New Day Win Tag Titles vs. Daniel Bryan, Rowan, Heavy Machinery at Extreme Rules
Big E and Xavier Woods beat Daniel Bryan and Rowan and Heavy Machinery in a Triple Threat tag team match to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at Extreme Rules on Sunday.
Big E fought hard to extend the match by refusing to tap out in Bryan's LeBell Lock. That hard work paid off later as he caught The Planet's Champion, who attempted to counter an Irish whip into the turnbuckle by climbing up and flipping backward.
He leaped right into the waiting arms of the New Day man, who tagged in Woods to hit Midnight Hour.
New Day has now won the blue brand's title four times, and the group has held the WWE tag team titles six times overall.
Fresh off a win over Heavy Machinery at Stomping Grounds, Bryan and Rowan were set to defend against Big E and Woods at Extreme Rules, but things got a bit more complicated thanks to Shane McMahon.
Shane-O-Mac booked a match between Heavy Machinery and the team of Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler, with the winners getting added to the title bout at Extreme Rules. After some miscommunication between KO and The Showoff, though, Otis and Tucker prevailed.
Big E and Woods earned a title match previously with multiple wins over Bryan and Rowan. They teamed with The Usos to beat the champions and The Revival on an episode of Raw and then beat Bryan and Rowan in a two-on-two tag match on the ensuing episode of SmackDown Live.
New Day have a longstanding issue with Bryan and Rowan dating back to the build to WrestleMania 35. The Beard was WWE champion at the time and seemingly doing everything possible to avoid defending against Kofi Kingston.
Big E and Woods won a tag team gauntlet match to help their teammate earn a title shot, and Kingston went on to beat Bryan at WrestleMania to become WWE champion for the first time.
With Kingston primarily focused on defending his title, it opened the door for Big E and Woods to return to their pursuit of the tag belts.
In the weeks leading up to Extreme Rules, Bryan was highly critical of his opponents. He accused New Day and Heavy Machinery of being too focused on entertaining the fans and having fun instead of worrying about having success in the ring.
Bryan had to put his money where his mouth was at Extreme Rules, where he attempted to prove he and Rowan had the right approach in terms of winning and retaining championships.
New Day proved there is a method to their madness, and after beating Bryan and Rowan for the titles, a rematch could be in order for SummerSlam on August 11.
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