The 2nd Annual Dusty Rhodes Classic Has Begun – NXT Recap October 5, 2016

The first round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic has begun, and it was a good night of wrestling from some really talented teams….and the Authors of Pain.

The Bollywood Boys vs The Authors of Pain

So, the Bollywood Boys are fun.  We know this from the CWC.  The Authors of Pain…well, they aren’t fun, at all.  They’re like a pair of Braun Strowman put together in a tag team.  And much like watching Strowman run through jobbers week in and week out, it’s not really entertaining at all.  But, the streak continues.  At least TM-61 put up a fight against them.  I doubt it’ll come down to them again though.

Andrade “Cien” Almas and Cedric Alexander vs The Revival

I was just as excited to find out Cedric had been signed when he was.  He is pretty great.  He’s no Rich Swann, but he’s good.  I almost think he is still trying to find his rhythm, I mean he did lose like 25 pounds to make weight for the CWC, and that has to be a weird transition to make.  Once he’s at 100 (and yes, I intentionally made the “Cien” joke), I think he’s going to be absolutely fantastic and a great member of the roster.

And I like Almas as well, but come on now, it’s The Revival.  They’re the greatest.

I do wish the tag champs weren’t part of the tournament.  The tournament, in addition to the trophy and prestige, should also present the winning team with a Number One Contender spot.

This match was a great main event.  Almas and Alexander made a pretty great pair, working together like a well experienced tag team, but Dash and Dawson just work together so well, and their heel tactics only make them that much better.

The NXT Universe is definitely behind Cedric Alexander.  He’s going to be very, very successful.  But it’s The Revival.  Shatter Machine on Cedric and the Revival moves on to the second round.

Almas didn’t like losing, and he turns on Cedric, putting him into the steps on the outside.

Non-Dusty Related Stuff:

Rich Swann vs Patrick Clark

So, we know who Rich Swann is, he’s awesome.  If you’re not familiar with Patrick Clark then you aren’t alone, as Graves and Phillips didn’t know who the hell he was either.  But he was dressed like “he’d ripped off Prince’s closet” according to Graves and “he looks like he’s going to invite you over for basketball and pancakes” according to Phillips.  Yes, the second of those two is a Dave Chappelle Prince joke.  Tom Phillips, always timely.  You know what Phillips, you’re on THE LIST!!!!

Rich Swann made pretty quick work of Clark, but danced long enough post match that I had time to make Chris Jericho jokes.  I’m going to miss Chris Jericho when he goes on hiatus again.

Rich Swann will be teaming with No Way Jose in the Classic.  And yes, I realize how amazing that pairing is.

Women’s Division – Peyton Royce vs Danielle Kamela

Corey Graves apparently thinks of Peyton Royce as the new Eva Marie.  He’s awestruck.  That probably doesn’t fair well for Royce with the fans.  It certainly didn’t endear Eva, as evidenced by the “You Can’t Wrestle” chants.

Royce isn’t terrible, I guess.  She wins this one quickly, but you kind of expected that when she was put in the ring with someone you’ve never seen before.

That Dan Matha Guy Made His Debut

Something you don’t really notice in his promos leading up to this debut is his disgusting back acne.  It’s bad.  Actually, his whole body appears to be covered in what I can only imagine are “supplement” related bumps.

“Tik Tok, Tik Tok, who will be the next to get their head rocked”.  Well, Matha best get a load of squash matches to build any steam, because it didn’t take much for Samoa Joe to beat the hell out of him.

Things of Note:

• The Sanity promos will finally stop next week as Sanity is in the tag classic and will debut so we can finally figure out what the hell it is.
• I think Team Aries is going to be Eric Young.  Would have made some sense to have Aries and Roode team up, as they’re previously tag team champions, but if they can get him, I think Aries and Young will work well together.
• It’s literally got to come to The Revival against DIY in the second round, right?  If they were in different brackets I would actually expect them to be the final two teams.
• A teaming of Gulak and Nese is going to be a violent, wildly talented team.  Wish they would have drawn a more favorable pairing in the first round.