WWE NXT: All 26 Champions in Brand’s History, Ranked

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20. American Alpha

2015 and the first few months of 2016 were American Alpha’s in WWE NXT. They were the most over tag team and maybe a top-five popular act on the brand. Those “Jordan-Gable” chants from the United Kingdom tour are hard to forget, including the in-ring showings they had that made them a red-hot babyface act.

So, at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, the triggered got pulled on Jason Jordan and Chad Gable, as they defeated the Revival to become NXT Tag Team Champions. It made for a crowning moment for the former amateur wrestlers, capping off their rise to the top. However, this was the brightest moment of their title run.

For the next two months, Gable and Jordan were difficult to find on TV. They had one televised match, despite defending the titles in dark bouts before the tapings began, and it was a squash. Promo time came few and far between for them, too, making their title reign feel quiet and uneventful.

Two months later, at NXT TakeOver: The End, the Revival got their rematch, and took the belts off Jordan and Gable. This made for one of the rare times a rematch resulted in a title change, but it’s one that didn’t come as a huge surprise. Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder were terrific in their first run, and with a call-up not on the horizon for them, why not take a shot at doing a second championship reign? They were more interesting than Gable and Jordan, who went out with a whimper.

It turned out that just six weeks later, American Alpha got called up to WWE, going to SmackDown Live. They even received a SmackDown Tag Team Championship run, but like with the NXT belts, this didn’t have flare. That could be due to WWE’s lack of attention to SmackDown’s tag teams, but a finger has to somewhat be pointed at the performers.