WWE Confirms Huge Change To Dusty Rhodes Classic Tag Team Tournament

William Regal hit social media to announce a big change to the ongoing WWE Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, pulling one of the less-fancied tandems for a duo one would assume must have a far better chance of running through the field.

The NXT General Manager confirmed that in the wake of this week's Ashante 'Thee' Adonis injury angle, the previously warring Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher will replace him and intended partner Desmond Troy in the tournament.

Adonis was destroyed by Karrion Kross on this week's NXT. Flattened in just over a minute, WWE's claim that he had been "injured" led to immediate speculation on his team being replaced, particularly as Thatcher and Ciampa showed mutual respect after beating the tar out of each other in the Fight Pit later on.

Thatcher and Ciampa had been feuding for several months prior to Wednesday. Their first match went down at TakeOver: WarGames IV, with Ciampa besting Thatcher in a rugged, bloody encounter, before the result was reversed inside the Fight Pit. Thatcher's fans will likely be hoping this is the start of a more considered push for a wrestler whose fortunes have yo-yo'd up and down since joining WWE last year.