5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (14 Aug - Results & Review)
Ups...
5. This Is At Least Worth Trying
Tama and Talla Tonga won the tag straps from Damian Priest and R-Truth in a 3-way also involving The War Raiders. Haku is with MFTs now too, which is worth pointing out. He certainly carries just a wee bit more menace than Solo Sikoa did in effectively the same role previously.
Admittedly, The MFTs should get shot of that name and go with something fresher, but giving them the belts makes sense as an experiment and this match was perfectly fine for what it was. Of course, the biggest challenge will be maintaining interest, because Triple H has totally demolished fan attention in the tag division by downplaying or even ignoring it. Priest and Truth should’ve been better champs as an odd couple duo, but they just turned out to be boring.
Hopefully, Tama and Talla can get something going, but they’ll need backup in the division. Any champion is only as strong as the list of challengers a promotion has for them to work with, so this won't go anywhere unless there's a hot babyface team waiting to take the fight to Tama and Talla. Ideally, they'll be over as a double act too, and those are sorely thin on the ground right now.
Shinsuke Nakamura is still talking about bringing in a partner, but we'll need to wait and see if that goes anywhere either. This isn't the first time Shin has cut some ominous pre-taped promos without delivering on them, put it that way. Even so, it felt like the right decision to put the gold on the Tongans.