WrestleMania 35 preview: Smackdown Tag Team Championship

The Usos put their Smackdown Tag Team Championships on the line against three of the blue brand’s top teams in a fatal four-way this Sunday at WrestleMania. Will the six-time champs be able to retain at the biggest show of the year?

WrestleMania doesn’t have the kindest history with Jimmy and Jey Uso. Despite being one of the best tag teams of the past decade, prior to last year, the SmackDown champs have been relegated to the pre-show or left off the card completely their entire career. Until Tuesday night, ‘Mania 35 wasn’t looking too promising for The Usos either, as they entered SmackDown without WrestleMania opponents, and the card already packed full. That was until WrestleMania’s host Alexa Bliss, made a surprise appearance and announced that the brothers would be defending their titles at the big dance in a fatal four-way against The Bar, Aleister Black and Ricochet and Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura.

How the host of WrestleMania has the authority to make matches remains a mystery. We’re not exactly sure how Miss Bliss’ role allows her to serve as proxy for Vince McMahon in his distribution of retributive punishment against The Usos for forfeiting their match against The New Day during the gauntlet last week. Regardless of the reason, the point remains; the champs have their hands full this Sunday.

Since getting a shot to appear on the main roster, Black and Ricochet have been on fire. They’ve picked up wins against some of the premier tag teams on both brands, including The Bar and Rusev and Nakamura. They rolled through the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic down in NXT, and nearly became Raw tag champs this past Monday. The two newcomers may not have been teammates long, but their success thus far is undeniable.

The Bar has predominantly been used as McMahon’s muscle in Kofi Kingston’s storyline since dropping the belts to The Miz and Shane McMahon back at the Royal Rumble, but Sheamus and Cesaro are so much more than the boss’ lackeys. The two are highly-decorated individual superstars, five-time tag team champions and by far have the most impressive WWE resume´ of Sunday’s challengers.

“The King of Strong Style” and the “Bulgarian Brute” started the year feuding for the United States Championship. However, after R-Truth defeated Nakamura for the title and successfully defended against Rusev immediately afterward, the two former champs decided to team up out of frustration. Since then, they’ve clashed with the best teams SmackDown has to offer. While Nakamura has seemingly cooled since facing AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at last year’s WrestleMania, ‘Mania does fall on Rusev day this year.

Whether they’re on the pre-show or not, The Usos get a chance to show the world, on the grandest stage of them all, that they’re one of the best tag teams on the planet. Unfortunately for the champs, they’ll have to beat three other top teams to do it. Tune in Sunday at 5:30 ET to see if they can.