8 Ups And 1 Downs For WWE NXT (Feb 2)

1. Thatcher And Ciampa Progress...That's Undisputed

With Undisputed Era signing off last week's episode of NXT alongside Finn Balor, teasing a UE-Forever unit down the road, Roderick Strong and Adam Cole now found themselves squaring off against the make-shift slugger duo of Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa in the Dusty Cup quarter finals.

The latest odd couple plying their trade in the Dusty Cup matched the most successful unit in NXT history in the opening stages of the bout, with Strong and Thatcher demonstrating a particularly impressive chain-wrestling sequence on the ground. Thatch eventually took things up a physically notch with a sickening knee to Strong's mid-section, whilst the UE man was caught in a Ciampa knee bar.

However, Strong was able to superplex his team back into the match, bringing Cole into the fray with a scintillating hot tag. An Undisputed collision opened the door for a momentum shift back in Thatch and Ciampa's favour, though, combining with a release German and knee to the jaw combo for an intense near-fall.

In the end, a crazy sequence involving Timothy Thatcher taking a bullet for his partner led to Ciampa obliterating Strong with a Willow's bell, securing a place in the semifinals.

Will NXT's resident unlikely alliance be able to keep on the same page long enough to win the whole damn Dusty Cup? It may not be Undisputed, but it's looking pretty damn possible...