The semifinals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic are set after two more teams advanced on NXT 2.0!
The first tournament match of the evening saw established team and long time friends Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta face off against the makeshift team of Dakota Kai and Wendy Choo. On the previous episode, Kai expressed dismay at being paired with Choo, because she hasn’t had the greatest experience with friends. This was in reference to her shock turning on both former NXT star Tegan Nox at WarGames and also turning on Raquel Gonzalez in a quest for the NXT Women’s Championship.
However, dissension between Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta has also been building as Persia has been in romantic pursuit of Duke Hudson, who revealed on last week’s episode that he was previously involved with Indi, much to the dismay of Indi’s on-screen husband Dexter Lumis.
In the end, the eternally tired Wendy Choo and the unhinged Dakota Kai were able to defeat the long time friends when Wendy Choo pinned Persia Pirotta, securing them a spot in the semifinals of the tournament with somewhat of an upset victory.
Can the surprising pair of @therealestwendy & @DakotaKai_WWE pull off the upset against @indi_hartwell & @persiawwe in this #DustyClassic first round match? #WWENXTpic.twitter.com/01QgKNArkA
— WWE (@WWE) March 2, 2022
Later in the episode, Indi and Persia lamented their loss before Duke Hudson took Pirotta away and Indi tried to text Dexter but received no response, indicating that there might still be trouble in paradise for the couple who publicly wed on the debut episode of the rebranded NXT 2.0.
The second quarterfinal match of the evening featured another odd couple in Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade taking on newcomers Yulisa Leon and Valentina Feroz. In recent weeks, Raquel and Cora have been involved in multiple training vignette segments, with Gonzalez trying to take a hard hitting stern approach and Jade encouraging her partner to embrace fun to conquer her fear of heights.
The NXT crowd was firmly behind the young Cora Jade in the match. While the onlooking Women’s Tag Team Champions Toxic Attraction may not have shown that they were impressed, the upstart team of Leon and Feroz made a splash with a pair of dives onto Raquel Gonzalez outside the ring.
Can all of @RaquelWWE & @CoraJadeWWE's training pay off against @YulisaLeon_wwe & @ValentiFerozWWE in this #DustyClassic first round matchup? #WWENXTpic.twitter.com/Adsiaod3Wx
— WWE (@WWE) March 2, 2022
However, the training that Gonzalez and Jade put in together paid off when Raquel landed a Chingona Bomb and then launched Cora onto their prone opponent for a pinfall victory.
The semifinals of the tournament are now cemented, with Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter facing the duo of Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray while the teams who advanced on the latest episode will also square off against one another.
The Creed Brothers recently won the men’s edition of the Dusty Cup, defeating former NXT Tag Team Champions MSK to capture the prestigious award. They will face NXT Tag Team Champions Imperium on next week’s episode of NXT 2.0.