Last week’s episode of NXT featured two opening-round matches in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic: Baron Corbin and Rhyno defeating former NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension, and Jason Jordan and Chad Gable defeating Neville and Solomon Crowe.
The brackets for the first round revealed a lot of “easy win” matches for some established NXT teams, and it turns out that many of those matches happened and were taped at NXT live events. WWE uploaded highlight videos of four additional first-round matches, so here’s a quick rundown of what you might’ve missed. Spoiler alert, obviously.
1. The Vaudevillains defeated Blake & Murphy.
It’s surprising that this one didn’t make TV. The NXT Tag Team Champions defeated the former champs with the “Whirling Dervish” in a TakeOver: Brooklyn rematch, this time without an assist from Blue Pants. They move on to round two to face …
2. Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder defeated Elias Samson and Tucker Knight.
The former Mechanics got the win over “The Drifter” and “The Other Guy” (not an official nickname) with the Shatter Machine, their flapjack/Codebreaker combination. Dawson and Wilder move on to face The Vaudevillains in round two. If the Villains already topped Blake & Murphy in round one, the Mechanics’ chances don’t look very good.
3. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady defeated Angelo Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton.
I know this will be surprising, but Enzo and Big Cass won their first round match. They’ve got a tough pull in round two, facing the winner of Lucha Dragons vs. Samoa Joe and Finn Balor. If they want to survive that, they’re gonna have to hope Joe turns on Balor to set up a title match for TakeOver and allows them to capitalize.
4. The Hype Bros defeated Alexander Wolfe and Noah Kekoa
In maybe the biggest shocker of all, Alexander Wolfe and Noah Kekoa — no idea — couldn’t defeat Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder. I’m sure we’ll look back on this post in a year and a half when Noah Kekoa’s my favorite wrestler and laugh. Anyway, this sets the Hype Bros up for a second round match-up against Jordan and Gable, which more or less means they’re toast.
