The 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic

[Jack-Hammer]

William Regal announced earlier this week that the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament would return this year and will culminate at NXT TakeOver: Toronto during Survivor Series weekend.

WWE.com has announced that there'll be a total of 16 tag teams competing in the tourney and have named 8 of them so far.

Competitors
1. The Revival
2. TM-61
3. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa
4. Bobby Roode & Tye Dillinger
5. The Bollywood Boys
6. Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss
7. Cedric Alexander & Andrade Cien Almas
8. Kota Ibushi & Hideo Itami

The Bollywood Boys didn't really impress me all that much in their individual matches during the Cruiserweight Classic, but maybe they're simply better as a team as some wrestlers are.

I have no idea who Riddick Moss is, but Tino Sabbatelli is 33 years old and spent 4 years playing in the NFL for Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Kansas City.

The team that'll probably generate the most buzz is Ibushi & Itami; I expect fans will go nuts for them. Based on what I've read, Ibushi still hasn't officially signed with WWE and is only contracted through the tournament. Because of his presence on this team, I'm willing to bet that they go pretty far in the tournament, possibly even all the way to the finals.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Until I see some quality matches I'm not interested. They've just completed two tournaments, one of which was a tag. The last one was fairly forgettable and existed to to enable one feud.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

It'll be interesting to see where they go with it this year, as aside from honoring the late great American Dream, the tournament was ultimately a vehicle to further the NXT championship feud between Samoa Joe and Finn Balor.

The 2015 boiled down to Rhyno and Baron Corbin vs the afformentioned Joe and Balor, neither of which are actual tag teams. I've always found it odd that they chose a tag team tournament to honor Dusty, who wasn't known as a tag team specialist. Either way, keeping the memory of Dream alive is a good thing and positive for the moral of the NXT performers who worked so closely with him.

Hopefully an actual tag team wins this year. I wonder about the logistics of having a heel team go over would be? It's interesting to see the Authors of Pain have not been added. They're the only protected team on the NXT roster (undefeated) so if they are included, I wonder how they lose if they aren't to be the ultimate victors?

An actual tag team going over and earning either a main roster contract or an NXT title shot would be the way to go. The Dusty tournament trophy is awesome but they need an additional carrot at the end of the stick if this tournament is really going to have long term ramifications for the competing teams. Raw needs more tag teams for sure, and the Revival could use number one contenders.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

as a fan of a lot of these guys and being very interested in the ones I haven't seen (Such as the Bollywood Boys) so I'm very interested even with half the field missing still I'm pumped for the tournament. Again just like the tournament I see Ibushi and Itami going far but without Ibushi having a contract I just don't see them winning

However IMO for this tournament to have some legitimacy an actual team needs to win. to have the first one feul 2 singles feuds is alright but I hope that doesn't become for this tournament every year.

 

[CalciferBoheme]

It'll be interesting to see where they go with it this year, as aside from honoring the late great American Dream, the tournament was ultimately a vehicle to further the NXT championship feud between Samoa Joe and Finn Balor.

The 2015 boiled down to Rhyno and Baron Corbin vs the afformentioned Joe and Balor, neither of which are actual tag teams. I've always found it odd that they chose a tag team tournament to honor Dusty, who wasn't known as a tag team specialist. Either way, keeping the memory of Dream alive is a good thing and positive for the moral of the NXT performers who worked so closely with him.

Hopefully an actual tag team wins this year. I wonder about the logistics of having a heel team go over would be? It's interesting to see the Authors of Pain have not been added. They're the only protected team on the NXT roster (undefeated) so if they are included, I wonder how they lose if they aren't to be the ultimate victors?

An actual tag team going over and earning either a main roster contract or an NXT title shot would be the way to go. The Dusty tournament trophy is awesome but they need an additional carrot at the end of the stick if this tournament is really going to have long term ramifications for the competing teams. Raw needs more tag teams for sure, and the Revival could use number one contenders.

While he actually spent a fair portion of his earlier career as a tag team wrestler with Dick Murdoch, I think the reason for making it a tag tournament is that he created the Jim Crockette Sr. Memorial Cup tag tournament, and booked himself to win the second one with Nikita Koloff. And of the three years it ran, only the first was won by a regular team, that being the Road Warriors. The third and final winners were Sting and Lex Luger.





As for the tournament itself, I'm really hoping the revival wins. They're an amazing team that could really use this to their advantage. But since the finals are being held at Takeover Toronto, and as champs they'll probably be defending their titles. I would love to see them have to pull double duty, but I don't see that as likely.

The most likely winners are The Authors of Pain. They're very much a team Dusty would have loved and as the monsters they are, losing isn't really an option (unless maybe by DQ). Both guys are still fairly green, but they are ridiculously impressive for guys their size. While not my favorite team in the tournament, a win in this could do them more good than just about anyone else involved.


I just hope we don't see too much of the developmental guys without actual TV time. I get that they're useful, and many have true ties to Dusty, but it's just obvious they're used as fodder to pad out the first round.

I also hope we get a good surprise like we did from Ciampa and Gargano last year, but we'll see. There are still teams to be announced. And some that worked the taping that haven't been yet. Not huge surprises, but still.

 

[mooseman]

I think it would be cool, since they have unlimited time to air matches on the network, if they turned it into a double-elimination tournament. 16 teams with each having to lose twice, at most you would have 31 matches total. You can use it to really push a team. Have them lose their first match on some sort of a fluke or "injury" only for them to make a run in the losers' bracket and finish top 3 or 4 something like that.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'm surprised they are doing this thing again but I suppose it will be good for the time between now and the next Takeover. The Revival shouldn't be in it, they are the NXT Tag Team Champions. Shouldn't it be for a tag team title shot? That would make this tournament serve a purpose. If that were the case, don't put the champions in it. TM-61 or, as I call them, The Pokemon Guys (due to that team name) likely won't last long in the tournament. Too many other big teams. Gargano and Ciampa should do well. Roode and Dillinger are my pick to win the whole thing, unless Ibushi and Itami are able to stop them. Roode/Dillinger VS Ibushi & Itami would make a fantastic final matchup.