WWE Announces Tournament To Crown New Women's Tag Champs

By Matthew Carlins

WWE finally has a plan to crown new Women's Tag Team Champions. During Friday night's episode of "SmackDown", Michael Cole announced a tournament for the vacant titles will begin on Monday night's "Raw". No matches, teams, or brackets were revealed.

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The Women's Tag Team Titles have been vacant since the former champions Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of WWE during an episode of "Raw" on May 16, leaving their title belts on the desk of then-Executive Vice President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis. During the following Friday's "SmackDown", Cole confirmed that Banks and Naomi had walked out of the company, adding that they had let the fans down. WWE stripped them of the titles and suspended both women indefinitely.

The leadership of WWE has changed dramatically since Banks and Naomi's walkout. Within the past month, Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon announced his retirement and resigned from all positions he held in the company, including his role as Head of Creative, amid investigations into hush money payments made to former female employees to silence misconduct allegations.

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Paul "Triple H" Levesque has taken over McMahon's duties overseeing WWE's creative direction. Levesque's influence is already apparent. Dakota Kai returned to WWE, and IYO SKY (formerly known as Io Shirai) was called up from "NXT", with both making their main roster debuts at SummerSlam last Saturday night. Former "NXT" Champion Karrion Kross and Scarlett are also back in WWE after making their shocking returns at the end of Friday's "SmackDown".

There's speculation that Banks and Naomi may also return to WWE under the new creative regime led by Levesque. Some fans interpreted a tweet from WWE's official Twitter account as a possible tease of their return ahead of this past Monday's "Raw". To date, neither woman has commented publicly commented on the reasons behind their walkout.

Banks and Naomi captured the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles on night two of WrestleMania 38. They dethroned the defending champions Queen Zelina and Carmella in a "fatal four-way" match that also included the teams of Rhea Ripley & Liv Morgan and Shayna Baszler & Natalya.

Banks was one-half of the inaugural holders of the titles. She and Bayley won a six-way Elimination Chamber match in February 2019 to be the first to raise the championships. Banks and Bayley lost the titles to The IIconics at WrestleMania 35, but they would regain the titles for a three-month reign in 2020.

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