As expected after losing the SmackDown Tag Team Titles to The Hardy Boyz, The Usos were sent to Monday Night Raw in the Superstar Shakeup. With a fresh start on Team Red, The Usos have an equally fresh batch of teams to mix it up with.
The last two years since The Usos were drafted to SmackDown Live have unquestionably been the team’s best stretch of their careers. The duo’s catchy entrance theme, fiery promos and frequent top-tier performances put them at the forefront of the discussion for best tag team in wrestling.
The Usos claimed their record fourth SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Fastlane and while well deserved, it could be argued that there was little left for the team to accomplish on SmackDown.
Once they lost the titles to The Hardy Boyz, the writing was on the wall.
The handling of Raw’s tag team division has been a heavy subject of scrutiny in recent years and deservedly so. Since The New Day’s record-breaking Raw Tag Team Championship run, the titles have changed hands sixteen times excluding Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins’ current reign.
Out of those sixteen reigns, not a single one made it to the three month mark.
The division has suffered tremendously from instability and lack of featured time despite having talents such as The Revival at its disposal. Bringing The Usos over to Raw gives the the division a much needed boost and opens a realm of opportunity for show-stealing tag team bouts.
5. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder
Realistically, The Usos can place themselves in contention for the Raw Tag Team titles right out of the gate. As former six-time tag team champions, they definitely boast the resume to do so as early as next month’s Money in the Bank event.
The match—if made a reality—presents a unique dynamic. Hawkins and Ryder would be the clear underdogs as champions for their losing ways and years apart, both preceding the duo’s upset over The Revival at WrestleMania.
A win for The Usos would quickly confirm their position as Raw’s top tag team, usurping the current titleholders’ run while still in its relative infancy and continuing to reset the dynamic of the tag team division.
On the other hand, a win for the former Major Brothers would be a huge boost to their credibility as the reigning champions.
Hawkins and Ryder weren’t positioned favorably before becoming tag champions, so a few victories over The Usos would go a long way towards erasing their “underdog” status. The Usos are still fresh off of a SmackDown Tag Title reign and established themselves enough on SmackDown to the point that a loss wouldn’t hurt them much at all.
4. AOP
As of this writing, Akam’s injury status is still unconfirmed but when he returns, AOP mixing it up with The Usos is a welcome possibility.
AOP got off to a shaky start on Raw last year, going from squash matches to nothing at all, and to being victims of the name shortening spree to a very short tag title reign, before Akam ended up on the shelf.
A few months away gives AOP a chance to come back revitalized, meaner than ever and most importantly, with a clear direction. The Usos are a perfect tag team for AOP to reintroduce themselves against.
Since debuting on the main roster, AOP has yet to have a standout rivalry to the level that they did with #DIY and Sanity in NXT. Going straight after a tenured and accomplished team like The Usos is a great way for AOP to stake their claim as the juggernaut tag team on Raw.
The Usos’ guts and determination against AOP’s strength and physicality is a recipe for solid tag team matches down the road. It would just depend on exactly when Akam is cleared to complete.
3. The Viking Experience
Don’t let the absurdly silly and pointless name change fool you. The former War Raiders and current NXT Tag Team Champions are the furthest thing from a joke.
Despite the drastic difference in attire choice between The Usos and The Viking Experience, both teams have something in common.
They were both brought over to Raw from their respective brands in the Superstar Shakeup and won their debut. Both teams are new arrivals looking to make an impact and take the tag team division by storm, so with that mutual goal in mind; they seem bound to cross paths.
The Viking Experience are unique in that they can toss their opponents around and—specifically in Ivar’s case—take flight as needed. Having already scored a pinfall victory over the reigning tag champs in eight-man action, The Viking Experience is off to a hot start on Team Red.
Given how AOP was handled last year, the jury is still out on whether The Viking Experience’s momentum is actually going to remain intact, but a rivalry with The Usos isn’t a bad way to guarantee that.
As staples of the tag division for many years, The Usos already have a decent argument to be the next title contenders and as victors over the reigning champs, so does The Viking Experience.
One or a few battles between the two should determine what team is truly next in line for a shot at the Raw Tag Team Championships.
2. Aleister Black and Ricochet
Few people expected Aleister Black and Ricochet to be brought over from NXT as a tag team, but the results have been nothing short of fantastic thus far.
In just two months as a team, they’ve received shots at the Raw, SmackDown, and NXT Tag Team titles, as well as winning this year’s Dusty Rhodes Classic to earn their shot at the latter.
Now that both are confirmed to be part of Monday Night Raw after months of floating between brands, a trip to the Uso Penetentiary can set the Raw tag team division on fire.
The two teams are no strangers to each other as they crossed paths on the road to WrestleMania over the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. The Usos went on to retain their titles in a Fatal Four Way—also involving The Bar, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev—at the event, but the door is still wide open for these teams to square off now that they’re all on Raw.
The Usos’ reputation is well-documented and Black, as well as Ricochet, are shoe-ins to be main-eventers within the next few years.
The result of these two teams doing battle are just about guaranteed to be off the charts.
1. The Revival
The Revival just recently lost the Raw Tag Team Titles and were on the losing end of a rematch against Hawkins and Ryder. Unless there’s a drastic change, their next title opportunity isn’t likely to happen in the immediate future.
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder have been a highlight of an unstable and under-promoted tag team division, and their Raw Tag Team Title victory was long overdue.
With the influx of new teams on Raw creating a variety of scenarios to experiment with, the instability and lack of promotion should subside. A potential quick fix for both is putting the “Top Guys” against The Usos.
The Usos are a flashy, high-impact package with their frequent use of splashes and superkicks. The Revival’s modus operandi is the polar opposite of that. The difference of styles should mesh wonderfully as both teams have the grit and toughness to put on high-caliber performances against each other.
Before The Usos came to Raw, The Revival was the top tag team in the division.
Now that the Superstar Shakeup is over with, the pecking order will start to shuffle with all tandems jockeying for position. What better way for The Revival to keep themselves near the top of Raw’s tag team ladder than by mixing it up with its biggest tag team acquisition?