The first round of the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic provided plenty of twists and turns, but what would the quarterfinals offer? That question was partially answered October 13 episode of WWE NXT as The Vanity Project and the team of Romeo Moreno and Noam Darr both booked their tickets to the final four.
As the current WWE NXT Tag Team Champions, Ricky Smoaks and Brad Baylor earned a bye to the quarterfinals, but The Vanity Project didn’t have it easy when it came to their opponents, Mini Vikingo and Chazz Hall. Vikingo and Hall overwhelmed BirthRight in the first round to this point, and they kept the crowd on their side throughout the match, with Vikingo hitting some high-risk moves like the Tornillo and Phoenix Splash Senton, and Hall hitting the Standing Phoenix Splash and a few dives to maintain the advantage.
However, it was when Hall went to the well too often that it cost his team. He went up for a Moonsault, but Smokes got his knees up, and with Baylor already taking out Vikingo, Vanity Project hit a Double Foot Stomp/Reverse DDT combo for the win and into the semis.
Vanity Project’s semi-final opponents were decided later in the night as another upset took place as Romeo Moreno and Noam Darr defeated former two-time NXT Tag Team Champions Fraxiom. Given their experience, Fraxiom had the upper hand early on, but Dar managed to use his technical abilities and Moreno used his speed and high flying to stay in the match. With that, Darr and Moreno studied their opponents and countered with all of their best offense, including the golden ratio attempt and the Spanish Fly/Phoenix Splash combo, which actually defeated Fraxiom for the NXT Tag Team Championship in the past.
Eventually, Moreno landed the Axiom with an Avalanche Fallaway Slam, and as Nathan Frazier tried to jump in to make the save, he was met with a spinning back elbow from Dar. Moreno and Darr hit Axiom with a Russian leg drop/high kick combo to pick up the win and face Vanity Project in the semifinals.