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NXT gave us two Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classics to open 2021, proving that they were willing to make the tag division a must-watch this year. With the addition of a women's tag division, the black and gold brand made fans believe they were focused on highlighting women just as much.
So far they've more than lived up to that promise. While you can say what you will of the women's tag division on the main roster, on NXT it's given us some of the best stories and matches of the year.
NXT focused on MSK, Legado Del Fantasma, The Way, Raquel González & Dakota Kai, and a handful of thrown-together duos to turn their tag divisions into some of the best on the planet. It's been a major success up to this point, so we're here today to look at the best NXT TV tag matches so far.
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We'll be starting off with the Dusty Cup, as they always seem to bring out the best in the brand. This year was no different.
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#5 Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter vs Raquel González and Dakota Kai in the Dusty Cup semi-finals - NXT February 3rd, 2021
What a year for Raquel González. One half of the first ever NXT Women's Tag Champions, and the current NXT Women's Champion. She's had a great six months, as has her tag partner Dakota Kai.
Everything started off for them this year when they were put in the Dusty Cup. After running through Mercedes Martinez and Toni Storm, they found themselves against fan favorites Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro.
González and Kai have had a lot of shine put on them since González joined Kai in early 2020. So this was a chance to highlight Carter and Catanzaro, and that's exactly what this was. Catanzaro and Carter were on fire in this match.
González had just come out of a feud with Rhea Ripley of all people, yet she struggled more against her opponents here. Carter and Catanzaro pelted her with an array of kicks, and kept her off balance with a series of incredible dives.
Near the end, Catanzaro left González in the ropes in prime position for Cater's spike piledriver. After that, Catanzaro hit a corkscrew splash that nearly sent them to the finals. The future NXT Champion powered out, however, and in the end was able to drive Catanzaro into the mat with the Chingona Bomb.
Though González and Kai moved on, this served to prove what kind of stars NXT has waiting on the under card. Catanzaro and Carter have promising careers. When the time is right, they'll shine.
#4 Grizzled Young Veterans vs Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa in a Tornado Tag Match - NXT June 15th, 2021
These two NXT teams work wonderfully together. It's like a car crash anytime they get into the ring. That went double on this night, as they waged war in the CWC in a Tornado Tag Match.
While this was only the third match in their feud, it was the rubber match. After months of harsh words and even harsher attacks, it was time to settle things.
Six months of bad blood built up between these four men finally came to a head here. It didn't take long for it to get chaotic either, as they bounced each other off barricades, ring posts, and steel steps throughout the night.
Coming into this, the Grizzled Young Veterans had recently failed to take the NXT Tag Titles off of MSK. Their downward spiral continued on June 15th when they were battered by Toothless Timmy and the Psycho Killer Tommaso Ciampa.
While GYV seemed to have the edge in classic tag matches, a Tornado Tag Match, essentially a bare knuckle bar fight, was the kind of match that suited Ciampa and Thatcher perfectly.
There were times where it seemed James Drake and Zack Gibson had their opponents' numbers, but they were never able to beat down either man for the three-count.
Ciampa and Thatcher played divide and conquer, with the former slamming Gibson on the announcer's desk with an Air Raid Crash. Drake was left in the ring with Thatcher and Ciampa. After a series of slaps and a Fairy Tale Ending, he was forced to tap to both Ciampa's armbar and Thatcher's ankle lock.
In the end, Thatcher and Ciampa defeated their long-time rivals and earned a shot at the NXT Tag Team Titles in the process.
#3 Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart vs The Way in a Street Fight for the Tag Titles - NXT May 4th, 2021
The Way, specifically Candice LeRae, have been on the verge of championship glory in NXT for such a long time. The Dusty Cup saw them get knocked out of the semi-finals by Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart, who would go onto lose in the finals.
After Moon and Blackheart won the NXT Women's Tag Titles, LeRae and Indi Hartwell, The Way, made it known they were coming for what they felt was theirs.
On May 4th, we saw these two teams go at it in a Street Fight, and it was fantastic. Hartwell took a horrific shot when the champs placed a trash can on her head and caved it in with double dropkicks.
Hartwell would get her revenge with a springboard elbow drop onto Moon through a table on the floor. With Moon eliminated, LeRae was able to bounce Blackheart's skull off a chair with the Wicked Step-Sister. This earned LeRae her first NXT championship since joining the brand in 2017.
#2 MSK vs Legado Del Fantasma for the NXT Tag Team Titles - NXT June 1st, 2021
MSK have been fantastic as NXT Tag Team Champions. The company didn't even give them a chance to catch their breath before they were already on the run to the gold. They won the NXT Dusty Cup this year and at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, defeated Legado Del Fantasma and the Grizzled Young Veterans to capture the titles.
After that, MSK feuded with Legado for several months, leading to NXT TakeOver: In Your House, where they teamed up with Bronson Reed to beat all of Legado in a six-man tag for all the gold. Before that, though, we got a phenomenal tag match between MSK, Joaquin Wilde, and Raul Mendoza.
On June 1st, Legado challenged MSK for the belts. These teams were blindingly fast, never giving fans a chance to settle down. MSK's strikes were lethal and on point, while Legado had the edge on tag team maneuvers. For example, they hit a top rope rana/powerbomb combination on Lee that would've put lesser opponents away.
The action was non-stop, though part of that had to do with the interference of Grizzled Young Veterans, Santos Escobar, Tommaso Ciampa, and Timothy Thatcher. While the Vets, Ciampa, and Thatcher brawled to the back, Santos got his own punishment courtesy of the NXT North American Champion.
Seriously, that might be one of the greatest GIFs from NXT this year.
This main event had just about everything you could want. However, with all of the interference, it dropped just shy of the number one pick.
#1 Grizzled Young Veterans vs Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher NXT in the Dusty Cup semi-finals - NXT February 10th, 2021
Looking back, it was hard not to put this one at number one. Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher are a dangerous team, and one of those thrown-together duos WWE gives us that rarely work. Their opponents, The Grizzled Young Veterans, were basically just Thatcher and Ciampa with a few more years as a team under their belts.
Seriously, the styles of these four men are incredibly similar. Not that everyone is the kind of technician ol' Toothless Timmy is, but every single one of them the is smash your mouth and in your face type.
If Zack Gibson and James Drake were Grizzled Young Veterans, their opponents would be grizzled, well, veterans. As exciting as the Tornado Tag was that they had this month, there's something about the way GYV works, the rules of a regular match that make this feel special.
It's almost like, even in a two-on-two situation, they've always got the numbers advantage. They always had a game plan for Thatcher and Ciampa who were, at this point, fresh off a hellacious feud. The story in itself was the main reason to rank this so high.
Ciampa and Thatcher worked so well together despite barely even being on the same page. With some kinks in the gameplan, they barely lost to one of the elite teams in all of WWE. That's why the tornado tag match meant so much. They'd worked out the issues and become a well-oiled machine. However, we wouldn't get there without starting with this point.
Ciampa and Thatcher, individually, were better than Gibson and Drake, individually. But GYV were greater than the sum of their parts, and were always able to save one another when it seemed like they were done for. Near the end of the match, Ciampa had Drake set up for Willow's Bell. Gibson held onto his legs, forcing Ciampa to slam into the canvas by himself.
That one mistake by Ciampa and one brilliant move by GYV allowed the latter to advance to the finals, and that was pretty much the whole match. The psychology was great, and it's definitely one that will be talked about for NXT's year end awards.
