The New Age Outlaws' WWE return: Will they rise to prominence again?

The New Age Outlaws are back in the WWE and with them the WWE tag team division has started to look stronger than ever. But they aren’t back to just entertain the crowds, they are here to stay a little longer as they aim to become the tag team champions one more time, and the fans are desperate to see them win Goldust and Cody Rhodes’ titles at Royal Rumble.

A successful and popular tag team

In the late 1990s, Outlaws were the most successful tag team in the WWE, they went on to win the tag team titles 5 times in a span of just 2 years and held the belts for a combined time of 468 days, before losing it to The Dudley Boyz at the 2000 No Way Out. After this loss, The Outlaws never wrestled again as a tag team in the WWE until last year, when they faced Primo and Epico at the Old School Raw.

The Outlaws are usually remembered as the members of the DX (which had Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Chyna then), but actually they weren’t a part of the DX for the initial months of their formation in 1997. Their popularity is evident from the fact that the sale of their merchandise was the third highest in the WWE, only behind that of Stone Cold and The Rock.

Their mischief and joining DX

The Outlaws and DX came together for the first time on the 15 December, 1997 episode of Raw where DX were facing LOD who were dominating the match until The Outlaws interfered. They blacked out Road Warrior Hawk and shaved off one of his mohawk and then The Outlaws and DX together sent Road Warrior Animal through the announcers’ table.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbjry5_tqz4

After retaining their titles against LOD at the 1998 Royal Rumble, The Outlaws were confronted by DX who told them to do more controversial acts, and they did so by locking Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie in a dumpster and throwing it off the ramp on to the concrete floor. They lost their tag titles to Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie at WrestleMania XIV in a Dumpster Match, but retained the titles next night on Raw in a steel cage match, with help from Triple H and X-Pac, this finally led to their joining the DX.

Will they win the tag titles again?

If the fans were wondering why The Outlaws turned on CM Punk some weeks ago, then they should better check out the Outlaws’ WWE history. Becoming a heel means The Outlaws have completed their first step of reconquering the WWE tag team division, plus they have also started to be a part of every tag team match in the WWE since Old School Raw, including the 10-man tag team main event match from last night’s SmackDown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMJd66qvTVg

This indicates that with every night they are inching closer to their past success when they were the main tag team in the WWE. Age is definitely not in their favor as Road Dogg is 44 and Billy Gunn is 50, so they of course can’t wrestle like the old days, but that won’t stop them from holding the WWE tag titles for the 6th time as they can still put on a great match and entertain the crowds. If we try to think like the WWE Creative then The Outlaws are going to win the titles at Royal Rumble, then they will successfully defend the titles until WrestleMania, where they will lose them to The Usos. And meanwhile there will be an eventual feud among Goldust and Cody Rhodes, with the feud ending at WrestleMania.

So, yes! The Outlaws will rise to prominence again, they might not repeat their mischief but they will definitely become the WWE tag team champions for the 6th time.