On the November 4th edition of NXT, Romeo Moreno and Noam Dar faced Hank Walker and Tank Ledger in the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals. Moreno and Dar came out on top when they hit a spinning back elbow combination on Ledger, with the entire NXT Performance Center and Cody Rhodes stunned by the spectacle they witnessed. When presenting the trophy, Rhodes announced that the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners will have an opportunity at the NXT Tag Team Championships the following week. Later on in the show, NXT Tag Team Champions Ricky Smokes and Brad Baylor of The Vanity Project voiced their hatred and displeasure to general manager Robert Stone. Can Moreno and Dar achieve the dream of becoming tag champs with all this momentum behind them, or will The Vanity Project stomp out the dream of this budding tag team?
In May 2026, Moreno would make his NXT debut in a losing effort to Tristan Angels. Not long after that, the 24-year-old would start talking to Dar backstage and convince him to form a tag team with him. Dar, better known as ‘Supernova 11’, debuted on NXT UK back in 2018. A few years later in NXT, Dar was known as the leader of Meta Four alongside Lash Legend, Jakara Jackson, and Oro Mensah. Throughout his WWE career, ‘Supernova 11’ has been on and off TV due to various injuries; his two most recent kept him sidelined for over a year. With Moreno enthusiastic about watching Dar during his childhood and wanting to form a tag team, a reluctant ‘Supernova 11’ accepted. Dar has seen singles success as a four-time NXT Heritage Cup Champion, but has never seen tag team success. With Moreno, they started slow, but the budding chemistry formed into something special.
The Vanity Project has seen two reigns as NXT Tag Team Champions, with their current reign at 71 days. During their first reign, Smokes and Baylor defeated Osiris Griffin and Saquon Shugars of DarkState, a feat no one in the WWE Universe saw coming. The Vanity Project has seen waves of success since their arrival in NXT, with Smokes and Baylor as two-time NXT Tag Team Champions, and leader Jackson Drake as the current NXT North American Champion. Myka Lockwood continues to be the muscle and provide distractions as needed to help her fellow faction mates get wins. For the NXT roster as a whole, it’s been extremely difficult to put down this group.
Lockwood and Drake could be a huge distraction on the outside, which will play in favor of Smokes and Baylor. Moreno and Dar need to recognize this and have the referee hopefully realize the nuisance they're being and throw both Lockwood and Drake from ringside. The 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners must be on their A-game, even with the weeks of fighting to win the tournament. It will take a complete effort from Moreno and ‘Supernova 11’ if they want to be crowned the new NXT Tag Team Champions.
I have two outcomes for this match. The first, which I fully expect to happen, is Moreno and Dar overcoming the feat and being named NXT Tag Team Champions. The second, which maybe I’m predicting too early in their tag team run, is that The Vanity Project comes out on top and ‘Supernova 11’ turns on Moreno. The crowd at the NXT Performance Center loves this duo, so I’m expecting the 2026 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners to hold the gold for a while before dropping them, and then an eventual heel turn takes place. However, Dar has been a heel during his time in NXT UK and during Meta Four’s first few years as a faction, so I am expecting a heel turn to happen sooner rather than later.
