WrestleMania 40 Tag Team Ladder Match: Ranking The Teams In This Six-Pack Tag Title Match

We’re less than a week away from WrestleMania 40. In the midst of one of the biggest cards of all time and The Rock’s return, we have a really fun match buried inside one of these two nights. That is the Six-Pack Ladder Match for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship. Ladder matches at WrestleMania tend to be fun and often chaotic, crazy, and every other insane synonym you can think of. On top of that, this event is no stranger to the Tag Team Ladder Match. We all remember the infamous TLC & Ladder matches with the Hardys, Dudleys, and Edge & Christian.

For the past several years, the ladder match was used at this event to decide a singles champion. Before that, we of course had the Money in the Bank match which WWE spun off to become its own PLE these days. The Tag Team Ladder match has not been a part of WrestleMania in quite some time, so bringing it back at WrestleMania 40 seems like a really good idea. The question we have now is, well, who is going to win this one?

There are several established tag teams involved in this match. New Day comes in with the most tag team success with multiple titles to their name. #DIY have been singles champions more often, but held the NXT Tag Titles. Judgment Day is of course the reigning champions. Meanwhile, New Catch Republic & A-Town Down Under are relatively new tag teams. Then we have Awesome Truth, two men who used to tag with each other about a decade ago but hadn’t until recently.

Who is going to walk away with the tag titles? We decided to rank the teams to establish who might be most likely to win. Let’s get started!

#DIY

Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa are both excellent performers. They have both been legendary on the WWE’s NXT Brand, having both been NXT World Champions in the past. Gargano has a few reigns with the NXT North American Championship and the two held the NXT Tag Team Titles together here. If there was a Hall of Fame for NXT Legends, they’d certainly be in right now. Their run on the main roster, however, is unknown as of now.

Both could be singles stars but WWE is filled with heavy hitters everywhere now. Forming a tag team makes sense, especially when #DIY has been successful.

In fact, the two started in NXT as a tag team first before going on to singles success. They’d revisit the tag team scene again later. However, they were once bitter enemies, to the point that Ciampa wanted to nearly decapitate Gargano. The issue here is two-fold for them. First, we have some great tag teams in this match that might not only need but deserve the gold right now. The story of #DIY is vast, but not unless you know of their time in NXT. We cannot expect most fans to know much about that.

Second, perhaps #DIY needs to win this match because we cannot be sure they’ll get many more chances to hold the titles. In fact, we’re not sure if WWE really knows what to do with them. Both are great solo acts too, so they could very well decide to split them yet again post-WrestleMania for all we know.

CURVEBALL:

There is an outside shot that #DIY wins the titles. After all, they were key assets on NXT when Triple H was booking the shows. Their amazing work

led to sellouts for PLE events with them in the main event. Triple H also knew he could always rely on them in any position. To some, #DIY itself may have not earned its big WrestleMania moment. However, could Triple H see this as a chance to honor Gargano & Ciampa individually for all the great work they did for him over the last 5 to 6 years?

Sadly, #DIY has sort of struggled to gain its footing on the main roster. This led to the decision to put them with R-Truth and The Miz to form some sort of larger faction based on Truth’s inability to grasp that Gargano isn’t Shawn Michaels and Ciampa isn’t Triple H.

The cool thing too is that these guys will bring a lot of excitement to the match, as they are no strangers to ladder matches. While they may have never competed in a tag team ladder match at Wrestlemania, they have competed in a tag team ladder match together before. They both have also wrestled in plenty of ladder matches during their NXT period. That said, they know ladders about as well as the people who work at Home Depot at this point. However, we do not personally believe they’ll win the gold here.

NEW CATCH REPUBLIC

Pete Dunne (we’re so glad he’s no longer Butch) and Tyler Bate have been a great combo as of late. While the two have only been a tag team recently, they have known each other and have been friends for many years. Bate is a former multi-time tag team champion both in and out of WWE. Dunne had been mostly a singles star before his main roster call-up, and since then he has been part of Sheamus’ faction. Once Bate reminded Dunne of who he used to be, Pete has been on a roll.

They are highly entertaining together and bring a real manic energy to the mix here. They are one of our favorite new tag teams to watch. WWE also was smart to give them an actual name, rather than just their respective last names. It kind of feels like WWE does not care about you when you’re given the tag name of “Davis & Johnson” or something similarly generic. Even if your name is “Basher & World Destroyer,” it’s still a crappy name if just thrown together like that.

New Catch Republic, however, is an excellent name for Bate & Dunne. It truly fits them and connects to their style a bit. Sure, it might be sort of a connection to a certain AEW faction that includes Bryan Danielson. However, sometimes similar names work for people. While both of these men would do fine on NXT as solo acts, they too would be lost in the shuffle on the main roster. Heck, Pete Dunne was lost in that shuffle. Together, they are getting on television and have been doing great.

NOT READY YET:

There is a certain segment of fans that want to see the New Catch Republic win this match. Heck, we’d be happy to see what they could do as tag team champions too one day. However, the odds of them winning are not in their favor. As of now, they have very little fan appeal. Don’t get us wrong, they have fans. It’s just that this is a die-hard base that loved them during their respective NXT runs. In the mainstream, they do not have a ton of fans. That will change, of course, but not in time for this match.

Triple H seems less worried about this than perhaps Vince McMahon would. They just need more time in front of fans first. The issue that also hurts them is the lack of a story to tell. As in, what makes these titles mean so much to them? Do they have any real beef with any tag teams here? What makes the New Catch Republic worthy of the titles? Stories might not be as important for tag teams, but it does matter somewhat. After all, they do not have anything interesting to tell us right now.

If they win, then what? Judgment Day might want a rematch but what’s next or what do fans look forward to? They’ll eventually capture the tag titles, just not here. They might not even have to wait long to take them, as the tag titles have changed hands often over the last 30 years. If you stick around long enough, a tag team eventually lucks into a tag title run.

NEW DAY

Who does not love The New Day? They are what is referred to in the industry as a “microwave tag team.” Want to heat them up? Give them a few minutes and they’ll be right back in the tag title picture. You don’t even need to do much with them. The biggest thing the New Day has been missing is obviously Big E., even if they have held tag team gold without him around some. It might go without saying, but we don’t think it can be understated just how much bigger (no pun intended) that he made them feel.

As a trio, they are formidable. As a duo, they are sometimes forgotten about. Xavier Woods has been King of the Ring but has not held any singles title in his WWE career while Kofi Kingston has held several singles titles, including the WWE Championship. Kofi also held tag gold before New Day was a thing, which is why he has the most days as a tag team champion in WWE history.

Big E. held the Intercontinental Championship and WWE Championship himself, which automatically made the trio a bigger deal than as a duo. Yet Woods & Kingston have still been tag champions since Big E. went down with an injury. Could they win the titles yet again at WrestleMania? It’s not as if WWE couldn’t go this direction. It is obvious they are great talkers and their history makes them a notable team worthy of holding the titles.

THE DIRECTIONS ARE ENDLESS:

We put this team in the middle because they seem to always have a good story to tell. Adding another title run to their resume only further makes a case for New Day being the greatest tag team in WWE history. They could easily have a rivalry with Judgment Day or they could help some of these younger tag teams along by giving them tag title shots. We all know New Day can give us some incredible tag matches. They’re used to doing this far more than not.

Imagine #DIY vs New Day, New Catch Republic vs New Day, or even giving younger NXT tag teams a shot at the gold. This automatically gives New Day a story that can be spread out in numerous directions, and whoever beats them looks like another top-flight tag team on the rise.

Another thing to consider is what happens when Big E. does return. He has not ruled out a comeback yet. If he were to show up at WrestleMania, would he get involved physically in this tag team ladder match? Probably not. Would he walk out with them and perhaps even hang out on commentary to cheer them on? That’s possible. If that happens, you could see New Day win these titles FOR the big man.

JUDGMENT DAY

One might be surprised to see Judgment Day, the reigning WWE Undisputed Tag Team Champions, somewhere in the middle of the pack here. It should not be surprising though. We believe something has to give with Damian Priest and Judgment Day. We’ve speculated around here that Priest could cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase either at WrestleMania or the RAW after WrestleMania. This makes more sense if he does it without the tag team titles.

Having him hold a World Championship and the tag titles is a bit much for Judgment Day. Giving them all the gold is fine, but giving two big titles to one man is overkill for sure. Priest shooting his shot on the same weekend that he and Finn Balor lose the championships feels like the right move. It also sows the seeds for a huge issue within the Judgment Day. Like how Priest was more concerned with winning the World Heavyweight Championship than retaining the Tag Titles.

Let’s not forget that Priest has had some heat with Balor. It might have been around the middle of last year but Finn had been working for a while trying to take the World Heavyweight Title off of Seth Rollins. There were times when Priest’s involvement distracted Finn. We also could even see points where Damian still might have cashed in even if Finn won, based on some of his actions. We also cannot forget that Balor tried to force the inclusion of J.D. McDonaugh into the group.

J.D. eventually would “earn” his way in, but Priest had to seemingly sign off on it. Why? If Judgment Day does not have any leaders, why should Priest have some sort of larger say?

BIGGER FISH TO FRY:

It feels like it’s all ready to break wide open soon. Does that happen right after WrestleMania? Likely not. They like to let things bleed a bit these days. However, they could be the night when things move forward. Also, Judgment Day has felt a bit stale. It feels like they are only holding the tag gold to “appear” powerful. It would be nice to put the titles into the hands of a tag team that can do something meaningful with them.

Right now, the better story to tell is Priest & Balor being at odds with what happens.

Maybe if they lose this tag team ladder match and Priest wins the World Heavyweight Title, maybe the story does that he does not want to get the tag titles back. He has bigger and better fish to fry, so to speak.

One might ask then, why aren’t these guys not at the bottom of the list? Because they are still a huge part of RAW, and giving them the titles does still give you a reason to have them there every week. It also gives you a reason to use them on all three brands. You have to have a story ready to go if you want to break them up too. We think that’s the case here, but we cannot be sure yet. This is why we keep them in the middle.

The truth is that we really don’t think there’s a world in which they walk away with the tag team titles at WrestleMania 40.

A-TOWN DOWN UNDER

Putting A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory & Grayson Waller) second might seem crazy to some. However, we can make an argument for putting them number one. In this tag team ladder match, they will likely give us a ton of highlights. Both love to do this currently as it is, but together as a tag team, they’ll go off.

The pairing has been pretty perfect in our view. What Austin Theory needed, despite all of the selfies he did beforehand, was a real personality. The NXT moron persona was a thing of the past too. He has an impressive look, and he’s comfortable on the mic too, but he hasn’t had a lot of interesting things to say.

Sometimes it’s hard to find yourself, even when you’re given a lot of time on the mic. Look no further than Roman Reigns, today’s top guy in WWE struggled for years before getting to where he is now. Theory doesn’t have to struggle because he’s tag team partners with a gifted talker. Grayson Waller has brought the best out of Theory, and he’s a good in-ring performer. Waller’s real claim to fame is his mic work where he is elite level.

While Theory might have a punchable face, Waller makes you want to punch his face. We mean that as a compliment. Grayson knows how to get under your skin, and that is precisely the kind of person you want to hold a championship. That is especially true if they are a heel. Give him and Theory these titles and the entire WWE Universe can easily root for anyone they face off with. This is perfect for the two of them.

There are a few reasons why we feel they’d be great tag champions.

BOUNTIFUL ANGLES:

First, it allows WWE to create some real heat with them. People hate them already, mostly because Theory is somewhere between his “we hate him but respect him” heat and the infamous “go away” heat. We’ve already mentioned why Waller is great in his role. This is why they can be a key asset to helping “make” another team. While #DIY and New Catch Republic do not have a great story to tell, A-Town Down Under could give them one. Picture a series of battles with either one of these teams. It would be incredible to watch.

Anytime you can use a champion or champions to make new ones, there’s no reason not to. Let them hold the titles for a while, build a feud with #DIY, and then let the four of them tear it up for a live crowd. It would be the very best use of both teams.

It will also be fun to see a future breakup. How do you take two unlikeable guys and make one of them a babyface? Many people feel it would work toward getting Theory into a babyface role. We’re not sure that makes the most sense. We feel people actually want to cheer for Waller. Why not have Theory turn on him and let this happen?

We’ll see how they do it, but one of the most interesting parts of a tag team is the breakup angle.

One could make the argument that both men have true breakout star potential. Putting them on a course to betray each other just leads us to a future, fun storyline between them. We think that putting these guys at the top of the ladder opens up several options story-wise for WWE. Perhaps more than any other on this list.

AWESOME TRUTH

The Miz & R-Truth were once a pretty good tag team. They have been forced back into a team after Judgment Day turned down Truth’s various, quite hilarious requests to join them. Truth was fooled, bullied, and beaten out of the group despite all of his efforts. He now has the chance to get some revenge on them by taking the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships from Damian Priest and Finn Balor of Judgment Day.

Will they be able to do this? It might be interesting to start with them not being able to first.

Truth might be hilarious and beloved by WWE fans, but what do you do with him when he has something serious around his waist? Does this story still land well in 2024 when he’s not carrying a stupid title like the WWE 24/7 Championship? Does he appear credible as a champion when, half the time, his entire gimmick is that he has no idea what’s going on?

Also, would it make sense for a guy like this to outlast some of the best tag team wrestlers in the world in a tag team ladder match? We know Truth can climb a ladder, but he tends to not know how to do this in the very match that would require it. For all we know, he’ll show up to this tag team ladder match with a briefcase filled with money, just because.

WE WANT THE TRUTH:

On some level, it does not make sense for Truth to be one-half of the tag team champions. Even though The Miz is very aware and often acts as the parent to Truth’s toddler. Once they get the win, how long do you have them hold the titles? A Week? 10 Weeks? 10 Months? What story can one really tell other than a few weeks of Judgment Day trying to come back for the gold?

In many ways, it does not seem realistic, even if we wish it was.

However, Truth has shown to be a solid competitor in the ring. When it’s time to fight, he’s more than willing to start punching fools. He wants to be out there in a meaningful way too, and he has an axe to grind with Priest & Balor. Really, with Judgment Day overall.

Nothing would satisfy the WWE Universe more than seeing Truth at the top of the ladder, taking down the titles. Also, let’s not forget that Truth has been a mainstay on WWE programming. While Vince McMahon is not there anymore, we feel like there’s a tradition of trying to give those who have given their all to WWE for many years to have some sort of WrestleMania moment. What better moment could you ask for if you’re R-Truth?

If this eventually leads to a couple of months with Truth feuding with Judgment Day, we wouldn’t be mad at that.