return to TV shortly before WrestleMania 38. But he and Kingston have been busy in the tag team ranks on SmackDown since then.

On Friday, they fell just short of stopping The Usos from breaking their record as the longest-reigning tag team champions in WWE history. That rivalry should not be revisited any time soon, leaving Kingston and Woods with nothing of note to keep them busy outside of the tag title picture.

This is as ideal of a time as any to put Woods back in singles competition, with Kingston as his hype man. He could make for a fun challenger for intercontinental champion Gunther and work with the newer stars such as Santos Escobar and LA Knight.

It seems silly to classify Aleister Black a tag team wrestler after the significant singles victories he's amassed over the last year in AEW, but that's basically what he's become since House of Black came to be at the onset of 2022.

He and Brody King primarily wrestled as a tag team shortly following the latter's debut. Black was expected to be the focal point of the group once Buddy Matthews joined, but the three were instead presented as equals and competed in six-man tag team action.

The AEW World Trios Championship had yet to debut, so a majority of their wins meant nothing. His only two televised singles matches this year came against Penta Oscuro in June and Brian Pillman Jr. in January, so he didn't feel nearly as important as he should prior to his hiatus.

Vignettes have aired in recent weeks on Dynamite and Rampage indicating that House of Black are on their way back, but how they're used will be crucial. King and Matthews are supremely skilled individuals, but Black must be presented as the singles star with golden aspirations.

He's too talented to be relegated to tag team matches solely for much longer.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.