NXT Dusty Rhodes Womens Tag Team Classic 1/27/2021 and 1/29/2021 (Round 1 Matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

We have the first ever NXT Dusty Rhodes Women Tag Team Classic this year with the matches going on during NXT Live and 205 Live. Last week we got the surprising debut of Priscilla Kelly and Elayna Black under their new ring names Gigi Dolin and Cora Jade. We also saw the surprising loss of the team of Mercedes Martinez and Toni Storm because Io Shirai hijacked the match. Let's see what else happens.

Match 1- Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez VS Aliyah and Jessi Kamea NXT Live 1/27/2021

Raquel and Aliyah started off grappling but Raquel uses her height and strength advantage to pick her up, swing her around and drop her. Aliyah tags in her partner and Raquel picks her up in a variation of the torture rack. She lets her go and goes for an elbow drop but misses. This gives Kamea time to hit her with a dropkick and a running elbow to the face. Raquel swings Kamea over to Dakota's corner where she tries to go for a cheap shot but the ref caught her.

Raquel takes advantage of the distraction to clothesline Kamea in the back of the head, sending her face into the ropes. Raquel tags in Dakota. Kamea picks up and slams Dakota down, then bounces off the ropes to hit her with a diving elbow smash. She goes for the pin but Dakota kicks out. Aliyah is tagged back in and she manages to slam Dakota down and go for another pin, but she kicks out. Aliyah goes for the suicide dive but there was no one outside for her to tackle. Dakota comes in with a big boot to the face.

Raquel is tagged back in and she grabs Aliyah's arm so she could knee her in the stomach. Raquel picks up Aliyah and hits her with a Whirlwind Slam but couldn't get the pin. She then swings her opponent into the ropes and tags Dakota in who hits her with a running knee to the face. Another pin attempt is made but Aliyah kicks out at two. Dakota continues to attack Aliyah and swings over to their corner where Raquel is tagged in and she continues the attack.

Raquel grabs Aliyah's arm and flings her over with a hip toss to the mat. She then grabs Dakota and flings her up so she can land on Aliyah with a double stomp. After several attempts to escape, Aliyah manages to get Dakota into a DDT. Both women manage to tag their partners in and Raquel literally sends Kamea spinning to the mat with a strong clothesline. Gonzalez picks up Kamea and plants her into the mat, getting the pin and the win.

Toni Storm, Io Shirai and Mercedes Martinez

There's a little segment worth bringing up since it follows the events of last week's match. Toni Storm comes out with a mic angry at how Shirai ruined her chance to win at the Dusty Rhodes Tag Tournament and now wants her title Io Shirai steps up and says she'll take her challenge any time. Both women fight it out and Shirai sends Toni out of the ring with a powerful running dropkick. Just then Mercedes Martinez shows up and plants Shirai with a power bomb. 

Mercedes picks up the NXT Title and argues with Toni over who it should belong to. Io Shirai flies in with a dropkick, knocking Mercedes into Toni. Shirai knocks Mercedes back with an uppercut and hits her with a running double knee to the face. Shirai climbs the ropes and Toni pulls Mercedes out of the ring, seemingly to save her, but instead Toni rams her into the ring apron. Toni runs into Shirai, slamming her butt in her face three times, leaving her a defeated heap. Toni picks up the NXT Title making it clear she wants the title and she's in it for herself. 

Match 2- Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart VS Marina Shafir and Zoey Stark- 205 Live 1/29/2021

Newcomer Zoey wastes no time stepping up and starts grappling with Blackheart after shoving her back across the ring. Feeling pumped, Zoey actually calls out Ember Moon, a former NXT Womens Champ. What she didn't count on was both women knocking her down with a double-dropkick. Ember goes for a roll up pin but Zoey kicks out. Ember tries to grab Zoey in some sort of hold but the newcomer actually picks her up and throws her against the ringpost.

Zoey tags in Marina who uses some of her judo moves on Ember's leg, and then flips her with a judo throw onto the mat. Zoey tags herself in and drops to the mat with her knees up and Marina slams Ember right onto those knees. Marina does a cartwheel and slaps Ember in the face. Ember stands up and says she's give her a free shot across the face if  'she thinks she's bad'. As Marina goes for it, Ember hits her with some kicks and punches of her own. 

Ember holds onto Marina and delivers some knee strikes and then slams her face first against the ropes. Zoey runs in but is tripped by Ember, and she also lands against the ropes. Shotzi runs across the ring and hits both women on the back of the head at the same time that Ember delivers a kick across their faces. Now back into the ring, Shotzi knocks Marina down with a reverse slingblade. Shotzi hits her with a running knee followed by a spinning forearm strike. 

Ember is arguing with the ref and Zoey nails Shotzi with a knee across the back. Shotzi is then thrown into the ringpost, hurting her shoulder as Zoey is tagged in. Zoey kicks Shotzi across the bad shoulder and then drops both knees down on that same arm. She then puts that same arm into a wristlock. She then drops both knees onto that arm again and tags in Marina.

Marina tries to get Ember into a painful looking armlock but Shotzi tries to punch her way out. Shotzi goes for a kick but Marina ducks and twists her opponent's arm under her. In this position Marina actually picks up Shotzi and slams her down with a pumphandle throw. 

Marina tags in Zoey and then quickly runs in to clobber Ember out of the way while Zoey picks up Shotzi and slams her face into her knee. She goes for the pin but Ember somehow still manages to run in and break it up in time. Shotzi desperately fights to get away from her opponents to tag in her partner. Marina is tagged and she grabs Shotzi's leg but she kicks her with the other leg, knocking her down. Both women tag their partners in and Ember runs in, knocking Zoey down with a dropkick, and keeping her down with a clothesline.

Ember lands some nasty kicks, followed by a neckbreaker transitioning into a underhook suplex. Ember climbs the ropes while Zoey is dazed and catches her with a flying codebreaker. It looks like it would end here but Marina breaks the pin. Shotzi runs in and starts to fight with Marina as both women take it out of the ring. Marina goes for the dropkick but is caught by Ember who turns her around and gets her in a submission hold. Marina taps out and Ember scores the win.

My Opinions- 

Well geez guys, if you don't care, why should I? Like the match literally started with the Raquel and Dakota walking towards the ring getting a proper intro and everything while their opponents were already in the ring. Like not even a title card or anything. I had to literally look up who they were to made sure I had the spelling right. It was kind of a given that Raquel and Dakota were gonna win, and afterwards the brackets go right into telling us that they will face Kacy and Kayden in Round 2 without properly showing who they just defeated. As for the match itself, Aliyah did at least get decent offense against Dakota, someone more her size, but Raquel stole the show with her size and power moves.

As for the second match, Lacey Ryan was the third woman WWE recently signed alongside PK and Elayna Black, and she made her debut here under her new ring name Zoey Stark.

Being the Main Event of this episode of 205 Live, it was a hell of a match. I loved how Zoey not only stepped up, but was able to back it up. She has some real amazing moves and Ember didn't look too bad being caught off guard by her skill. Both Zoey and Marina went from people I thought would be fodder for Shotzi and Ember to people I started to root for and wanted to win. Hell, it could have ended right there after Marina knocked Ember back and Zoey delivered that sweet looking Go To Stark. I mean, yeah, of course Shotzi and Ember are awesome, they're both veterans, especially Ember who was not only NXT champ but also had some time (being misused) in the Main Roster before returning to NXT. I would honestly have been far more interested in seeing Zoey and Marina continue in the tournament and see how far these two would have gone. 

This match has been my favorite thus far. We'll see how the tournament continues. While we did get to see a brief fight between Toni, Mercedes and Shirai, we didn't have any other women matches on NXT Live. I'd like to bring up that if there are any matches involving Gigi and/or Cora, I will also review them for as long as this tournament and the upcoming AEW Women's Tournament are going on as extras. I mean, their first match was on 205 Live, other than just standing around with all the other female participants, Gigi and Cora have yet to have their first official NXT match.