5 Best matches of the week from WWE, AEW, IMPACT Wrestling & more (February 7th-13th 2021)

NXT Dusty Cup Semi-Final Match: Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher vs The Grizzled Young Veterans

Ticket to Mayhem sealed Tommaso Ciampa's fate in this semi-final match on NXT

The final match in the men's NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will take place at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day. On NXT, the last semi-final match took place with four hard-nosed in your face competitors vying for the trophy. The Grizzled Young Veterans were in the finals of last year's tournament before being knocked off by The Broserweights.

On this night, they refused to come up short, even though they were facing two of the toughest brawlers, not just in NXT, but in the company. Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa weren't even in this tournament originally, but after earning one another's respect in the Fight Pit, managed to enter after Karrion Kross injured another team. Since then, these two have been putting their opponents' faces to the mat and pounding them into the dirt.

Timothy Thatcher always finds a way. #WWENXT #DustyClassic @ZackGibson01 @JamesDrake_GYT pic.twitter.com/9T3cUfMaCa

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 11, 2021

It's been a wild ride for the unlikely duo, but it, unfortunately, ended for them when they faced off against the former NXT UK Tag Team Champions. Thatcher and Ciampa obviously had a size advantage, but no matter what they were able to accomplish in that ring, they couldn't overcome the tag team chemistry between Zack Gibson and James Drake.

PLANTED! 😳 #WWENXT #DustyClassic @ZackGibson01 @JamesDrake_GYT @NXTCiampa pic.twitter.com/Ud9zN53Gm3

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) February 11, 2021

This was an in your face, bare-knuckle brawl. A serious fight of a match. Every inch was earned, and there's not much else you can ask for in a tag team match. The Grizzled Young Vets nearly won it with the Doomsday Device, but a last-second save from Timothy Thatcher kept the match going.

Ciampa couldn't catch Drake with the Fairy Tale Ending, though he tried on three separate occasions, and the Veterans were always able to withstand and break away from Thatcher's "Thatch-as-Thatch-Can" submissions. In the end, we got to see why the Veterans are as good as they claim to be. Clearly, the boys watch the tape.

For the second year in a row, the Grizzled Young Veterans are going to the finals of the #DustyClassic!Can @ZackGibson01 & @JamesDrake_GYT win the big one this Sunday at #NXTTakeOver: Vengeance Day?#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/5idBRKewbb

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 12, 2021

Tommaso Ciampa has a tendency of winning a match by catching his opponents climbing through the ropes and spiking them with Willow's Bell. Drake was nearly caught by this, but Gibson pulled his partner out of harm's way before the two men dropped the former NXT Champion with Ticket to Mayhem.

It wasn't just the best tag team match of the week, and there were too many to count this time around, but it was without a doubt the best match we saw this week. Heading into NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day, the main event match really sold the importance of the finals. Grizzled Young Veterans will face newcomers MSK this Sunday.