For now, The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) are back on top of the tag team division following their championship victory a week ago. In that match, they faced their rivals in The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) as well as the team that beat them for the Raw Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 33, Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. Following their less than stellar first title run, which saw the Revival lose most of their non-title matches, fans are no doubt hoping that this time is different. Now aligned with Shane McMahon, this could be the revival of, well, the Revival, which couldn’t have come at a better time.
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder made a name for themselves as a part of the NXT brand, much like most of WWE’s current crop of talent. They were NXT Tag Team Champions not once, but twice, having phenomenal matches with the likes of American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) and #DIY (Tomasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano). They had some of the best tag matches in the early history of the brand and were really the champions to put those titles on the map. Of course, that led to plenty of excitement by the fans of NXT and pro wrestling fans around the world. One of the best tag teams in all of pro wrestling was set to be called up with eyes on helping to bring back tag team wrestling in all its former glory, on the main roster.
Unfortunately, it took the “Top Guys” a lot longer than fans expected for the team to get going. They would debut the night after WrestleMania, taking on the longest tag team champions in the history of the WWE, The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E). In doing so, they got a huge victory out of the gates and it seemed they would be on the fast track to tag team gold. Quickly after their debuts, Dash Wilder was injured, as he broke his jaw and left the team waiting to come back and have their opportunity.
As Wilder would be cleared and The Revival would get back into the swing of things, with The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) seemingly being their first program, the injury bug plagued them again, this time for Scott Dawson. Dawson tore his bicep which put him and the team back on the injury list for four months, returning in the middle of December. And with that, they spent much of their 2018 on Main Event and trying to get back into the tag team title picture on the Raw brand.
After a year of being underutilized, the Revival became one of many reported talents to request their release from the WWE. They would be denied of course, as WWE would not allow a team like them to venture off and continue being one of the best teams in the world. This would draw the hand of the WWE, as The Revival would finally become Raw Tag Team Champions when they defeated Bobby Roode and Chad Gable in February. And when they finally became champions, fans around the world got excited that this would really be The Revival’s time to raise the tag team division.
Instead, they continued to lose matches on TV, seemingly never winning any non-title bouts. They would defend the championships against Gable and Roode, as well as Ricochet and Aleister Black at WWE Fastlane in a very enjoyable match. It showed that a high caliber of tag team wrestling was back in the WWE and The Revival would do all they could to keep it there. But instead, they soon lost the tag team belts they had been chasing for years. On the WrestleMania Kickoff show, the Revival lost the titles to Hawkins and Ryder as Curt Hawkins would end his incredible losing streak. This is a moment where fans began to realize that The Revival may not have been given the belts to try and make tag team wrestling great again in the WWE, but instead to embarrass them on its biggest stage, perhaps even punish them. It was a theory without much basis but that didn’t stop fans from rallying behind the Revival once again, wanting to see better for one of WWE’s best true tag teams.
While losing to Hawkins and Ryder is in no way the embarrassment and more importantly a great moment for those two friends, it would be what followed with The Usos. The two best teams the main roster has to offer and maybe even the entire company should have been handled with great in-ring action. Instead, it was turned into Vince McMahon’s comedy time. From shaving each other’s backs to the now infamous “Ucey Hot” crap, it seemed as though it was time for The Revival to suffer for reportedly not re-signing with the company. Somehow, it would take a 180′ to save the “Top Guys” from burial and that’s what we got.
#TopGuys @ScottDawsonWWE & @DashWilderWWE have joined in on the festivities! #RAW #TheRevival pic.twitter.com/4SFGV9vyrz
— WWE (@WWE) June 11, 2019
The Revival would become a part of the Shane McMahon “entourage”, allowing them to score a tag team title match just last week. They would take on the champions that defeated them as well as The Usos. The crafty veterans The Revival had become, allowed them to wait for the perfect moment to strike when Jey Uso would hit the big splash off the top on Zack Ryder. But as he went for that splash, Dawson tagged himself in and was able to pin the Ryder to win the Raw Tag Team Championships once again.
Now, is this the reviving of The Revival? We will learn pretty quickly. The tag teams that are on Raw are incredible, which can lead to very exciting match ups for the new champions. From The Usos rivalry which is where they will probably start, to the newly called up Viking Raiders (Ivar and Erik) and the veterans in Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, the hope is that tag team wrestling can be something to look forward to on Monday nights once again. If this is considered the reviving of The Revival, that can only lead to the reviving of the entire tag team division with Dash and Dawson at the helm as they always should have been.
https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1138270890905538560
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
