Rob’s Great American Bash Review
Gallus vs. Tony D’Angelo and Stacks (NXT Tag Team Championships)
This was a fun start to the Great American Bash with fast-paced tag team action. Tony D’Angelo and Stacks got a fun entrance themed around rats and New York City. The crowd loved D’Angelo and Stacks, who used their energy to control the match. Their win was a good and welcome change to NXT’s tag team division, but this match never hit a crazy workrate or captivating moment.
Final Grade: 5/10 Average
Roxanne Perez vs. Blair Davenport (Weapons Wild)
Kudos to NXT for finding a way to get another women’s match and feud on their premium live event. Blair Davenport attacked Roxanne Perez from the crowd before the match even started, and that set the tone for this match. They made use of the weapons in creative ways and had a few genuinely dangerous spots too. Perez is the right woman to win. Davenport is very talented too, but for my money, Perez is one of the best women on NXT’s roster.
Final Grade: 7/10 Good
Gable Steveson vs. Baron Corbin
If fans were expecting Gable Steveson to be the next Kurt Angle, he didn’t meet that expectation here. Steveson’s suplexes are super strong, but otherwise, he looks like a still-developing NXT superstar here. While that’s okay, it didn’t make this match fit on a premium live event. Baron Corbin controlled a lot of the action, which made Steveson look weak. The match ended in a double count-out, and the non-finish negated anything they were trying to do here.
Final Grade: 4/10 Below Average
Dominik Mysterio vs. Wes Lee vs. Mustafa Ali (NXT North American Championship)
I finally see the vision for Dominik Mysterio’s North American Championship. His entrance alone got the loudest (negative) reaction of the night, and Rhea Ripley worked harder than he did to help him retain the championship for cheap heat. The action was good in-ring, and the crowd was invested in seeing Mysterio get his comeuppance. Wes Lee continued his string of great matches on NXT shows. It’s a shame his title reign ended the way it did, but it didn’t hurt him here.
Final Grade: 7/10 Good
Tiffany Stratton vs. Thea Hail (NXT Women’s Championship)
This was one of the most unlikely matches of the night. While Tiffany Stratton is still blossoming into her championship status, Thea Hail is one of the NXT women who has never quite hit her stride. This match should bump both of their reputations up. Stratton came out in Barbie-inspired gear, while Hail went with the traditional American look for the show. Hail looked the best she has in the ring, and Stratton made it believable. Up against the submissions match gimmick, Stratton had to pull out something new, and it made it seem like the underdog Hail could win. They had a couple of clunky points in this match that were somewhat dangerous. Aside from that, they worked to a climax where Hail wouldn’t tap to Stratton’s Boston Crab, and Andre Chase, distraught, threw in the towel to save his student from injury. Now, Stratton’s reign can continue against better opponents, Hail’s status is elevated, and there is more storytelling to do in Chase U.
Final Grade: 7/10 Good
Carmelo Hayes vs. Ilja Dragunov (NXT Championship)
From what I’ve seen of Carmelo Hayes’s reign thus far, he needed someone to push him to that next level. Ilja Dragunov was that guy. Dragunov made this a scrappy fight with unique energy and vicious chops to match. This was clearly the match of the night for the crowd, but it fell just short of something great for me. Perhaps it was too obvious to me that NXT didn’t want Dragunov to win, and Hayes is still clearly their guy. Dragunov’s fiery energy ended up being his downfall, and it cost him the match.
Final Grade: 7/10 Good
Reverse Hipster's Reviews
Stacks and Tony D vs. Gallus NXT Tag Titles
8.5/10 B
These two teams had a fast-paced match which wasn't surprising. The crafty near falls were more dramatic. Gallus used every move and trick at their disposal, but Stacks and Tony D had an answer for pretty much anything. When they didn't have the answers, they showed heart and grit. They refused to give up and eventually overcame and won the NXT Tag championships. I'm glad WWE pulled the trigger on Stacks and Tony D. They will be great champions.
Roxanne Vs. Blair Davenport Weapons Wild Match 8.8/10 B+
The story of this match was that Roxanne came out way more aggressive than anyone thought she would. All match, she whooped on Blair Davenport by banging her head into the steel steps and taking her through the table. But just when it seemed Roxanne would run away with the match, Blair would counter and start punishing Roxanne until finally, Roxanne put Blair down for good with her signature "Poprox," flipping slam into a bed chairs.
The match was extremely entertaining and well wrestled, and the match story was good in a vacuum. One factor holds this match back from being an A, and that's the winner. Blair Davenport supposedly injured all these NXT women, but then in her first big PPV, she loses? Blair needed this win to cement herself as a major player on the NXT roster.
Corbin vs. Gable Steveson 6/10 D
This match swung from F to D to C from moment to moment. During the match, WWE didn't put enough thought into why certain things would happen. Corbin dominated most of the match, which doesn't make sense. We were never given a reason why Corbin would dominate an Olympic Gold Medalist. Also, Gable was flavorless during the match. He didn't do much character work, and thus the crowd turned on him and started cheering Corbin.
WWE has been telling us Gable is the man for like a year, so when he debuted, he needed to wrestle like the man, and he didn't. The thing that shined the most in his wrestling was his athletism, but that was about it. Plus, the match ended in a double count-out where Corbin just chose not to renter and win the match. The crowd chanted BS, and it was.
The brawl after the match was great because Gable finally showed some aggression, and they created highlight moments that built up excitement for the next Gable v Corbin match. However, this was not a great match, and it was an even worse debut for a superstar.
Dominik vs. Wes Lee vs. Ali, NXT North American Title 8.1/10 B
This match did two things very well. First, it was well-segmented. We had Ali and Wes finally getting their hands on Dominik. Then we had a mini Wes and Ali match, then an Ali vs. Dom and Dom vs. Wes mini-match. Lastly, WWE is doing a great job using Rhea in the Chyna role. If you go back and watch Chyna, she was slamming men and basically winning matches for Triple H. Rhea is doing the same for Dominic, and it has the same effect. Rhea nearly single-handily made Dominik win by hitting Wes Lee with a Riptide through the announce table and breaking up a pin where Ali would have most likely won by pinning Dominik.
Tiffany Stratton vs. Thea Hail NXT Women's Championship
8.7/10 B
This is the youngest women's championship match in Premium Live event history. In their first match, Tiffany might have taken Thea Hail lightly, and it nearly cost her the title. In their second encounter, it seemed that Thea was high off of her almost win. Tiffany made herself look like a weak champion when she tapped out on NXT, but she remedied that in this match.
Tiffany dominated Thea early by pulling out exotic backbreakers and back-wrenching submissions. By the time Thea finally recovered, too much damage had been done to her back, and Tiffany was able to quiet Thea one last time before hitting her with the Prettiest Moonsault and hurting Thea so bad that Andre Chase threw the towel in.
Tiffany struggled with the walls of Jericho's submission. I wonder if Thea being much smaller than Tiffany made the move harder. I wonder if that made Tiffany have to bend lower to stretch Thea. Still, It looked brutal when Tiffany sat down on Thea's back during the Walls of Jericho. The struggles with the final submission and the gimmicky finish to the match hold it back from being an A. But overall, it was an excellent match that got Tiffany back up on her pedestal and gave Thea a storyline afterward about Chase throwing the towel in.
Carmelo vs. Ilija Dragonuv NXT Championship 8.05/10 B-
I like both wrestlers, but I couldn't get into this match. I felt both of the wrestlers executed the plan they had but had no in-ring chemistry. I still give them a B- because a few sequences shined through, even if the match wasn't for me.
Reverse Hipster's Final Grade 8/10 B-
This PPV had a lot of good to solid matches, but none of them got to A level. Most matches weren't close to the elite level A matches, and the ones that were had booking problems that held them back. The grade reflects a decent PPV, and that's what this was.
Rob’s Final Thoughts
NXT has a great roster, but their shows still aren’t quite hitting the level of old NXT Takeovers. I would consider this phase of NXT a hybrid of Black and Gold and 2.0. They had a few good matches, yet nothing on this PLE hit match of the year contender status for me. I’m not sure where that puts this ranking-wise- it was fun but overall pretty forgettable.
Overall Grade: 6/10 Above Average
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