WWE is returning with the NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in 2021. It won’t be a WWE Network special but instead, be a merger with the NXT programming instead. Thus WWE will make some efforts to bring the spotlight into the tag team division of the black and yellow brand as a separate tournament will go down for the talented performers.
It was announced on this week’s final NXT of 2020 that The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will return in two weeks that is on the January 13 episode. The first team announced for the tournament is The Undisputed Era where Adam Cole and Roderick Strong will represent the faction. The other participants of the tourney will be let known, later.
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Details On WWE NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic 2021
The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is a tribute honoring the late WWE Hall of Famer who’s also one of the pioneers behind the success of NXT. The series commencing in two weeks on NXT will crown a pair of winners set to receive an NXT Tag Team Championship opportunity. It was also mentioned that the full bracket and the remaining competitors will be revealed next week on NXT New Year’s Evil.
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The inaugural Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic was held in 2015 where Samoa Joe and current NXT Champion Finn Balor came up as the winners. The Authors of Pain – Akam and Rezar won in 2016, The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly) won in 2018, Ricochet and Aleister Black won in 2019 while the 2020 tournament was won by The BroserWeights (Riddle and Pete Dunne).
The first two Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournaments featured 16 tag teams, while the rest have had 8 tag teams and the same is expected for the upcoming edition. Apart from this huge announcement, NXT also announced that Xia Li and Boa are returning, next week at New Year’s Evil with their new gimmicks.
This week’s NXT episode featured the final mystery vignette from the transformation of Li and Boa to announce the returns. The final card for the gimmick-based show stands as follows,
Host: Dexter Lumis
NXT Title Match
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Finn Balor (c)
Last Woman Standing Match
Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Gonzalez
Fight Pit
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher
Karrion Kross with Scarlett vs. Damian Priest
Xia Li and Boa return from their transformation