WWE Raw: Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins’ loss should kick-start their push

Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins may have lost the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships, but this shouldn’t be the end of their time in the spotlight.

Before they defended their tag titles on the June 10th episode of WWE Raw, Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins cut a quick promo about their time as champions.

“You can calls this a Cinderella story, that’s adorable, that’s cute, we’ll take it. But guess what, it’s not midnight yet,” declared Curt Hawkins after reflecting on their title reign.

After that, Hawkins and Ryder’s music hit, and they went to the ring for their triple threat title match against The Usos and The Revival.

In spite of that defiant promo, Hawkins and Ryder proceeded to lose their belts to Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson.

It was somewhat of an unremarkable end to an unremarkable time as champions for Ryder and Hawkins. Now, that’s not an indictment of either Zack Ryder or Curt Hawkins. It’s just the truth of the situation.

WWE really never gave them a chance to carve out a memorable run. They had their WrestleMania moment, showed up on Raw a few times, got beaten up on more than one occasion, and that’s really it. That’s basically the total story of their reign as Raw Tag Team Champions.

That doesn’t have to be the end of their story as a team though.

This last chapter, a defeat at the hands of The Revival, doesn’t have to be the last we see of Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins as a tag team, nor should it be. Heck, it doesn’t have to be the last time we see them as champions either.

Ryder and Hawkins are both talented superstars. They’ve shown throughout their time in WWE that they have an ability that not even some of the most heavily pushed talents have had.

They are both capable of creating fan support all on there own.

We saw Zack Ryder do just that when he created his own YouTube show, and quickly became one of the most popular stars in WWE. We saw Curt Hawkins do it in spite of losing, and losing a lot. Instead of just going along with that role, Hawkins made a storyline out of it. He made himself into an unlikely underdog story, ultimately one that made their moment at WrestleMania 35 this year that much sweeter.

You don’t see that with every talent that comes through WWE. It’s something pretty special, and it’s something that should lead these 2 to even greater heights after losing their titles.

WWE’s tag team division, as a whole, is shallow right now. There’s no hiding it. At the moment, there’s basically about 5 or 6 teams, at most, that are getting consistent enough air time to support the 2 WWE Tag Team Championships.

With that being said, WWE should have no excuse to not find a role for a team of natural underdogs like Ryder and Hawkins in the division.

From here, they can easily move on to a rivalry with The Revival to get back their tag titles. They really didn’t have a feud with Dash and Dawson on the road to WrestleMania. Now could be there time to change that, by having them fight back against the underhanded tactics of The Revival in the same vein as teams like The New Day did during their feud with WWE’s ‘Top Guys’.

On the other hand, this loss could push Ryder and Hawkins to the back of the pack for a bit. Considering The Viking Raiders weren’t in that title match, and that they destroyed Hawkins and Ryder a few weeks ago, a feud with Hanson and Rowe could easily be on the table as well.

Similarly to the potential feud with The Revival, Ryder and Hawkins could play the underdog role to a tee against The Viking Raiders, struggling to eek out victories against a team who greatly outmatches them in both size and strength.

Either way, it seems like there should be no issue with WWE finding a clear role for Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins.

This title loss, while marking the end of their time as champions, shouldn’t have to mark the end of their time on WWE TV. In fact, this loss could actually be the impetus for WWE finding a way to give them more airtime, and an even better storyline, than the one they had as champions.

In other words, it shouldn’t be midnight yet for the team of Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins in WWE.