WWE News: SmackDown Live Tag Team Championships to be defended at Stomping Grounds
After the match was teased backstage a few weeks ago, it appears that Heavy Machinery will get their first chance at tag team titles this Sunday at Stomping Grounds. During their match with the B-Team on SmackDown Live, it was announced that they would be challenging Daniel Bryan and Rowan for the belts at Stomping Grounds.
During the match, Bryan repeatedly mocked the challengers to his titles, calling their homage to the Bushwhackers a joke while also praising the former gimmick of the WWE Hall-of-Famers, the Sheepherders.
Heavy Machinery actually laid the challenge out a couple of weeks ago after Bryan and Rowan said that the SmackDown Tag Team division was a joke. The Planet's Champions didn't think that the new duo had done anything close to earning a title shot, and they were right.
But with the state of the division on the blue brand, they were the closest thing to a tag team that could feasibly challenge the current champions. Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura have been absent from the blue brand but are also heels. The B-Team did have a run with the RAW Tag Team Titles, but it was during a weird period on RAW last Summer where almost every team was made up of two singles stars.
With the Authors of Pain slated to return any day now, it only would have made sense for them to challenge Bryan and Rowan if they were returning as faces. Since they are better suited as heels, it wasn't the right time.
Bryan's comment during his promo about the division being a joke might have been WWE's admission that they had a lot of work to do regarding a repair of the division. With so many wrestlers on the roster, any number of teams could be formed. The timing, however, is right for the big boys since they are a team and new to the main roster.
Lacey Evans also has had two titles shots right away and it is an easy storyline device to give new stars a title shot right away. The champs can easily say that they haven't earned anything close to a title shot, and that's exactly what was said regarding Heavy Machinery and the Planet's Champions.