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What's the story?
The Kabuki Warriors’ Asuka & Kairi Sane defeated The IIconics’ Billie Kay & Peyton Royce at a live event in Tokyo to become the new #1 contenders for the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles.
In case you didn't know…
Sasha Banks & Bayley’s 49-day reign as the inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team champions came to an abrupt end when they were defeated by The IIconics in a Fatal 4-Way match at WrestleMania 35.
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Since then, the new champions have lost several non-title matches on Raw and SmackDown Live, while Asuka & Kairi Sane have emerged as a legitimate threat to the titles after their new manager, Paige, formed the Kabuki Warriors tag team.
Following several weeks without any television time, it was revealed by Paige on the June 18 episode of SmackDown Live that the Japanese duo would be granted a future opportunity at the Women’s Tag Team titles if they defeated The IIconics at the Tokyo live event on Friday, June 28.
The heart of the matter
From a live event perspective, many of the fans in Tokyo came away from the show talking about the high-quality main event between Universal champion Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura.
From a storyline perspective, however, the only talking point came in the women’s tag team match when Asuka knocked Billie Kay off the ring apron with a hip attack and Kairi Sane followed up with an Insane Elbow from the top rope to defeat Peyton Royce.
Per the pre-match stipulation, which is unusual for live events, The Kabuki Warriors will now face The IIconics for the Women’s Tag Team titles.
What's next?
Asuka & Kairi Sane have hardly featured on SmackDown Live since putting together a three-match winning streak between April and May. Now that they are officially the #1 contenders for the Women’s Tag Team titles, it is safe to assume that they will return to television in the near future to continue this storyline.
WWE is yet to announce when the title match will take place, but the WWE Extreme Rules event on July 14 seems likely.
