WWE: Injuries Continue to Plague the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Tournament

By Connor Casey

WWE decided to finally make good on the promise of crowning new WWE Women's Tag Team Champions by launching an eight-team tournament in early August. And while half of that bracket has gone off without a hitch as Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky advanced to the finals by beating Tamina & Dana Brooke and Alexa Bliss & Asuka, the same can't be said for the other half. NXT's Zoey Stark and Nikkita Lyons were originally supposed to compete but Stark wasn't medically cleared following her NXT Women's Championship Match with Mandy Rose (reportedly due to a concussion) while Lyons was "medically unavailable." There are reports that Lyons was pulled due to being unvaccinated for COVID-19, though she has denied that on Twitter.

But the issues don't stop there. Stark and Lyons were replaced by former NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Toxic Attraction, who beat Natalya and Sonya Deville in their opening round match on SmackDown. Unfortunately, that team has also been pulled due to Gigi Dolin reportedly (per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer) suffering a concussion. Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah will now have their semifinal match against the winner of a "Second Chance" fatal four-way, featuring Tamina & Dana Brooke, Natalya & Deville, Nikki A.S.H. & Doudrop and Shotzi & Xia Li. By the end of this week's SmackDown fans will now which team will face Kai & Sky in the finals.

The reason behind the tournament taking place dates back to May when then-champions Sasha Banks and Noami walked out on an episode of Raw over creative disputes and were promptly suspended indefinitely and stripped of the championships while be chastised on TV by commentators. Numerous reports about their status have since dropped, though WWE has never outright confirmed if the pair have been granted their releases. Regardless, more recent reports have indicated the two are heading back to WWE programming now that Paul Levesque is booking the product, and both Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis are gone from the company. 

Who do you think will become the new WWE Women's Tag Team Champions? Will they immediately be challenged by a returning Banks and Naomi? Tell us your thoughts down in the comments! 

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