Kickoff Tag Team Match
Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin vs. Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder)
A tale of two teams - one really starting to gel, the other possibly falling apart.
The Road to Hell in a Cell
When Zack Ryder was sent to NXT to tag with former football player Mojo Rawley, he wasn’t thrilled. His WWE career hadn’t exactly gone the way he dreamed, but even as a main roster enhancement talent, he was on the main roster. But Iced Z made the best of his task, mentoring/putting up with the Hyper Hypester. Rawley and Ryder made it work, and the seemed on the cusp of really making it when they won Zack won a battle royal to earn them a SmackDown tag title shot last December.
Sadly, it was at that moment that tragedy struck. A knee injury put the former Intercontinental champ on the shelf, and sent Rawley to a solo career which mysteriously took off whenever his buddy Gronk was around.
When Zack returned, management made Hype Bros re-earn their title shot. When they came up short in that effort, things started to go south for Ryder and Rawley. The duo can’t seem to get on the same page these days, and a backstage disagreement after a recent loss lead to a tense exchange with another team on the scene - Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin.
The newly former team of amateur wrestling legends started off a lot like Hype Bros’ partnership. Gable had just seen his American Alpha partner moved to Raw, with Jason Jordan jumping to work with his father, and Benjamin thought he’d re-signed with WWE as a singles act. But duo started winning, which proved there was chemistry there.
Now, the former Team Angle member and the American Alpha-ex are looking to move up, while Hype Bros are just trying to get back on the same page.
What’s at stake?
A win gets you closer to a shot at the winner of New Day vs. The Usos (provided those teams ever stop feuding). A loss is definitely a step back, but how big of one depends which pairing we’re talking about.
Based on where their relationship is right now, Benjamin and Gable would probably use it as a learning experience - a chance to be better in their next match or feud.
Ryder and Rawley seem like they’re just looking for an excuse to snap - probably on one another. Coming up short here could mean the end of Hype Bros. It almost certainly is the last we’ll see of the happy go-lucky duo who earned a title shot in 2016.
The next chapter in the story of all four men unfolds on the Hell in a Cell pre-show.
Poll
Who wins?
This poll is closed
-
92%
Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
(199 votes) -
7%
Hype Bros
(17 votes)