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WWE NXT brought The Great American Bash to the fans just days after the 4th of July celebrations came to an end. There were some big matches set for Tuesday night.
MSK was set to face Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher for the NXT Tag Team Championships. The NXT Women’s Tag Team titles were also on the line as The Way were booked to face Io Shirai and Zoey Stark.
Fans were also introduced to the line-up for the NXT Breakout Tournament: Odyssey Jones, Trey Baxter, Josh Briggs, Carmelo Hayes, Ikemen Jiro, Andre Chase, Joe Gacy and Duke Hudson. The first match of the tournament was announced for next week.
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LA Knight defended his Million Dollar Championship against Cameron Grimes on Tuesday night. NXT Champion Karrion Kross came face to face with his next challenger, Johnny Gargano. Meanwhile, Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly headlined the show with a fantastic match.
Take a look at the five things WWE got right on NXT’s Great American Bash.
#5 MSK retained the WWE NXT Tag Team Championships after a tough fight
Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa were looking to win their first championships together in WWE NXT. MSK tried to mock the veterans early and paid the price. Thatcher took the fight to Wes Lee and Nash Carter, punishing them for some time.
MSK fought back and picked up the pace. Ciampa rocked Lee with a powerbomb backbreaker, but the NXT Tag Team Champion managed to kick out in time.
MSK sent Thatcher into Ciampa, and Lee rocked Timothy with a 619. They teamed up on The Blackheart and hit a senton bomb followed by a corkscrew senton but could not put him away.
Ciampa nailed Lee with the Fairy Tale Ending and Toothless Timmothy locked in an ankle lock. The Blackheart tried to stop Carter from interfering and got knocked into Thatcher. This allowed Lee to roll up Timmy for an inside cradle for three to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships.
The match was a big test for MSK. They came close to losing the titles many times but managed to stay alive. However, Ciampa and Thatcher seemed like the better team and could easily get a rematch for the titles very soon.
It will be criminal if WWE decides to break Ciampa and Thatcher up without allowing them to win the NXT Tag Team Championships soon.
#4 Samoa Joe found a place in the match between Johnny Gargano and Karrion Kross on WWE NXT
Johnny Gargano and Karrion Kross were advertised to meet in the ring on WWE NXT this week. William Regal and Samoa Joe first appeared in the ring before Kross and Gargano made their way out.
Joe was on hand to ensure that the meeting between the two men did not get physical. Gargano and the NXT Champion started trading some hot words right away. Johnny Wrestling claimed that Kross tried to run him over last week because he was scared of him.
The Herald of Doomsday made fun of Gargano’s size and claimed that he wore his wife’s pants. Kross said that he wanted to retain his NXT Championship, headline WrestleMania, and win the WWE Championship.
William Regal announced that Kross would defend his NXT title against Gargano on next week’s show. He also revealed that Samoa Joe would be the special guest referee for the bout.
Following the exchange, The Samoan Submission Specialist barely stopped Kross from laying out Gargano again. The segment was decent, even though the script wasn’t of the highest quality..
Kross vs Gargano will be great, especially with Joe in the ring to ensure that things go according to the rules. Will The Samoan Submission Machine influence the result of the match?
#3 Cameron Grimes becomes LA Knight’s butler on WWE NXT
LA Knight put his Million Dollar Championship on the line during The Great American Bash on WWE NXT. Knight defeated Cameron Grimes to win the title in a ladder match.
The two men squared off again and Grimes took the upper hand right away. The Technical Savage delivered some big moves and nearly picked up an early victory.
Knight tried to slow Grimes down to stay in the fight but could not keep him out of the game for long. The Million Dollar Megastar delivered a few top moves but failed to pick up the win. He got more and more frustrated every time Knight kicked out.
Late in the contest, Knight planted Grimes outside with a DDT on the Million Dollar Championship. This nearly earned Knight a count-out victory. After The Technical Savage stumbled back into the ring, Knight rocked him with the BFT to pick up the win.
A loss from Grimes means he will be forced to serve as Knight’s butler on NXT. The creative team could build an entertaining storyline around this and give fans something to look forward to.
The match itself was good and gave Knight another chance to prove to the NXT Universe that he is one of the better new stars on the roster.
#2 Io Shirai and Zoey Stark won the WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships
Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell of The Way came out to defend their WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. The champions took on Io Shirai and Zoey Stark.
The heels took Stark out early and worked on her for some time. She had to fight her way out before making the tag to Shirai. The Genius of the Sky faced off against LeRae, and the two had a good exchange.
The Poison Pixie trapped Shirai in the Gargano Escape and punished her for some time. Hartwell stopped Stark from interfering by locking in Dexter Lumis’ Silence hold before Shirai fought out.
LeRae and Hartwell had the upper hand before the lights went out. The battery vignette reached 100%, and Tegan Nox appeared on the ramp to the delight of the NXT Universe. This distracted The Poison Pixie, allowing Stark to take out Hartwell with a knee for the win.
After the match, Nox sent LeRae running. Lumis picked up Hartwell from the ring and walked off with her. The match was good but it was overshadowed by the ending.
WWE could have allowed Shirai and Stark to pick up the victory before Nox’s return. Regardless, Shirai and Stark will likely prove to be great NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions.
They’re both phenomenal in the ring and could easily run the entire division with the titles around their waists. Meanwhile, LeRae has already come face to face with her next rival.
#1 Adam Cole defeated Kyle O’Reilly to stay on top of WWE NXT
Kyle O’Reilly locked Adam Cole in a heel hook last week on WWE NXT. Cole came out wearing a bandage around his leg to remind fans that he was nursing a knee injury following the move.
Both men went at each other right after the opening bell and hit each other with some thunderous shots. Cole tried to get under KOR’s skin again by mentioning his wife. This pissed off O’Reilly even more and he targeted Cole’s injured leg to punish him further.
KOR locked in his submission maneuver soon after, but Cole managed to make it to the ropes. Outside the ring, Cole hit a beautiful Panama Sunrise off the apron. Cole dodged a diving knee inside the ring and hit the Last Shock but could not put KOR away.
O’Reilly withered in pain and blocked another Panama Sunrise attempt. However, he was unable to stay in the fight for long and ultimately fell prey to a Panama Sunrise followed by the Last Shot.
The match was incredible and gave the NXT Universe just what it was looking for. The result likely means fans will get another match between the two men at an upcoming NXT TakeOver event where one of them could be forced to leave the brand for good.
Ex WWE writer blasts Liv Morgan HERE
