Well, its about time to finally have a conversation that a majority of wrestling fans are thinking about. WWE, now you guys have done all you can to try and make the women’s division as relevant as it can be. Unfortunately, one of Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s biggest failures as head of creative is the Women’s division, especially the treatment/booking of their Women’s Tag Team Championship. It’s a tragedy to see where a championship that had so much potential in the beginning turn into a complete joke and having fans all over the internet asking WWE to discontinued the belts and take us out of our misery. Let me tell you what happened to the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles and why it is cursed.
The true downfall of the Women’s Tag Team Championship started on a fateful night in May. The then champions Naomi (Trinity) & Sasha Banks (Mercedes Mone) walked out of Monday Night Raw after a meeting with Vince McMahon. Basically, these two ladies were upset of their creative ideas and placement in the division and thought that their reign as tag team champions was to put over other wrestlers, such as Ronda Rousey and Bianca Belair. After the initial shock of these two walking out of the company and having Michael Cole saying “They let us down” (Vince probably told him to say it), there was a two-month period where the titles were vacated. After the tournament, which was won by Raquel Rodriguez & Aliyah, that is when the wrestling gods (ain’t talking JBL) said “your titles will be worthless and anyone who has those titles, they will be cursed”.
Raquel Rodriguez & Aliyah (13 days)
On August 29, 2022, Raquel Rodriguez & Aliyah defeated the newly formed team of Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai & Iyo Sky) on an episode of Monday Night Raw. This makeshift team will not be the last time we see Ms. Rodriguez on a team that was made out of creative misfire. These two ladies had only two matches as champions before losing the belts to Damage CTRL on the September 12, 2022 on Raw. This was the last match for Aliyah because she suffered an elevated first rib and AC sprain and WWE just placed Raquel with another partner in Shotzi. Aliyah has been medically cleared for a while but there have been no creative plans for her return.
Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai & Iyo Sky) (49 days)
This was the first reign since Naomi & Sasha that you thought WWE was actually going to put over with a solid reign. The group just formed alongside Bayley at Summerslam a month prior and this was during the honeymoon phase of Triple H’s creative reign. It was an okay reign for the month and 19 days that the duo were champions. Damage CTRL only successfully defended the titles once on an episode of Friday Night Smackdown against Raquel Rodriguez & Shotzi. On the Halloween Night edition of Raw, Damage CTRL lost the tag titles to Alexa Bliss & Asuka, which at the time, didn’t make any sense.
Alexa Bliss & Asuka (5 days)
So, for the third time in their careers, both Bliss and Asuka were Women’s tag champs. The question was, why? You had a premium live event coming up the following Saturday, called Crown Jewel, what was the point of the title change? Just another puzzling creative decision during a time that you needed stability in the tag team division. It’s almost like the guys backstage literally throw darts at the wall when it comes to the Women’s tag team division and see what sticks.
Damage CTRL (2) (114 days)
At Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 5, 2022, Damage CTRL rose back to the top of the tag team ranks by beating Bliss & Asuka with help from Nikki Cross, who was going through a crazy phase. They had the tag straps when WWE had their first main roster WarGames match in a losing effort. Yet again, the titles weren’t treated fairly because Damage CTRL had only one title defense on television on the December 16th edition of Friday Night Smackdown against the makeshift team of Liv Morgan & Tegan Nox. The titles were only truly defended on live events, while on Raw & Smackdown, they were sidekicks to Bayley and her escapades.
Becky Lynch & Lita (41 days)
On February 27, 2023, Damage CTRL lost their titles to the dream team of “The Man” Becky Lynch and WWE Hall of Famer Lita on Raw. This was to further the feud between Becky Lynch and Bayley and to put a little smoke to the fire to the potential WrestleMania matchup. Becky and Lita actually had the titles at WrestleMania as they defeated the full Damage CTRL faction (Bayley, Dakota Kai & Iyo Sky) alongside fellow Hall of Famer Trish Stratus. Nine days after their WrestleMania win, the two ladies were supposed to defend their titles against Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan, but Lita suffered a kayfabe injury which brought Trish Stratus as a substitute.
Raquel Rodriguez (2) & Liv Morgan (39 days)
With Trish Stratus replacing Lita in the tag title match, Raquel & Liv took the titles from Becky & Trish on the April 10th, 2023 edition of Raw. This reign began Trish’s heel turn and feud with Lynch while Raquel & Liv get to have a reign. At least they had a successful title defense against the Karens (Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville). Unfortunately, just like most things, it ended badly as the titles were vacated due to Liv Morgan suffering a shoulder injury. At this point, the dirt sheets were trying to say that WWE was trying to have a stable tandem to develop the division but how many times have we heard the same song and dance before?
Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler (3) (33 days)
After the titles were vacated again due to other circumstances, there was a fatal – four- way match to determine new Women’s Tag Team Champions, it was between Raquel & Shotzi, Damage CTRL (Bayley & Iyo Sky), Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville and Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler. Rousey & Baszler would win the contest. The dirtsheets had this team as that ‘stable’ team to develop the Women’s tag team division. The claims were made further as two/fourths of the Four Horsewomen of MMA defeated the then NXT Women’s tag team champioms Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn in a title unification match on the June 23th, 2023 edition of Smackdown. You want to know how they lost those titles? During their title match against Raquel & Liv at Money In The Bank, Shayna turned on Ronda, setting up their hastily booked feud and Liv pinned Ronda to win the belts again.
Raquel Rodriguez (3) & Liv Morgan (2) (16 days)
Another reign for these two. The titles love to be used like hot potato, reminds of the TNT Championship after Miro lost it. We didn’t even get a chance to see them truly cook as a unit because Liv Morgan suffered another injury. Injuries happen in pro wrestling, but the fact that these two ladies could not catch a break is downright sad. After a 16-day reign as champs, the two ladies lost the titles to the Karens (Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville) on a recent episode of Monday Night Raw. Ever since then, Rodriguez has reignited her feud with the WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley while Liv is still recovering from injury.
Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville/Piper Niven (37+ days)
The final team on this tour, is the most recent tag champions. With this title reign, Sonya Deville has finally become a champion in WWE after years in the game and Chelsea Green has solidify herself as Triple H’s best signing during his creative tenure. Unfortunately, as the title of this editorial states, the curse is real. During a tag match between Charlotte Flair/Bianca Belair (Can they Co-Exist trope) & the tag champs, Deville suffered a torn ACL which was first confirmed by TMZ and then Deville made a video confirming the injury. Instead of vacating the titles, Piper Niven took the title and she and Green are the tag champs. So, at least the title didn’t get passed around to another makeshift team.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship have been passed around too many times to count. Ever since Sasha Banks & Naomi left the company, the tag straps have went on a downward spiral with fans all over the WWE universe asking for the titles to be disbanded in favor of a midcard championship for the women’s division. Smart booking wouldn’t even help this title now because no one pays attention to the belts. Also, you took a belt away from NXT, who has a better division than the main roster, and majority of the girls are booked pretty well, despite the circumstances. Let’s hope and pray that Triple H can book a proper Women’s tag team division now, but it is a tough road ahead.
