Predicting How Long Sasha Banks and Bayley Will Be WWE Women's Tag Team Champs

Sasha Banks and Bayley are the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team champions.

This is pure technicality; from 1984-1989, there was a WWF Women's Tag Team Championship held by The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai and Judy Martin) and The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki). But WWE is considering that lineage independently from this new lineage.

These titles could not have come at a better time. It was getting a little crowded at the top; the effect of having everyone vying for the top title is paradoxical, as it's no longer prestigious if everyone can compete for it. The women's roster is now large enough, and deep enough, to sustain more than two singles titles.

With more women wrestlers getting called up from NXT, WWE was quickly approaching a bubble-bursting moment, where numerous, talented prospects would be sitting on the bench rather than appearing on television. And in the current era, where AEW is enticing WWE's performers with sweetheart deals, this could not stand.

Tag teams can alleviate the pressure on writers to involve everyone; it's time efficient to book four wrestlers for a tag match rather than two wrestlers for a singles match. And it keeps all performers in the forefront of fans' minds; even if they're not currently vying for a singles title, performers can still stand out and build their rep.

The right tag team christened these championships. The Boss 'n' Hug Connection beat out Carmella and Naomi, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, Nia Jax and Tamina, The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) and The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan).

Out of those teams, Bayley and Banks have the highest combined ring experience and skill. They are proven performers whose place in WWE history, as part of the greatest WWE women's match of all time (Bayley vs. Banks at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn), is assured. We won't be looking back on this title's lineage 20 years from now and wondering who these women were.

But it's also important that this title reign goes smoothly. On the February 18 episode of Raw, Nia Jax and Tamina came out to threaten Bayley and Banks. And Jax made a heelish statement that nevertheless had the ring of truth: that Banks tends to lose titles immediately after she wins them.

It doesn't seem like WWE is headed in that direction; the company is leaning hard into Banks and Bayley's BFF relationship. Both women, as evidenced by their social media profiles, are popular with young female fans—popular enough that there's no need to fix what isn't broken

But still, let's hope WWE Creative doesn't get cute with the booking: no playing hot potato with the new belts, and no booking weird, gimmicky finishes. That's a guaranteed way to diminish the titles' importance before they've built a legacy to fall back on.

Brand new titles have no inherent importance; a wrestling promotion must establish, quickly, what makes them important and what they signify. And one of the best ways to do that is with a long reign.

The WWE Championship, founded in 1963, was first held by Buddy Roger. He only held it for 22 days, but he was then proceeded by Bruno Sammartino, who held it for 2,803 days—a statistic that WWE still cites when discussing the belt's importance and gravity.

Best of all, Sammartino was a babyface, who won by defeating his opponents cleanly. Long, clean reigns create an air of stability; this title is a "real" title with "real" wins and accomplishments behind it.

It's like laying down the foundation for a massive skyscraper. With these new women's tag team titles, we're still in the concrete-pouring phase.

Compare the booking of the WWE Championship to the WWE universal championship and we have a case-in-point on how not to build a belt's legacy.

The first universal title holder, Finn Balor, separated his shoulder on the night he won it and relinquished it the following day.

The second guy who won it, Kevin Owens, only did so because the boss' son-in-law cheated and gifted it to him.

Afterwards, he needed to cheat to hold on to it. Since then, it's been held by two part-timers, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar. And it was held briefly by Roman Reigns, who had to surrender it after being diagnosed with leukemia. 

The title, as one might expect, carries no sense of weight or history. It's just one illegitimate run after another; it's hard to feel good for someone who wins it, because it was never imbued with any figurative worth to begin with.

There's no massive, career-changing feud that defined it. There's no admirable, full-time babyface champion whom a new champion could either emulate or define himself in opposition to.

When people think of the WWE Intercontinental Championship, they still think Steamboat vs. Savage. Perfect vs. Hart. Hart vs. Piper. Michaels vs. Ramon.

More recently, the NXT Women's Championship recalls multiple, great matches: Banks vs. Bayley, Bayley vs. Asuka and Asuka vs. Ember Moon.  

Bayley and Banks can best serve their new WWE Women's Tag Team titles with a long, clean reign. And somewhere along the way, they need to put on at least one great match—a classic, emotionally charged match—that defines these belts as worthy, important prizes to be won.