Why Alexa Bliss & Tatum Paxley won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship from Fatal Influence

WWE

A WWE title changed hands on Friday Night SmackDown, with new Women’s Tag Team Champions crowned in one of the final matches on the show.

On October 9, Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley challenged for Fatal Influence members Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley’s WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.

Bliss was actually serving as a replacement in the match, with Paxley’s original partner Charlotte Flair being attacked by Jade Cargill and the Baddies earlier in the night.

In the closing moments of the match, Alexa Bliss took out Lainey Reid on the outside of the ring with a Sister Abigail after the referee caught Reid attempting to cheat.

Following this, Tatum Paxley nailed Fallon Henley with a Cemetery Drive to win her first championship on the main roster.

This victory ended Fatal Influence’s 83 day reign with the gold, with Reid and Henley having won the title from Brie Bella and Paige at the July 18 Saturday Night’s Main Event special.

This title change has fuelled speculation, with many asking, why did Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship?

Learning from the best

Tatum Paxley made her WWE main roster debut on the August 7 SmackDown episode, helping Alexa Bliss to take out Michin and B-Fab to allow Charlotte Flair to defeat Jade Cargill.

The former NXT Women’s Champion has been appearing alongside Bliss and Flair in the months since, with the decorated stars taking Tatum Paxley under their wings.

This alliance has paid off with Paxley winning gold on the main roster after just two months as a SmackDown star.

Both behind-the-scenes and in-storyline, Tatum Paxley is learning a lot, having two multi-time world champions as allies for her first run after leaving NXT.

Dreams do come true

Tatum Paxley has publicly named Alexa Bliss as a major inspiration on numerous occasions, with Paxley telling Denise Salcedo in February that Bliss is one of the reasons why she’s here in WWE. 

Six months later, Paxley is holding tag-team gold with her idol.

This isn’t just a case of two WWE veterans taking a younger star under their wings. Tatum Paxley has a lot of respect for Alexa Bliss, so it would’ve been a special moment to win gold alongside her.

Why not Money in the Bank?

With the likes of  Sol Ruca, Lola Vice, Jacy Jayne, Roxanne Perez and Lash Legend qualifying for the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, many fans expected Tatum Paxley to be added to this lineup to keep the theme of stars who have only joined the main roster in the past two years.

This ultimately didn’t happen, with Tiffany Stratton defeating Paxley and Candice LeRae on October 2 to punch her ticket for the October 10 premium live event.

While it would’ve been fun to see Paxley in this match, it does somewhat make sense why WWE left her out of the lineup, given how crowded the “newcomer” spots in the match were becoming.

There can only be one Money in the Bank winner, so having Paxley instead win gold earlier in the weekend allowed the company to shine a separate spotlight on the recent main roster call-up.

Overall, Bliss and Paxley winning the Women’s Tag Team Championship resulted in a special moment for both the fans and wrestlers, and provided a shakeup to the division, with fresh title matches now able to take place.

To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!

• wwe
• Alexa Bliss
• Tatum Paxley

Share this article with friends