NXT TakeOver: New Orleans Triple Threat Tag Team Match

By interfering in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Final between Roderick Strong & WWE U.K. Champion Pete Dunne and The Authors of Pain, Undisputed ERA may have thought they had schemed their way out of defending the NXT Tag Team Titles Saturday night at TakeOver: New Orleans.

They were wrong.

With Bobby Fish forced to sit out of TakeOver due to injury, some form of Undisputed ERA — either Kyle O’Reilly & Adam Cole as a unit or O’Reilly by himself — will face both Strong & Dunne and AOP in an NXT Tag Team Title Triple Threat Match that will also determine the winners of the 2018 Dusty Cup.

The unique predicament is the result of Cole & O’Reilly’s interference in the Dusty Cup Final on Wednesday’s NXT, which left the tournament without definitive victors. In response to their skullduggery, NXT General Manager William Regal ruled that Undisputed ERA would have to compete in a Triple Threat Match instead of the originally scheduled traditional tag team match.

Cole is already slated to compete in another bout Saturday night, the historic NXT North American Title Six-Man Ladder Match. When Cole & O’Reilly confronted Regal about his decision to fill up The Panama City Playboy’s dance card, the NXT GM offered Cole three options: Either wrestle in both championship tilts, leave O’Reilly to fend for himself against Strong & Dunne and AOP, or forfeit his spot in the Ladder Match.

Whatever choice The Panama City Playboy makes, Undisputed ERA’s path to title retention remains daunting. The Authors of Pain are one of the most dominant tandems to ever compete on the black-and-yellow brand, and though Strong & Dunne are a brand-new pairing, their remarkable performances in the Dusty Rhodes Classic prove they’re ready to compete with NXT’s elite teams.