It was revealed during WWE NXT’s Thursday night television tapings at Center Stage in Atlanta that the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will makes its return in 2018.
WWE’s foremost tag team tournament originated in 2015 following the untimely death of the WWE Hall of Famer and NXT coach. That original tournament was won by the team of Samoa Joe and Finn Balor, and their alliance eventually broke down into a singles feud that turned out to be one of the best in NXT history.
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The announcement was made on the video board during the tapings on Thursday night, though it is unknown (as of now) when the tournament will actually be taped.
We do know the first team to enter the tournament, though, so it must be happening sometime soon. Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake were announced as a team, now known as The Forgotten Sons. NXT General Manager William Regal also confirmed the tournament’s return.
Your winners: Forgotten Sons @SteveCutlerWWE @TheWWEBlake #NXTAtlanta pic.twitter.com/AZOA1EDxYO
— FL Wrestling Fan (@FLWrestlingFan) February 2, 2018
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic confirmed as returning via Blake & Cutler’s post match promo #NXTAtlanta
— Will Henderson (@willh94) February 2, 2018
In the past, the tournament was a 16-team single elimination tournament. As mentioned, Balor and Joe won the first edition of the tournament. The 2016 tournament was won by The Authors of Pain. There was no Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in 2017.
Given the announcement tonight, the tournament will obviously be returning quite soon. It would make a lot of sense to have the tournament finals during NXT TakeOver in New Orleans during WrestleMania weekend, which would mean the early rounds would begin very soon so that we could be ready for a finals match-up by April.
The previous Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classics were held in the fall, but given there was no tournament at all in 2017, changing the time of year the event is held isn’t really problematic as it’s been quite a while since the last incarnation.
