I have an issue with this year’s Dusty Cup, KLR and Io Shirai didn’t deserve for the title’s to be put around their waists this year. KLR coming from having the UK title on her belt with a substantial run a coupling up with arguably the locker room leader of the main NXT brand, makes sense on paper – kind of like a 2022 iteration of the Mega Powers. This pairing would make more sense on the main roster though, since NXT is only relegated to performing at the WWE PC in Orlando, they aren’t really touring the world with the product. This is important to note since WWE tends to push a select few to sale tickets, when NXT is strictly a developmental brand and people are looking to see the rise of fresh faces succeed.
Wendy Choo has a new theme and is able to perform with any character creative throws at her, Dakota Kai has a redemption arc going that is picking up notable steam, in which her showdown last week in the semi-finals against Gonzalez (her former tag partner) was an integral part of her story. All momentum for that story now has been killed with kicks from KLR and The Genius of The Sky. Kayden Carter and Kacy Cantazaro were primed and ready to take the title this year. WWE is big business. The K.C. team has enough wordplay within their team name that they can use for marketing that can elevate sales. Lash Legend has a talk show segment now, if she’s trusted enough to do a workhorse gimmick that has been known to work for legends like The Miz and Rowdy Roddy Piper then why wasn’t she trusted enough to carry this cup with Amari Miller? And speaking of Amari Miller, she’s been M.I.A. from NXT for almost a month now, after showing out with on 205 Live with a win loss record that was nothing to sneeze at. That’s two teams that could have used the rub here on this developmental brand. Gonzalez held the NXT championship for the majority of last year and Cora Jade could be said to have carried the last War Games event, but with all the vignettes placed on them to pump up a potential win from them, the bait and switch sure drew eyes to the competition, but their protected removal in the semi-finals left much to be desired, even though the group was comprised of one previous title holder who already had a run.
There were some interesting dropkicks and body slams featured in the finals of The Dusty Cup, but those who lost in the wake of the already over previous champions were left with the brunt of the bruising, since only time will tell how many more splinters can the undercard of the NXT Women’s Division’s sustain on their ride on the bench for a company known to amputate first – no matter how talented they are to the body of the promotion.
Score : 2/5
The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is an annual professional wrestling tag team tournament held by the American promotion WWE, and is featured on its NXT brand.
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