WWE NXT The Great American Bash Review - July 30, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kickoff Show: NXT Heritage Cup Champion Nathan Frazer, Dragon Lee, Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon def. The Meta-Four (Noam Dar, Oro Mensah, Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson)

For as little as I've cared about this feud in the last two months, I have to everyone involved credit for making this a fun time. It was perfectly positioned on the Kickoff show and all eight athletes had time to shine, including the inexperienced women. Frazer and Lee particularly shined thanks to their awesome offense. Hopefully this marked the end of the rivalry. Does the NXT Heritage Cup really need to be a thing?

The Family def. Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) to Win the NXT Tag Team Championship

The storyline has largely been goofy, but I'm glad it culminated with Tony D'Angelo and Channing Lorenzo finally capturing gold. They've become fan favorites in NXT this year and were the right people to dethrone Gallus, who simply have not been interesting as champions. This was a good, well-worked match and it was smart to have it open the event because the crowd was happy with the end result. Now the key is building up other credible teams for them to work with.

Roxanne Perez def. Blair Davenport in a Weapons Wild Match

The positive of the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship being retired (we have yet to see the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions pop up on the brand since the title unification, by the way) is that it means we'll be getting more non-title women's stories on these shows and this was an excellent use of Perez and Davenport. It wasn't nearly as "extreme" as some other No Disqualification matches we've seen in WWE and AEW as of late, but it was enjoyable enough and both women put forth a strong effort. My guess is that Perez will be built up for an eventual rematch with Tiffany Stratton, this time for the NXT Women's Championship, before getting called up to Raw or SmackDown.

Gable Steveson vs. Baron Corbin Ended in a Double Count-Out

I was curious to see how Steveson would fare in his first official match, and it's safe to say it didn't go great. What we got from these two was fine albeit unspectacular. It's probably for the best that this was kept on the shorter side because Steveson clearly needs more seasoning. Corbin was the wrong opponent for him because Steveson should've been showcased and had a more dominant showing instead being competitive with someone that was largely booked like a loser up until recently. To make matters worse, the crowd was pro-Corbin because there was no reason really for them to cheer for Steveson. The double count-out finish was lame, but I understand it was designed to protect both guys and kept this new feud going. That said, why book the bout at all? There shouldn't have been a rush to have it happen this early.

NXT North American Champion "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio def. Wes Lee and Mustafa Ali in a Triple Threat Match

I liked the NXT North American Championship Triple Threat from Battleground significantly more than this one, but this was still entertaining and successfully told the story that Mysterio is a vulnerable champion willing to do whatever's necessary to retain his title. Rhea Ripley interfering was expected with there being no disqualifications and all three guys worked well together. I would've had Ali take the loss instead of Lee, though. They should be building to Mysterio and Lee in a one-on-one rematch, but perhaps they want to save Ali for that spot instead (Dragon Lee was teased as an opponent later on, too). I'm just confused as to whether Ali is supposed to be a babyface or a heel.

NXT Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton def. Thea Hail in a Submission Match

Props to Hail and the rest of Chase U for getting so over with the NXT audience this year. She's improved and has thrived in the underdog role. However, it was too early for Stratton to be losing the title, so the outcome was never in doubt for me. It's not often we see Submission matches in WWE or wrestling in general nowadays, so I appreciated that this was something different and they made the most of the stipulation. It was a quality contest, though I would've had Duke Hudson throw in the towel instead of Andre Chase because I'm still assuming the ultimate endgame is to have Hudson turn on the group and him causing Hail to lose out of jealousy would've made sense.

NXT Women's Champion Carmelo Hayes def. Ilja Dragunov

The build to this bout suffered from it coming together only a few weeks ago and The Judgment Day taking center stage on NXT, but Hayes and Dragunov went out there and had a kickass main event, regardless. This was stellar stuff and exactly what I was hoping for out of them. Dragunov's unique, hard-hitting style makes all of his matches a treat and Hayes is obviously outstanding in his own right, resulting in a total gem of a match. Trick Williams' limited involvement at ringside toward the end makes me think we're either getting a rematch between these two soon or Williams turning on Hayes is imminent (or both), and I wouldn't complain about any of those scenarios. This ended the event on a high note.

Overall Show

The Great American Bash really needed something special to put it on par with previous live specials and the main event accomplished that. Definitely make time to seek it out. The rest of the show was perfectly solid with a lively crowd to boot. The only real miss was Steveson vs. Corbin, which was a dud. Everything else was worthwhile. NXT TV may not be must-see, but these live specials almost always deliver and this was no exception. No Mercy will return as NXT's next live special on September 30th.

SEE MORE: NXT Reviews