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 everything I can think of revolving around the tri-branded Women’s Tag Team Championship situation.
Let’s start with what we already know…
THE WOMEN’S TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Who are the current champions?
The Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection are the first and current women’s tag team champions for this new lineage of the championship. They won the titles in February during an Elimination Chamber match that featured three teams from Raw and three teams from SmackDown Live.
Since then, Bayley and Sasha Banks have made it a point to say they want to be fighting champions and will defend the titles across both brands, as well as NXT.
Who will challenge for the title at WrestleMania?
One team is obvious, with two others in the air as likely options, but not necessarily guarantees.
WWE wouldn’t have gone through the effort of setting up the return of Beth Phoenix and Natalya as a tag team just to have them brawl with Nia Jax and Tamina a few times and be skipped over for WrestleMania. At the very least, we can count The Divas of Doom as certainties for this match.
Jax and Tamina also seem like locks, unfortunately. I’m not a fan of that decision at all, as those two not only failed to win the titles at Elimination Chamber, they also came up short at Fastlane. Why do they deserve a third title opportunity? They don’t, but WWE clearly wants them in there to be the monster heels, so whatever.
But The IIconics have also thrown their names in the hat for a title shot. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay showed up at Fastlane during the kickoff to talk some trash about Bayley and Banks, which they followed up with a promo on SmackDown Live.
Their argument is that SmackDown is being ignored and that they deserve an opportunity at the titles. While I agree with them that the blue brand hasn’t been featured (to no surprise, considering WWE’s viewpoint of the B-show), I can’t say I agree that Royce and Kay are primed for a title opportunity.
They fell short of winning the same Elimination Chamber match, so they already had their chance. However, if SmackDown needs a team to represent the women’s tag team division for WrestleMania, there aren’t any other options, as Fire & Desire seems to be splitting and Fabulous Glow doesn’t appear to be a thing anymore. Plus, both of those teams lost at Elimination Chamber, too.
But here’s what’s funny about all this to me. How come NXT is being ignored? After all, if this is supposed to be a belt that is cross-branded between all three shows, why no Sky Pirates? That’s WWE for you, setting up the ideas and then not capitalizing because plans changed.
It’s also interesting that for the longest time, Trish Stratus and Lita appeared to be the locks for this match, yet they haven’t been brought up since before the titles were even unveiled. Curious. Is that being saved for SummerSlam or something?
In my mind, we’re getting a Fatal 4-Way. It will be The Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection vs. Jax and Tamina vs. The Divas of Doom vs. The IIconics, and WWE will just hope nobody cares or notices that there are two teams from Raw in that mix and none from NXT.
What happens at and after WrestleMania?
Bayley and Banks are retaining the titles. There’s no way they went through all this to put the belts on them just to drop them to The IIconics or Jax and Tamina, and I can’t imagine Beth is sticking around long enough to have an actual run with the tag titles alongside Nattie.
After that point, there will be a stretch of time of a little over a month where WWE won’t need to figure out what to do with the belts quite yet, as the next event is the Saudi Arabia show on May 3rd and it’s highly unlikely the female superstars will be allowed to compete.
Money in the Bank will be the first time, outside of Raw, SmackDown and NXT, that the tag titles will be potentially up for grabs, and even then, it isn’t a certainty. WWE could opt for Banks and Bayley to be in the titular ladder match for the briefcase instead.
Either way, I think those two are keeping these belts until at least SummerSlam, if not longer, to set up some other big matches (Trish and Lita, The Bella Twins – I don’t buy Brie’s whole retirement one bit, The Sky Pirates, etc) before the belts go to some other team.
Keep the discussion going by leaving your comments below and telling us what you think about this title situation for WrestleMania 35!
