Brand new champions were crowned during the NXT Takeover: Phoenix event tonight. Among the matches was one between The Undisputed Era and The War Raiders for the NXT Tag Team Championships. Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong have been dominant champions for quite some time, and they have defeated some of the very best teams that NXT has to offer. However, they finally met their match when they took on Hanson and Rowe. The Raiders defeated The Undisputed Era to kick off today’s NXT Takeover event in the Talking Stick Resort Arena. It was a hard-fought match that received “this is awesome” chants from the fans in attendance, but the win means that Hanson and Rowe are now the team to beat in NXT.
It’s the end of an era… and the time to #JoinTheRaid.#WarRaiders @WarBeardHanson & @RAYMONDxROWE are your NEW #WWENXT #TagTeamChampions! #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/eVLRnDNYqW
— WWE (@WWE) January 27, 2019
The Undisputed Era were the NXT Tag Team Champions dating all the way back to June 21st, 2016. Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong defeated Moustache Mountain’s Trent Seven and Tyler Bate to win the titles for a second time. O’Reilly and Strong have defeated the likes of Heavy Machinery, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch, and plenty of other teams in order to hold onto their titles. They’ve been feuding with The War Raiders for months now. The two teams first collided when they took part in the WarGames match back in November. This time, they went at it in a normal tag team match with Strong & O’Reilly’s titles on the line. Without the help of Adam Cole or Bobby Fish, Rowe & Hanson overpowered them to win the gold.
EXCLUSIVE: “The war is here. The raid has begun. The #WarRaiders‘ reign starts NOW!”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. #NXTTakeOver #AndNew @WarBeardHanson @RAYMONDxROWE pic.twitter.com/SawbO3AMIs
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) January 27, 2019
Hanson and Rowe are now celebrating their first reign as NXT Tag Team Champions. The duo signed with WWE back in January of last year and made their NXT TV debuts on the episode following the NXT Takeover: New Orleans event in April. Now known as The War Raiders, Hanson and Rowe have competed in some big matches and have impressed fans with their powerful moveset and agility. The War Raiders are also two-time IWGP Tag Team Champions and one-time ROH World Tag Team Champions, but this is the first time that either them have won a title in WWE. Now that The War Raiders are on top in the NXT tag team division, it may be a while until another tag team can knock them off of their pedestals.