In 16 days, The New Day will break one of the oldest records in the WWE record books. Until a few months ago, most of us probably didn’t even remember who the longest reigning tag team champions were. Now, thanks to a very deliberate effort by the WWE, we know that it was Demolition who held the WWF World Tag Team Championships for a staggering total of 478 days. The duo won at WrestleMania IV and would go on to hold the belts from March 1988 to July 1989.
Until The New Day’s latest reign, the tag team division had been nothing more than an afterthought for the past 10 years. The division consisted less of discernable teams and more of random mid-card talents thrown together into a make shift untion.
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After winning the championships in a fatal 4 way at Summerslam 2015, The New Day have brought credibility back to the championships. Well, sort of. Their endlessly entertaining promos and merchandising sales combined with the love they’ve received from the crowd has given the champions credibility, but thanks to WWE’s 50/50 booking, it feels as if they’ve lost as often as they’ve won.
As entertaining as their run has been, The New Day need to come short of breaking Demolition’s record and it needs to happen tonight. What would The New Day have to gain by breaking the record? Will they be remembered any differently than if they don’t break the record? Ultimately, they will be remebered as a hilarious trio that built their own legacy by turning a ridiculous gimmick into an amazing one. A place in the record books won’t change that.
The only team with something to gain tonight will be the team standing across the ring from The New Day.
Over the past 5 years, The Bullet Club were the hottest faction (not named The Shield) in wrestling. Anderson and Gallows came from New Japan Pro Wrestling as one of its top tag teams, yet WWE failed to capitalize on the initial Club momentum, taking away their leader (AJ Styles), putting them in goofy comedy skits and having them lose to lesser opponents. It was ironically their feud with New Day following the brand split that all but destroyed their credibility entirely.
Tonight is the night to turn all that around. The Club could once again become the most dangerous tag team in the division by stopping The New Day from reaching their goal. Not only would they hold the copper penny belts, but also the bragging rights of halting one of the WWE’s greatest teams. More importantly, another loss to the New Day would completely destroy The Club’s chances of ever being taken seriously again.
Do the right thing, WWE. Let The Club be the one’s to end The New Day’s reign and let it happen tonight. And maybe just for me, let them walk to the ring wearing Demoltion masks.
