The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament will be returning at some point in 2020. So far, WWE hasn’t divulged any information other than that and how the teams will be announced on the January 1 edition of NXT.
But I’m impatient. Rather than waiting another week to find out who will compete and how this will all play out, the gears in my mind are turning and I’m wondering what’s up.
How many teams will compete? Which pairs will be partnered up? What are the end results of this year’s tournament and when will the finale take place?
Let’s try to figure this out.
How Many Teams?
The first 2 tournaments had 16 teams, but in 2018 and 2019, it was cut in half with only 8. Knowing WWE, they rarely ever expand on something that they’ve trimmed down in the past. Just look at how small the King of the Ring tournament can be at times.
However, there are well above 16 teams available to pick from without even having to start pairing up random people like they’ve done in the past.
Even excluding The Undisputed ERA (if they’re nixed because they’re the tag team champions) and Breezango (due to Fandango’s injury), there are still these teams who could compete:
- Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams
- Arturo Ruas and Cezar Bononi
- Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter
- Brit-Am Bruisers (if Oney Lorcan is still around to team with Danny Burch)
- British Strong Style or Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate, Trent Seven / Pete Dunne)
- #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa)
- Ever-Rise (Chase Parker and Matt Martel)
- The Forgotten Sons
- Gallus
- Grizzled Young Veterans
- The Hunt
- Imperium
- The Outliers (Dan Matha and Riddick Moss)
- Rinku Singh and Saurav Gurjar
- The Singh Brothers
- South Wales Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews)
- Tyson T-Bone and Saxon Huxley
I’m also 100% convinced they will follow their trend in tagging up at least one pair of singles stars. In particular, I think we’re getting Keith Lee partnered with either Dominik Dijakovic, Lio Rush or Matt Riddle. More on that later.
Which Teams?
Obviously, some of these teams are rather unknown. Even people who watch NXT on a regular basis likely don’t know Rinku Singh and Saurav Gurjar, who only appeared in the Worlds Collide battle royal. The Outliers haven’t been used more than once on television, to my knowledge. Ever-Rise is mostly a live event crew.
Even the NXT UK side of things is much less known. I’m positive WWE wouldn’t bank on Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter bringing in viewers for NXT television over the coming weeks, so if they’re in this tournament, it will be the first round and only if there are 16 teams.
If I had to narrow it down to 8 teams, I’d go with DIY, The Forgotten Sons, Grizzled Young Veterans, Imperium, Moustache Mountain, The Singh Brothers, South Wales Subculture and Keith Lee + partner.
That’s assuming The Undisputed ERA aren’t involved as they’re the champions, which is why I’d take Gallus out of the mix, too. If they are still part of the tournament, then take out The Bollywood Boys.
The Schedule
If I were booking this, I’d go all-out with a full 16-team tournament that would span from January 8th until TakeOver: Portland on February 16th. That might seem like a long stretch, but it’s only 6 weeks, which is more than enough time to go through all 4 rounds prior to the event.
That is, of course, if this ends before Portland. There’s a good chance the final of the tournament takes place on that event, which means even more time has to be eaten up. With only 8 teams, they’d have to do only one match per week to drag that out, and I’d like a little more bulk to the tournament than that.
For my money, I say give the fans the final on television, too. That way, it can boost the rating of that particular episode and act as the lead-in for Portland.
The Prize and End Result
If I were to get my wish, with the final being on February 12th’s episode of NXT, the trophy would be awarded to the winning team and they would get a shot at the NXT Tag Team Championship at TakeOver against The Undisputed ERA.
On the flip side, if WWE wants to stretch it out more by having the final of the tournament at TakeOver, the same thing can apply to a certain extent, but with that just being the setup for TakeOver: Tampa. The flaw in that, though, is establishing a No. 1 contender team 7 weeks in advance and hoping that feud doesn’t burn out before WrestleMania.
If any title shots are on the line, The Undisputed ERA can’t be in this and will definitely be the champions the winning team fights. They’re too valuable as a unit for this to go in any other direction. So who could face them at either of these TakeOver events?
All of the heel teams are obvious losers. They won’t fight The Undisputed ERA, as Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish would be babyfaces in that match. There goes Forgotten Sons, Grizzled Young Veterans, Imperium, The Singh Brothers and others.
#DIY is off the table. Tommaso Ciampa needs to fight Adam Cole for the NXT Championship and Johnny Gargano has a score to settle with Finn Balor.
I doubt we’ll get Moustache Mountain / BSS again, nor would I bank on Webster and Andrews.
No, this is definitely a win in the making for Keith Lee and his partner, whoever that may be out of the Riddle, Dijakovic and Rush options.
For that matter, I don’t think Lee and his partner will win the titles. I think this is a long road to reach a point where those bigger names are just on the TakeOver card and can come up short against The Undisputed ERA, with new challengers being established over the weeks leading up to Tampa.
What do you think will happen in this year’s tournament? Who are you rooting for? Keep the discussion going in the comments below!
