WWE NXT: 2022 Women’s Dusty Classic begins; New challenger revealed for NXT Title

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Bengaluru, February 23: The 2022 edition of the WWE NXT Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament officially began during last night’s episode of NXT 2.0.

The first two opening-round matches went down from the left side of the released bracket. In the first match of the tourney, Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray teamed up to defeat Lash Legend and Amari Miller.

In the second bout, Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro defeated Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley to advance to the next round.

Paxley was teased to be a future member of The Diamond Mine but she digested the pin-fall loss. As a result, she suffered an attack by Diamond Mine's Ivy, following the match.

The winner of the above-mentioned matches (Shirai and KLR vs. Carter and Catanzaro) will collide in a future matchup on NXT 2.0 episode but the exact date wasn’t confirmed.

Next week, the right side of the Women’s Dusty Classic bracket will produce the two remaining first-round matches.

The lineups are - Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta vs. Wendy Choo and Dakota Kai; Cora Jade and Raquel Gonzalez vs. Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon.

As confirmed by the WWE, the winners of the ongoing tournament will receive a future title shot from NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne. Plus, they will also have their names added to the Dusty Cup trophy.

A new number-one contender to WWE NXT Champion Bron Breakker was also crowned last night in the form of RAW Superstar Dolph Ziggler.

In the main event last night's NXT 2.0, Ziggler defeated Tommaso Ciampa to earn a future title shot from Breakker. Ziggler’s tag team partner, Robert Roode interfered by dressing as a ringside cameraman and then attacking Ciampa with a camera.

This allowed Ziggler to get the pin-fall win after connecting with a Superkick. Ziggler vs. Breakker for the NXT Title will be scheduled in the near future. But an earlier promo from Bron indicated that he will put his title on the line during the next NXT Specials.

So, the title match should happen at NXT Stand & Deliver event which is slated for Saturday, April 2 from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas just a few hours before Night One of WrestleMania 38 begins.

With Tommaso Ciampa involved in the situation, there’s speculation on WWE possibly converting the match to a Triple Threat but nothing has been confirmed, as it stands.

The ongoing program will continue when The Dirty Dawgs (Ziggler and Roode) will take on Breakker and Ciampa in a tag team action, next week.

After Ziggler defeated Ciampa in the main event, The Dirty Dawgs double-teamed on the latter but Breakker made the save. A brawl ensued in the middle of which Breakker took the mic and issued a challenge to set up the tag team bout for next Tuesday night.

Speaking of the night, two matches were already confirmed earlier where NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes defends against Pete Dunne. In the other match, Imperium leader Gunther will go up against Solo Sikoa in a singles contest.