And then, after slogging through an eight-team tournament across WWE brands that ballooned to 10 due to injuries, there were two.

That's right, after watching the team of Zoey Stark and Nikkta Lyons eliminated from contention before the tournament even began, and their replacements, Toxic Attraction, having to bow out due to an injury of their own, Paul “Triple H” Levesque and company finally made it through the semi-finals of the tournament to decide on the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Titles when the team of Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez defeated Natalya and Sonya Deville. The finals were set, with the aforementioned duo set to face off against Dakota Kai and IYO SKY ahead of their match with Bayley versus Alexa Bliss, Asuka, and RAW Woman's Champion Bianca Belair.

On paper, this match looked like a certified layup; while Rodriquez and Aliyah performed well in their qualifying matches, the wind was fully at the backs of Kai and SKY, and the presence of Bayley at ringside would easily help to squash any momentum swing in the former NXT duo's favor. With Kai and SKY speaking as if they'd already won the belt in the leadup to Clash at the Castle, with their match against Rodriquez and Aliyah serving as nothing more than a formality, things were shaking up for a pretty massive shakeup the likes of which could have long-lasting ramifications across the WWE Universe.

Remember, all it takes is a single mistake and a 1-2-3 for a match to end; why couldn't the proud owner of the fastest win in WWE history play a key role in another surprise victory?

After wrestling the match straight for much of the early contest, Aliyah was left immobilized on the outside of the ring for much of the middle of the match, leaving Rodriquez to take tag team punishment from Kai and SKY before the trio of Belair, Asuka, and Bliss charged the ring to provide support for their fellow babyfaces. With Bayley being run off, Aliyah popped back up, blind-tagged Rodriquez, and unbeknownst to Kai, rolled her up during her own pinning attempt for the 1-2-3 and the championship victory.

The team who will potentially be known as Damage CTRL were furious, the crowd loved it, and the five babyfaces all celebrated the win in the middle of the ring as the show went off of the air.

Had that been the last fans saw of the new champs on WWE programming, they could have likely gone to bed happy, but fortunately, the backstage post-show team caught up with Rodriquez and Aliyah and got the 411 on their first title run together.

Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez are embracing their moment in WWE.

When Sarah Schreiber caught up with Aliyah and Rodriguez about what it was like to capture championship gold with a clever win over Kai and SKY, the new WWE Women's Tag Team Champions had a lot to say.

“This means everything to us,” Rodriguez told Schreiber. “I mean both of us working so hard on NXT to get to RAW and SmackDown and then to main event RAW and not only main event RAW but to win the Women’s Tag Team Titles? This is incredible.

“Incredible,” Aliyah agreed. “And, you know, coming here tonight, I truly didn’t believe that I deserved this match but having you by my side, I 100 percent believed that I could attain this, so thank you so much.”

“I believed in you every step along the way, Aliyah,” Rodriguez told Aliyah. “Every second of the way.”

Isn't that sweet? While few expected to see Aliyah and Rodriquez secure the titles when the initial tournament was announced, they appear incredibly proud of their collective efforts and now look eager to defend their straps across RAW, SmackDown, and even NXT 2.0 against the best tag teams, young and old, the WWE Universe has to offer. They'll likely earn opportunities to wrestle Toxic Attraction, who would have been their semi-finals foes on SmackDown, RAW teams like Nikki ASH and Doudrop, and may even take the ring against Bliss and Asuka, who played an instrumental role in winning the championships.

While more than a few fans will want to point to the duo as “transitional champions” as the return of Sasha Banks and Naomi appears more and more likely with each passing week, the decision to shine the spotlight on a pair of former NXT standouts is perfectly aligned with Triple H's booking philosophy, as he appears to want nothing more than to revitalize RAW and SmackDown with new performers who can be brand fixtures for years to come.