Big E and Xavier Woods captured the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at Extreme Rules in a Triple Threat match for The New Day’s sixth total reign, but who will the legendary faction face at WWE SummerSlam 2019?
There’s a chance The New Day will hold all the gold heading into WWE SummerSlam 2019. After The New Day defeated Heavy Machinery and The Planet’s Champions to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, Kofi Kingston successfully retained his WWE Championship by pinning Samoa Joe after a little Trouble in Paradise.
The tag team divisions in WWE are feeling a little bit of a, cough, revival in 2019, and The New Day have remained at the forefront of it with Big E and Woods killing it in between the ropes. Woods has been particularly brilliant, as his selling during Extreme Rules was a reminder of his prodigious in-ring talent.
This could be the start of another memorable run with the titles, especially if the feud with Erick Rowan and Daniel Bryan continues to rage onward.
Barring another twist, The New Day should head into The Biggest Party of The Summer as the SmackDown Tag Team Champions, but who could they face off against? Here are three possible opponents on a roster loaded with championship-worthy opponents for one of wrestling’s greatest factions of all-time.
The Club
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson will be itching to get their hands on tag team gold again, as AJ Styles captured the United States Championship for the third time in his career by defeating Ricochet at Extreme Rules. Styles can thank both of his friends for valuable assists during the match, and perhaps he could help play a role in them winning titles.
The Club, unlike Styles, aren’t wild cards and are technically bound to Raw. But Gallows and Anderson don’t seem like guys who play by the rules, and they could join up with Styles to invade SmackDown Live.
That could set up a tag title match against The New Day at some point in the near future, perhaps even at SummerSlam.
It would make more sense for The Club to win the Raw Tag Team Championships off of, say, The Usos at some point between now and Survivor Series to set up a faction war in November against The New Day.
But it’s also possible for a seed to be planted for that future match by having The Club take on The New Day at SummerSlam. Because this match will be so freaking good, I highly doubt anyone would complain about watching Gallows, Anderson, Big E, and Xavier Woods battling it out on Aug. 11 in Toronto.
Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan
It honestly seems like a near guarantee for The New Day and The Planet’s Champions to have a barnburner at SummerSlam, which has traditionally been a strong Pay Per View for The New Day. Recall that they defeated Erick Rowan and Luke Harper, aka The Bludgeon Brothers, at last year’s iteration of the show.
Daniel Bryan and Rowan are undoubtedly seething after losing the SmackDown Tag Team Championships to The New Day at Extreme Rules, whom they view as a “joke” tag team despite the fact that they are now in their sixth reign as tag champions.
The New Day proved that they could best Rowan and Bryan in a Triple Threat match, so their next task will be showing the heel duo that they can defeat them in a singles match.
A big-ticket tag match at SummerSlam could help show WWE fans how strong tag team wrestling in the promotion is right now, so The New Day vs. The Planet’s Champions would have stakes beyond the titles themselves.
On paper, there doesn’t seem like a better matchup for Xavier Woods and Big E than Bryan and Rowan, who have been awesome since joining up together earlier this year in their quest to save the earth.
The Viking Raiders
It still feels weird calling them “The Viking Raiders”, but not as weird as calling Hanson and Rowe “Erik and Ivar”. That said, they are the same performers behind the gimmick, and are two of the best athletes in wrestling.
Their matches at TakeOver specials, specifically at NXT TakeOver: New York over WrestleMania weekend this year, have been stellar, so it would be exciting to see them get an opportunity to woo the crowd at a venue as big as SummerSlam.
This is more outside the box thinking, but Viking Raiders vs. The New Day could be as good as any possible tag match in WWE in terms of pure in-ring quality.
Erik, Ivar, Big E, and Xavier Woods are all exceptional athletes and among the most creative wrestlers around, plus Woods’s selling for Erik and Ivar would undoubtedly be genius. All four are also strong technical wrestlers, and Big E could have some particularly fun exchanges with Ivar.
The Viking Raiders honestly wouldn’t have a shot at winning the SmackDown Tag Team Championships off of The New Day, so that’s a second roadblock to this match actually happening. WWE would see this result as too predictable, in addition to being worried that The Viking Raiders don’t have enough name value for the SummerSlam card.
Still, this match is worth thinking about, since it could be a great surprise and a fast-paced match on a SummerSlam card that will be filled with more emotional, bitter feuds.