Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray are the winners of the 2022 Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, but the victors went with some different spoils.
Ray and Shirai defeated Wendy Choo and Dakota Kai in the finals of the tournament to close out the 3/22 episode of WWE NXT 2.0. All four women delivered a show-stealing performance, and the fans at the Capitol Wrestling Center ate it up. Ray and Shirai ultimately got their hands raised, but Toxic Attraction crashed their celebration.
WHAT A MATCH!! ?
@Kay_Lee_Ray and @shirai_io have won the #DustyClassic! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/CFV1uT3yuG
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 23, 2022
NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose told the tournament winner that they’d be mistaken if they thought they had any chance of beating her stablemates, Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne, for the Women’s Tag Team Championship. Shirai and Ray responded by making it clear that they were cashing in their tag title shot by inserting themselves into the NXT Women’s Championship match at NXT Stand & Deliver instead. Rose was initially set to defend the gold against Cora Jade, but now she will put the title on the line in a Fatal 4-Way Match.
Are we going to have a Fatal 4-Way at NXT #StandAndDeliver?!?#WWENXT @WWE_MandyRose @shirai_io @Kay_Lee_Ray @CoraJadeWWE pic.twitter.com/KZOXoTNy3c
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 23, 2022