Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray are the winners of the second Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

It happened when Wendy Choo and Dakota Kai vs. Io and Lee Ray was booked on Tuesday’s episode of WWE NXT 2.0. It headlined the show. Io hit her moonsault finisher for the win. 

As a result of this win, they’ve earned the right to challenge Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne) for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. However, Kay had a different plan, At Stand & Deliver, Lee Ray and Io will join Rose and Cora Jade in a fatal 4-way match for the titles. 

First Round Results

• Io Shirai & Kay Lee Ray defeated Amari Miller & Lash Legend
• Kayden Carter & Kacy Catanzaro defeated Ivy Nile & Tatum Paxley 
• Dakota Kai & Wendy Choo defeated Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta
• Raquel González & Cora Jade defeated Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz 

In the semi-finals of the tournament, Shrai and Ray defeated Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter while Choo and Kai defeated Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade.

Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez beat Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon at the NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day special last year to become the first-ever winners of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. 

The Dusty Rhodes tag team classic tournament was established in 2015 as a tribute to the legendary pro wrestler.

The 2022 men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is in the books as the final two teams battled it out for the trophy. 

At NXT Vengeance Day, MSK wrestled The Creed Brothers in the finals of the tournament. MSK got the early advantage in the coo-headliner. Lee was tossed off the apron onto the announce table. After the commercial break, Carter got the hot tag and cleaned house. Carter hit a back flip off the apron. He went to the top rope and hit a front senton then Lee hit a dive off the top rope for a near fall. 

The finish saw The Creeds hit their finisher. As a result, they’ve received the Dusty Cup and earned a shot at the Tag Team Champions Imperium.

The first round matches took place last month with MSK beating Jacket Time (Ikemen Jiro and Kushida), Edris Enofé and Malik Blade beating Legado Del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza), The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed and Julius Creed) over Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs, and Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) defeating Chase U (Andre Chase and Bodhi Hayward). 

The second round bouts included MSK over Enofé and Blade and The Creed Brothers beat Grizzled Young Veterans. Past winners include:

• 2015: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
• 2016: The Authors of Pain
• 2018: The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly)
• 2019: Aleister Black and Ricochet
• 2020: The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne)
• 2021: MSK

This year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is taking shape, and WWE NXT 2.0 has now revealed all of the teams who will participate on the men’s side.

The men’s tournament begins next week. The teams will be as follows:

• MSK (Wes Lee and Nash Carter)
• Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs
• Jacket Time (KUSHIDA and Ikemen Jiro)
• Malik Blade and Edris Enofe
• Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake)
• Andre Chase and Bodhi Hayward
• Legado del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza)
• The Creed Brothers (Julius & Brutus Creed)

Blade and Enofe qualified for the tournament this past Tuesday night on NXT when they defeated Joe Gacy and Harland. Harland was disqualified in the match.

NXT has since released the brackets for the men’s tournament:

There will be a women’s tournament beginning in February. This will be just the second year that a women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic has been held.

The inaugural Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic was held in 2015. On the men’s side, the winners (in order) have been: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe, The Authors of Pain, The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly), Aleister Black and Ricochet, The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne), and MSK (Wes Lee and Nash Carter).

On the female side, the inaugural winners last year were Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez.

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General Manager William Regal introduced the NXT women’s tag team championships during this week’s episode of the show and he also crowned the inaugural champions. However, reports from the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Live reveal that the original plans for the introduction of the title were different and it explains why the company had to change them.

According to the report, the original plan was to present the winners of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with the newly made titles. Though the company rushed the women’s tournament and it took place alongside the men’s version of the competition, which was not the initial plan.

The problem with this decision was that the title belts were not ready in time to be presented to the winners of the tournament Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez during the Takeover: Vengeance Day event in February. Kai and Gonzalez were then promised a shot at the women’s tag team titles held by Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler instead and the match took place at last week’s episode of NXT.

The officials then came up with the idea for the screwjob finish after receiving the belts before last week’s episode which saw Jax and Baszler retaining the titles. This set up the big reveal at this week’s episode of the Black and Yellow brand where William Regal presented Kai and Gonzalez with the championships.

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Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez are the winners of the first-ever Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

It happened when they took on Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon at Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day special. The match, which opened the show, saw both teams have moments where they dominated until the other team made a hot tag and comeback.

The finish was Gonzalez tossing Blackheart off the top rope and hitting her finisher for the win. 

Blackheart and Moon advanced to the finals by scoring a win over Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell last week on NXT. Before that, they beat Marina Shafir and Zoey Stark in the first round of the women’s Dusty Classic. 

On the flip side, Kai and Gonzalez defeated Aliyah and Jessi Kamea in the first round of the tournament and Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter in the semifinals.

As a result of this win, they got the Dusty Cup and a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles, which are currently held by  Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler. The titles can be defended on WWE’s main roster brands and in NXT.

The Dusty Rhodes tag team classic tournament was established in 2015 as a tribute to the legendary pro wrestler. 

WWE has released the complete brackets for the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. This year’s tournament will include the following teams:

• The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong)
• Breezango (Fandango, Tyler Breeze)
• Legado del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde, Raul Mendoza)
• Ever-Rise (Chase Parker, Matt Martel)
• Bollywood Boyz
• Imperium (Marcel Barthel, Fabian Aichner)
• Drake Maverick and Killian Dain
• Curt Stallion and August Grey
• Lucha House Party
• MSK
• Isaiah Scott & Jake Atlas
• Grizzled Young Veterans
• Tony Neese & Shawn Daivari
• Kushida & Leon Ruff
• The Way (Johnny Gargano & Austin Theory)
• Drake Maverick & Killian Dane
• Stallion & Grey

Here are the official brackets (Click to enlarge):

The tournament kicks off this Wednesday night on NXT with two First Round matches. The Undisputed Era takes on Breezango and Ever-Rise faces the Grizzled Young Veterans.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic

The Dusty Rhodes tag team classic tournament was established in 2015 as a tribute to the legendary pro wrestler.

The winners will be awarded the Dusty Rhodes Classic Cup trophy, which looks like Dusty’s signature cowboy wrestling boots.

Past winners include:

• 2015: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
• 2016: The Authors of Pain
• 2018: The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly)
• 2019: Aleister Black and Ricochet
• 2020: The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne)

The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is back as the tournament will take place in 2021.

WWE announced that the tournament will return in two weeks (January 13th). This will be the sixth installment of WWE NXT’s tag team tournament honoring the late American Dream.

The winners will be awarded the Dusty Rhodes Classic Cup trophy, which is ionic as it is modeled after Dusty’s signature cowboy wrestling boots. The company is expected to announce the teams that will be competing in the tournament in the near future as the tournament will be playing out on NXT TV for a month or so. 

WWE decided to create the tournament in 2015 as a tribute to the legendary pro wrestler. Aside from his legendary pro wrestling career as an active wrestler, he was also a key figure behind the scenes with WWE NXT where he helped out at the Performance Center to develop athletes into wrestlers. 

Finn Balor and Samoa Joe won the inaugural tournament in 2015 at NXT TakeOver: Respect by beating Baron Corbin & Rhyno.

The 2020 version saw The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne) beat Grizzled Young Veterans to win it while the year before had Aleister Black and Ricochet beat The Forgotten Sons.