WWE: The Revival vs. Harlem Heat needs to happen at WrestleMania 36
By Donny Starr
The Revival vs. Harlem Heat needs to happen at WrestleMania 36, especially after how The Revival ambushed Booker T during the WWE TLC Kickoff Show Sunday.
Booker T was analyzing who could stop the Authors of Pain, never mentioning The Revival. That’s when the three-time tag champions stormed the panel and went right to challenge the WWE Hall of Famer’s words.
Predicting they would win the tag titles a fourth time that night, Dawson challenged Booker T and his brother Stevie Ray to a match. He said, “This ain’t no network stuff, this is serious … How about you Houston Boys come to North Carolina and see what it’s like?” Wilder added, “Maybe Harlem Heat can stop The Revival.”
In response, Booker T said on his podcast that, “These guys talking about a match. Me and my brother ain’t off to wrestling nobody right now.” He added, “Dawson, Wilder…You want us? You might want to rethink that because you could be about to ruin your careers.”
Booker T’s brother and Harlem Heat partner, Stevie Ray, made a response of his own over on Twitter.
The Revival vs Harlem Heat at WrestleMania 36 works. Why? Because both teams just have that old school feel to them.
Both Dawson and Wilder could easily have fit into the Attitude Era, or even been WCW Superstars themselves. They’re not flashy and they’re not trying to be. They are what I’d like to call a “tag team’s tag team.”
When tag teams face The Revival, it’s not going to be this one-sided event. Everyone is involved.
For example, they made Shorty G and Mustafa Ali look like they’ve been tag teaming together for years. Their SmackDown match on Dec. 13 was an example of what tag team matches are all about. Harlem Heat carries that same charisma.
Consider Harlem Heat’s match against The West Texas Rednecks for the WCW Tag Team Championship at WCW Fall Brawl 1999. If you review that footage, you can see similar styles of tag team competition, from the space to perform to the timing of their spots. They sync very well.
The Revival can match that level of experience and set a pace that makes everyone look good and not sloppy.
This also gives Harlem Heat a great WrestleMania moment. An introduction to the WWE Universe after their Hall of Fame induction earlier this year is overdue, especially since Harlem Heat never wrestled as a team in WWE. Even Sting got a WrestleMania match when he made his first appearance in the WWE Universe.
The timing of this conflict gives The Revival and Harlem Heat three months to build to the match. This would make for good TV, having both tag teams going back and forth on the mic before having a match or two.
Harlem Heat hasn’t stepped in a ring since 2015 with their last match being at Booker’s Reality of Wrestling promotion, but don’t give me that “They’re too old” line when you all watched Undertaker vs. Goldberg.
WWE, make this match happen.