Alpha Academy On How Tag Team Wrestling Is Viewed In WWE
As guests on the latest episode of WWE After the Bell with Corey Graves, The Alpha Academy spoke about their recent success as the RAW Tag Team Champions and how this group came together. Otis specifically spoke about how he found out he was becoming a heel, and the struggles he dealt with in his transition from being a babyface to a heel.
"We heard rumors and then there was an idea one night to turn to the dark side and go on top of the mountains," Otis said. "In my mind, I was like, I'm very comfortable. I'm naturally a happy guy. I would sit there and I remember Gable would be like, 'Doz, that wasn't mean enough.' I just exploded on him, gave him an elbow drop and he goes, 'I know, dude, but your eyes look happy. I know you're having fun but you got to like...' And I'm like, 'ugh,' because I was confident with, 'Hey, WWE Universe, how you doing?' Now it's like, 'I'm not with you guys anymore. I'm with him, alright? So shove it."
Currently, as the RAW Tag Team Champions, The Alpha Academy has been feuding with RK-Bro over the belts, with another match being official following the Quiz Bowl on this past Monday's episode of RAW. Speaking of the same show, Chad Gable got his first televised pinfall in about 2 years during the Academy's match with The Street Profits. Gable spoke about how the feud between The Alpha Academy and RK-Bro came about, and why he and Otis have a goal of making tag team wrestling a mainstay atop Monday Night RAW.
"First of all, I think the craziest part of it is how things happen in WWE," Gable said. "Some things seem to happen out of nowhere and this for us happened out of nowhere, it just happened. We were doing singles matches with Randy and Riddle like we do sometimes here, and never really had a proper tag match. I think they just saw the interaction and the perfect storm of these characters. I think what's working so well right now for this program is its four perfectly defined characters who the audience knows and who they're looking at, they know who they're listening to every time someone speaks. They're all so distinct and all have their own personalities that play together so perfectly as opposed to two guys in the same tag team that are the same mindset. I think when we see that on tv and the audience sees that, it's so good to look at because it's different.
"Maybe people have this idea in their heads that official tag teams need to be the same, and tag team wrestling at its highest form is like an art-form like no other. It's so beautiful and you can tell a completely different and unique story than you can in any singles match. I truly believe that, and I learned that in NXT and it was basically a college education in wrestling. I got a degree in that but from everybody that I learned from down there, the little intricacies you can apply and do in tag team wrestling that just aren't possible in singles matches. The chance to mix it up and show the audience on RAW, maybe we're finally showing them that tag team wrestling can be the mainstay here and be the focal point for the long-term."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE After the Bell with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.