Welcome another edition of the March to WrestleMania 36, 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 what’s going on regarding the Raw Tag Team Championship.
Note: Obviously, the coronavirus has left WrestleMania up in the air. This series assumes that it will still happen (as WWE continues to advertise it) and exists to bring casual viewers up to speed with information they’ve missed out on by not watching recent events.
Let’s start with what we already know…
THE RAW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Who are the current champions?
The Street Profits hold the Raw Tag Team Championship. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins captured the belts from Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy just a few weeks back on Monday Night Raw due in part to Kevin Owens interfering.
This is the first reign for The Street Profits, who previously also held the NXT Tag Team Championship for 75 days (88 recognized days) last June through August.
Who will challenge for the titles at WrestleMania?
While nothing has been made official, it seems as though WWE had a plan in mind to go with The Street Profits defending against AOP, possibly with The Viking Raiders in the mix.
Akam and Rezar are part of Rollins’ stable and have been brawling a lot with Erik and Ivar and The Street Profits on and off. A Triple Threat would have made sense.
However, even without factoring in COVID-19 problems, that match may be in jeopardy. Rezar supposedly suffered a torn bicep the other day which could put him on the shelf for some time.
If that’s the case, the match dynamics can’t be the same. Perhaps Murphy and Akam will team up, despite how strange that could come off. Maybe The O.C. will be put in the mix to balance out The Viking Raiders and The Street Profits. Or, maybe, the card will be stacked enough that these titles won’t be defended at all and there will be some sort of non-title tag team match like The Street Profits and The Viking Raiders against Murphy, Akam and two more disciples WWE could go with on a whim (Eric Young and Erick Rowan? Just tossing out some awful fantasy booking scenarios.)
My guess is this isn’t something WWE is worried about. The Raw tag title match was never going to be one of the major selling points heading into this event. If WrestleMania happens on April 5th, they’ll just toss something onto the card at the last minute, put it on the kickoff and tell everyone who is disappointed to deal with it. Normally, the “don’t complain” thing would be inexcusable, but with an injury this close to the show and bigger things to worry about, this match running into issues is forgivable.
What happens at and after WrestleMania?
If/when WrestleMania happens and anything goes down with these belts, I don’t think we’ll be crowning new champions. There was a chance AOP could have won the titles, but with Rezar out of action, that goes out the window.
The Street Profits are popular enough that they can keep the championship rolling for quite some time—at least until this WrestleMania situation has settled down and a Superstar Shake-up or something can happen to bring some new options to the table.
Keep the discussion going by leaving your comments below and telling us what you think about this title situation for WrestleMania 36!
