Last night on WWE Raw, we saw Curt Hawkins be the special guest referee for a Raw Tag Team Championship Match between The Revival and current champions Bobby Roode & Chad Gable. Hawkins called it down the middle, but a frustrated Revival attacked him after the match only for Zack Ryder to make the save! Could we have a reunion in the works?
After news came out that The Revival had reportedly requested their release from WWE and could be on their way out, there were plenty of eyes focused on what we saw from The Revival last night on WWE Raw. Unsurprisingly, there was an expectation that the way The Revival was used could indicate if things had changed.
This all began as The Revival approached Mr. McMahon backstage and directly pleaded their case to him about getting another shot at the Raw Tag Team Titles. They also requested a referee with perfect vision who could call the match down the middle, due to the controversial ways their prior title shots had ended.
Thanks to the timely appearance of Curt Hawkins, who has self-admittedly seen “a lot of three counts lately,” The Revival got their match and Curt Hawkins as the special guest referee. Unfortunately, the match itself didn’t really go according to plan for the self-proclaimed Top Guys.
After trying every dirty trick in the book, and being busted by Hawkins at every turn, The Revival ultimately failed to defeat Gable and Roode. Afterward, The Revival started attacking Curt Hawkins out of frustration for the way things had gone down. That’s when the real surprise happened.
With Hawkins being double teamed by Dash and Dawson, his former tag team partner Zack Ryder suddenly made his way to the ring and saved Curt Hawkins. Ryder slid in and sent The Revival packing, saving his old friend from further damage.
While some fans may have seen this as another nail in The Revival’s coffin, the entire segment actually shows the positive change since The Revival came to WWE about their frustrations. Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet reported details of Revival’s gripes, specifically their overall issues with the handling of the tag division.
"“Sources tell us the tag team’s decision to ask for their releases was based on how little time and respect the division is given. We’re told the duo is frustrated about the lack of promos, backstage segments and direction of the division. Not just for themselves, but the entire division … such as the tag match on Monday being used as a cutaway segment.One source also pointed to The Club being an afterthought on TV after coming to WWE as a major signing and Authors of Pain being absent from television not long after their debut as additional examples.We’re told the The Revival’s feelings on the subject boiled over on Monday after the tag team champions Bobby Roode/Chad Gable weren’t even featured on the show, so they asked WWE officials for their release. At this point, the request has been denied.”"
While The Revival may not have come out victorious on WWE Raw, they did succeed in ensuring the champions and the division were featured this week. Add to that the potential reunion of Hawkins and Ryder, and the tag division already seems to be heating up on WWE Raw.
We haven’t seen this two as a consistent team since all the way back in April of 2009, where Zack Ryder was drafted to the ECW brand and separated from Hawkins. While Zack Ryder has stayed with WWE since that separation, he has often struggled to find his place as a singles competitor.
Despite growing fan support, all Ryder really has to show for the last decade is two very short and forgettable title reigns, one as United States Champion and one which lasted literally a day as Intercontinental Champion. Despite an attempt to reinvent himself in NXT with Mojo Rawley as a new tag team, things never quite clicked.
Meanwhile, Curt Hawkins has had a similarly tough time on his own. After being separated from Ryder, Hawkins voluntarily moved down to WWE’s developmental territory at the time Florida Championship Wrestling. Hawkins continued to grow in FCW, and its eventual successor NXT, but was ultimately released by WWE in July of 2014.
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Hawkins, then going by his real name Brian Myers, competed on the independent scene for the next two years. He had some solid appearances in PWG, Pro Wrestling Syndicate, GFW, and even Impact Wrestling, but never really found his place and set himself apart.
In July of 2016, almost two years to the day after his release, Curt Hawkins returned and joined the SmackDown Live brand. In the over two years since that return, Hawkins has become an afterthought for many. His losing streak became historic enough to warrant a t-shirt poking fun at it, and Zack Ryder also struggled during this period.
With all of those problems, it’s no surprise that fans who remember their run as a tag team are already excited about the prospect of them reuniting. On top of their two-month run as WWE Tag Team Champions, Hawkins and Ryder were instrumental in Edge’s success on SmackDown.
Thanks to a similar physical build and hairstyle, Hawkins and Ryder started to assist Edge as a tag team simply dubbed The Edgeheads and would often switch with him in matches to distract the referee and take some punishment on Edge’s behalf. It was during this time that the team really blossomed, and fans got to see what they were truly capable of.
We’ve seen some brief on-screen reunions by these two, and a few off-television matches teaming up over the last year, but nothing that truly saw them back together moving forward. Now, with Ryder saving Hawkins from a beatdown this week, it looks like we could finally be seeing them reunite for good.
Not only would Hawkins and Ryder add depth to Raw’s struggling tag team division, but they have the opportunity to give fans the “fresh matches” that were promised during the announce of WWE’s recent “fresh start.”
Matches with them taking on the likes of The Revival, Authors of Pain, and even Gable & Roode are ones that fans haven’t seen before, and that alone makes them worthwhile. We could even see both superstars work their way back to championship gold, or at the very least Zack Ryder might help Curt Hawkins break his record-setting losing streak.