3 Reasons why WWE Tag Team Championship is getting a TLC match at 2025 SummerSlam

This week’s episode of WWE SmackDown saw the Wyatt Sicks’ Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy defend the WWE Tag Team Championship against Andrade and Rey Fenix in the main event. The bout came to an unceremonious halt when Nikki Cross pulled the referee out as her team was about to lose, resulting in a disqualification.

Following this, the entire tag team division of the blue brand joined in to throw hands at the Uncle Howdy-led faction. However, soon after, all teams turned on each other, and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis announced that the tag title would be defended in a TLC match at the 2025 SummerSlam.

Here are three reasons why the Stamford-based promotion is going with this stipulation.

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#3. To give all the teams a fair chance at the WWE Tag Team Championship

While #DIY’s Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano are saying it the loudest, all the tag teams in SmackDown believe they deserve a title shot. The teams often end up fighting among themselves, with one of them securing the number one contender spot. However, despite this and the tag title changing hands multiple times, the backstage brawls haven’t stopped.

Thus, a TLC match, where the belts will be hung up high, will give the teams a fair chance to compete. Moreover, the lack of disqualification rules will also allow them to go all out after months of being stopped by security personnel. It would also make it more likely for the other teams to recognize the winner as the legitimate champion.

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#2. The WWE SmackDown tag division has too many teams

The tag team division in WWE SmackDown is overflowing with too many teams right now. More importantly, all of them want to win the gold. NXT’s successful tag team, Nathan Frazer and Axiom, were sent to the blue brand for their main roster call-up. As soon as they arrived, they secured a massive win against former titleholders, The Street Profits, which made the newcomers also demand a title shot.

#DIY was against the addition of this new team to SmackDown and even attacked Fraxiom. However, later, Andrade and Rey Fenix, who are established singles superstars, also joined hands to compete for the tag title, almost instantly becoming the number one contenders. But their match against Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumis ended in disqualification.

While WWE silently removed Pretty Deadly from the race for the tag title a few weeks ago, the division still has #DIY, Motor City Machine Guns, The Street Profits, Fraxiom, Fenix-Andrade, and the reigning champs - Wyatt Sicks. To give all six of these teams a big showdown and a closure simultaneously, a multi-team match almost became necessary. The company added the TLC stipulation to increase the stakes even further.

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#1. To hit a reset button in the SmackDown tag team division

WrestleMania XL saw a Six-Pack Ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship. Damian Priest and Finn Balor defended their belts against A-Town Down Under, Awesome Truth, The New Day, #DIY, and New Catch Republic. The Judgment Day members failed to retain their title, but WWE also did something else with this match.

The blue belts were unhooked by A-Town Down Under while Awesome Truth exited the stadium with the red belts. Thus, the two tag titles were split and rebranded again. This also enabled the company to hit a reset button on all the competition for just one title, and give the new champions a new storyline to work with.

Thus, the Stamford-based promotion could be trying to hit the reset button once again. The winning team would most likely hold the title for some time and face their next challengers as part of a storyline, rather than defending the title frequently because a new team had made a couple of waves.

However, the company will need to work hard to keep things fresh since the tag title were put on the line in a TLC match in April 2025 on a regular episode of SmackDown as well.

A former writer on why John Cena's heel turn has flopped HERE

Edited by Jeevak Ambalgi