A surprising title change took place on Monday's edition of Raw as Alpha Academy took the Raw Tag Team Championships from RK-Bro. Even more surprising is that Otis pinned Randy Orton clean in the middle of the ring to secure the victory.
For weeks, WWE has been building up the team of Chad Gable and Otis and they were quickly becoming a real threat to the tag team titles held by Orton and Riddle. In the first hour of Raw, Orton told Riddle just to follow his instructions and wrote "tag in Randy" on Riddle's hands before the match. The first half of the bout built up to Orton getting the tag.
When he finally did, Orton was a one-man wrecking crew until Gable draped Orton over the top rope and got the momentum back. A back-and-forth series led to Otis being tagged in without Orton realizing it. He got caught in a power slam from the powerful Otis and Orton couldn't kick out.
This has to be considered a bit of a surprise considering how popular RK-Bro has been in recent months and while this could lead to a rematch where the babyfaces get the titles back, this could also be the start of Orton and Riddle eventually splitting. When this tag team was put together, that was always the plan, if you were to have asked most fans.
Big Win For Alpha Academy
Congratulations to Gable and Otis, who have really come on of late in WWE. Not only have they made themselves legitimate contenders in WWE's tag division, but they've also become an entertaining part of the show on a weekly basis with each putting in some solid in-ring work.
This title change was likely as much about WWE potentially moving forward with Orton and Riddle's storyline as it was about appreciating the work Otis and Gable have done in recent weeks.