The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is an annual single-elimination tag team tournament held by WWE on its NXT brand (with occasional participation from other brands and sister promotions). First established in 2015 as a tribute to WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes following his death, it is modeled after the Crockett Cup tournaments Rhodes created and starred in for the National Wrestling Alliance in the mid-to-late 1980s.
Originally limited to men’s teams, a concurrent women’s version ran in 2021 and 2022 before being discontinued. Over the years the field has included wrestlers from NXT UK, 205 Live, Raw, SmackDown, Evolve, and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. Formats have varied between 16-team and 8-team brackets (or 14 teams in 2026), with matches airing primarily on NXT television and culminating at specials or TakeOver events.
History
The inaugural 16-team tournament was announced at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in August 2015, shortly after Rhodes’ death. Matches ran through September on NXT TV and house shows before the final at NXT TakeOver: Respect in October, where Finn Bálor and Samoa Joe defeated Baron Corbin and Rhyno.
The 2016 edition again featured 16 teams and concluded at NXT TakeOver: Toronto with The Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar) defeating TM-61. No tournament was held in 2017 as the schedule shifted. It returned in 2018 as an eight-team event that culminated the night before WrestleMania 34 at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly of The Undisputed Era won in a Winners Take All triple threat that also included a defense of their NXT Tag Team Championship against The Authors of Pain and the team of Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne.
In 2019, Aleister Black and Ricochet won the eight-team field, defeating The Forgotten Sons in the final on NXT. The 2020 tournament again used eight teams and, for the first time, split the field evenly between NXT and NXT UK. The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne) of NXT defeated NXT UK’s Grizzled Young Veterans in the live final on the January 29 episode of NXT.
The 2021 edition expanded back to 16 men’s teams and included participants from 205 Live plus guest entrants such as Lucha House Party. It also introduced the first women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (eight teams). MSK (Nash Carter and Wes Lee) won the men’s tournament at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day, while Dakota Kai and Raquel González captured the women’s crown at the same event. The 2022 tournaments returned to eight-team fields; The Creed Brothers won the men’s side at Vengeance Day, and Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray won the women’s tournament on NXT.
After a gap, the 2024 men’s tournament (announced in late 2023) featured eight teams and was won by Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker, who defeated Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams in the final at NXT Vengeance Day. They later used their title opportunity to capture the NXT Tag Team Championship.
2026 tournament
The ninth edition was announced by NXT General Manager Robert Stone on the September 15, 2026 episode of NXT and began on September 22. It features a 14-team field drawn from Raw, SmackDown, NXT, Evolve, and AAA. The reigning NXT Tag Team Champions, The Vanity Project (Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes), and the AAA World Tag Team Champions, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno, received first-round byes.
The bracket included a mix of established teams and new pairings, such as BirthRight, Mini Vikingo & Chazz “Starboy” Hall, Fraxiom, DarkState, Los Americanos, the Creed Brothers, the Tokyo Bad Boys, and others. One planned entry, Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux, was withdrawn due to injury.
As of late October 2026 the tournament is ongoing. On the October 27 episode of NXT at the WWE Performance Center, the semifinals produced two upsets: Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno defeated the NXT Tag Team Champions (The Vanity Project), while Hank Walker and Tank Ledger (Hank & Tank) defeated the AAA World Tag Team Champions. Dar competed despite a recent head injury that required staples from an untelevised live event. Both finalists reached the last round by eliminating multiple established teams earlier in the bracket—Dar & Moreno advanced past Los Americanos and Fraxiom, while Hank & Tank advanced past Shido Ash & Viktor Zanov and the Creed Brothers.
The final is scheduled for the November 4, 2026 episode of NXT (moved to Wednesday from the usual Tuesday slot due to election coverage). Cody Rhodes will present the Dusty Cup to the winners. The victorious team will receive a future match for the NXT Tag Team Championship.
Prize
Winners have their names inscribed on the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Trophy (commonly called the “Dusty Cup”), which is partially modeled after Rhodes’ signature cowboy-style boots. Since 2018, men’s winners have also received a future NXT Tag Team Championship match. Women’s winners received a future tag team title opportunity; the 2021 winners were ultimately awarded the inaugural NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship following a controversial finish in their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match, while the 2022 winners chose to insert themselves into an NXT Women’s Championship fatal four-way instead of a tag title bout.
Notable men’s winners
- 2015: Finn Bálor & Samoa Joe
- 2016: The Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar)
- 2018: The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly)
- 2019: Aleister Black & Ricochet
- 2020: The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne)
- 2021: MSK (Nash Carter & Wes Lee)
- 2022: The Creed Brothers (Brutus & Julius Creed)
- 2024: Baron Corbin & Bron Breakker
- 2026: TBD (final scheduled for November 4)
Women’s winners
- 2021: Dakota Kai & Raquel González
- 2022: Kay Lee Ray & Io Shirai
The tournament continues to serve as both a competitive showcase for tag teams across WWE’s developmental and partner brands and a lasting tribute to Dusty Rhodes’ influence on NXT.
