Austin Aries’ mystery partner was revealed to be none other than Roderick Strong, who proceeded to make his highly anticipated NXT debut alongside “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived.” It’s hard to imagine two such talented competitors being defeated in the first round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, but they were pushed to the limit by their enormous opponents, Tucker Knight & Otis Dozovic.
Knight & Dozovic utilized their immense size and strength advantage to overpower their opponents at times during the contest, but in the end were upended by a nearly flawless attack from Aries & Strong. The talented tandem delivered a perfectly timed combination of moves on Knight, capped off by a running dropkick from Strong to pick up the pinfall.