Alexa Bliss, Tatum Paxley Beat Fatal Influence to Win WWE Women's Tag Titles on SmackDown

Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley are the new WWE Women's Tag Team champions after beating Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid) on Friday's SmackDown.

Paxley hit Henley with Cemetery Drive for the win.

Earlier in the evening, Paxley and Charlotte Flair were scheduled to challenge for the titles. However, Jade Cargill, B-Fab and Michin unleashed a backstage attack on Flair.

Flair, who was favoring her left shoulder, was not cleared by medical personnel to participate in the match, and SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis also put a stop to it as well.

Flair then insisted that Bliss take her spot. Bliss was reluctant at first but ultimately decided to participate.

That turned out to be a wise decision.

The new champions won this match cleanly. The momentum swung in their direction late when the referee caught Reid interfering. Bliss then hit Reid with a Sister Abigail onto the arena floor. Paxley then did the rest for the big win.

This is Bliss' fifth WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. She previously won twice with Nikki Cross and once each with Flair and Asuka. Bliss' championships also include three WWE Raw Women's Championships, two WWE SmackDown Women's Championships and four WWE Women's Tag Team Championships. She won the WWE 24/7 Championship once.

This is Paxley's first WWE main-roster title. She has enjoyed great success in NXT, though, winning the NXT Women's Championship and the NXT Women's North American Championship once apiece.