Step Up: The Usos
I called it – the Usos retain at WWE Battleground in the third fall – and I was absolutely right. Recently WWE has been putting over the Usos as the best tag team in the modern era, which isn’t very hard when you consider there hasn’t been a whole lot of incredible tag teams in the last couple of years.
I enjoy long title reigns, or short reigns combined together over long periods of time. It’s the only way to really establish a duo as credible, long-lasting team that deserves your respect and attention. You can’t drop the belt every time another serious challenger approaches. People think that’s how it should work – if somebody you like is doing well, you put the title on them! – but it’s just not an ideal business model. You know how many GREAT wrestlers came along during Bruno Sammartino’s age? Hulk Hogan‘s age? Think about it – they’ve been putting the WWE and World titles on everyone decent for the past decade, and has it helped the product in the short or long term?
So Usos retain in the best WWE tag match of 2014 (in my top 3 or 4 tag matches anywhere in the world this year), and now they’ve beaten their biggest threats. Now they are LEGIT. They’ve proven they can go up against a great challenger and actually win, two out of three times. And DID YOU HEAR the pop they got at Battleground!?
