Inaugural champions to be crowned at Backlash in September
Wednesday 24 August 2016 09:57, UK
Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon have unveiled Smackdown's new Women's and Tag Team Titles, with the inaugural champions to be crowned at Backlash.
WWE's established Women's and Tag Team Championships became exclusive to the Raw brand following July's Draft, with respective titlists Charlotte and The New Day picked for Monday nights.
Smackdown General Manager Bryan had long suggested he would fill the void by creating new belts for his show and they were revealed on Tuesday night in front of the roster.
Former Divas Champions Nikki Bella and Natalya, plus Becky Lynch, Naomi, Alexa Bliss and Carmella, will compete in a Six-Pack Challenge at Backlash for the Women's Championship.
The first Smackdown Tag Team Champions will also be decided at the event following the finals of a tournament - The Usos and American Alpha progressed to the semi-finals on Tuesday.
The new belts take Smackdown's number of championships up to four, with Dean Ambrose the reigning WWE World Champion and The Miz holding the Intercontinental Title.
Raw introduced the Universal Championship after Ambrose's victory over Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns at Battleground made the WWE World Championship the sole property of Smackdown.
Irish Superstar Finn Balor became the maiden champion when he defeated Rollins at SummerSlam on Sunday, but had to relinquish the belt having sustained a shoulder injury during the match.
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