WWE NXT Releases the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Bracket

The official bracket for the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic was officially released on Wednesday during the latest episode of The Bump, confirming the 16 teams that will compete in the annual tournament for a future shot at the NXT Tag Team Championships. The tournament will officially begin on this week’s NXT, starting with Adam Cole & Roderick Strong vs. Breezango and the Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Ever-Rise.

The Undisputed Era enter the bracket as the only team to have ever won the tournament, though they did so in 2018 by a) inserting themselves into the finals by sabotaging the original final match and b) having Strong turn on then-partner Pete Dunne to allow Cole and Kyle O’Reilly to win the match. Other teams to have won the tournament include Finn Balor & Samoa Joe, The Authors of Pain, Aleister Black and Ricochet and The BroserWeights (Dunne and Matt Riddle). A women’s version of the tournament has also been confirmed, but no bracket has been released.

The only big surprise in this year’s tournament is the mystery “MSK” team, which has been placed at the top of the right side of the bracket and will face uneasy allies Isaiah “Swerve” Scott and Jake Atlas in the first round.

Who do you think will win this year’s tournament? Let us know your picks in the comments below!

On the other side of the dial, AEW Dynamite will have its second night of the New Year’s Smash event on Wednesday night. Check out the full lineup for the show below:

• TNT Championship: Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage
• NWA Women’s World Championship: Serena Deeb vs. Tay Conti
• The Elite vs. TBA
• Pac vs. Eddie Kingston
• Jurassic Express vs. FTR
• Miro vs. Chuck Taylor
• The Waiting Room w/ Cody Rhodes
• The Inner Circle’s “New Year’s Resolutions”