In spite of everything, we’re here. We made it. And WWE truly is going through with this. Regardless of what anyone might think, WrestleMania 36 is upon us. It’s a bizarre thing to say the least. We’re about to see WrestleMania play out over the span of two nights with nobody there to watch any of it live. Pretty much the whole world is in disarray right now. WWE is no different, no matter how much they might want to pretend that what happens outside their bubble has no bearing on them. Another match that’s reportedly been affected is the triple threat ladder match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships.
It was only over the past year that I started writing about wrestling for a living. I can safely say that I would not have guessed my first WrestleMania would be anything like this. Regardless… my name is Jordan Huie and I’m truly glad to have you here with us at the Overtimer. You can rest assured that we’ll be giving you the same coverage as always for WrestleMania. This year’s version, if nothing else, will be totally unlike any edition that’s come before or any edition that will ever come in the future. So with that said… let’s get to the previews, as I have plenty left to write.
(Note: At the time of writing, WWE have not announced which matches will be airing on which day.)
Triple Threat Ladder Match For The WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships: John Morrison © vs. Jimmy Uso vs. Kofi Kingston
At pretty much every stage of this, I’d have done it differently. When John Morrison was making his return, I definitely wouldn’t have gone for a reunion with the Miz. But the team was pretty great in their time and their chemistry is still as natural as ever, and I can never really complain about a big bolster to a tag division. Putting them up against the New Day at the time seemed like a solid WrestleMania match to me.
But as is often the case, WWE had very little in the way of patience. They challenged the New Day for their tag titles in Saudi Arabia in February instead. The next night, they immediately were defeated by the Usos in a non-title match where it was announced they’d be defending the gold in the Elimination Chamber. In that match, the most popular tag team was not the New Day or the Usos but Heavy Machinery, and especially Otis, as is often the case.
This was pretty foreseeable, which is why the winners of that match probably should have been Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode – as you could then parlay into a big match in which Heavy Machinery challenged for the belts and Otis could pin Ziggler to both get revenge, get the girl and get his first taste of gold all at once. Now of course, that big of a feel good almost seems like it’d be a waste. But at the time, it would’ve been a sound decision.
Now that the crowd has been taken out of it though, this probably is the better decision. The Usos and the New Day are stale together at this point but it only got to that point of repetition because they work so damn well together. In a ladder match this is only exacerbated and then you add an athlete like John Morrison to the mix, and you should have one very exciting match.
However there’s some controversy to this one. It was reported that the Miz showed up sick to WrestleMania, which offended the Usos and was a key part of Roman Reigns’ decision to stay away. It should be noted that i’s hard to confirm these things given the circumstances, but a lot of similar reports surrounding the Raw and SmackDown tapings turned out to be legit.
The Miz was also sent home and so at the last minute it was announced that this would instead be a singles triple threat, but with the tag titles still on the line. Yes, you heard that right. This is now one of the weirdest matches on the show conceptually. Morrison defends both tag titles by himself against Jimmy Uso and Kofi Kingston, still in a ladder match. These are the high flyingest members of their respective teams so it should still be pretty exciting. I was going to pick the Usos anyway so, I guess I’m picking Jimmy Uso now.
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