Possible reason why Otis and Tucker never won tag titles in WWE
Levi Cooper (f.k.a. Tucker) has opened up about the possible reason he and Otis never won the NXT, RAW or SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
Otis and Tucker, known as Heavy Machinery, failed to win the NXT Tag Team Championship during their NXT run between July 2016 and December 2018. After moving to WWE’s main roster, the popular duo unsuccessfully challenged for both the RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
Speaking to Joey Karni on The Angle Podcast, Tucker explained that Heavy Machinery’s unplanned popularity may have contributed toward their lack of title success.
“At the risk of sounding arrogant, I think maybe a part of the reason why we didn’t get those is because we were able to get over [become popular] on our own,” Tucker said. “We’re this big babyface team, like you listen to the crowd when we come out, they love us, they’re all about us. You don’t need to put the straps on us for them [fans] to be like, ‘Hey, we like these guys and we’re all about them.’”
Tucker spoke to Dr. Chris Featherstone on a recent episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling’s UnSKripted series. Watch the video above to find out more about Tucker’s eight-year spell in WWE.
Tucker on his WWE Tag Team Championship mindset
Winning the Tag Team Championship is usually considered to be the biggest achievement for any tag team in WWE.
However, in Tucker’s opinion, holding a Tag Team Championship is not as important as some people might think.
“Championships are, for lack of a better term, a television prop,” Tucker said. “It’s the prize that’s fought over. You need something when there’s an antagonist and a protagonist and they have conflict. They both have to want the same thing for that conflict. In wrestling setting, that’s what the championship exists for. Obviously, the main championship, the top prize, does come with a level of stature and there is a realness about being that guy.”
Tucker added that he and Otis never made it their real-life mission to become WWE Tag Team Champions. Instead, they were more interested in thinking of creative ways to receive positive crowd reactions during their run as a babyface tag team.
Please credit The Angle Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.