Top contenders named for WWE Tag Team titles
Over the last month, we have seen a tournament taking place over both RAW and Smackdown!, in order to determine new top contenders for the WWE Tag Team titles, currently held by Team Hell No! (Daniel Bryan and Kane). Not only has the tournament been designed to create new contenders, but has also been a tool to continue revamping the once-fledgling tag team division, one of Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s pet projects since taking a top position within WWE.
The tournament consisted of several established teams and several new/makeshift ones, and it is the latter that will be getting the shot at this Sunday’s Hell In A Cell pay-per-view event. The Rhodes Scholars, the new (and undefeated) team of Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow, will be getting the shot at titles, having won the tournament this past Monday night.
The Scholars were somewhat of a thrown-together team, but have already shown great chemistry, and have a great gimmick to back up the team, being that they are the smartest team in the entire company. After mowing down more established teams, they faced another makeshift team in Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara in the finals on Monday night. While Mysterio and Cara were early favorites to win the tournament from day one, it was not meant to be. The Scholars were victorious, and now move onto the PPV.
Now, the question is, who comes out on top? While Team Hell No! is a makeshift team in their own right, using the staple gimmick of “two guys that hate each other but are forced to work together”, the fact is they have been so incredibly entertaining as a team that it would not be surprising to see them victorious at the PPV. On the other hand, teams like this only have so long of a shelf life, and it’s not long before they are split up in order to begin a one-on-one feud. Kane and Bryan have feuded in the past, so this is certainly a possibility. At the same time, Rhodes and Sandow are individually two of Levesque’s “pet projects” in the company, and will continue to be elevated as stars over the next year. A run with the tag team titles, even a short one, would certainly be a step in the right direction. This is especially true for Sandow, who has yet to taste gold in WWE.
I am predicting a win here for the Scholars, with a potential feud against the team of Mysterio and Cara for the remainder of the year.