Product Code Database
American Alpha was a professional wrestling tag team, composed of former amateur wrestlers Jason Jordan and Chad Gable. The team performed on WWE's developmental brand NXT before being moved up to the main roster on the SmackDown brand. The team was disbanded after Jordan moved to the Raw brand on July 17, 2017 while Gable stayed on SmackDown.
They were one-time NXT Tag Team Champions and one-time SmackDown Tag Team Champions. This made them the only tag team to have won tag team championships in both NXT and WWE's main roster in the same year.
American Alpha squared off with Blake and Murphy on two separate occasions on the January 27 and February 24 episode's tapings, where they were successful both times, as well as teaming with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady against them and Dash and Dawson on the February 17 episode, where they victoriously emerged.
American Alpha faced off with the Vaudevillains on the March 16 episode of NXT in a number one contender's match where they emerged victorious, earning them an NXT Tag Team Championship match against Dash and Dawson, now called "The Revival", at . The pair won the NXT Tag Team Championship at the event. They defeated the Vaudevillains on the April 20 episode of NXT. On June 8 at , American Alpha lost the titles back to The Revival, ending their reign at 68 days. After the match, they were assaulted by the debuting Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar), who were managed by legendary manager, Paul Ellering.
The pair subsequently failed to win back the NXT Tag Team Championship after being defeated by the Revival in a two out of three falls match on the July 6th episode of NXT before wrestling their final match on the brand on July 20, where they were defeated by the Authors of Pain.
The pair then entered an eight-tag team tournament which would determine the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champions, defeating Breezango in the first round to advance to the semi-finals where they faced The Usos. Despite defeating The Usos quickly on the September 6th episode of SmackDown, Gable's knee was kayfabe injured during a post-match assault when the Usos turned heel, rendering American Alpha unable to compete at Backlash and undoing their attempts to become the inaugural champions.
They returned on the September 20th episode to face the Usos in a number one contender's match to establish who would face inaugural Smackdown Tag Team Champions Heath Slater and Rhyno at No Mercy, where they were defeated due to Gable's injury, marking their first loss on the main roster. At the event, they would instead team with the Hype Bros to face the Ascension and the Vaudevillians where they were successful.
On the November 1 episode of SmackDown, American Alpha defeated Spirit Squad to qualify for Team SmackDown for the 10–on–10 Survivor Series tag team elimination match at Survivor Series. Team SmackDown was defeated by Team Raw at the event, with American Alpha being eliminated by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson after eliminating The Shining Stars. The duo won a tag team turmoil match on the following episode of SmackDown, giving them the right to face Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton of The Wyatt Family to establish the number one contenders for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship, but were defeated following the interference of Brodie Lee. At , the pair teamed with the Hype Bros and Apollo Crews to defeat the Ascension, the Vaudevillians and Brian Myers on the kickoff show.
On the December 27th episode of SmackDown Live, they defeated Randy Orton and Luke Harper of The Wyatt Family, Heath Slater and Rhyno, and The Usos in a four corners elimination match to become the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions, celebrating with their families afterwards.
After defeating The Wyatt Family (Orton and Harper) in a rematch to retain their titles on January 10, the pair would go on to defend their titles in a tag team turmoil match at Elimination Chamber successfully against The Ascension, Usos, Vaudevillians, Breezango and Heath Slater & Rhyno, entering fourth and eliminating the Usos and Ascension, despite an attack by the Usos after their elimination, continuing their feud. American Alpha would defeat the Ascension on the following SmackDown in a rematch and then Breezango the week after, being confronted by the Usos after both matches.
On the March 21st episode of SmackDown Live, American Alpha lost the SmackDown Tag Team Championships to The Usos after suffering a non-title match loss to the pair the prior week. After making their Wrestlemania debut at WrestleMania 33 where both were unsuccessful in winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal they failed in their championship rematch to the Usos, being attacked by Primo and Epico afterwards, who defeated them the following week. American Alpha got revenge by defeating the duo the following week in a beat the clock challenge match, although their time was beaten by Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze). This was their last televised match as a tag team, as Jordan moved to WWE Raw while Gable stayed on SmackDown.
On the July 17 episode of Raw, Jason Jordan was moved to the Raw brand after being revealed as the (kayfabe) illegitimate son of Raw General Manager Kurt Angle. This effectively disbanded the team.
|
|
