When MSK successfully defended their NXT tag championships against Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch in a(n expectedly excellent) match last week, the announcers were putting over the current tag champs pretty hard. They're fighting champions, they best all comers, they're resilient, they're out for respect (i.e. the CWC still hasn't fully embraced them), etc.
Some of the running commentary shaded toward their having one of the top tag reigns in NXT history. And in terms of duration, they are getting up there but will need a few more months (and defenses) to go. According to Wikipedia (they're usually right), here are the longest NXT tag reigns (days recognized used since many were pre-taped):
- The Ascension, 343 days
- Wesley Blake/Buddy Murphy, 205 days
- Authors of Pain, 202 days
- Undisputed Era, 198, 180 and 172 days
- The Revival, 164 and 142 days
- MSK (as of 9/11/21), 158
The Ascension's long reign is moreso because NXT wasn't giving the tag division much attention in letting them amass a nearly one-year reign, so it almost feels like an asterisk (and a mark NXT might want to have somebody break). It really didn't seem like Blake and Murphy had that long of a reign before The Vaudevillians cagily brought in Blue Pants to neutralize Alexa Bliss, but I digress.
Saving most title changes to TakeOvers likely led to some inflated reigns, as NXT has since been more willing to see gold change hands on USA given the money involved. If MSK survives through the next TakeOver, it's quite possible they could go 200+ days to put them among the top.
And they benefit from not having natural challengers lined up. Hit Row and Legado del Fantasma circling each other (maybe heading toward the first intergender War Games match?) keeps them out of the hunt. The Creed Brothers looked good but it was just their first match. Ciampa and Thatcher, Grizzled Young Veterans, Imperium and others had their shots and lost.
Perhaps their only competition in the near term would be Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland, who may or may not feud with Lorcan and Burch first. But Pete's in the NXT title picture for the near future, so chasing tag gold wouldn't make much sense.
So with everything involving NXT, the answer to the question of whether bookers want to make MSK an all-time team is: Stay tuned.
The following Tag Team Power Rankings take into account wins, power and placement of segments, recentness of appearances, creative direction and momentum for teams and factions.
WWE Tag Team Power Rankings through Sept. 10:
1. RK-Bro (last week: 1)
Pro: Still the hottest act on Raw, as they don't even need to wrestle to get a prime spotlight throughout the show. Randy Orton also has a shot at Bobby Lashley's WWE championship at Extreme Rules.
Con: Will have to survive Lashley and MVP one more time to keep the tag titles.
2. The Bloodline (2)
Pro: Still all wearing championship gold, and good at what they do.
Con: Roman Reigns has a Beast and a Demon pursuing him, and a laughing Big E watching it all. Usos took a loss to Street Profits by DQ.
3. MSK (3)
Pro: Still the NXT champs after besting the hard-hitting team of Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch.
Con: Their reign keeps getting longer but so far it's missing a really memorable program.
4. Io Shirai and Zoey Stark (7)
Pro: Still the NXT tag titleholders, defeating Team Ninja in a fun match.
Con: But Io still doesn't like Zoey.
5. Bobby Lashley and MVP (not ranked)
Pro: Bobby is still WWE champ, and the duo won tag team turmoil to get a Raw tag title shot.
Con: MVP is still very much the weak link in that equation.
6. New Day (not ranked)
Pro: Ya boys got the prime gauntlet treatment of almost making it all the way through.
Con: Unfortunately, they still can't solve Omos and came up short of the title opportunity.
7. Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. (8)
Pro: Beat the women's tag champs on Raw.
Con: As Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox showed, beating the women's champs don't guarantee a title shot.
8. Street Profits (7)
Pro: Defeated The Usos in the SmackDown main event.
Con: It was a DQ loss, and they took a beating after.
9. Diamond Mine (not ranked)
Pro: The Creed Brothers debuting with a squash win raises their stock.
Con: Roderick Strong seems stuck in neutral until he can get another shot at the Cruiserweight Championship.
10. Natalya and Tamina (10)
Pro: Still women's tag champs. Good to see them wrestling at least.
Con: Yet all they do is lose.
Best tag segment of the week: The NXT main event of MSK-Lorcan/Burch was really good (of course), plus Dunne and Holland decided to break up their foursome after their former mates couldn't capture gold.
Grade: A-
Some good action and championship bouts this week -- albeit without any title changes -- but the main roster women's tag championship's direction remains a mystery.