The last first round matches of the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic took place on October 6 episode of WWE NXT and after two hard-fought games, both Hank, Tank, and BirthRight advanced to the quarterfinals.
Hank Walker and Tank Ledger didn’t have it easy in their first round match as they took on the WWE EVOLVE team of Shido Ash and Victor Zanov. The former WWE NXT Tag Team Champions entered the match as the favorites due to their experience over their opponents, but the two former Olympic judokas used their physicality to defeat Walker in the first half of the match. It wasn’t until Ledger got the tag that the tide turned in the match and the momentum began to turn in favor of the former champions.
The match ended with Ledger hitting a Tope Suicida to the outside to take Zanov out, while Walker hit a Big Lariat on Ash inside the ring. Ledger came back in to help his tag team hit a double splash and tag Powerslam/Forearm combo for the win. Hank and Tank advance to the quarterfinals where they face former NXT Tag Team Champions The Creed Brothers.
The Tokyo Bad Boys were originally scheduled to face Shawn Legacy and Dorian Van Dux, but Legacy and DVD were attacked backstage earlier in the night by BirthRight, who were still angry that Zilla Fatu defeated Lexis King in the night’s opening contest. William Regal then met with NXT General Manager Robert Stone and convinced him that the only people fit to replace Legacy and DVD were his son Charlie Dempsey and King, who would be pulling double duty for the night.
Kento and Takuma had a lot to prove against BirthRight, and they got the NXT crowd on their feet, surprising King and Dempsey with a series of high jumps. Both dive to the outside and Kento even hits a middle rope spear to Dempsey to gain control. Takuma would land a One-Man Spanish Fly and then a Springboard 450 Splash on Dempsey as the Tokyo Bad Boys looked like they were on the verge of a serious breakdown. However, Takuma went to the well one time too often and Dempsey hit an Avalanche Butterfly Suplex and followed it up with a fishing suplex to pick up the win for his team. BirthRight will now face another AAA tag team, the AAA Tag Team Champions, The Wagner Brothers, in the quarterfinals.
