Will The Street Profits Survive On The Main Roster?

On the July 8th, 2019 episode of Raw, The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) were given the green light to deliver one of the most entertaining promos in quite some time on WWE programming. Dawkins and Ford created their own rendition of Flavor Flav to hype the No Holds Barred Tag Team Match at Extreme Rules where ‘The Best in the World’ Shane McMahon and ‘The Scottish Psychopath’ Drew McIntyre would face ‘The Deadman’ The Undertaker and ‘The Big Dog’ Roman Reigns.

On the July 11th, 2019 edition of PW Insider Elite Audio, Mike Johnson shared that “While many of the backstage segments on Raw are pre-taped, all of the Street Profits segments were live as they aired this past Monday in order to keep their energy as vibrant as possible”. For this reason alone, I believe The Street Profits will not face the same fate as many former NXT tag teams have on the main roster, with ridiculous booking or completely disappear from WWE programming altogether.

The Street Profits burst onto NXT TV in 2017 with their extraordinary charisma and unmatched swagger. The incredible NXT Universe latched on to them; as they would run into the crowd with a red solo cup to sing and dance to their catchy “Bring The Swag” entrance theme music. Unfortunately for them, the tag team division was flooded with hard-hitting teams such as The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong), Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate and Trent Seven) and The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar).

With the deck stacked against the always-entertaining newcomers, Dawkins and Ford began racking up victories over jobber tag teams such as The Ealy Brothers, Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli. On the January 17th, 2018 episode of NXT, The Street Profits would challenge AOP for the NXT Tag Team Championships in a losing effort. Following their loss, they would compete in the annual 2018 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The Street Profits would gain an impressive victory over Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker) but would once again face defeat at the hands of the monstrous AOP in the semifinals.

Fast-forward to the January 16th, 2019 episode of NXT, Dawkins and Ford had another squash match against the team of Chris & JC Metro. With a brand-new serious attitude and aggression, they made quick work of their opponents. Dawkins hit the Pop-up Spinebuster, and a magnificent Split-Legged Frog Splash by Ford to gain the victory. After their first victory of the new year, Dawkins and Ford ran a victory lap but were brutally assaulted by yet another dangerous force, The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler). When Dawkins and Ford began a small comeback, it was quickly thwarted by the leader of the pack of savages, Jaxson Ryker. The numbers game was too much for The Street Profits to handle as Ryker landed No Remorse (Sit-down Chokeslam) to allow the angry heels to stand tall.

A few months later on the May 1st, 2019 episode of NXT, Dawkins and Ford made a bold decision when they challenged NXT Tag Champs The Viking Raiders, who were set to vacate their titles after making their main roster debut. The Street Profits not only got some great offense in but they went blow for blow with the largest and one of the most spectacular tag teams in NXT.

At NXT Takeover XXV, The Street Profits bested Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch, The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish) and their recent adversaries Blake and Cutler in a spectacular Fatal-4-Way Ladder Match to win their first NXT Tag Team Championships.

WWE has a terrible track record of diminishing talent after they make the jump from NXT where they gained experience and honed their craft. A plethora of well-rounded tag teams that achieved great success down in NXT have fallen victim to the overwhelming plague of injustice on the jam-packed main roster in WWE. The Ascension (Viktor and Konnor) were billed as a destructive force in NXT, reminiscent to WWE’s Legion of Doom. They became NXT Tag Team Champions on October 2, 2013 episode of NXT, by defeating the then current champions, Adrian Neville and Corey Graves.

For over a month Viktor and Konnor would successfully defend their titles against local wrestlers, obliterating all the competition set in front of them. The Ascension are still listed as the longest-reigning tag team champions in NXT history for 364 days. Many believed this could have been the greatest “rub” for their main roster career, however what actually transpired was atrocious, with a bunch of legends squashing the young up-and-coming superstars. The Ascension would be demoted to performing on WWE Main Event and Superstars television show. The last sighting of Viktor and Konnor was in 2017, alongside The Fashion Police (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) in their entertaining weekly segments dubbed The Fashion Files.

Typically when a tag team such as Dawkins and Ford carry themselves in such an over-the-top manner with goofy personalities, they are instantly viewed as nothing more than a comedy act. This is not the case for the newest draftees to Raw, especially since WWE officials placed a huge amount of trust in The Street Profits’ latest Oscar-worthy delivery on the July 8, 2019 episode of Raw. The current NXT tag team champions will most likely drop their titles to their bitter rivals The Forgotten Sons at the upcoming NXT TakeOver: Toronto during SummerSlam weekend as their swan-song for the black and gold brand.

Afterwards, Dawkins and Ford will be completely freed up and hungrier than ever to claim gold on the main roster. With the “Wild Card Rule” in full force, Dawkins and Ford could soon mix it up with the longest-reigning tag team champions in WWE history, The New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods), or the exhilarating five-time tag team champions, The Usos. WWE is currently highlighting the tag team division weekly with stellar six-man tag matches, and The Street Profits can add their high level of intensity to elevate it.