Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialMarch to WrestleMania 35: Exploring the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Scene

March to WrestleMania 35: Exploring the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Scene

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Welcome another edition of the March to WrestleMania 35, breaking down the environment around all the championships heading into the biggest show of the year to set the tone for 1) recapping how we got to this point, 2) discussing possible plans for WrestleMania and 3) guessing where this all going to end up once WrestleMania has concluded.

This post will be covering the teams surrounding the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.

Let’s start with what we already know…

THE SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Who are the current champions?

The Usos are in the midst of their fourth reign with the SmackDown Tag Team Championship after having won the titles from The Miz and Shane McMahon at Elimination Chamber on February 17th.

They are students of the game and tag team specialists who have six runs to their names if you count their other championships, and they certainly deserve those accolades.

Part of the reason they may be champions right now, though, is to butter them up so they don’t leave WWE. Rikishi has made it blatantly clear that they will potentially be “free agents” in the near future and as far as I’m aware, there hasn’t been any official word on Jimmy and Jey re-signing with the company.

Whether or not they plan on leaving for AEW or elsewhere will play a major role in what happens during their reign as champions, as they’ll assuredly have to drop the titles before their contracts are up in April, and I can’t help but to feel like WrestleMania is when we’ll have our answer. If they lose, they’re leaving. If they retain, they’re staying.

Who will challenge for the title at WrestleMania?

This one seems to be a guaranteed multi-team match, per the usual modus operandi of WWE’s booking strategies that boils down to “I don’t know, clusterfuck them? That’s easy.”

The only real question is how many teams will be in the match, as there have been a few that have been locking horns as of late.

The New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) seem like guarantees, as do Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev, along with The Hardy Boyz and likely The Bar. That would be a Fatal 5-Way with two heel teams (Rusev/Nakamura and Sheamus/Cesaro), two babyface teams (New Day and Hardy Boyz) and one somewhat tweener team in The Usos.

SmackDown does technically have access to Aleister Black and Ricochet, but they seem much more focused on the Raw Tag Team Championship instead, so I’d count them out. I also think the complete lack of interest in The Good Brothers, The Colons and SAnitY makes it impossible to think they’re getting a spot at WrestleMania that isn’t just fodder in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Also, for the record, I don’t believe Harper will be joining Rowan to reform The Bludgeon Brothers or some other namesake alongside Daniel Bryan. I think that act is just dead and Harper will do nothing at all until after the Superstar Shake-up, wherein he might just go to Raw and/or be teamed back up with Bray Wyatt. That’s a discussion for another time.

I’d bet on a Fatal 5-Way more than I would any sort of match that features The Usos against just one tag team, but if that does happen, I think The Hardy Boyz are the duo that WWE would go with to fight Jimmy and Jey.

What happens at and after WrestleMania?

As I mentioned in the first part, I think this entirely is up to whether or not the contracts are still not signed. If The Usos are playing games and still teasing that they’ll leave (or flat out stating that is their intention to officials backstage), I think new tag team champions are being crowned and The Hardy Boyz will come out on top. Then, there will be one match between The Usos and The Hardy Boyz to send Jimmy and Jey off.

However, I’m not so sure The Usos won’t just sign another deal with WWE. I feel like they have less of a reason to be upset about their position on the card than most others who are complaining, as they’re consistently featured in prominent roles. They’re six time tag team champions, Jimmy has had multiple storylines and matches alongside Naomi (especially when factoring in the Mixed Match Challenge), and even Naomi has had a WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal victory and two title reigns. If they’re still complaining, they should probably look at their peers and realize how good they have it, as plenty of other people have received much less and also didn’t have the legal issues with the road that have happened with this crew that have been brushed aside and forgiven.

In my mind, I can see The Usos retaining at WrestleMania by pinning The Bar or Nakamura/Rusev, but still setting up a match against The Hardy Boyz down the line at the Saudi Arabia event or Money in the Bank. Then, they can drop the titles and continue the feud into Backlash and onward.

But all of this depends on the situation with the contracts, and until we learn that they’ve re-signed, everyone should be at least a little speculative that The Usos will drop these titles come April 7th.

Keep the discussion going by leaving your comments below and telling us what you think about this title situation for WrestleMania 35!

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