On Friday, November 8th, New Day members Kofi Kingston and Big E faced off against The Revival for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship. Prior to the match, the duo came in with armbands emblazed with the initials ‘XW’ for their teammate and friend Xavier Woods. Woods recently suffered a torn Achilles tendon. With an injury that won’t see Woods in the ring again until 2020. The remaining members came into the match with the motivation to win. With their potential seventh championship reign in the balance, what will happen?
Before that matchup even began a graphic was shown of the upcoming triple threat tag team matchup. The match pits NXT Tag Team Champions, The Undisputed Era against the Raw Tag Team Champions, The Viking Raiders against Smackdown Tag Team Champions, The Revival. Whether or not that was an omen of things to come to the duo stepped in the ring hoping for success. Wilder and Dawson are a well-seasoned tandem that is all too familiar with The New Day. This time, however, something felt different. Whether it was the added motivation, a new focus by Kofi or simply a rekindled passion to succeed. The fight amongst them was certainly on.
In a series of exchanges, the champions often tried to cut off the ring preventing the much larger Big E from coming in the ring and cementing his will. Kingston himself was coming off recently losing the WWE championship to Brock. Could that weigh on him as well or would he be able to persevere and work beyond that? Once the hot tag was made to Big E the intent was clear do to the champions what they are capable of doing to their opponents. That is to eliminate all means of retaliation. The psychology used by both teams is similar. The greatest strength in the corner of the New Day is without question the strength and size of Big E.
As the match was reaching its closing moments…
It was undoubtedly the distracted official that was trying to maintain some semblance of control. A failed attempt at the shatter machine saw Big E hoist up Wilder. In was reminiscent of the Hart Foundation Heart Attack maneuver, Kofi hit a prone and hoisted Dash Wilder with the Trouble in Paradise. He made the cover for the 1..2…3. For a seventh time, the New Day captured the Tag Team Championship. The title reigns are a combination of wins stemming from both their Raw and Smackdown reigns.
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