Alexa Bliss, Tatum Paxley Capture WWE Women’s Tag Titles

WWE has new Women’s Tag Team Champions heading into Money in the Bank. Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley won the titles during the October 9 episode of SmackDown, just one night before the premium live event, capping off a chaotic build to the match.

The title bout didn’t go according to plan from the jump. A backstage attack forced a last-minute shakeup to the challengers’ side of the match, with Fatal Influence’s Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid entering the night holding the championships. Despite the disruption, Bliss and Paxley came out on top to leave SmackDown as the new titleholders.

The timing of the switch is notable. Dropping a title change on the go-home show before Money in the Bank gives WWE a fresh storyline to lean on heading into the pay-per-view, and it puts Bliss back in familiar territory — she’s no stranger to title runs and has long been one of the most featured names in the women’s division when healthy and active. Pairing her with Paxley, a younger talent still building her profile, suggests WWE sees value in using Bliss’s experience to elevate a newer act, a strategy the company has used before to fast-track younger wrestlers into meaningful spots on the card.

For Fatal Influence, losing the belts under these circumstances — with a backstage attack scrambling the challengers’ side of the match just before it happened — leaves the door wide open for a rematch narrative. Henley and Reid have been positioned as a disruptive force in the women’s tag division, and dropping the titles in controversial fashion rather than a clean finish typically signals WWE isn’t done with that story just yet.

The Women’s Tag Team division has seen frequent title turnover over the past year, and this latest change adds another layer heading into Money in the Bank weekend. With emotions and stakes already high going into the show, expect the fallout from this title change — and whatever lingers from that backstage attack — to factor into how WWE books the women’s tag scene in the weeks ahead.

For now, Bliss and Paxley hold the gold, and all eyes turn to how Fatal Influence responds.