Often if the main-roster women's tag team scene is getting attention for anything, it's for the lack of attention from WWE. Those feel like the good old days after Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out on Raw in conflict with booking decisions, leaving the whole division (such that it is) in chaos.
By Friday, WWE's mouthpieces were burying Sasha and Naomi and the company stripped them of the titles (and moved their merch out of the WWE store). It's hard to see how the two sides mend fences very easily, and WWE would lose a lot if Sasha and Naomi did not return to TV.
Moreover, the idea of having a tag-team tournament for the vacant title is curious. The only two teams in the division -- Shayna Baszler/Natalya and Doudrop/Nikki A.S.H. -- both lost to the Boss N Glow Connection in the same week (while underscoring how hard the former champs worked to try to make the belts relevant).
With all the effort Sasha and Naomi put in, it's clear they don't see the belts as merely props to make them look just good enough to lose to singles champions. Too bad WWE doesn't see things that way, and perhaps never will. So now we wait and see if things can possibly be smoothed out and how much effort WWE puts into crowning their successors.
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 May 20:
1. The Bloodline (last week: 1)
Pro: Thanks to Roman Reigns, The Usos defeated RK-Bro to become the unified(ish) tag team champs.
Con: The post-match shenanigans showed they aren't done with the uber-popular top Raw team yet.
2. RK-Bro (2)
Pro: Riddle scored a win over Jimmy Uso on Raw.
Con: The pair couldn't carry that over into SmackDown, losing their Raw titles, albeit in a really good match.
3. Pretty Deadly (5)
Pro: The NXT men's tag champs are getting into more angles without yet having to defend their championship (til In Your House, anyway).
Con: Since they're still so new, would be great to see them wrestle more.
4. Toxic Attraction (4)
Pro: Still holding all the women's gold on NXT, and starting to line up some interesting matches.
Con: With so many enemies, will any of them work together to pry gold from the trio?
5. Whatever we're calling this AJ Styles/Finn Balor and maybe Liv Morgan faction (not ranked)
Pro: Starting to get on the same page with a win over Los Lotharios, and likely to get more time for more good matches going forward.
Con: The Judgment Day are surely lurking and plotting over what to do to the new stable.
6. Legado del Fantasma (not ranked)
Pro: Santos Escobar came up big in his main-event showdown with Tony D'Angelo, with just a little help from his friends.
Con: Given the brawl toward the end of the match, these two factions aren't done fighting over who's running the bingo.
7. Viking Raiders (10)
Pro: Won a fun big beefy boys bout with The Creeds.
Con: Are they going to have this kind of enjoyable extended match when they go back to SmackDown?
8. New Day (not ranked)
Pro: Xavier Woods scored a win over Butch with the most dangerous move in wrestling, the Back Woods. And hinted he and Kofi might have some backup.
Con: Took a beatdown (again) after the match.
9. Diamond Mine (8)
Pro: The Creed Brothers wrestled a really fun match against the Viking Raiders, gaining respect and not losing much in falling to former NXT and main-roster champs. Apparently Roderick Strong and Damon Kemp have next against Pretty Deadly.
Con: The Creeds lost because Roddy inserted himself and it looks like the splintering of the faction continues.
10. The Judgment Day (6)
Pro: Still prominent on Raw even without getting in the ring this week.
Con: Seemed odd for them to not even show up for the AJ-Finn-Liv appearance.
Best tag segment of the week: A unification match main eventing SmackDown, and a good one involving the top star in the company intervening on behalf of The Usos, wins this easily. The week needed a real highlight.
Grade: C
The Sasha-Naomi news and that WWE doesn't have a lot of other teams ready to compete for the belts overshadowed some other remarkable action among the tag scenes.
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