Last Monday was a horrendously bittersweet moment for wrestling fans; we saw Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott win a tag match to be crowned the number one contenders for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. But, in doing so, we saw the end of the Iiconics due to the match stipulation in which the losing team would disband. A huge blow considering how entertaining the Iiconics were but the reformation of 2/3’s or the Riott Squad has been one of the best pieces of RAW for the past month or two. Not only do the pair have looks so unique they instantly stick out from the rest of the roster but their talent is hugely underrated, shown from the past booking when the duo was with Sarah Logan. The WWE women’s tag division is extremely limited after Bayley and Sasha broke up on Smackdown, leaving just Liv and Ruby, as well the current champions, Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax.
The time is limited on the current holders with the typical ‘champions who don’t get along’ storyline going on, leaving just Liv and Ruby to take the titles and hopefully, give the titles even more exposure and not be used as props in a storyline. Nia is a heel and Shayna is technically a face, but still wrestles in the same manner, so it’s not the unusual ‘face vs face’ dynamic between the two teams. They’re going to break up at some point, it’s inevitable, leaving the titles up for grabs. The only other women’s team on Smackdown or RAW is Lana and Natalya, who is currently feuding with Mickie James and could possibly be the first defence for Liv and Ruby. Clash of Champions is the next PPV, where all titles are defended, so these titles will be on the line. I know it makes the reign of Nia and Shayna short but you can’t see the plans of them being a team being long at all, just a way to make one of them the next threat to Asuka.
The situation we find ourselves with the Women’s Tag Team Championships isn’t the only reason Ruby and Liv deserve to be holding titles in the company. Like I said, their in-ring talent is underrated with Liv reinventing herself after the split of the original Riott Squad and the release of Sarah Logan. The trio are brilliant friends outside of the ring, which usually adds chemistry in-ring, including getting matching tattoos of the date they debuted on RAW. The chemistry Liv and Ruby hold is fantastic, they can make any match captivating, even as opponents. Ruby’s return earlier this year and the matches the duo had were brilliant and storytelling between the pair has been next to none this year. The duo’s feud with The Iiconics, the somewhat affiliation with Kevin Owens and Liv’s hesitance to trust Ruby made for fantastic viewing. We all love a reunion in the wrestling world, this was no different. The Riott Squad had momentum before Liv was drafted to Smackdown and Ruby got injured in 2019, with the legs were cut out from underneath the trio.
This is the time for that momentum to be picked up and carried with, the remaining duo are huge fan favourites, whether their heels or faces. Look at the pair before they reunited in the Elimination Chamber earlier this year, the backing Liv had was unreal from the fans and everyone was hoping she’d pick up the victory. Even as a heel, Ruby was loved by the fans because we like the variation in the people we watch and don’t want to see the same people getting the same opportunities again and again. With RAW and Smackdown’s women’s tag division a bit thin on the ground, Liv and Ruby can venture to NXT whilst the other two brands put teams together. Think of the matches we’d see against Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter or Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai. NXT has the best women’s division in the company and WWE are wasting talent but not sticking to their word; the Women’s Tag Team Championship will be defended on all three brands.
Having Ruby and Liv as tag team champions would be like having The Hardy Boyz as Tag Team Champions, it speaks to the more alternative fans and those who look and dress differently like Ruby does now and like Matt and Jeff did back in 2000. Not only this, but they are people to look up to, they’ve stuck around in the company through a lot and it’s about time they were rewarded for their loyalty.