Possible replacements for Ashante Adonis and Desmond Troy in the Dusty Cup
It looks like Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher will be teaming up in the 2021 WWE NXT Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
As noted in last night’s recap of Men’s Dusty Classic happenings, it was announced that Ashante “Thee” Adonis has been pulled from the Dusty Classic after being injured by Karrion Kross in their match, which Kross easily won. Adonis was set to team with Desmond Troy in the last first round tournament match on Friday’s WWE 205 Live episode, against Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari.
There is still no official word yet on who will face Nese and Daivari in the final first round match, but Ciampa floated an invite to Thatcher after last night’s Fight Pit main event, which Thatcher won.
As seen in the video below, WWE released post-show footage of Ciampa being checked out in the trainer’s room. The trainer noted that everything with Ciampa’s leg looks to be intact, but he’s being sent for x-rays just to be sure. The trainer also mentioned that Ciampa dodged a bullet, unlike Adonis.
WWE then released a post-show video, also seen below, of Ciampa interrupting Thatcher’s parking lot interview with a WWE reporter.
“Fight Pit was brutal as it always is,” Ciampa said when asked how he’s feeling. “I’ll let you know when I get feeling back in my arm.”
Ciampa then walked up and asked why Thatcher didn’t break his leg when he had him in the Stretch Muffler submission that won the match.
“Fight Pit’s yours, man,” Ciampa said. “You had me trapped, I tapped out, but you didn’t break my leg. Why?”
“Respect,” Thatcher responded.
Ciampa then seemed to invite Thatcher to team with him in the Dusty Classic.
“Hey, I hear there’s an opening in the Dusty Cup,” Ciampa said.
Thatcher did not respond to the offer.
The Adonis and Troy vs. Nese and Daivari match was scheduled to air on this week’s WWE 205 Live episode, but there’s no word on if Ciampa and Thatcher vs. Nese and Daivari was taped last night after NXT.
Stay tuned for more.
