Bengaluru, January 21: Next week’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will be stacked than ever with five huge matches on the card. The main event of the night will see NXT Champion Finn Balor teaming with Kyle O’Reilly to compete against NXT Tag Team Champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch in a non-title tag team match.

This match was confirmed after Finn Balor urged NXT General Manager William Regal for a match against Lorcan and Burch so that he can take these two out before his upcoming title defense against current rival, Pete Dunne. Regal advised him to find a partner to make the match official. This led Balor to go to his former challenger, O’Reilly to form a temporary team.

Next week’s episode will also have a title match on the card when Curt Stallion finally gets his NXT Cruiserweight Championship shot from Santos Escobar.

The first round of the 2021 WWE NXT Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic continued this week where two first-round matches took place. Kushida and Leon Ruff were victorious against The Way (Austin Theory, NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano), while Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado) defeated Imperium (Fabian Aichner, Marcel Barthel).

The current bracket suggests Ruff and Kushida will now compete against The Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake, Zack Gibson) in the quarterfinals. Lucha House Party will face Legado del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde, Raul Mendoza).

The first round of the Men’s Dusty Classic was originally supposed to get wrapped up on this Friday’s WWE 205 Live episode via the matchup of Ashante “Thee” Adonis and Desmond Troy vs. Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari. But, Adonis is not medically cleared to compete after sustaining an injury during his match against Karrion Kross.

The Men’s Dusty Cup Quarterfinals will begin during the next WWE NXT episode with the matchups of MSK (Wes Lee, Nash Carter) vs. Drake Maverick and Killian Dain, plus The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Ruff and Kushida. The other quarterfinal lineup will see The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong) face the winners of Nese and Daivari vs. Troy and Adonis’ replacement but it won't happen next week.



The first round of the inaugural WWE NXT Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic also opened this week where Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix was present at commentary at ringside from the Capitol Wrestling Center. The bracket of the tourney goes as follows:

LEFT SIDE

* The Way (Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell) vs. Gigi Dolin and Cora Jade

* Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon vs. Marina Shafir and Zoey Stark

RIGHT SIDE

* Mercedes Martinez and Toni Storm vs. Team Ninja (Kacy Catanzaro, Kayden Carter)

* Aliyah and Jessi Kamea vs. Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez

The first-round match saw Team Ninja (Carter, Catanzaro) defeat Storm and Martinez to advance to the quarterfinals. WWE NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai took out Martinez in interference that allowed Team Ninja to capitalize on Storm for the victory.



Team Ninja will now face the winners of Aliyah and Jessi Kamea vs. Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez in the quarterfinals, airing next Wednesday night. That being said, the full match card for next week's WWE NXT stands as follows:

* Kyle O’Reilly and NXT Champion Finn Balor vs. NXT Tag Team Champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch in a non-title match

* NXT Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar defends against Curt Stallion

* Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Quarterfinals: The Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake, Zack Gibson) vs. Leon Ruff and Kushida

* Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Quarterfinals: Drake Maverick and Killian Dain vs. MSK (Wes Lee, Nash Carter)

* Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round: Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez vs. Aliyah and Jessi Kamea