The field for the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is beginning to take shape, and two championship teams will not need to compete in the opening round. NXT General Manager Robert Stone has announced that NXT Tag Team Champions The Vanity Project and AAA Tag Team Champions The Wagner Brothers will each receive a bye in this year’s tournament.

The Vanity Project consists of Ricky Smokes and Brad Baylor, while The Wagner Brothers are El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno. Their byes give both duos an immediate advantage as NXT prepares to revive one of its most prominent recurring tag team competitions.

The 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is scheduled to begin on the September 22 episode of NXT. Stone initially confirmed the tournament’s return during Tuesday’s episode of the brand’s weekly program before providing the update on the two teams receiving byes the following day.

Champions Positioned Beyond the Opening Round

The announcement places a clear spotlight on the current championship landscape entering the tournament. Smokes and Baylor will participate as the reigning NXT Tag Team Champions, carrying the top team prize on NXT into the bracket. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno, meanwhile, arrive with AAA Tag Team Championship credentials.

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Neither team has to navigate the tournament’s first stage, which may prove crucial in a competition where every match can change the trajectory of a tag division. A bye means fewer matches to survive on the path toward the final, while also allowing the recipients additional time to study whichever opponents emerge from the rest of the field.

That advantage does not automatically guarantee a deeper run. The tournament’s remaining participants will have an opportunity to build momentum with an early victory, while The Vanity Project and The Wagner Brothers will have to be ready when their respective paths begin. Still, Stone’s decision ensures that both champion tandems enter the competition with a meaningful structural benefit.

The announcement also creates an immediate point of comparison between the two teams. The Vanity Project represents the reigning NXT champions, while The Wagner Brothers bring the AAA Tag Team Championships into the conversation. With both duos receiving the same first-round treatment, the tournament is framing them as major obstacles for the teams that must earn their way through the opening portion of the bracket.

The Creed Brothers Confirmed for the Field

At this stage, the only other team confirmed for the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is The Creed Brothers. Julius Creed and Brutus Creed have been announced for the tournament, adding another established tandem to a field that remains largely undisclosed.

The confirmation of The Creed Brothers gives viewers three known entries ahead of the September 22 start date: The Vanity Project, The Wagner Brothers, and The Creed Brothers. Of those three, only Julius and Brutus Creed have not been announced as receiving a bye. That leaves the full size of the bracket, the identities of the remaining teams, and the exact opening-round pairings to be revealed as NXT gets closer to the tournament launch.

For The Creed Brothers, the road begins with a different set of circumstances than it does for either championship team. While the precise format has not been outlined, the announced byes mean that teams without that advantage could be called upon to win an additional match in order to reach the same stage as Smokes and Baylor or El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno.

The lack of further confirmed entrants also leaves considerable room for NXT to shape the tournament over the coming weeks. The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic has traditionally offered a setting in which tag teams can establish themselves through high-pressure tournament matches. The 2026 edition now has its first major competitive wrinkle before the first bell has rung.

A Return After a Two-Year Absence

This will be the first Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic since 2024. That tournament was won by Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin, whose victory stands as the most recent result in the competition’s history.

The Classic began in 2015 and has been held eight times across the last 11 years. Its return in 2026 brings back a tournament that has become a notable part of NXT’s tag team identity, particularly because it provides a focused stretch of competition rather than a single title match or isolated rivalry.

With the event absent since 2024, its reintroduction gives the NXT tag division a significant fall storyline beginning September 22. Tournament action can quickly define pecking orders, create new confrontations, and test whether teams can remain cohesive while the stakes rise. The format requires a different type of consistency from the participants, since a single loss can end a team’s run.

The 2024 winners, Breakker and Corbin, demonstrated the importance of a pairing finding its rhythm at the right time. The 2026 field will have its own dynamics, beginning with a reigning NXT championship team, an AAA championship team, and The Creed Brothers already publicly attached to the tournament.

What the Byes Mean for the Bracket

Stone did not announce the full bracket alongside the bye news, so it remains unknown which teams will eventually meet The Vanity Project and The Wagner Brothers. It is also not yet known whether the two champion duos are positioned on opposite sides of the tournament or whether the layout could put them on a collision course before the final.

Those details matter because the byes affect more than just match count. The eventual opponents for Smokes and Baylor or for El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno will likely enter their matches with tournament experience already accumulated. That can create confidence and momentum, but it can also mean a more physically demanding route compared with the fresh teams waiting beyond the opening round.

For The Vanity Project, the tournament presents an opportunity to reinforce its status as NXT Tag Team Champions. Smokes and Baylor will be scrutinized not only as champions but as a tandem granted special standing in the bracket. Any opponent that reaches them will have a chance to eliminate the champions from a prestigious tournament, even if the NXT Tag Team Championship itself is not stated to be on the line.

The Wagner Brothers face a similarly notable position. Their recognition as AAA Tag Team Champions and their placement among the teams receiving a bye make them one of the central attractions of the tournament before the complete field has even been disclosed. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno now have a direct route into the later portion of the competition, where the pressure of advancing toward the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic trophy will intensify.

The Creed Brothers, meanwhile, give the field another proven partnership to watch as details continue to emerge. Julius and Brutus Creed will not have the benefit announced for the two champion teams, but their inclusion ensures that the tournament already features multiple duos with established identities and substantial expectations.

September 22 Marks the Starting Point

NXT has set September 22 as the beginning of the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, but much remains to be announced before the tournament gets underway. The rest of the entrants, the bracket format, opening-round matches, and the placement of the byes have yet to be confirmed.

What is clear is that Stone has already established a hierarchy for the tournament’s launch. The Vanity Project and The Wagner Brothers will wait past the opening stage, while The Creed Brothers are confirmed as part of the competing field. The resulting bracket will determine whether the champion teams’ advantages lead to a meeting with one another, a showdown with The Creeds, or challenges from still-unannounced tandems.

After a two-year break, the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic returns with championship teams already at the forefront. September 22 will begin the next chapter of a tournament that has been held eight times since its 2015 debut, with Ricky Smokes and Brad Baylor, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno, and Julius and Brutus Creed among the first names confirmed for the 2026 field.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.