{"id":164041,"date":"2026-07-07T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=164041"},"modified":"2026-07-07T00:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T04:22:19","slug":"why-fallon-henley-and-lainey-reid-should-be-the-next-wwe-womens-tag-team-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/07\/07\/why-fallon-henley-and-lainey-reid-should-be-the-next-wwe-womens-tag-team-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid Should Be the Next WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since getting called up from NXT, the members of Fatal Influence have made their presence known in a big way. Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne, and Lainey Reid debuted on Friday Night SmackDown amidst a huge wave of call-ups after WrestleMania: Vegas. Henley and Reid were impressive in NXT, but Jayne was the star of the group. She was a two-time NXT Champion and NXT Women\u2019s Tag Team Champion, as well as a one-time TNA Knockouts Champion. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was a surprise to some fans that Henley and Reid joined Jayne<\/a> on the main roster, but now they have a chance to\u00a0get some gold of their own. At Saturday Night\u2019s Main Event on July 18, Henley and Reid will face Brie Bella and Paige for the WWE Women\u2019s Tag Team Championships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is\u00a0a very interesting\u00a0matchup, as Fatal Influence\u00a0have\u00a0only been on SmackDown for two months. However, giving them\u00a0the titles\u00a0will be a good move for many reasons.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It Will Further Signify the Next Generation is Here<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Graphic
An NXT graphic of former NXT Women’s Champion Jacy Jayne, the leader of Fatal Influence. (Photo Credit: WWE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the start of 2026, many wrestlers have been called up from NXT, such as Ethan Page, Joe Hendry, Oba Femi, Ricky Saints, and Sol Ruca. Since then, Femi has been in a huge feud with Brock Lesnar, Hendry has been feuding with the Vision, Saints has been a key part in the Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams story, amongst others. <\/span><\/p>\n

W<\/span>ith that happening, some controversial departures of wrestlers with decade-long tenures, such as the New Day and Sheamus,\u00a0have left fans furious\u00a0over TKO\u2019s treatment of WWE\u2019s veterans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0obvious that the roster is getting younger, even though how\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0happening\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0make fans happy. Henley and Reid becoming WWE Women\u2019s Tag Team Champions will place the belt on two young stars who are\u00a0extremely athletic and talented in the ring. WWE has already invested in a\u00a0future\u00a0star with Lash Legend\u00a0and her tag team with Nia Jax, and highlighting two more\u00a0rising\u00a0talents in Henley and Reid would be a great decision.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid Win Will Make Fatal Influence Stronger<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"WWE
A WWE SmackDown graphic of Jacy Jayne, the leader of Fatal Influence, and Charlotte Flair. (Photo Credit: WWE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There was never a clear leader when Fatal Influence was on NXT television. However, based on her accomplishments, fans treated Jayne as the leader of the faction. They placed her ahead of Henley and Reid when there was no\u00a0clear hierarchy between them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0why the latter two getting a WWE Women\u2019s\u00a0Tag Team\u00a0Championship match is important. Winning the championships will\u00a0show fans that calling them up as well<\/a> was a good decision while also motivating Jayne to get gold of her own.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason why they\u2019re getting this match so early in their main roster careers. WWE was clearly impressed with what they\u2019ve done in NXT, and so far they\u2019ve shown that same energy on SmackDown. <\/span><\/p>\n

If all three women walk out of SummerSlam as champions, it\u2019ll show the entire women\u2019s division that Fatal Influence is an extremely powerful faction capable of beating even the best of opponents. Henley and Reid winning next Saturday could be the key to Fatal Influence becoming stars.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Title Change is Necessary for Fatal Influence<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"\"
A WWE SmackDown shot of Fatal Influence. (Photo Credit: WWE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saturday Night\u2019s Main Event will be taking place on July 18, just two weeks before SummerSlam. It may be surprising to some fans that the WWE Women\u2019s\u00a0Tag Team Championship match<\/a> is happening there. But a win for Henley and Reid also affects more than Fatal Influence. <\/span><\/p>\n

If they do win, but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0under controversial circumstances,\u00a0Bella and Paige can petition for a rematch at SummerSlam.\u00a0That will check\u00a0another box of career highlights for Fatal Influence in their short careers.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Femi wrestled Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania three months into his main roster run, and now\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0facing him at SummerSlam.\u00a0Henley and Reid potentially taking the WWE Women\u2019s Tag Team Championships into one of WWE\u2019s biggest PLE\u2019s can only help their standing in the company. <\/span><\/p>\n

Getting this much exposure\u00a0in such a short amount of time is something that many wrestlers only dream of. If Henley and Reid win next Saturday,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0clear that Fatal Influence could be the next great WWE faction.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since getting called up from NXT, the members of Fatal Influence have made their presence known in a big way. Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne, and Lainey Reid debuted on Friday Night SmackDown amidst a huge wave of call-ups after WrestleMania: Vegas. Henley and Reid were impressive in NXT, but Jayne was the star of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5338,"featured_media":164063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2192,26,3,320],"tags":[1636,8703,8992,8023,9515,194],"class_list":["post-164041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wwe","category-wrestling","category-smackdown","category-wwe-universe","category-wwe-women","tag-brie-bella","tag-fallon-henley","tag-fatal-influence","tag-jacy-jayne","tag-lainey-reid","tag-paige"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164064,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164041\/revisions\/164064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}