03:01

Otis & Tucker challenge Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode for their Raw Tag Team Championships.

The argument that Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode are fluke Raw Tag Team Champions is holding less water by the week, as the unlikely titles retained with a decisive, if ill-gotten victory over SmackDown hosses Heavy Machinery.

That’s notable because, going into the match, some pundits suggested an established team like Otis & Tucker would take advantage of the champs’ relative inexperience to seize the titles. Ziggler & Roode didn’t necessarily have the kind of inventive, two-man maneuvers Heavy Machinery are fast becoming known for, but they were clearly on the same page in terms of competing smart rather than competing fair. Roode bent the rules by mugging Tucker outside the ring following a hot start by Heavy Machinery, and Ziggler broke them by catching Tucker with a Zig Zag as the challengers prepared to execute the Compactor.

With Tucker taken out and Otis caught unaware, the champs moved fast, ejecting Otis from the ring to leave Tucker helpless against Roode’s match-ending Glorious DDT. Nitpick Ziggler and Roode’s origin story and underhanded tactics all you want, but Heavy Machinery is about as cohesive a unit as you can find, and they weren’t enough to solve the champs. Ziggler & Roode might just be here to stay.