This past Monday on Monday Night Raw, Raw Tag Team Champions Sheamus and Cesaro defeated Titus Worldwide (Titus O’Neil & Apollo) in a Best 2-out-of-3 Falls Match to end their current feud. But with a month and a half until WrestleMania 34, there’s no clear indication who the 4x Raw Tag Team Champions could be facing in New Orleans – as Sheamus indicated, they’ve beaten all comers, from The Hardys to Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose to Titus Worldwide.
Over on Smackdown Live, The Usos seem headed towards a confrontation with The Bludgeon Brothers (Luke Harper & Erick Rowan), but with Fastlane cutting off WrestleMania 34 at the pass, this matchup may end up there instead. But The Usos also have unfinished business with Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin, giving the Usos somewhat of an idea who they’ll end up defending their titles against (either one of the two or in a Triple Threat).
THE REVIVAL
The seemingly obvious choice as The Revival have yet to have a meaningful feud on Raw since their call up from NXT, when they were seemingly the hottest tag team in the world (although back to back injuries to both Dash and Dawson didn’t help the first half of their year). They’re still somewhat feuding with Anderson & Gallows, but there’s time to insert them into a program for March to end up challenging The Bar at WrestleMania 34, although with both teams being heels, it may be something WWE creative is apprehensive to pull the trigger on. Although both seemed to respond to Sheamus’ claims this past Monday when they said no one was left to challenge them.
https://twitter.com/ScottDawsonWWE/status/968370592322916353
https://twitter.com/DashWilderWWE/status/968617721679241217
KARL ANDERSON & LUKE GALLOWS
Anderson & Gallows have had an up and down career in the WWE since arriving from NJPW with AJ Styles in 2016. They’ve held the Raw Tag Team titles, but only felt relevant when paired with either Styles or now with Finn Balor. They’ve had solid momentum and are currently in a pseudo feud with The Revival, but they also step up to challenge The Bar for the titles in New Orleans – they could even be the face lynchpins for a potential Triple Threat with The Revival and The Bar. But with Finn battling The Miz, they may end up facing The Miztourage (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) in a rematch from this past Monday on the Kick Off Show.
TITUS WORLDWIDE
They’ve been feuding with The Bar the past few weeks and had the upper hand most of the time, except when it really counted. There’s plenty of time for Titus Worldwide to fight their way back into contention and ultimately have a rematch at WrestleMania 34, and perhaps this time finally winning tag team gold.
WAR MACHINE
War Machine were notably absent in the announcement for teams for this year’s Dusty Rhodes Classic Tag Team Tournament in NXT, despite joining the Performance Center at the same time as other recruits, Ricochet and Candice LeRae, both of whom have already debuted. Could War Machine be simply be biding their time training at the PC and instead be debuting on the roster as a mystery “new” tag team to step up and challenge The Bar in the coming weeks?
AUTHORS OF PAIN
When the tournament for this year’s Dusty Rhodes Classic was announced, Triple H made an interesting comment on Twitter, that the winner would “make history on the biggest stage during the biggest weekend of the year”. While he may simply mean NXT Takeover: New Orleans, the biggest stage on WrestleMania weekend is obviously WrestleMania itself. If that’s the swerve (that the winner gets a tag team shot at WrestleMania), we could see Authors of Pain win their second Dusty Rhodes Classic and arrive on the main roster at WrestleMania itself and make their debut one for the history books.
A tournament for 8 teams to prove they’re the best, for 1 team to make history on the biggest stage during the biggest weekend of the year. The #DustyClassic is about showcasing what @WWENXT is about…and honoring the man who helped build it. #Dream pic.twitter.com/ksV1e9cAVr
— Triple H (@TripleH) February 23, 2018
Who do you think will The Bar will face at WrestleMania 34? Let us know in the comments below!
