International Airstrike International Airstrike ( also abbreviated in common use to simply Airstrike ) is the unofficial name of a Professional wrestling tag team consisting of Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel , both working for WWE on its Developmental Branch NXT . They have also appeared on Main Event and Superstars . They became a tag team after they competed in a match against each other , ending with mutual respect , and went on to compete for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Wrestlemania XXVIII in April . History . Pursuit of the Tag Team Championship ( 2012 – 2013 ) . On the March 29 episode of " WWE Superstars " after Gabriel defeated Kidd in singles competition , they shook hands and agreed to become a tag team . They then competed in their first match as a tag team at WrestleMania XXVIII for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a triple threat tag team match also involving Primo & Epico being managed by Rosa Mendes , and The Usos , but were unsuccessful in retrieving the titles , and with Gabriel suffering an elbow injury during the match . The team reunited on the June 6 episode of " NXT Redemption " defeating the team of Johnny Curtis and Heath Slater . They competed at the No Way Out pay - per - view in a fatal four - way tag team match to become the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship also involving Epico and Primo , The Usos , and the Prime Time Players ( Titus O ' Neil and Darren Young ) , but were unsuccessful with O ' Neil and Young coming out victorious . On the June 21 episode of " WWE Superstars " , Kidd and Gabriel competed in tag team competition coming out victorious against the team of Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks , a feat they repeated on the July 26 and August 9 episodes of " WWE Superstars " again in winning efforts . On the August 24 episode of " SmackDown " , Kidd and Gabriel joined the other tag teams backstage in an argument on which team will be the new number one contenders , which ended in a brawl . The name International Airstrike was chosen on August 28 by the WWE fans via Tout and Twitter because Kidd is a Canadian and Gabriel is a South African . The team suffered their first loss on the August 31 episode of " SmackDown " against the Prime Time Players . On the September 21 episode of " SmackDown " , the team appeared as lumberjack ' s along during a tag team match between Daniel Bryan and Kane against Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow , ending in a disqualification after Rhodes attacked Kane with a chair , who would afterwards assault the team ' s with Bryan with chairs . On the October 3 premiere of " WWE Main Event " , Kidd and Gabriel lost a number one contender tournament first round match against Santino Marella and Zack Ryder . On the November 12 episode of " Raw " , Kidd and Gabriel competed in an 8 - man tag team match alongside with Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara defeating Titus O ' Neil , Darren Young , Primo , and Epico with Gabriel pinning Young . The team then competed in a 10 - man elimination tag team match at the Survivor Series pay - per - view along with Rey Mysterio , Sin Cara , and Brodus Clay against Titus O ' Neil , Darren Young , Primo and Epico , and Tensai in a winning effort with Mysterio lastly pinning Young . The team broke up January 2013 when Justin Gabriel suffered a knee injury , and Tyson Kidd was also himself injured . They both later returned and did some singles work , with Kidd forming a team with Ricardo Rodriguez . 2014 . The team reunited on July 10 , 2014 and challenging the team of Adrian Neville & Sami Zayn . The team is currently in pursuit of The NXT Tag Team Championship . The team will be featured in WWE 2K15 .