Raquel Rodriguez, Aliyah Win WWE Women’s Tag Titles After Sasha Banks, Naomi Walkout

The WWE women’s tag team championship is no longer vacant after Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah defeated Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai in the final on Raw.

While Kai and Sky were distracted, Aliyah made a blind tag on Rodriguez and surprised Kai with a roll up to score the pinfall victory.

This marks the first time WWE has had women’s tag champions since May 20. Sasha Banks and Naomi won the titles in a Fatal Four-Way on the second night at WrestleMania 38.

However, in the wake of Banks and Naomi walking out on the company during the May 16 episode of Raw due to a creative dispute, WWE vacated the titles.

Michael Cole announced on SmackDown five days later that both women had been indefinitely suspended and there would be a tournament to determine the new champions.

There was a deafening silence around the women’s tag titles for months despite that announcement.

After Triple H took over as head of creative following Vince McMahon’s retirement in July, though, WWE unveiled an eight-team tournament bracket to crown new champions.

There was some shuffling among the teams in the field due to injuries and other issues. The duo of Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark were replaced by fellow NXT stars Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne in the first round against Natalya and Sonya Deville.

Dolin and Jayne won that match, but the former suffered an injury in the bout that knocked them out of the field. The four teams that lost in the first round were put in a second-chance Fatal Four-Way to replace them, and Deville and Natalya won to reach the semifinal.

Raquel and Aliyah beat Shotzi Blackheart and Xia Li in the first round. They knocked off Deville and Natalya in the last four on the August 6 edition of SmackDown to reach the final.

Sky and Kai got past Tamina and Dana Brooke in the first round, followed by a victory over Alexa Bliss and Asuka in the semifinal.

The duo of Sky and Kai entered the tournaments as the favorite. They returned at SummerSlam as part of a new stable, led by Bayley. Rodriguez and Aliyah received their first big push on the main roster through this tournament.

Story continues

Ultimately, it was Rodriguez and Aliyah who prevailed. While they can celebrate this moment for now, there is the looming prospect of Banks and Naomi returning to WWE.

On the Aug. 8 episode of Sunday Night’s Main Event (h/t Nitish Vashishtha of RingsideNews.com), Dave Meltzer said Banks and Naomi had agreed to terms that would allow them to come back to the company.

After being ignored for so long, WWE’s women’s tag team division looks to be in a good place moving forward. Rodriguez and Aliyah are sitting atop the mountain with many challengers waiting to take them on.