The Kabuki Warriors, Asuka and Kairi Sane, defended the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships for the first time since winning them in January on WWE SmackDown. The defense against Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell took place on the Elimination Chamber pre-show and was a late addition to the event card. However, considering Hartwell is from Australia and there aren’t that many actual Australians on the card, it made a lot of sense for her to get a good showing in front of her home crowd.
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Prior to LeRae and Hartwell reuniting on WWE Raw this year to tag together, they once teamed together in NXT when they were part of The Way stable with Austin Theory, Dexter Lumis and Johnny Gargano. In 2021 they made it to the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic semi-final round but they were defeated by Ember Moon and Shotzi. Just three months later they would get a huge win over the team and win their first and only tag team titles in WWE together in a street fight match. They only held the titles for 63 days before they were dethroned.
The Kabuki Warriors have worked in tandem in WWE previously when they held the titles in 2019 winning them at Hell in a Cell. Their first reign lasted a strong 171 days where they were defeated by Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross at WrestleMania 36. At the time of their historic reign, they became the longest-reigning women’s tag team champions. Sane initially departed WWE in 2020 where she then returned to Japan.
During that time, she would dominate every company she worked for becoming a five-time Artist of Stardom Champion and the inaugural IWGP Women’s Champion. She then returned to the WWE in Saudi Arabia at the Crown Jewel PLE in November, helping IYO Sky retain the WWE Women’s Championship. She quickly reunited with Asuka and joined sides with Damage CTRL. Though LeRae and Hartwell gave it their best attempt, they were no match for the synchronicity of The Kabuki Warriors. Sane and Asuka weren’t about to let their Title reign come to an end so soon, and they would finish off the challengers with their Scorpion Death Drop Elbow combo to retain their Championships.
- WWE Women’s World Championship Match: Rhea Ripley (C) vs. Nia Jax
- Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Finn Bálor & Damian Priest (C) def. Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate
- Women’s Elimination Chamber Match (to determine Women’s World Championship No. 1 Contender at WrestleMania): Becky Lynch def. Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Naomi, Tiffany Stratton, and Raquel Rodriguez
- Men’s Elimination Chamber Match (to determine the No. 1 Contender for World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins at WrestleMania): Randy Orton vs Drew McIntyre vs Bobby Lashley vs LA Knight vs Kevin Owens vs Logan Paul
- Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Cody Rhodes to appear on The Grayson Waller Effect
Who do you think the Kabuki Warriors should face next? Let us know in the comments!
