In 2015 and 2016, the fall months were the home of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with the inaugural competition finishing October 7th and last year’s on November 19th.
This year, however, appears to be quite different, as the most recent NXT tapings have had no indication of the return of the tournament.
It’s possible this is because there are still several weeks worth of episodes that have not yet been taped to lead into NXT TakeOver: Houston, or it may be due to how the Mae Young Classic just ended and WWE would prefer not to oversaturate a similar concept, preferring to push the tag teams more toward January 2018 with NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia.
Whatever the case may be, at the moment, we’re left in the dark about what the plans are, but that got me thinking about just what I’d like to see go down if they do in fact plan on bringing back the tournament sometime over the course of September/October/November.
With a quick glance at the roster and the superstars available, I present to you my 16 teams I’d like to see make up the slots on the brackets for the 2017 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
NOTE: There are some spoilers below regarding future episodes of NXT. You are warned.
#1. The Authors of Pain
There are a handful of no-brainer choices and this is obviously one of them. The Authors of Pain were last year’s winners, so I would definitely count them out to win this year, as they can very easily lose by disqualification or count out while still maintaining their mystique of being nigh-unstoppable.
What could get in the way of this is if they get called up to the main roster in the meantime, but since they made an appearance to attack SAnitY and The Undisputed Era, that is as good of a sign as any that they’ll be staying on the yellow brand until at least after Houston.
#2. SAnitY
Again, this is an obvious team to add into the fold, whether or not they are the current tag team champions when it goes down.
There’s nothing stating that the tag champions can’t participate in the tournament, so their lack of a presence would certainly be felt if they weren’t included in some way.
Whether the combination would be Eric Young and Killian Dain, Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe, or Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe is up to the specifics of how WWE plans on plotting out the other matches in the coming future following the tournament, but it really doesn’t matter.
#3. The Undisputed Era
No surprises here, and there isn’t too much to talk about that isn’t clear cut. Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly would need to be representatives of their stable with Adam Cole by their side, which leads me to think that SAnitY’s crew would be better off doing something similar and keeping Eric Young outside of the ropes.
#4. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan
Some of the best pairings come out of competition and mutual respect, which is what has happened recently between Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan.
The two traded wins between themselves in two great matches which saw comparisons to their looks, styles, spirit of competition and camaraderie.
There’s absolutely no reason why Lorcan and Burch shouldn’t be a team in this tournament, and I’d go so far as to say if Lorcan isn’t on his way up to the 205 Live roster any time soon, WWE should consider making this duo a legitimate tag team on the NXT circuit.
#5. The Street Profits
They bring the swag like nobody can. If they aren’t going to get the belts any time soon, give them the trophy. I love this team. Nuff said.
#6. Heavy Machinery
In a short amount of time, Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic were able to make quite an impressive connection with the crowd despite looking absolutely ridiculous with their ring gear.
Some people even thought they could be the first team to defeat The Authors of Pain, although they would come up short in that endeavor.
They didn’t get a chance to dethrone Akam and Rezar, yet their sprint of a push should earn them enough favor with the crowd where they could be semifinalists here.
#7. Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli
Carrying over from the 2016 tournament, Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli lost in the first round to TM-61 and a year later, Moss and Sabbatelli are still a duo and have still not fully made the transition onto the true NXT roster.
Since that time has passed, I would love to see them go further this year and actually be legitimized to an extent, even though I have no faith at all that they would make it past round 2 unless the bracket was heavily in their luck.
#8. TM-61
Speaking of TM-61, now that we know Shane Thorne and Nick Miller are back and able to compete as a unit once more, they 100% have to be making their presence known.
Frankly, I don’t care too much for them, as I absolutely hate the team name and I find both Miller and Shorne to be bland and uninteresting, but they were the runners-up last year, losing to The Authors of Pain in the finals in Toronto, so the only justification for them not to be in the tournament would be if another injury happened or if they were called up to the main roster instead.
As I feel they aren’t remotely close to ready to go to Raw or SmackDown, and the injury is no longer an issue, TM-61 is a shoo-in for one of the 16 teams. (Note: Typing out TM-61 / “16 teams” just made me temporarily feel like I typed out TM-61-16-TM and now I hate their team name even more.)
#9. Mustache Mountain
Since absolutely nothing is happening with the entire United Kingdom division outside of a sporadic NXT appearance here and there, there’s no excuse for why Trent Seven and Tyler Bate can’t make up one of the teams in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
This is one of the easiest picks to make because it’s another one that already has history as Seven and Bate have partnered up long before they were even signed to a WWE contract.
#10. The Ealy Brothers
They’re brothers, they’re a tag team, and holy shit they weren’t in last year’s tournament? I could have sworn they were!
Well, it’s time to rectify that, as they’ve made more than enough appearances to justify getting a spot over some other live event tour folk.
Sadly for them, this is a one-way ticket to loseville as they would be nixed in the first round for sure, but at least it’s another step toward making their way onto the NXT brand as bona fide roster members.
#11. Lars Sullivan and Dan Matha
Lars Sullivan can’t find a tag team partner worth his salt, but in the quick appearance we saw of Dan Matha before he crawled back into obscurity, I can’t shake the feeling that he would be the perfect partner for Sullivan.
The brute needs someone who matches his strength and size, which Matha has. There would be no weak link, essentially, and while I don’t think they would make it too far into the tournament, the story wouldn’t be the typical scenario of Sullivan turning on his partner afterward.
Instead, this could be a hard-fought match where they lose merely due to being the least experienced team in the fight or due to the numbers game against say, SAnitY. Hell, if you want to protect them even more, there could be a double count out to create an empty spot with a bye round for a heel team that wants to squeak by, and we can see Sullivan and Matha brawling with The Authors of Pain or something along those lines.
The point of the whole thing would be that Sullivan would finally find a tag team partner who could be on his level instead of an inferior.
#12. Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy
It’s been quite some time since Blake and Murphy were a tag team, but enough months have gone by to prove that they need each other as they can’t accomplish a damn thing in a singles capacity.
Blake has been teaming with Steve Cutler, but where does that leave Murphy? Plus, I doubt Blake and Cutler have the same chemistry Blake and Murphy had—even though I’d argue Blake and Murphy only have chemistry together because they tagged for so long.
If nothing is going to amount to either of them while they’re solo, why not just go back to the well and re-team them like what happened with The Prime Time Players for a bit?
#13. Drew McIntyre and Roderick Strong
Finn Balor and Samoa Joe were the first winners of the trophy in 2015, so there’s already a history of two singles competitors who fight over the title having a connection to this tournament.
Granted, I don’t think we’d see McIntyre and Strong make it to the finals, but it wouldn’t hurt to have them team up for one or two matches before being disposed of through some interference from The Undisputed Era.
Perhaps this is what convinces Strong to join Cole’s ranks and we see a heel turn. Maybe that doesn’t happen, and that’s what causes Cole, Fish and O’Reilly to attack Strong and cost his team a match, leading to another team advancing over them.
McIntyre and Strong have had a theme of the two wanting to face off against each other for the sake of competition and respect for the NXT Championship, so that would be their motivation to team together for the tournament before things would come crashing down.
#14. A Legacy Tag Team
In the 2015 tournament, we saw The Ascension lose to Baron Corbin and Rhyno and if I had it my way, we’d see something similar happen in the 2017 edition as well.
The Ascension are exactly the right type of act that accomplishes nothing on the main roster, but if they were to go back down to NXT for a one-night appearance, people would act like it was a big deal and they would suddenly seem like they could go the distance with a renewed push where they saw some actual success.
Alternatively, if it’s too heel-heavy, why not bring back The Lucha Undergrounds for a quick match? It isn’t as though Kalisto and Sin Cara are lighting up Raw and SmackDown on Mondays and Tuesdays, so they can definitely go down to NXT for one show to lose to a heel team and put them over.
#15. Jeet Rama and Kishan Raftar
Sometimes, whether it’s culturally insensitive to take the easy route or if it’s just a legitimate good fit, it works to pair people up who are from a similar background. We’ve seen in the past that opposites can attract, but it’s much harder to stumble across a Team Hell No that works rather than putting Tian Bing with Cheng Yuxiang or pointing at the two collegiate athletes and saying “Hey, you two. Be real wrestlers together” like what happened with Chad Gable and Jason Jordan in the past.
With that in mind, Jeet Rama and Kishan Raftar already have been paired up on the live event scene in tag team matches, so there’s an established relationship beyond that initial connection, making this all that much easier to throw their names into the hat and give them a first round match against another team that will advance.
Yes, they’d be losing and not making much of an impact overall, but developmental guys have to start somewhere and this would be better than not wrestling in the tournament, right?
#16. Any Two Other Men
Johnny Gargano and Kassius Ohno? No Way Jose and Lio Rush? Mark Andrews and Wolfgang? Hideo Itami and Andrade Almas? Kona Reeves and Raul Mendoza? Cezar Bononi and Fabian Aichner?
It really doesn’t matter who the last tag team is, because at this point, we’re just looking for someone to fill in another blank spot that certainly won’t get into the finals over any other team above.
How about Sawyer Fulton and Steve Cutler? Really, all we need is a sacrificial lamb who can lose on an NXT house show. If you want to focus on some of the regular talent like Almas or Jose, they can be featured somehow, but it isn’t necessary and it would almost be better not to have those people involved as they can wrestle in other non-tournament matches.
Those are my thoughts, but what would you like to see happen? Do you have any other ideas of pairings? Is it too soon to think about another tournament at all?
Keep the discussion going by dropping your thoughts in the comments below!
