The 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is underway and Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) along with Undisputed ERA (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) have advanced in the tournament. Also representing the NXT brand in the Dusty Classic is KUSHIDA and it was advertised that KUSHIDA’s tag team partner would be revealed at a later date. On the January 8th episode of NXT, it was revealed that KUSHIDA’s partner is former ROH World Tag Team Champion Alex Shelley.
KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley are no strangers to one another as they’ve captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on two separate occasions and for the first time since May of 2016, the Time Splitters will reunite on next week’s NXT to take on former NXT U.K. Tag Team Champions Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson).
Last month, Alex Shelley competed at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle pay-per-view and the post-PPV television tapings. On top of the Time Splitters reunion, Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle will have their first-round match in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic against Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews.
