American Alpha: Your New Smackdown Tag Team Champions

This article comes to you via Angie Clark (@angie_cee)

On this past Tuesday’s episode of Smackdown Live, we as fans witnessed some history take place, American Alpha defeated The Wyatts to become Smackdown Tag Team Champions for the first time. I’ve been a huge supporter of them since they made their debut in NXT in July of 2015 and they have done nothing but get better with passing matches they’ve had. And the fact that they beat Randy Orton and Luke Harper makes this win even more monumental in my opinion because this was a team that is a force to be reckoned with, guess not when the team you’re facing is “Ready, Willing and GABLE!” (I, for one, LOVE that catchphrase. Screw whatever crap JBL was saying about it on Talking Smack!)

When Chad Gable and Jason Jordan debuted, they brought the feel of a great, cohesive tag team that the crowd could get behind. You could tell they had worked hard on learning one another and figuring out the best way to make their tag team the best team possible. With both of them having extensive amateur wrestling backgrounds, the two worked well together. They had an amazing entrance that got you pumped and made you want to see them come out victorious and had a moveset that made you want to see what kind of magic they could create as a team. Also, because of their All-American awesomeness and amateur wrestling pasts, the “Kurt Angle but in tag team form” comparisons began…almost immediately.

Their reminiscence of Kurt Angle was so apparent that the crowds began to chant Gable and Jordan’s names to the tune of Angle’s entrance theme as well as Jordan’s signature nuance, and homage to Angle himself, of pulling his singlet straps down when he sets up for their finisher, Grand Amplitude, just like Angle used to do. When they won their first, and only NXT Tag Team Championship by beating The Revival at NXT Takeover: Dallas, the place went bananas. Everyone was thrilled to have witnessed a team that had fought so hard finally get the grand prize of being new champs.

Though their run as champions was short, as they would go on to drop the titles back to The Revival at the following Takeover special, I didn’t look at this as something to be sad about. I mean, obviously I was upset about it and would have preferred them to have more time with the titles, but I knew this would lead to something better for them. In fact, I think I tweeted about them needing to be on the main roster in the immediate future after that premature loss. But that’s why I wasn’t too sad…I KNEW we would be seeing them on Raw or Smackdown sooner rather than later.

Low and behold, the WWE Draft takes place a month later and there you have it…Gable and Jordan were drafted to the “land of opportunity” (as Daniel Bryan put it) and are now on the main roster and on Smackdown Live. They would now have the chance to showcase their talent to a wider audience and show everyone who didn’t watch NXT what they could do.

Originally slated to move on to the finals of a tag team tournament that would decide who would be the first Smackdown Tag Team Champions at Backlash, Gable was taken out by the newly heel Usos after defeating them in the semifinals, leaving them unable to compete at the upcoming event. At this point, it seemed like their rise up the ranks of the tag division went awry and I had no idea what WWE wanted for them. But in the end, this past Tuesday night, WWE got it right and crowned them the new tag team champs.

What makes this victory even better as a fan is to see how much emotion those two men have and how much passion they have for what they do… hell, anytime something good happens for them, they make ME want to cry (and I usually do shed a couple of tears). They were able to celebrate this monumental milestone in their careers with their families watching in the front row. It was even sweeter for Jason Jordan, who is actually from Chicago and was able to get his first main roster title in his hometown. You can feel the excitement and energy from them and it’s just hard not to be extremely happy for these two guys.

As with everything in the WWE, they are always moving forward. This win for American Alpha can open up the doors to some amazing rivalries and matchups that we can all look forward to, as I’m sure we will get a rematch with The Wyatts at some point. I would also be excited to see The Usos get to be even bigger heels and face off with them eventually. Regardless of whatever ideas WWE comes up with for them, we can definitely rest easy knowing we will see some great wrestling matches for as long as they have the titles. For now, I’m just going to enjoy their run as champions. As a fan that can say she’s been there since day one of their creation and watched them on this road from NXT startups to Smackdown Tag Team Champions, I can say its pretty amazing and it couldn’t be more deserved.