Breaking Down The Belts: Brodido's AEW World Tag Team Championship

Brodido look to make their sixth defense in less than 100 days as AEW World Tag Team Champions when as they face two-time champions FTR at Full Gear. Their fairytale run as a seemingly thrown together tandem started in the lead in to Forbidden Door, the champions in the Hurt Syndicate looking to fend off the winners of a number one contendership tournament.

On one side of the bracket, FTR faced, fought, and felled both JetSpeed and the Bang Bang Gang. Brodido, meanwhile, saw off both the Gates of Agony in the opening round and multi-time champions the Young Bucks in the semi-finals respectively. But when the two teams met in the final there was no winner to be found, Brodido and FTR wrestling to a 30-minute time limit draw, sharing number one contendership as two challengers to the champions in a three-way tag at Forbidden Door. Courtesy of the aforementioned Gates of Agony alongside Ricochet, the title match turned into a re-run of the contest between FTR and Brodido; The Demand, as they have come to be known, taking the Hurt Syndicate out of the match with a brawl. And Brodido pinned FTR to win the tag titles from the Hurt Syndicate when all was said and done. 

Now FTR are coming back for the titles in a traditional two-on-two affair, though surely with Stokely Hathaway in their corner. That naturally begs the questions of whether Brodido can match the feat of beating them the first time, whether FTR are the team to spoil the fairytale run of Brodido, and how whatever does occur goes down in actual practice. Time will answer those, but in the interim, let's have a go at breaking down the situation before it unfolds and try to get a measure on what could and should happen when all is said and done.

It is hard to ignore the pedigree that FTR carries into their title challenge at Full Gear, not just as former AEW World Tag Team Champions but also former tag champs across all three WWE brands, Ring of Honor, AAA, and NJPW. While Brodido were getting started as tag champions, FTR were in the midst of a feud with one of the greatest tag teams of all time, Christian Cage and Adam Copeland, and although they lost their dream match in Toronto they eventually had the last laugh with a conchairto to Beth Copeland, writing both her and her husband off of TV. 

That feud has been left really open-ended and there is all the chance that they pick up where things were left off. Providing he does actually return to the company, one wouldn't expect Copeland to continue without exacting some form of revenge, and that will most likely come stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Cage. It could even be his return that costs FTR the titles at Full Gear with some classic interference and a dodgy finish, but it's when one starts to imagine that coming a little later that a picture of FTR as three-time champions begins to become clear. 

FTR have lost just two traditional tag team matches this year, their defeat against Cope and Cage and a loss to Roderick Strong and Kyle O'Reilly in March, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see them take the titles from a relatively vastly inexperienced team. That is especially the case if the plan as it was long believed to be is to have Cope and Cage battle FTR with the titles on the line. And while that itself is a very interesting prospect, that doesn't mean it would be the right decision with all things considered. 

Maybe Full Gear will be the moment it all comes to an end, but it feels like the show could represent a cementing of Brodido's position instead, a statement victory to say they aren't just a flash in the pan. If so, who should be the team to take the titles from Brodido beyond Full Gear? That honor goes to the ones that had a hand in making them the Tag Team Champions in the first place. 

The Gates of Agony and Ricochet were the ones who took Lashley and Benjamin out of the match at Forbidden Door, clearing the field for Brodido to win the match, and have since continued their trios feud. But they are not presently on the card for Full Gear as Ricochet enters the Casino Gauntlet to inaugurate the AEW National Championship alongside Lashley and Benjamin. 

If Brodido were to retain the titles against FTR then the Gates of Agony stand out as the best option to inherit the baton at the top of the division, legitimizing the pair for the dominant tandem they have been and giving some weight to The Demand as a whole. It would also open the door – or gate, rather – to all three members holding gold if Ricochet was to win the National Championship. 

Neither FTR nor Cage and Cope need the titles for their feud to continue, if that is the path, and it would arguably be better for the division not to be held up and to fall onto solid shoulders when Brodido drop it; a prize rather than a prop. The Gates of Agony could serve that purpose and stand for the younger babyface teams, both established and newfound like Private Party or JetSpeed respectively, to challenge.