The New Day made their highly anticipated debut on SmackDown Live Tuesday night.
The trio wasted little time making their intentions known. They confronted the SmackDown Live tag team champions, The Usos, and said they’re coming for the belts. The New Day will challenge for the tag team championships at Money in the Bank on June 18, per WWE’s official Twitter account:
Who? Who? WHO could #SDLive #TagTeamChampions @WWEUsos be defending their titles against at #MITB?! @TrueKofi @WWEBigE @XavierWoodsPhD pic.twitter.com/12LcZF5nYk
— WWE (@WWE) May 31, 2017
With regard to the Superstar Shake-up, New Day moving from Raw to SmackDown was among the most significant changes due to its potential impact on the blue brand’s tag team division.
SmackDown’s tag scene has largely lagged behind Raw’s due to a lack of focus but also because it has been short on elite-level teams.
The trio of Big E, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston immediately changes that based on all they have accomplished during their tenure together.
They have also developed into one of WWE’s most consistently entertaining and hilarious acts thanks to the remarkable chemistry they have together.
There is definite talent within SmackDown’s tag division with the likes of The Usos, Breezango and American Alpha leading the way, but none of them is as accomplished or transcendent as a New Day team that is truly the total package.
Despite the importance of New Day making the leap from the red brand, they were kept off television for several weeks while Kingston recovered from an ankle injury suffered at the hands of The Revival.
During New Day’s hiatus, SmackDown Live aired vignettes hyping the group’s debut and building excitement for the eventual arrival.
Having New Day immediately enter the title scene will be a welcomed change considering how they were handled on Raw in recent months.
Since Big E, Woods and Kingston were the hosts of WrestleMania 33 and didn’t have a match, they weren’t attached to a storyline of significance in the weeks leading up to The Showcase of the Immortals.
There should be more opportunities for them on SmackDown, and it is easy to envision them becoming some of the brand’s top Superstars moving forward.
SmackDown has struggled to maintain the momentum it created prior to the Superstar Shake-up, but New Day’s debut may have Team Blue moving in the right direction once again.
