WWE Raw: Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode must win the tag titles now

After Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler surprisingly became number one contenders for the Raw Tag Team Championships, WWE fans might be stuck rooting for the company’s newest thrown together pairing.

It’s funny. I can remember last week when people were complaining about WWE having Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins beat multi-time world champions Gallows and Anderson on their first night as partners.

I wonder what those same people were thinking as Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode beat not one, but four established teams on Monday Night Raw?

I would assume they were none too happy, as was I when I saw the unfortunate results of the tag team turmoil match unfold.

It’s one thing for the Universal Champion and arguably top face of the company to capture the tag titles with his number one contender, but it’s something else entirely to have a team of low-level heels beat half of the WWE tag division.

I know that might sound harsh, both Roode and Ziggler are accomplished superstars and have been top heels in the past after all, but they’ve been far removed from those days lately.

Dolph Ziggler has essentially been reduced to a punching bag for everyone from Goldberg and Kevin Owens to Roman Reigns and Kofi Kingston over the past few months. With such few wins under his belt right now, especially when compared to all those high-profile losses, it just feels hard to envision him as the number one contender for anything.

Then, you have Robert Roode. He’s had some random wins and losses here and there. He also had that cool mustache a little while ago.

That’s about it.

When you combine those two track records together, you don’t really get any vibes that they could beat two teams of former tag champions, plus an up-and-coming tandem of former title contenders, in one night back-to-back-to-back.

Nevertheless, that’s precisely what happened, and now we have no choice but to hope that WWE runs with it. By that, I mean WWE actually needs to have Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode win the Raw Tag Team Championships from Strowman and Rollins at Clash of Champions.

The stakes are just too high for the reputations of all of those teams involved for any other result to happen. No matter how little it might seem WWE cares about it’s tag team divisions nowadays, It would really speak volumes if the company were to book so many talented teams to lose to two random guys thrown together just to fall to the incumbent titleholders at a B-level pay-per-view.

Don’t think that’s not a possibility either. With Braun Strowman likely having three title matches at Clash of Champions, he’s going to have to come away with some gold, or else risk looking like the world’s biggest bust.

Since Seth Rollins is the aforementioned top guy, and incumbent U.S. Champion AJ Styles is basically the only high-caliber heel left on Raw, the odds seem to be somewhat stacked against “The Monster Among Men” in those matches.

That could mean WWE has more than enough incentive to play up the tension between Rollins and Strowman as tag champs for awhile longer, especially if they want to book a questionable finish to turn the Universal Championship match into a triple threat featuring Styles down the road.

It would just be the wrong decision on so many levels. One that would do even more damage to a division that has already suffered through inconsistent pushes and lackluster storylines for months on end.

It would arguably send by the message that WWE basically doesn’t care about the optics for any of those teams involved in that tag team turmoil match, which include popular tandems that should have bright futures like The Revival and Heavy Machinery.

Instead, WWE has a chance with Roode and Ziggler now to build some heels as actual threats again, while simultaneously ensuring fresh and intriguing rivalries for the Raw tag team division for months to come.

That’s quite the positive WWE could have come from this whole situation, and would certainly be more welcome than the potential message a loss for Ziggler and Roode would send.

To sum it all up nicely then, in other words, I would bet no one expected we would be here hoping Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode became the Raw tag team champions, yet that really is the best outcome we can all hope for right about now.