Last night on Monday Night Raw, Alexa Bliss gave us our first look at the brand new WWE Women’s Tag Team titles that had been previously announced by Vince McMahon over the holidays. The titles will be cross-brand, encompassing the women of both Raw and SmackDown, and the inaugural titles will be decided in a 6-team Elimination Chamber match, featuring three tag teams from Raw and three from SmackDown, at the Elimination Chamber PPV on February 17 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Women’s Tag Team Titles: Who Will Compete
We know the where and when, but we still don’t know the who – as in who will be competing for these tag team titles. But over the past six months, the WWE has been slowly building duo alliances on each brand, creating chemistry and story, so that now we have several women’s tag teams comfortably set up to contest these titles, that haven’t been used in the WWE since they were deactivated in 1989. Here’s a look at the squads from each side that have been formed and are in contention for the Elimination Chamber match to crown the sixth WWE Women’s Tag Team titles in WWE history, and first in 30 years.
Raw: Sasha Banks & Bayley
Probably the odds on favorite to win the new Women’s Tag Team titles is The Boss N’ Hug Connection featuring real life besties Sasha Banks and Bayley. The two have worked almost exclusively tag team matches the past several months and have made it very clear that they would love to be the new tag team champions for the women’s division.
Raw: Nia Jax & Tamina
Back in November, Nia Jax turned heel once again and formed a family connection with her cousin Tamina Snuka. Since then, the duo has become a Divas of Doom of sorts, using their size and strength to wreak havoc in the women’s division. With the titles now in play, it really feels they were assembled to become a part of the new tag team division.
Raw: Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan)
One of the only true women’s stables in the WWE Universe, they’re a perfect fit to hold the belts, and could even defend it under Freebird rules with any combination of the three women. Ruby feels like more of the singles star (as of now), so she could assist Logan and Morgan to become Tag Team Champions while she continues to pursue a Women’s Championship of her own.
Raw: The Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie Bella)
Although we haven’t seen the Bella Twins since their program with Ronda Rousey ended in early November of last year, there is a new season of Total Bellas just arrived, so the WWE could bring the two back simply to boost some publicity for the “historic” Elimination Chamber match.
Raw: Mickie James & Alicia Fox
Since Alexa Bliss has been off for concussion-related injuries since October, her stable grew to include Alicia Fox alongside Mickie James. The two have become frequent tag team partners now, while Alexa directs traffic from the ring. With Alexa most likely going to be pursuing the Raw Women’s Championship upon her clearance back to the ring, she would take great joy in directing her two minions to WWE Women’s Tag Team gold to have all the bling in her stable.
Raw: Natalya & Ember Moon
The biggest longshot of the Raw squad, Natalya and Ember Moon have never fully been a proper tandem, but the veteran and the newcomer have paired up on multiple occasions over the past year on Raw. If anything, it may be a way to make Ember Moon more relevant until the Women’s Championship scene calms down from the Ronda-Becky-Charlotte drama.
SmackDown: The Iiconics (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay)
The Iiconics seem to be a given for the SmackDown side, as the duo has been the only true tag team on the Blue Brand since their debut. While they haven’t been as utilized on SmackDown as they were in NXT, people often forget that both were outstanding indie wrestlers in the Australian and US indie scene prior to joining NXT. The new tag division could be just the platform they need to finally shine.
SmackDown: Naomi & Lana
One of the newer pairings on SmackDown, for months it seemed like Naomi and Asuka were going to be a Blue Brand representative when the tag belts were unveiled. Now that Asuka is the SmackDown Women’s Champion, Noami has found a new ally in Lana, and the two have been actively feuding in another tag team battle against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. And while there’s reports Lana was hurt a while back, she most recently worked this past weekend’s SmackDown Live Events (again in tag action with Naomi), so she’s still working the shows.
SmackDown: Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville
Speaking of Rose and Deville, they’re another tandem that’s been working together since their debut, when they arrived as part of Paige‘s Absolution stable. They’re on their own now, but they’ve become a solid unit, particularly the increasingly improving Sonya Deville. They’ve teased breaking up a few times the past few months, so they’re longevity is now in question though.
SmackDown: Carmella & R-Truth
Considering R-Truth‘s penchant for not really understanding the rules very well, there’s a very good chance he finds a way to get himself and Carmella into that match. Just kidding, WWE would never stoop to that level. Would they? WOULD THEY?!?
It’s nearly 100% that the six teams will be in this list, but there’s always potential for some guest star tandems to appear for big matches to help draw more eyes to the division in its infancy. For example, Beth Phoenix could always be called out of retirement for one more match alongside her Divas of Doom partner Natalya for a title match, or as some reports are hinting, perhaps whoever wins the titles at Elimination Chamber will go on to WrestleMania 35 to defend against this iconic duo.
