WWE announces return of Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic

After hyping a “special announcement” for this week’s episode of NXT, WWE revealed that the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is returning.

It will be an eight-team tournament, with the winners getting an NXT Tag Team title shot against the War Raiders at TakeOver: New York on the Friday of WrestleMania week. First round matches will begin airing on NXT television on Wednesday, March 6.

The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish), Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel, The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler), and The Street Profits were the first four teams to be publicly announced for the tournament. Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano, Ricochet & Aleister Black, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven, and Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch were revealed to be the other four teams at Wednesday’s NXT TV Tapings.

Bate & Seven vs. The Street Profits and Lorcan & Burch vs. The Forgotten Sons are the first round matches on the left side of the bracket. The matchups on the right side are O’Reilly & Fish vs. Ciampa & Gargano and Ricochet & Black vs. Aichner & Barthel.

WWE filmed the first round matches and semifinals of the Dusty Classic at Wednesday’s tapings. There’s one more set of tapings in March that will feature the final build to TakeOver: New York.

O’Reilly & Adam Cole were last year’s Dusty Classic winners, The Authors of Pain won it in 2016, and Finn Balor & Samoa Joe won the inaugural tournament in 2015.