Okay, we all knew some kind of controversy was coming up with the Year-End awards, right? Well, here’s our first stop. To be fair, there was little to choose from as far as notable women’s tag teams, and the panel did their best to pick WWE Backstage Women’s Tag Team of the Year: The Kabuki Warriors.
As far as talent goes, there’s no arguing with the Kabuki Warriors’ skill set as they’ve shown an intensity and chemistry that’s nearly unparalleled. Their ferocity in the ring as well as their near insane characters make them memorable and exciting to watch.
The @WWE Women's Tag Team of the year is: @WWEAsuka & @KairiSaneWWE, the Kabuki Warriors!#WWEBackstage pic.twitter.com/hNqWPjK160
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) December 25, 2019
But that’s not enough, in my opinion. They’ve been a team for a while, and only recently won the tag team championship. While they’ve made an impact and deserve this award any other year, this year they faced competition from the team that won the titles initially and brought attention to the championship: The Boss N Hug Connection. More on this further down.
Competition was scarce
The IIconics
Okay, as good as Billie Kay and Peyton Royce are on the mic and in the ring, their whole run as tag team champions was more a focus on how to run and stay alive than actually defend the titles. This did them and the championship no favors as fans didn’t turn on them as expected, but tuned them out. It’s a shame that such a misstep happened in WWE creative, as they could’ve been the perfect heels had they been booked right. As it was, their booking cause many to wonder if the tag team championship and division was going to be removed as it seemed more along the lines of continued assassination of the concept than not. They deserved so much better.
The Boss N Hug Connection
As you can probably tell from above, this is the team I think should have won. It’s hard to take a new championship seriously as it has to compete alongside other already established titles. Because of that, a strong team was needed to be the inaugural champions while the tag division was built. In that regard, WWE creative did a great job in putting Bayley and Sasha Banks together to form the Boss N Hug Connection. They won the championship and gave the title and division instant credibility. Given the slim pickings of tag teams and poor booking, they should’ve won this for that alone.
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
They’re fun and bring a cute toughness to the tag division that gave us a reason to tune in after tuning out. Their storyline of going from Alexa Bliss manipulating Nikki Cross to them becoming best friends and faces really tugged at the heartstrings and memories of our own friendships. While they lost the championship to the Kabuki Warriors, their effort to bring the women’s tag division back to relevancy can’t be ignored. To me, they’re a second place tie with the Kabuki Warriors in this award.
If only…
It’s awards like this that make me wonder how the fans would’ve voted instead of a panel of four, as it seems to have been the case. While it may seem cliché, would it really be so bad to have the fans and wrestlers vote honestly for who they think should win the awards? Given how the WWE is micromanaged, I see little to no chance of that happening. Still, it’d be cool to see what we think being reflected back.
However it’s decided going forward, it’s good to see these teams receive their due recognition for what they’ve one in the ring. With any luck, this’ll help the women’s tag division grow and become something more special.
