The first round of the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic provided a lot of twists and turns, but what would the quarter-finals offer up? That question was partially answered on the October 13 episode of "WWE NXT" as The Vanity Project and the team of Romeo Moreno and Noam Dar both booked their tickets to the final four.As the current WWE NXT Tag Team Champions, Ricky Smokes and Brad Baylor had a bye into thee quarter-finals, but The Vanity Project didn't have it easy when it came to their opponents, Mini Vikingo and Chazz Hall. Vikingo and Hall upset BirthRight in the first round to reach this point, and they had the crowd firmly on their side throughout the match, with Vikingo hitting several high risk moves like a Tornillo and a Phoenix Splash Senton, while Hall hit a Standing Phoenix Splash and several dives to keep the advantage.However, it was when Hall went to the well one time too often that cost his team. He went up top for a Moonsault but Smokes got the knees up, and with Baylor already taking out Vikingo on the outside, Vanity Project hit a Double Foot Stomp/Reverse DDT combination to get the win and advance to the semi-finals.Vanity Project's opponents in the semi-finals were determined later in the night as another upset occurred when Romeo Moreno and Noam Dar got the win over the former two-time NXT Tag Team Champions Fraxiom. Given their experience, Fraxiom had the upper hand in the early going but Dar managed to use his technical abilities and Moreno used his speed and high-flying to stay in the match. With that said, Dar and Moreno had studied their opponents and withstood all of their best offense, including a Golden Ratio attempt, and a Spanish Fly/Phoenix Splash combination that actually won Fraxiom the NXT Tag Team Championships in the past.In the end, Moreno landed an Avalanche Fallaway Slam to Axiom, and as Nathan Frazer tried to jump in to make the save, he was met with a nasty Spinning Back Elbow from Dar. Moreno and Dar hit Axiom with a Russian Leg Sweep/High Kick combination to get the win to advance and meet Vanity Project in the semi-finals.
