Smackdown Live Tag Team Championships
A Fatal Four Way elimination match featured Heath Slater/Rhyno, The Uso’s, American Alpha and The Wyatt Family on Smackdown Live. The first team eliminated would be Slater and Rhyno, as Heath slipped on the rope and got a super kick from Jimmy to suffer the loss. As the action wore on, it would be The Uso’s who were eliminated second, which left American Alpha and Wyatt Family as the last two teams. With Randy Orton and Luke Harper dominating Chad Gable, including a beautiful hanging DDT, Jason Jordan was primed to get the hot tag.
When he came in he cleaned house, hitting some t-bone suplexes and clotheslines to really get rolling. Gable got healthy to get back in and hit a stalling German Suplex on Luke Harper, showcasing his great strength. As Luke Harper tried to get involved, he accidentally got hit by Randy Orton and American Alpha hit their finishers to become the new Smackdown Live Tag Team Champions.
This was an excellent bout, featuring the depth and development of four strong tag teams. I was very surprised to see Randy Orton and Luke Harper drop the titles. There was still so much untapped potential, but it is hard to argue that American Alpha needed it more. Also, Wyatt Family will get another shot at the titles and then really develop what is in store for them heading into WrestleMania. The match itself was paced well, kept the speed, agility and strength to Alpha’s favor and really proved to me that they are the best overall tag team in the company. American Alpha vs. Cesaro and Sheamus would be such a fun and enjoyable bout to watch. Maybe that can be a cross promotion of matches in Orlando.
When you think of Smackdown, you think of great in-ring competition. To kick things off, this tag team match had just about everything you wanted. It was a great showcase of talent and kicked off Smackdown Live (the wrestling portion) on the right foot.
