John Cena, KO Suddenly WWE's Most Interesting Tag Team, MOTY Contender and More Takes

We're closing in on the end of 2022, and both WWE and AEW are trying to prep for the final shows of the year.

On SmackDown, John Cena was announced as Kevin Owens' partner for a tag team match against Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns for the final SmackDown of 2022 in two weeks.

We also saw Gunther take on Ricochet in a fantastic match, and Top Dolla took a big risk that put him and his opponents in a little danger.

Over on Rampage, The Butcher and The Blade teamed up with Trent Seven and Kip Sabian for an eight-man tag match to close the show.

Ricochet not only put on a classic with Santos Escobar in the SmackDown World Cup finals, but he followed itt up with an outstanding bout with Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship this week.

What we saw on Friday was a tale told a thousand times before. Gunther was the big, hulking heel, and Ricochet was the smaller underdog babyface.

The crowd erupted with applause every time they hit a big move and could barely contain its excitement whenever someone would kick out of a pin that seemed sure to end the match.

While Ricochet was unsuccessful in his attempt to win gold, he and Gunther ended up putting on what many would call an easy Match of the Year candidate.

Both of these men have thrived in recent months, but 2023 should be even better. Based on their booking, it's clear Triple H and the rest of the management team see something in both of them, so it would be reasonable to assume this is not the last time we will see them lock horns.

This week's SmackDown featured a Triple Threat No. 1 Contender's match to determine who will face The Usos for the tag titles in two weeks on SmackDown.

The duos in the bout were The Viking Raiders, Hit Row and Legado Del Fantasma. While the match ended with Hit Row getting the win, a spot from Top Dolla drew more attention than the result.

Close to the end of the match, the big man decided to attempt a dive over the top rope to take everyone out. It's a move he has hit successfully before, but this time it did not go so well.

He did not get enough elevation with his jump, got caught up and fell onto the apron. Everyone sold it and the announcers tried to address it, but the moment became a meme within seconds.

What's even worse is Top Dolla appeared to be moving gingerly after that, which means the moment might have caused an injury. A performer's health should always be the priority, so hopefully he is alright, but that is a move he might want to consider dropping from his arsenal or only using for pay-per-views.

In two weeks on the final SmackDown of 2022, Reigns and Zayn will battle Owens and a partner of his choosing in a tag team match. While they played it up as a mystery throughout the show, the reveal came quicker than expected.

As The Tribal Chief was dressing down Zayn for bringing problems to The Bloodline's door, Cena appeared on the big screen to declare that he is KO's partner.

Not only will this keep Cena's streak of having at least one match in every year for the past two decades in tact, but it also eliminated the need to act like we didn't know it would be Cena all along.

We don't need everything to be a mystery, and advertising Cena for a match ahead of time is going to make that show feel extra special.

KO and Cena have a complicated history, so it will be interesting to see if they can coexist.

AEW's tag team division is stacked, especially if you look at the trios and standard tag team divisions as one group.

However, one team that has been around for years and never received the push they deserve is The Butcher and The Blade.

This team is constantly used to put others over, but they could quickly be built up into top contenders for the tag titles.

The Butcher is a versatile big man who can give better promos than some may realize, and The Blade is just all-around awesome. Add in The Bunny, and you have a dangerous alliance that should pose a threat to anyone.

Getting a random shot at the belts only to end up losing isn't enough. This team deserves a push in 2023.