Continuing on with this year’s fantasy booking for extra Money in the Bank briefcases, let’s focus on the question “What if the tag team division had a ladder match?”
Originally, I intended to do three examples of this: one for Raw and SmackDown’s men, one for NXT and NXT UK, and one for the women’s tag team division. However, when I looked at the list of people already taken away from the other three women’s ladder matches, I realized there wouldn’t really be enough. The Riott Squad is done, half of Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose) is in the other match, Nia Jax is injured, and so on.
With that in mind, I figured it would only make sense to have two for this: one for the Raw and SmackDown rosters, and one combo of NXT and NXT UK.
I hereby present to you my breakdown of how I personally think this would go down, and I invite you to do the same in the comments below!
Let’s get started with the NXT and NXT UK group.
NXT and NXT UK Tag Teams – List of Competitors
I’m trying to stick to an eight-team lineup, even though I counted 11 options that could have worked. Ultimately, I decided to follow the WWE methodology of 4 and 4.
Also, I’m treating this as The Viking Raiders and Grizzled Young Veterans are the champions at the time of booking this match.
From NXT
- Brit-Am Bruisers — Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch could have fit for 205 Live or NXT UK’s tag team division, but I chose to use them here, as NXT needs them.
- The Forgotten Sons — They haven’t hit their stride yet, but we’re not working with much.
- The Street Profits — Man, I like these guys, and I wish they would be in a much better spot right now.
- The Undisputed ERA — No explanation needed.
- Note: If the belts are on any of these teams, insert a makeshift team to fill in another spot like Cezar Bononi and Adrian Jaoude, or Rinku Singh and Saurav Gurjar.
From NXT UK:
- Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews — These guys need a team name. What should WWE call them? Don’t say Andrewebster.
- Gallus — To be even more specific, Mark and Joe Coffey would be the representatives here. Wolfgang is elsewhere.
- Imperium — European Union, Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner, whatever you want to call them. They obviously should want to become tag team champions, and there’s nothing standing in their way of trying to fight for those belts.
- Moustache Mountain — No explanation needed.
It was tough to eliminate three teams from the mix, as even though Tyson T-Bone and Saxon Huxley were a guaranteed nix, the other two were difficult to pick. Ultimately, I went with The Hunt as they haven’t established themselves as much yet, and Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams, because they are already in the tag title picture against Grizzled Young Veterans.
With that being the field of competitors in the match, which one of them would more than likely walk out with the briefcase?
Winner and Plans
NXT needs stability in the tag team division right now, so I didn’t want to give any of those teams the win. Instead, this felt like it had to go to NXT UK to allow for some headway to be made against Grizzled Young Veterans.
At the end of the day, I’d go with Moustache Mountain as my winners. They already lost their match to Zack Gibson and James Drake, but they should be the champions to come, so that they can feud with Gallus and Imperium.
Raw and SmackDown Tag Teams – List of Competitors
Here are the eight picks I opted to go for, with what was available to me. I decided not to do 4 for Raw and 4 for SmackDown, because the options were just too bad that way (ie, I didn’t want The Colons in there)
- The B-Team — These two are the jobbers of the match.
- The Good Brothers — Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are still worth something, even if WWE doesn’t seem to recognize that.
- Heavy Machinery — Don’t count these guys out.
- Lucha House Party — High-flyers are fun in these matches, and the third member could even get involved at some point.
- The Revival — Dash and Dawson would have to be in the top tier of potential winners.
- Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura — Why are these two a team? I hate this. But, it’s a thing.
- The Usos — No explanation needed.
- The Viking Raiders — Again, no explanation needed.
As I didn’t have access to AOP, The Hardy Boyz, The Fashion Police, The New Day and The Bar due to injuries, this was the best I could do. I ignored The Colons, Heath Slater and Rhyno, The Singh Brothers and The Ascension, as they just weren’t as good as the others. I think we can all agree on that.
Winner and Plans
Ultimately, while I feel like The Viking Raiders are the obvious picks, I don’t think I’d go with them. They are more than capable of winning the Raw Tag Team Championship on their own, especially with Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins holding the belts.
The Usos wouldn’t need it, Lucha House Party would be a waste, Rusev and Nakamura shouldn’t even be a pair to begin with, The B-Team is a joke and while I find Heavy Machinery entertaining to an extent, I don’t think a briefcase cash-in would be the best direction for them.
That leaves just The Good Brothers and The Revival. Frankly, I’d be cool with either team winning something like this, and all the possible scenarios. Just for shits and giggles, I’d love to see them “cash in” on the vacated SmackDown tag titles and instantly become the new champions. That would be an interesting way to use the briefcase that we haven’t seen in the past, right?
Those are my thoughts on the issue, but how would you imagine WWE would do this if it were to happen? Tell us your fantasy booking scenario in the comments section below!
