TAMPA, Fla. -- The team of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch said repeatedly that if they stuck to the rulebook and showed good sportsmanship, they would be rewarded. 

And as Raw wound to a close, Cade and Murdoch were busy posing in a photo studio with their newly-won World Tag Team Championships -- a reward that was a long time coming.

"It's about time that Cade and Murdoch got their due," Murdoch told WWE.com with the World Tag Team Championship around his waist. "No matter what you think or what anyone else in this world thinks, Cade and Murdoch are the new World Tag Team Champions, and that's how it's going to stay."

As virtual No. 1 contenders to The Hardys World Tag Team Championship, they didn't complain when The World's Greatest Tag Team stepped around them to challenge the Carolina brothers for the titles at One Night Stand.  

And at Raw, they were respectful of the champions, allowing The Hardys to heal from their successful Ladder Match title defense. 

But then again, when the mentally skewed Mr. McMahon told The Hardys to face Cade and Murdoch with the titles on the line that night, the blue-collar duo didn't offer any condolences to the brothers.

They knew that The Hardys were hurting. And they knew if any night was to be their night to win the titles, it was then -- even if they needed to temporarily suspend their straight-and-narrow ways to win the gold.

In a match that started with Cade and Murdoch's benevolent handshake, Jeff Hardy tried to hit the Swanton Bomb on a prone Lance Cade. But Cade dodged the falling Hardy, and wrapped up Jeff for the pin near the corner. 

Jeff stuck his leg out on the bottom rope as the referee counted the pinfall, but Trevor Murdoch came from outside the ring and tapped Jeff's leg off the rope as the ref counted to three. The ref never saw Jeff's leg on the ropes, and signaled for the bell.

As Cade and Murdoch celebrated their new titles, Matt Hardy complained loudly to the pair. "Was his foot on the rope?" he yelled at his friends -- or so he thought coming into the match.

Cade didn't know. He was too busy covering Jeff for the pin. But Murdoch lied to Matt, saying he didn't see the foot on the ropes. 

Murdoch then kicked Matt in the stomach. And the pair then leveled both brothers with their newly-won championship belts. The blue-collar boys left celebrating, yelling "Fooled you!" to the fans along the aisle way.

It leaves the team's fans scratching their heads. What happened to virtue? What happened to honesty? What happened to sportsmanship? 

Does this mean that Cade and Murdoch's two-month-long march to the right was all a show? Have they gone from mean to clean to mean again?

Lance Cade didn't give any hints post-match. He said their actions in the ring spoke loud enough.

"No matter whose foot is on the ropes, the referee's decision is final. F-I-N-A-L. Final! It's in the record books," Cade said.

"We're two-time WWE World Tag Team Champions. "We may have lost a couple of times, but we've said it all along that we are the best team in sports entertainment today. End of story."

Honestly, The Hardys would beg to differ.

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