Dusty Classic Women's and Men's Matches Announced for WWE 205 Live

This week’s WWE 205 Live episode will see the WWE NXT Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and the NXT Women’s Dusty Classic continue with first round matches.

The men’s tournament will continue this Friday night with the final first round match. Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari will face Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher. As noted, Thatcher and Ciampa are replacing Ashante “Thee” Adonis and Desmond Troy after Karrion Kross injured Adonis during their squash match on last night’s NXT show.

The second first round match in the women’s tournament will take place on 205 Live with The Way (Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell) vs. Gigi Dolin (Priscilla Kelly) and Cora Jade (Elayna Black). This will be the first time a women’s match has been held on 205 Live.

Stay tuned for more on the Dusty Classic tournaments, and this week’s WWE 205 Live. Below is WWE’s full announcement on Friday’s show:

205 Live to host pair of Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Matches

History will be made on Friday’s edition of 205 Live, as Gigi Dolin and Cora Jade will combine forces against Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell in what will be the first-ever women’s match on the purple brand, while Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher team up against Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari two days after nearly tearing each other to shreds on NXT in the Fight Pit.

LeRae and Hartwell will likely enter their Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Match as the favorites, having aligned after LeRae took the impressionable Hartwell under her wing to form The Way alongside Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory.

They would be wise not to take their opponents lightly, however, as Gigi Dolin and Cora Jade step onto the purple brand with nothing to lose and a golden opportunity to turn some heads in the eight-team tournament.

Speaking of new teams, Ciampa and Thatcher will form a seemingly tenuous alliance for their Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Match after a pair of savage bouts against one another, as Ciampa defeated Thatcher at NXT TakeOver: WarGames before “The Professor of Pain” got payback with a win in the Fight Pit.

Ciampa and Thatcher have entered the tournament in place of Ashante Adonis and Desmond Troy, who were injured by Karrion Kross, and if they can’t get on the same page quickly, Nese and Daivari seem certain to capitalize, as they’ve never been a tandem to hesitate when it comes to using nefarious methods to claim wins.

Don’t miss two high-stakes Dusty Cup Matches on 205 Live, streaming on the award-winning WWE Network on Friday at 10/9 C!

Here is the bracket for the first-ever Women's #DustyClassic and it all starts TONIGHT on #WWENXT! pic.twitter.com/yGWy07AXKS

— WWE’s The Bump (@WWETheBump) January 20, 2021