[1] The original 16-team single elimination tournament was established in August 2015 as a tribute to Dusty Rhodes—who had been serving as a senior producer and trainer in NXT—and was formally announced during NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, which took place shortly after he had died.

[2] The second Classic took place throughout the fall of 2016—again with a 16-team field—which eventually culminating in November at NXT TakeOver: Toronto, where it was won by The Authors of Pain, having defeated TM-61.

[3][4] There was no tournament held in 2017 after taking an extra half year to switch to a winter/early spring schedule, returning in 2018.

It was won by Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly of The Undisputed Era, who successfully defended their NXT Tag Team Championship in a Winners Take All Triple Threat match against both tournament finalists, The Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne.

Aleister Black and Ricochet won the eight-team tournament, ultimately defeating The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler) in the final on March 13 during the NXT tapings.

[12][13] The eighth Classic was announced during the October 10, 2023 episode of NXT by Cody Rhodes who serves as special guest General Manager for the night.

Similarly, the winners of the women's tournament — established in 2021 — also receive a future tag team championship match.

a ^ Ciampa and Thatcher replaced Ashante "Thee" Adonis and Desmond Troy after they were both (kayfabe) injured by Karrion Kross.