Creed Brothers need to win the Dusty Classic to end MSK’s time in NXT

Creed Brothers need to pick up the big win in the finals of The Dusty Classic.

In September of 2021, the Creed Brothers (Brutus and Julius) debuted on NXT television. To say that they made quite the impact would be putting it way too mildly. Since that point, their dominance has held and now they’re on their way to the Dusty Cup final, going head-to-head with last year’s winners, MSK. In this piece, I’ll be taking a look at why the Creed Brothers need to win the Dusty Classic to end MSK’s time in NXT.

As you well know, the Dusty Cup honors the late, great Dusty Rhodes and has been contested in WWE/NXT since the passing of the great legend. It pits the greatest tag teams on the NXT roster against one another. This year’s qualifying matches did not at all disappoint, and as of this week, it comes down to both of the aforementioned teams.

Props to MSK

MSK can now join the pantheon of NXT Superstars to pass from the realm of ‘hot new star’ to ‘NXT veteran.’ They held the tag team championships on that brand for quite some time and have had battles in the ring worth remembering. Is it time though, for them to move on already?

Of course. We need to remember that NXT started as a stepping stone and not a final destination. Now as Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler has said: “Life’s a journey, not a destination,” and although that’s sound, the NXT journey shouldn’t last that long.

If it does last too long, the performers kind of get stuck in a rut and the main roster of WWE looms further and further in the distance and becomes unattainable. I like to liken it to actors that start out on soap operas.

Bear with me dear readers, as I do have a point. Besides, soap operas and pro wrestling aren’t as different as you would think.

Anyways…take those actors that start out on soap operas. The ones that make it onto bigger and better things are the ones that stay for the briefest of stints and not the ones that hunker down and stay for the long haul.

Just take a look at the likes of Brad Pitt, Matthew Perry, Ray Liotta, and even Frank Grillo, they all started on soap operas, but if you blinked you missed their times on that platform.

My point is: MSK (Wes Lee and Nash Carter) need to move on; deserves to move on…and a 2nd win of the Dusty Cup just wouldn’t do them justice. They need to pass the torch to the very capable Creed Brothers.

Heck…they even have their first opponents on the main roster all picked out should this occur. They made these statements in an interview that dates back to the summer of 2021 (on WWE’s The Bump), but the statements are oh-so-relevant to my point here. Here’s some of what Nash and Wes said…

"Nash: “The New Day held the tag division down for how long, and they still continue to be great. It’s not like they’ve slowed down. They continue to be tag team greatness, and The Usos as well. That’s the pinnacle of tag team wrestling, and we want to test our skills…”Wes: “I consider them living legends because they are still paving the way for generations to come and inspire the ones that are up-and-coming at the moment. They’ve done so much for so long and have influenced in so many ways. Breaking out of that fourth wall and being in video games and TV shows and (having their own) cereal, those are the kinds of things that help transcend the world of wrestling. It’s very special and mad cool if we could get in the ring (with them)…”via MSK on WWE’s The Bump /Wrestling Inc. (Transcription)"

Besides…isn’t this what NXT 2.0 is all about. Having the older guard move on and have the younger talents take their place. Bron Breakker is the NXT champ. Carmelo Hayes is the North American Champ. For them to have taken those belts off of Ciampa and Roderick Strong respectively makes sense. And now, this same thing needs to happen in the tag division.

The Creed Brothers—a quick rise among the NXT ranks

Of course, we all know they’re part of the Diamond Mine faction and are a dominant force in the tag team division. But did you know they only signed with WWE in 2020 and were hand-picked by the legendary Gerald Brisco at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in 2018? Brisco had seen them there first and WWE subsequently signed them in 2020.

Since that time, they trained at the Performance Center and made it to TV in a rather hot minute. There are those that learn the ropes in pro wrestling at a snail’s pace, but there are those that pick it up extremely fast. Persons of note are Kurt Angle, Ronda Rousey, and now, the Creed Brothers. I guess we can add Bron Breakker to that list as well.

Regardless, this shows that they’re ready for the next step and the Dusty Cup is the perfect place to start their list of accolades moving forward. And a tag team title win against Imperium is of course down the line as well we most certainly hope.

And what of MSK?

By no means should this signify a bad end? What I’m saying here is to merely let them pass the torch so that they can move on and leave an imprint on the main roster.

And speaking of the main roster…it hasn’t at all been fair to previous NXT alum. We can’t forget that dear readers. And if they do get the bum rap, which often befalls extremely talented individuals who pass from the NXT platform to the main WWE roster (Toni Storm, Shotzi…), then there are always greener pastures in the land of pro wrestling.

Especially these days, and to see them shine on another platform, let alone another company, would be exciting to say the least. Let’s just hope WWE knows not to let these two go without a fight.