WWE News: Major ‘Backlash’ Title Match Changed Due To Injury

It was announced a few weeks ago that Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan were introducing new Tag Team titles for Smackdown. To determine the first SmackDown Tag Team Champions, a tournament began that was set to culminate at WWE Backlash this Sunday to crown new SmackDown Tag Team Champions.

From the very beginning of the tournament, American Alpha was seen as the favorite to win the tournament and become the first SmackDown Tag Team Champions. Chad Gable and Jason Jordan were by far the hottest tag team in NXT when they came to SmackDown during the WWE Draft and that success continued without a hiccup as they rolled into last night’s semifinals match with The Usos.

The match didn’t last long at all. American Alpha won the match in under a minute, which was a surprising way for such a strong matchup to end. It looked like Alpha was headed to WWE Backlash with a huge wave of momentum, but the post-match actions of the bitter Usos took everything away in under a minute.

The Usos turning heel was a surprising moment, but a potential heel turn was reported a little over a week ago, so the actions of Jey and Jimmy Uso attacking American Alpha after a loss weren’t unexpected, but the results of that attack has forced major changes to the Tag Team Championship match at WWE Backlash.

It was reported shortly after SmackDown went off the air last night by Shane McMahon on “Talking Smack” that Chad Gable has suffered a significant “injury” as a result of the post-match attack by The Usos that has taken American Alpha out of the Tag Team Tournament finals this Sunday night at WWE Backlash.

Shane McMahon revealed that Chad Gable had suffered a storyline ACL injury, which will put him on the shelf for a timetable of two to four weeks. In order to determine who will face Heath Slater and Rhyno in the finals of the tournament at WWE Backlash, The Usos will face The Hype Bros on Sunday to determine the team that will face Slater and Rhyno to become the SmackDown Tag Team Champions later in the night.

On paper, The Usos have done everything there is to do as a face tag team. There are two ways to shake up a tag team after a face team has gotten stale. WWE will choose to split them up and turn them into singles stars, but that doesn’t seem like the smartest idea for Jimmy and Jey Uso. The other option is to turn the team heel, which is exactly what WWE officials decided to do with The Usos last night on SmackDown.

American Alpha has been steamrolling through SmackDown’s Tag Team division since moving to the brand during the WWE brand extension. Gable and Jordan skyrocketing through a division is exactly what they did in NXT, and continued to do on SmackDown. WWE could have made them SmackDown’s Tag Team Champions, but that doesn’t leave them with much more to achieve as a team on WWE programming.

The heel turn by The Usos allows American Alpha to keep their momentum while not having to lose a match. It also lets the WWE Universe build sympathy for Gable and Jordan since their moment was stolen from them. Most importantly, not only does WWE continue to build American Alpha as one of the best teams in WWE, but they’ve found a situation to rebuild The Usos as heels and give them new life.

The most exciting part of this situation is the new life that has been brought to The Usos after reaching an apex as a tag team and becoming stale in the eyes of many WWE fans. Suddenly, they have a new edge that will allow them to do things they’ve never done before. It’s going to be interesting to see two-time WWE Tag Team Champions create new layers and tell new stories with them as the villains rather than the faces.

It’s almost a given at this point that The Usos are now the favorites to win the SmackDown Tag Team titles at WWE Backlash. It’s possible that WWE officials may pull the trigger on Slater and Rhyno, but a loss this soon after turning heel against WWE’s next big tag team would hurt The Usos. It’s a smarter booking decision to keep The Usos as the top team, and to let American Alpha be the aggressors when they return.

Jey and Jimmy Uso are going to need to change a lot about their on-screen personas because much of what they do is specifically designed for them to get over as faces. Their face paint, chants, and high-flying style is most likely going to change. WWE officials made a smart booking decision to rebuild The Usos, but now the WWE Universe has to wait and see the character changes and if their actions led to a SmackDown Tag Team Championship at WWE Backlash.