Quarterfinals set for WWE NXT men's Dusty Classic

The quarterfinals of the 2021 men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic are now fully set.

In the tournament’s final opening round match, Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher defeated Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari on Friday’s episode of 205 Live. It was originally announced that Ashante “Thee” Adonis & Desmond Troy would be Nese & Daivari’s first round opponents, but there was an angle on this week’s NXT where Adonis & Troy were taken out of the tournament. Karrion Kross defeated Adonis on NXT and then put Troy in the Kross Jacket.

Ciampa & Thatcher teaming together in the Dusty Classic was set up after they showed mutual respect for each other following their Fight Pit match on this week’s NXT. Thatcher defeated Ciampa in the Fight Pit match.

Ciampa & Thatcher will face Undisputed Era’s Adam Cole & Roderick Strong in the next round of the tournament.

The men’s Dusty Classic quarterfinals will kick off with Kushida & Leon Ruff vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans and MSK vs. Drake Maverick & Killian Dain taking place on NXT this coming Wednesday. Here’s the full list of quarterfinal matchups for the tournament:

Left side of the bracket —
Undisputed Era’s Adam Cole & Roderick Strong vs. Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher
Kushida & Leon Ruff vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans
Right side of the bracket —
MSK vs. Drake Maverick & Killian Dain
Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado vs. Legado Del Fantasma’s Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde

In addition to receiving the Dusty Cup, the team that wins the men’s Dusty Classic will get a shot at Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch’s NXT Tag Team titles.