Viking Raiders Open Challenge
Raw Tag Team Championship match
Since they never lose two-on-two matches by anything other than the occasional disqualification, Erik & Ivar have picked up “if you want some, come get some” mantle from Hollywood superstar John Cena.
The Road to TLC
It’s an open challenge, so it’s hard to tell you about the road here. The Viking Raiders have run through just about every tag team on the Raw, SmackDown and NXT rosters, however. Which is what gives us some good options, and some not-so-good ones, for MYSTERY OPPONENTS.
The Good: AOP, The Usos
These are the two speculations/predictions which sound the best to me. Why? Because we haven’t seen them before!
The Usos can have a good match with anyone and will get a big pop for their return. Win or lose, it should be a good time.
If it’s AOP, they either need to win the belts, or dismantle Erik & Ivar in a way we haven’t seen before in the course of DQ. Having them beat or at least dominate the unbeatable champs would be a great way to establish Seth Rollins new heavies. And help us forget their last urine-centric run on Raw.
The not-so-good: The O.C., Street Profits
No offense to Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, talented veterans who’ve more than earned their spot. But WWE hasn’t done much with them lately besides call them The Best Tag Team In The World off a match in Saudi Arabia most of the audience probably never watched. And we’ve seen them face off with the Raiders multiple times over the last few months.
Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins could move up into the good options, but since they just put over the Vikings on Monday in a similar situation, I don’t have much confidence. There’s history between these teams, with Erik & Ivar being the men the Profits couldn’t beat - even their title win in NXT came after the Raiders vacated. That’s a great story, and can really show us a new side of Tez & ‘Lo. But to this point, Raw’s seemed more interested in booking them as a Heavy Machinery-esque “fun team”. If that’s the plan, I definitely don’t need to see a rematch from six days ago.
Other than that, there aren’t many options. Give Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins the shot they’re owed? Put Randy Orton & Ricochet together again? The established tag ranks are surprisingly slim.
What’s at stake?
The tag titles. And probably for some of us, our level of interest in the Monday night tag scene.
Pull up WWE Network, and join us here at Cageside Seats for our coverage, Sun., Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. Eastern and we’ll see who answers the call.
Poll
Who wins?
This poll is closed
-
68%
Viking Raiders
(739 votes) -
31%
A team that challenges them
(341 votes)