On WWE SmackDown, Kayden Carter and Katana Chance defended the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships against The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane). Carter and Chance won the WWE women’s tag titles back in December when they defeated Chelsea Green and Piper Niven. They had just two successful title defenses under their belts heading into their match on SmackDown. As of this writing, they are also the longest-reigning WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions.
For the first half of the match, the tag team champions held control over the match, working in tandem in an attempt to put Asuka and Sane away early. Though they are both part of the same stable in Damage CTRL, they are still ironing out working as a tag team again. Since Sane’s return at WWE Crown Jewel they have only teamed together once and that was on an episode of SmackDown in December against Michin and Zelina Vega.
Carter and Chance appear as though they are preparing for a win as they go for their finisher, The Kegstand. It connects on Asuka but Sane breaks up the pin at the very last second. Again, they isolate Asuka but this time for the After Party. Instead, Chance scouts Sane who is behind Carter and dives onto her to prevent her from a sneak attack. Both women roll out of the ring and Sane catches Chance, throwing her into the announce table. While this is happening, Carter attempts to take advantage of the situation with a roll-up on Asuka in the ring. She kicks out and this time Asuka and Sane are the ones to isolate the champions. The Genius of the Sky climbs to the top rope for her insane elbow, pinning Carter to win the championships.
The last time Asuka and Sane held gold in WWE together was in 2019 when they won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships in 2019, cementing themselves as the fourth team to do so in the titles short history. After winning the championships at WWE Hell in a Cell 2019, they held the titles for 171, defeating teams like Bayley and Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Charlotte and Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox. At WrestleMania 36 they were defeated by Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
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