Three Teams Positioned To Chase MFTs’ WWE Tag Titles

A month into Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga’s reign as WWE Tag Team Champions, the SmackDown roster is already lining up challengers for The MFTs, and a handful of teams look like legitimate threats to end the run sooner rather than later.

The most pressing threat comes from Bakusai, the pairing of Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiromu Takahashi, wrestling under the name Kyoki. Nakamura brought Kyoki in specifically to target the champions, and the two teams already collided on the September 18 episode of SmackDown. That match ended in a disqualification after Haku got involved on behalf of his sons, leaving Tama and Talla standing tall but doing little to cool Nakamura and Kyoki’s motivation. If anything, the numbers-game finish sets up a rematch with stipulations attached, and given that Kyoki has only appeared in the ring for WWE a handful of times, a title change in the near future wouldn’t be a shock.

Then there’s War Raiders, who have unfinished business with the champions. Erik and Ivar were part of the three-way match on the August 14 SmackDown where Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga won the gold, but they weren’t involved in the deciding pinfall — Tama beat R-Truth to capture the titles, leaving War Raiders on the outside looking in. Erik and Ivar have also been busy elsewhere, closing out their AAA World Tag Team Championship reign with a win over former WWE champions Damian Priest and R-Truth on September 11 before dropping the belts to El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno at Triplemanía 34. With that chapter closed, a full-time push back into the WWE tag scene feels like the logical next step, and a rematch against The MFTs with the titles on the line would be an easy sell.

The wildcard option is a partnership between Trick Williams and Lil Yachty. It sounds unconventional, but the pieces are already in place — Yachty made his in-ring debut on Sunday Night’s Main Event, surviving five minutes with Baron Corbin in a match that earned Williams a United States Championship opportunity, which he went on to win. Williams has reportedly had a hand in training Yachty, and the two are currently aligned in WWE storylines, so a tag team pairing feels like a natural next chapter. The bigger question is timing — Yachty has touring commitments through the rest of 2026, which could limit how much ring time he’s able to log. Still, a short-term title run built around a celebrity crossover on the road to WrestleMania 43 would generate plenty of headlines.

All three scenarios speak to how quickly WWE has stacked the SmackDown tag division since The MFTs captured the titles. Between a grudge match with Bakusai, unfinished business with War Raiders, and the star power of a Trick Williams and Lil Yachty pairing, Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga have no shortage of challengers lining up. Whether any of them get there before WrestleMania season kicks into gear remains to be seen, but the tag division suddenly looks like one of the more interesting stories brewing on the blue brand.