The First-Ever African American Women’s Tag Team Champions

This Wrestlemania was stupendous for good reason — history has been made at Wrestlemania 38. Sasha Banks and Naomi have won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, becoming the first-ever African American women to do so. This adds to the list of history-making accolades that Banks has made and has contributed to another historic moment between two black women at Wrestlemania overall.

Banks and Naomi both won the championship in a fatal four-way tag team match against other teams such as Shayna Baszler and Natalya, Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley and lastly the former tag team champions, Queen Zelina and Carmella.

The match went back and forth with many of the highlights originating from interactions between the teams. Ripley and Banks started off the match by showcasing their skills, letting everyone know why they were both deserving of a winning title. The match progressed with Morgan and Banks facing off, followed by Baszler and Morgan clashing. Every member from each tag team was showcasing their individual talents at this point in the match. It wasn’t until Banks and Naomi were left alone in the ring with Carmella (one-half of the former women’s tag team champions) that they dominated. Near the end of the match, they debuted a new finisher — a combination of Banks’ backstabber and Naomi’s front-faced powerbomb — allowing Banks to pin Carmella and pick up the win. 

This was an iconic win for Banks and Naomi both as a tag team and as individual wrestlers in the industry. It is safe to say that over the past couple of months Banks and Naomi did not have the best booking in terms of their personas in WWE. Individually, Banks has been out on injury for six weeks and Naomi has been in a feud with official, Sonya Deville. Their positioning in the company earlier this year seemed to be putting them on the right track to acquiring gold, but with Banks being eliminated by Vega and Naomi being eliminated by Deville at this year’s Royal Rumble, fans seemed to be upset. 

The upset from fans stemmed from the concern that their favorites were on their way to being jobbers (wrestlers used to make other wrestlers look good by repeatedly losing matches) or quitting the company overall. Most previous WWE wrestlers quit in response to similar poor treatment or because they were positioned as jobbers by WWE management. With the amount of WWE Superstars that were released last year, fans were understandably worried over the future of Banks and Naomi. 

Nonetheless, Banks and Naomi have achieved a feat at Wrestlemania 38. With this win, Banks has accomplished her first Wrestlemania win and Naomi has acquired gold for the first time since 2017. This also marks the second time African American women have made history at Wrestlemania. Last year, Banks and Bianca Belair main-evented Wrestlemania 37, becoming the first African American women to do so. This year, Banks and Naomi personally contributed to the history of African American women at Wrestlemania by becoming the first-ever African American Women’s Tag Team Champions.

Tweet us, @VALLEYmag, and let us know your thoughts on this historic moment.

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