The quarterfinals of the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic took place this week as BirthRight’s Charlie Dempsey and Lexis King took on AAA World Tag Team Champions El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno. In “WWE NXT”. Wagner and Galeno eventually emerged victorious, thus advancing to the semi-finals.
Wagner and Dempsey opened the match with some mat-based action. Wagner pulled an arm, to which Dempsey responded with a kick. King and Galeno then tagged in, with the former falling victim to a shoulder tackle and senton. King tried to avoid further damage by rolling to the outside, only to have himself and Dempsey obliterated by a dive by Wagner at the same time.
In the closing moments of the featured bout, Wagner came off the top rope in an attempt to deliver the Frog Splash on King; instead, he encountered a pair of knees from a member of BirthRight. A furious Zilla Fatu then came down to the ring, leveling Uriah Connors on the outside floor before scaring Arianna Grace back to the ring. On the other hand, Galeno rammed Dempsey into the barricade.
Back in the ring, Wagner dropped King with a Michinoku Warai. Galeno followed with a Frog Splash for the win.
Later in the show, Wagner and Galeno will learn the identity of their semi-final opponents after Hank Walker and Tank Ledger take on The Creed Brothers. Rounding out the final four This year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic features NXT Tag Team Champions The Vanity Project (Brad Baylor and Ricky Smoaks) and the duo of Romeo Moreno and Noam Dar.
