Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater: New WWE Tag Team Champions

[LSN80]

Well, since no one else gave a shit enough to create a thread on it...

Do not adjust your monitors... this really happened last night at Bragging Rights. Wade Barrett answered Drew McKintryre's and Cody Rhodes's open challenge for the tag titles by inserting two members of the Nexus into the match in the form of David Otunga and John Cena. He said that if Cena lost the match, he'd be fired. Well, Cena came through in the end and almost single-handedly dissected Rhodes and McKintyre to end their atrocious reign as Unified Tag Team Champions.

After the match, Otunga grabbed a hold of both belts and ran around the ring with them as if he just won the gold medal in the Olympics. It was actually quite funny, considering the fact that he did next to nothing to deserve them.

So, what do you think will happen now? Will Cena keep the title or be forced to surrender it to another Nexus member so he could continue being Barrett's slave?

He actually never said that if Cena lost the match he would be fired, he actually said "I told this man to go and do everything he could to bring the WWE tag titles to the Nexus." It was at the main event he told Cena "If I dont win this match, you're fired." But anyway.....

I think they will probably be able to defend them under the "Freebird rule", where any two members of the Nexus can defends the titles. I think Barrett will want to keep Cena as one of those members, however, as he would realistically give Nexus the best chance of retaining them. So while I think Barrett will find "other ways" to punish Cena and keep him as his slave, he will keep him paired up with a member of Nexus in order to ensure that Nexus keeps the straps as long as possible.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I wasn't all that crazy with how this came about. The thing that actually irks me is the fact that they decided to make Rhodes & McIntyre look like a couple of punks. I know that Cena is the top guy and all that, but Cena has made Justin Gabriel look stronger than Rhodes & McIntyre looked last night and both of them are multi time champions.

As far as the tag title situation goes, like a lot of others, I wouldn't mind seeing the Freebird Rule applied to this situation. By the time it's all said and done, putting the tag titles with Nexus might wind up granting the titles more prestige and overall visibility as The Nexus/Cena storyline is the top one in the WWE at the moment. There's still a shitload of stuff that can ultimately go wrong here, but I think that they've done a good job with things so far and I'm hoping they can keep it up.

 

[The Duke]

I think in the end, when all is said and done this is going to have the same feel that Hogan joining the nWo will have. I feel like before this totally runs it's course Cena will embrace the Nexus thing and have that actual heel turn. I think it's going to play out well and we'll all be left with our jaws on the ground.

 

[Aotearoa (Bushwacker)]

I just wanna say lets see where this is headed first before we start saying its terrible etc. Who knows, this might turn out to be a great angle, we dont know yet, let it play out. And for all those people saying it was so predictable I get sick of that, how the hell could you predict that, and why do people always say it was predictable the day after, I didn't see anybody predict it before it happened and thats what predictability is.

 

[Calamity-Jim]

Well then, I've pretty much had everyone else here say what I was going to lol. I gotta agree with you all here. The freebird rule should be in effect, i mean its in effect for the stupid divas title and its a singles title between 2 women who arent a real team. Maybe WWE is going to give Nexus all the titles to make them dominate. Sure it may sound stupid but here's an idea I've just thought of reading this thread. Add Husky/Henning into Nexus finally and a diva from nxt season 3. I'd say let Slater/Gabriel hold the tag titles, have Henning win the IC title, give Otunga the US title, the diva wins the Divas title, put the WWE Championship on Barrett and if Cena is heel and in the group then give him the WHC. Then Nexus hold ALL the championships.

This does sound crazy and I like it. Sorta like when evolution had all the tittles and everyone went nuts.
The main thing about Nexus holding the unified tag tittles is that they can go on both shows and cause all sorts of havoc. Get harris and henning They probably made a deal with Kane to get a tittle shot for the WHC and im sure that they can do something like kidnap Vickey and force Dolph into defending his tittle. Back on raw, obvious reasons for revenge on Brianl. I can see them leaving the WWE championship to heel cena, if they make him heel that is. Reason being because Orton is the most over face and with taker m.i.a. it's the next best thing for a heel turn, officially betraying the wwe. If they can have this all done by the rumble, maybe they can have a real nexus vs wwe at mania and not just another raw vs nexus elimination tag match.

As for the divas tittle.... right....

 

[RobL15]

Ok, first off, I think the win last night was a heap of shit. Terrible way to get BRONZE on Cena and way to make Otunga look like a prick. See his pathetic celebration after the match? *Yawn*

What I would've like to see is Cena be glad he won & maybe raise Otunga's hand, hinting at a heel turn. But no, VkM says that he must be the face in a heel stable. The good guy busting it up from inside routine is boring anyway. What's more interesting is seeing all these stupid brainwashed children watching Cena gradually turn, thinking "WTF?!" - and then have him become a mega-heel by defeating a mega-face.

Back on track, it's more than likely they'll lose the titles tonight on Raw. Last two times Cena won the tag titles (With Batista & Orton), he lost them pretty much the next day. It'll happen tonight with Cena refusing to take the tag or some shit like that. But it'll please Vince, knowing his bum chum won gold again. I refuse to watch any Cena match until he becomes interesting.
(Im in England, so cant be bothered to stay up at 2am & watch, so I fast-forward EVERY single one of his matches)

And one more question, if he won the gold, then attacked Otunga and took both belts, why was there NO backstage segment with Barrett going screwy, and why didn't John come out with them at the M.E??

 

[Genesis]

I think this is a last minute decision by the WWE to make up another tag team, WWE really love Otunga(sadly) and pretty much wanted to put a belt on him as soon as possible, teaming him up with Cena will get him(sadly again) a push, probably he's going to get kicked out of Nexus and turn face. IMO it should have been Slater and Gabriel who should have won the titles, have them do something and those two would have been a perfect fit for a tag team.

 

[Hambone2421]

For those of you who keep saying that Cena should just turn heel and join Nexus, keep in mind that if he does this, it will devalue either his or Barrett's status in Nexus. If Cena were to join Nexus, I would assume that he would then become the leader of Nexus, which would knock Barrett down a notch. And vice versa, if Barrett stays on as the leader, then it would devalue Cena's heel turn.

As for this tag title reign with Otunga. Considering the fact that Cena won the title on his own, I would assume that this will be a short lived title reign and when they do lose the titles, it will be Otunga who stays in the whole time and loses.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

Well look at the "tag teams" you have in the WWE. The Hart Dynasty are as bland as bland as can be and only got over because Bret Hart was by their side. Nothing happened in their feud against the Usos which was to be expected. Tag team wrestling doesn't draw in today's WWE and it never will so you will have to get used to it.

I love it how you praised the state of tag team wrestling in TNA. The tag team division and X-division has taken a backseat to the storyline with Hardy, Bischoff, and the other 40 members of Immortal.

What is so wrong with Nexus having the tag team titles? They're the best storyline going in the WWE and they are strengthening it.

I'm sorry, I don't believe I praised TNA's tag team division. I said that they have a better division that the WWE, which they do. I don't book TNA so I can't help the fact that they do what they usually do, which is have something good going on and then screw it up with choppy booking and storylines.

As far as the Hart Dynasty, yeah I'll give you that they only got over due to Bret Hart, but can you really wholeheartedly blame that on them? Probably not. Again it goes back to booking. If they're not booked properly then they're doomed to failure. The WWE doesn't groom tag teams. They don't take them time to actually get a team over. Once they feel a team is about to fall apart, they rip them apart. In fact, some of the good teams they've had has fallen under the same situation. John Cena is shoved down our throats week after week and people complain. The man gets booed out of control but they refuse to turn him heel. THEN on top of that they put a belt on him so he can be hated more. BUT will they turn him? Nope. It's a shame. I'd rather watch MCMG vs. Beer Money ANYDAY of the week before I'd watch Cena as tag champion!

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

Ok, first off, I think the win last night was a heap of shit. Terrible way to get BRONZE on Cena and way to make Otunga look like a prick. See his pathetic celebration after the match? *Yawn*

What I would've like to see is Cena be glad he won & maybe raise Otunga's hand, hinting at a heel turn. But no, VkM says that he must be the face in a heel stable. The good guy busting it up from inside routine is boring anyway. What's more interesting is seeing all these stupid brainwashed children watching Cena gradually turn, thinking "WTF?!" - and then have him become a mega-heel by defeating a mega-face.

Back on track, it's more than likely they'll lose the titles tonight on Raw. Last two times Cena won the tag titles (With Batista & Orton), he lost them pretty much the next day. It'll happen tonight with Cena refusing to take the tag or some shit like that. But it'll please Vince, knowing his bum chum won gold again. I refuse to watch any Cena match until he becomes interesting.
(Im in England, so cant be bothered to stay up at 2am & watch, so I fast-forward EVERY single one of his matches)

And one more question, if he won the gold, then attacked Otunga and took both belts, why was there NO backstage segment with Barrett going screwy, and why didn't John come out with them at the M.E??

Amen! I have had it with John Cena. Vince doesn't get it. He's pretty much jacked up his company and for what? Cena? Really? Wow. I mean his target audience is children, right? Well last I checked kids don't have jobs. Parents do. And if you piss off enough parents then they'll stop taking their kids to shows because they don't care for John Cena. God, if I didn't know any better I'd think John Cena was a cancer and pretty much trying to destroy the company he professes his love for.

They gave him a win for the sake of getting some title on him. Why? Did those little brainwashed kids write crayon letters to Vince's office demanding to get a title back on Cena before they switch over to Sponge Bob Square Pants? This is a joke. Vince is a joke. Cena is a bigger joke and this title switch is a farce. Gives us Cena haters more reason to hate his guts!

 

[Dean Winchester]

If this all apart of the destroy Nexus from within status then maybe if lose tag titles soon then Otunga might be the next person out of the Nexus.

 

[Thesage1989]

What a fucking joke. What, Vince can't stand to see John Cena without a damn title? You know what? Bring back the Western States Championship. Have him win a phantom tournament for the old North American Championship. Diva's title? How about the old NWA's version of Pacific Northwest title. This is without a doubt, and should be always considered, a direct slap in the face of any aspiring tag team in the WWE. I have always hated it when they put tag titles on wrestlers who are NOT tag team wrestlers. They used to do it with Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, Austin and The Undertaker, Batista and Rey Mysterio and now this! No wonder that PPV was shitty! You take the titles off The Hart Dynasty, damn near break them apart and basically give John Cena a championship he doesn't deserve whatsoever and includes him into a division in which he doesn't belong. Gimme a break. Memo to WWE: No one over the age of seven likes John Cena. Nobody! With that being said, quit spoon feeding him down our throats. You have worthy stars to make great tag teams. Have you ever seen TNA's tag team roster? For everything wrong with TNA, those people down there know what tag team wrestling is supposed to be about...TAG TEAMS. Not Chris Jericho and Edge. Not Randy Orton and whomever they want to have him tag with. And the irony in all of this is the fact that every single fucking week on RAW, they have AS THEIR MAIN EVENT...wait for it...A fucking tag team match which usually features John Cena or Randy Orton BUT they have no clue on how to actually make a tag team division work.

They better make Cena give up the title or have something where this clown no longer is in possession of ANY championship right now. I hate it. I really do. David Otunga has done NOTHING worthy of having any belt around his waist, as proof that Cena had to do it all last night. GOD! I just hate the road the WWE is going down. It's almost like they want their fans to leave in flocks. Wow pretty much sums up how I feel. Fucking wow!

my friend i must disagree with you mind you i do love the tag division, however i love a good storyline much better it get the imaginative juices following like a river. But hey NEXUS are a legit team and cena is apart so thus giving him the belts doesn't seem like a bad idea. I have learned a long time ago that it doesn't make much since crusing and complaining when in fact you will watch every week till they drop the title or the rejuvenate the tag division again and so they have you hooked till they do. Especially if they put good storylines to distract us from it like they do so well

 

[Thesage1989]

I just wanna say lets see where this is headed first before we start saying its terrible etc. Who knows, this might turn out to be a great angle, we dont know yet, let it play out. And for all those people saying it was so predictable I get sick of that, how the hell could you predict that, and why do people always say it was predictable the day after, I didn't see anybody predict it before it happened and thats what predictability is.

Well said man no dout i was shocked when nexus answered the challenge. But you kow what this is so fantastic for the tag titles like you said if they did mean anything then the would be in the main storyline and with new titles they get a chance to build them from the ground up so people should stop screaming and be just like u n i and kick back and enjoy like they always have

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Seeing as though Cena/Otunga took the belts from a random, thrown-together tag team as well, who cares. At least Cena and Otunga are both part of the same faction.

The WWE stopped caring about it's tag division a long, long time ago. The belts mean nothing really, except for every now and again when WWE gets on a 'tag team' kick. What I mean by that is from time to time, they look as though they are rebuilding that division. This has happened recently with The Harty Dynasty, The Uso's, and The Dudebusters. Personally, I thought WWE began giving up on this the second they put Archer and Hawkins together, and it's only gotten worse since that happened.

Would I rather see two other Nexus members with the tag belts? Of course. I would have liked to have seen Nexus grab those belts months ago, maybe Sheffield and Gabriel, in an actual feud with The Hart Dynasty. But at least the tag belts will be apart of some storyline going forward...sort of.

 

[Notorious718]

Rhodes and McIntyre were having a bad reign as tag champs. Having them lose the belts doesn't really bother me considering both are better off as singles competitors. As for Cena and Otunga winning the belts go, I think the Freebird/Spirit Squad rule should apply here with any of the members defending the belts. For Nexus, this will be good as they can now perform on any brand thus giving them more exposure. No harm can come of that. Let's just see how this plays out before we jump to conclusion.

I'm just worried about where Rhodes and McIntyre go from here. I'm guessing they'll get their rematch and then lose. Not sure what happens next but that's for another thread.

 

[Miss Flawless]

Doesn't it seem like Barret it trying to get all the gold on RAW to Nexus? That's actually the first thing that popped up in my head. I think Barret is being a good leader and trying to lead his group into TOTAL DOMINATION.

*Just so you know, the titles aren't unified anymore, you might want to change the title.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

We saw on Raw's opening tonight that Wade Barrett forced David Otunga to lie down in a match he made and allow Slater & Gabriel to become the new champs.

I'm a little mixed as to how they went about taking the titles off Cena & Otunga and giving them to Slater & Gabriel. Granted, Gabriel & Slater could be a great team, but I'm just generally kind of irksome to see titles thrown around like that.

On the other hand, I do have to admit that I enjoyed the symbolism of the segment. After all, John Cena wouldn't lay down for anybody but Barrett showed how much control he has over Cena in the storyline by taking something "meaningful" away from him. It really jacked up the tension between the two and it worked quite well in that sense.

I think that Slater & Gabriel could be a fun tag team to watch but I still feel kinda bothered about this a little. I know, I know I've heard all the "the tag titles don't mean shit anymore" stuff before but it still just feels kinda blah even though the overall payoff to where this could lead would more than make up for it.

So c'mon, speak up people. Complain, praise, scream bloody murder or whatever.

 

[RobL15]

Start off by saying, they'll be a better team than Cetunga. (Yes, I made that name up)

Anyways, I'm hoping that a TAG TEAM will turn up somewhere to challenge them, taking them on at Survivor Series. Hopefully they keep them on Slabriel (Made that one as well) for a while.

Many people bring it up, but it's an issue in the WWE.
Tag Team Wrestling.

Ok, so we've seen two sets of champs in two days.
Cetunga & now Slabriel. (Yes, that's what I'm calling them)
What I'm trying to say is, being that they didn't have to fight to win;
1) Will they be a good tag team?
2) Will they last?

I believe the two of them will be pretty good together, they seem to gel well. Hopefully, they get decent tag teams coming to challenge them, maybe the Uso's do something decent for a change. I would NOT like to see Dashintyre back on the TT Scene. I don't actually think these two will lose the titles at SS, but hold them for a bit longer.

Anyways, what are your guys opinions on my two questions?

 

[The Brain]

I like the titles on Gabriel and Slater much more than Cena and Otunga. At least Gabriel and Slater are actual partners who want to work together. I don't expect the titles to be the main focus, but I feel this gives them more credibility than two guys who can't stand each other.

There is one thing to keep in mind that I don't think has been noticed. Nexus can now be on Smackdown. That opens up new angles including furthering the feud with Taker.

 

[RobL15]

There is one thing to keep in mind that I don't think has been noticed. Nexus can now be on Smackdown. That opens up new angles including furthering the feud with Taker.

I do have to say, that Nexus have been on Smackdown, no matter what. They don't follow the rules, so that whole aspect of it doesn't matter. Then again, they can now be on it a helluva lot more.

I don't understand all this with 'Taker though, seems quite strange to just push them into a programme with him, and I certainly wouldn't like to see him face Barrett at WM next year.

 

[mral82]

I think after the Nexus won the titles they shoulda re-introduced "The Freebird Rule which any member can defend at any time" like The Spirit Squad did a few years ago.

 

[Malenko316]

I'm quite happy to see the straps on Wendy and Gabriel. It makes more sense than having them on Cena and Otunga, as the storyline with Cena doesn't need a title (it might need a miracle to save it tho). Gabriel and Slatter have only played bit parts so far, and it would seem don't care management confidence yet. So putting the straps on them, setting aside the lack of value nowadays, makes sense.

For whateva reason (his gf), VKM seems high on Otunga and so it would seem he'll get a singles role. Maybe in nexus, maybe out after last night on raw. That could even be the start of a face turn - although given how bad the guy moves and talks, I hope not.

One final thought, with the straps in nexus, there may be now scope for more involvement in SD (if taker's injuries are not as bad reported). By saying that the straps belong to nexus, it could allow different members to altenate defending them, a la Spirit Squad or Demolition.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I like the fact that Nexus can now appear on Smackdown, with the unified tag team titles and I think Slater and Gabriel look like a good team. They already know how the other works and should be decent in the ring together.

I dont really care that there has been 2 title switches in 2 days, as it was done to further the Cena- Nexus storyline, and planted more seeds for Otunga turning on his team mates in the future, as Barrett basically made him give up the tag team title to 2 of his team mates.

I enjoy seeing Nexus, its something different with fresh hungry guys who I find extremely entertaining. It is about time they got some gold in the group, as they could not continue going around claiming dominance over the rest of the WWE, without holding at least 2 Championship belt in the faction.

 

[PEP3]

For anyone concerned about the WWE continuing to devalue and destroy the legacy of the tag team championships, implementing The Freebird Rule should be the last thing they would want. Having two men prove dominance over the entire division by being the best and beating the best brings value to the belts. Having 8 or however many Nexus members there now are sharing the titles would be a mockery!

Why exactly WWE decided to take this route in delivering the belts to Slater & Gabriel has yet to be seen. However, putting the belts on two men who have at least consistently teamed with one-another for the last several months is a significant step in the right direction. Allowing that team to now begin regularly defending the belts against other teams -- Rhodes/McIntyre, The Usos, The Hart Dynasty, etc. -- would be a terrific advance.

What I'd love to see, though, is a Survivor Series match pitting a bunch of tag teams against each other in a traditional Survivor Series match with the titles on the line. It would be a great opportunity to take the straps off Gabriel/Slater and put them on Husky Harris/Michael McGillicuty, causing tension within the ranks of Nexus in the process. I think that could lead to some REALLY interesting matches -- and a fantastic story!

 

[ThePh3nomonal1]

I agree with PEP3, A Survivor Series Tag turmoil match of sorts could be great and I would love to see the belts on Husky and McGillicutty because I just don't see Gabriel and Slater as credible champions yet. But I thought the smae thing about Rhodes & McIntyre...wait they were terrible.

But I still think there should definately be a tag turmoil match at SS between The Usos, The Hart Dynasty, Husky and McGillicutty and Slater and Gabriel. Which ever team wins i'll be happy about as all are ACTUAL TEAMS.