WWE NXT Review - July 25, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Wes Lee and Mustafa Ali Confronted The Judgment Day

Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio opened NXT this week much like they opened and closed Monday's Raw. As I've said before, I'm a big fan of the group, but I don't want them getting overexposed on all three brands. This was a straightforward segment with Lee and Ali staking their claim at Mysterio's NXT North American Championship, which led to the announcement that it will be a Triple Threat for the title at The Great American Bash.

NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes, Trick Williams and Ilja Dragunov def. Schism (Joe Gacy and The Dyad)

Schism remain a goofy group and I'm disappointed that The Dyad didn't break off on their own as had been teased. They were just filler opponents for the babyface trio ahead of Hayes vs. Dragunov on Sunday. The match was well wrestled and the miscommunication between Dragunov and Williams set up their brawl for later in the night. As for the masked men who cost Schism the win, it's safe to assume it was The Creed Brothers, who aren't done in NXT just yet after all.

Von Wagner def. Javier Bernal

Bernal was the dude Wagner was beating up at ringside a few weeks ago. Bernal is NXT's go-to heel enhancement talent, so it's safe to say Wagner is officially a babyface at this point. This was kept short and sweet with Wagner going over decisively before putting Bernal through the commentary table afterward. Bron Breakker then emerged to attack Wagner. I have no idea why Breakker is still making NXT appearances at this point and I have no desire to see him put over Wagner on his way out.

Gable Steveson Challenged Baron Corbin to a Match at The Great American Bash

It helps that Steveson's a wrestling fan, and as smooth as his suplexes looked a few weeks ago, he still has a lot of work to do when it comes to charisma and mic skills. I've seen worse, but he's not television ready yet. Has he been training in the Performance Center this whole time or just occasionally? The best thing about this segment was that it wasn't long. I'm actually surprised he'll be wrestling this weekend and against Corbin, no less. Corbin is in the midst of a repackaging, and yet they're going to have him lose his next match. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I'm curious to see how well they work together.

Dana Brooke def. Cora Jade in a Signapore Cane Match

Brooke's return run in NXT is proof that not everyone can be redeemed with a run on the brand. The crowd booed her heavily early on, and while that wasn't as apparent here, she's still no better than she was/has been on the main roster. Her character work is nearly nonexistent and her in-ring skills are mediocre at best. I applaud their effort here as they attempted to make the most of the stipulation, but this wasn't very good and Brooke winning accomplishes nothing. Jade is the one who needs to be built up, not Brooke.

Tony D'Angelo and Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo def. Bronco Nima and Lucien Price

Scrypts sat in on commentary to explain his new alliance with Nima and Price. NXT has a lot of groups as it is, but I don't mind the move to put them together. That said, I have no idea why Nima and Price would lose one week after debuting. They weren't beating the number one contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championship, but why book the bout in the first place? This was decent while it lasted. I'm hoping D'Angelo and Lorenzo win the tag titles on Sunday.

NXT Heritage Cup Champion Nathan Frazer, Dragon Lee, Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon Attacked The Meta-Four on The Supernova Sessions

Lee, Frazer and Noam Dar have all been involved in the Heritage Cup stuff since before Battleground, and it hasn't been compelling or entertaining enough to warrant going on this long. The Meta-Four aren't my cup of tea, personally, but maybe there's someone out there digging this stuff. If nothing else, this segment served to set up the eight-person tag team match that will take place on The Great American Bash Kickoff show.

Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley def. Lyra Valkyria (Non-Title)

Ripley has been praising Valkyria in backstage segments in recent weeks and accepted her challenge backstage at Raw on Monday (in a video filmed for WWE socials). This was similar to Ripley's match against Roxanne Perez last fall in that Valkyria was made to look competitive and score an ample amount of offense before eating defeat. They had a rock-solid match and hopefully Valkyria can capitalize off the performance she had here. Her feud with Jacy Jane feels like a significant step down, though.

Ilja Dragunov Attacked NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams

​The build to the NXT Championship match at The Great American Bash has suffered from such a short build, but I appreciate the last-ditch effort here. The match itself is going to be excellent, but the babyface vs. babyface dynamic hasn't helped. It was interesting that Williams wanted to fight Dragunov and not Hayes. Is this planting the seeds for Williams turning on Hayes or accidentally costing him the title? Either way, this was well done and Dragunov standing tall over both men to close the show was necessary to convince viewers he has a chance of capturing the championship.

Overall Show

The Great American Bash has potential on paper despite some of the matches coming together rather quickly. This was your standard go-home show with all six matches on the card (including the newly-announced pre-show match) getting some attention. Steveson's appearance/announcement and The Judgment Day showing up again made it slightly newsworthy, but it wasn't the most engaging episode otherwise.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews