WWE: Aleister Black And Ricochet Have To Win Titles This Week, Right?

With 3 title opportunities in a single week for Aleister Black and Ricochet, it’s almost as if they have to capture WWE gold, right?

Aleister Black and Ricochet: 1 team with 3 title opportunities and just a single week to capture a set of elusive gold WWE belts. Will they achieve greatness, or experience heartbreak on a colossal scale unlike that which we’ve ever seen before?

Dramatic introduction aside, it’s almost as if WWE is putting 2 of their biggest NXT call-ups in recent history through some sick reality show, isn’t it? Take 2 of the most exciting and talented individuals in the company and give them increasingly larger, more high-profile chances to reach the top.

The entire situation just feels strangely detached from WWE’s typical style of operating. It’d be unusual for an individual or team to get two title shots for the same championship in the same week, let alone 3 opportunities at 3 separate belts in WWE.

Whether or not its the company’s intention, the whole scenario makes this week feel like a ‘make it or break it’ moment for Black and Ricochet’s future going forward.

How would Ricochet and Black even begin to bounce back from such a rapid-fire succession of disappointments if the worst case scenario were to happen and they walked away without titles?

It would almost assuredly guarantee that their tag team faded away, that’s for sure. Depending on how that grandiose level of failure would be handled creatively, it could also mean something as surprising as a heel turn for 1 of the former partners occurs, or even just a long-term push down the card.

Honestly, those scenarios both seem highly unlikely to occur though, especially given the immense level of respect WWE must have for Ricochet and Black given the spotlight they’re continuing to have on TV.

That means that although this dynamic pair was unable to capture the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships this week, the SmackDown or NXT titles will likely be there’s after WrestleMania weekend.

The question then becomes which of those belts will Black and Ricochet capture?

At first thought, I think the answer is fairly simple. ‘The One and Only’ and ‘Dutch Destroyer’ will best War Raiders at NXT TakeOver: New York in what could likely be a match of the year contender.

The high-profile nature of winning the Dusty Rhodes Classic, combined with the fact that War Raiders could arguably be in line for a post-WrestleMania main roster call-up of their own, means Ricochet and Black have a fairly clear path to victory.

However, the concept of NXT champions also appearing on both main roster shows is something we have yet to really see in WWE. It would be new ground for the company to seemingly feature two superstars that heavily, especially considering neither of them are really positioned as the face of the entire company like a Becky Lynch or Roman Reigns type would be.

On the other hand then, that leaves the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania.

A win against 3 other teams, let alone teams of the quality of The Bar, Usos, and Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev, would be huge in of itself. The fact that it would be occurring on ‘The Grandest Stage of Them All’ would just make it that much more impressive as well.

While that would be a fairly big push to give two superstars who have yet to even get 6 months on Raw or SmackDown under their belts, it makes sense in the context of how these 2 have been presented.

As I alluded to earlier, you just don’t give a team this many opportunities to shine across all major shows if you don’t see a future for them. It just wouldn’t make sense.

Arguably, that means a win at WrestleMania could easily be on the table for Ricochet and Aleister Black.

With fairly valid reasons to win both championships though, what about that completely unprecedented scenario of winning both sets of titles? Now, that would truly be uncharted waters for WWE.

Champions who hold gold on both what WWE typically considers it’s “developmental” brand, and one of it’s flagship shows, would be a sight to see.

Either which way, as long as Black and Ricochet are able to seize titles sometime during WrestleMania week, it seemingly serves to elevate the stature of NXT higher than we’ve seen it in quite some time.

Not since Kevin Owens took on John Cena in his main roster debut have we seen NXT superstars portrayed as pure equals to some of the main roster’s best competitors while still actively fighting on the brand.

No matter which titles Black and Ricochet walk out with, and with the impending Superstar Shake-Up to watch out for, that fact alone may just be the best part about this historic week of opportunities for 2 of WWE’s brightest stars.