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SmackDown Tag Team Titles Change Hands During Draft's First Night

Familiar faces wind up with the gold...

With Draft intrigue and several title matches on the docket, the SmackDown Tag Team titles changed hands on Friday night's broadcast.

After returning to SmackDown earlier in the evening, Xavier Woods once again became a champion, as he and New Day partner Kofi Kingston defeated Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura to become SmackDown Tag Team champions.

The finish came when Woods pinned Nakamura with a flying elbow smash.

The match was Woods' first since rupturing his Achilles during a SmackDown Tag Team title match on October 21 of last year.

The big story was the aftermath, however, as all three New Day members were still in the draft pool as round four came up. That's when (for reasons unclear) only Kingston and Woods were drafted to Raw, while Big E was then immediately drafted to SmackDown as a solo act. This, in spite of the fact, that entire stables could be drafted together.

Collectively, The New Day have held some form of WWE Tag Team titles on nine occasions (two Raw, seven SmackDown) across their six years as a trio.

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Justin Henry

Written by Justin Henry

In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.