Pantoja’s NXT Great American Bash 2023 Review

NXT The Great American Bash

July 30^th, 2023 | H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas

Was planning on watching this just a bit late but I got extra busy and then Peacock took an extra hour or two to upload the replay so yeah.

Dragon Lee, Nathan Frazer, Valentina Feroz and Yulisa León vs. Meta-Four

A rare kickoff match on one of these shows. For those unaware, Meta-Four consists of Jakara Jackson, Noam Dar, Lash legend, and Oro Mensah. The stuff between Dar and Frazer moved at a great pace. The women didn’t click as well but these are ladies who are relatively new to the ring so that makes sense. They did well enough with Valentina and Jakara standing out. Meta-Four worked better as a unit throughout but individually, the faces had the advantage. A few spots here didn’t work for me, like Lash just having to stand there as someone obviously dives at her. On the flip side, a lot worked like Yulisa launching Valentina in impressive fashion to the outside, sparking a slew of big moves from everyone. From there, this was filled with fun, wild action. In the end, it was Lee who got the win over Mensah with a running Sliced Bread at the 10:51 mark. That was a blast and a fun way to start the show. [***¼]

NXT Tag Team Championship: Gallus [c] vs. The D’Angelo Family

Ah, we go from something fun to Gallus. A stable that has been decidedly not fun since its inception, yet still gets prominent TV time. Stacks got isolated pretty quickly, taking a hot shot on the top rope and having no means of a tag when Tony was clotheslined outside. That lasted a while but not too long and the crowd ate up Tony’s hot tag run. Gallus got to have a few impressive spots, particularly Wolfgang just obliterating Stacks with a type of Spear. They may be ICE COLD but they can still do a few nice spots. Their attempt at cheating failed but they rebounded well enough to hit Stacks with a tandem move for a decent false finish. From there, the challengers went on a run capped by Bada Bing, giving us new champions after 8:43. That was better than expected, the title change was the right move, and it was entertaining enough. Also, I’m gonna need Stacks vs. Bad Luck Fale for the crown of the Underboss. [**¾]

Weapons Wild Match: Blair Davenport vs. Roxanne Perez

Props to wrestling companies for continuing to come up with different names for hardcore matches. Roxanne got a great hometown reception. She also rocked cutoff shorts for this, so she gets partial credit for the hardcore match gear though she still rocked her usual attire otherwise. Blair jumped her during her entrance right by her family like a good heel. She took the time to stop in between assaults to talk trash to Roxanne’s family and Booker T. Blair went one step too far by making Roxanne’s sister cry, which got the babyface going with various weapons including a cowbell. We always need more cowbell. They continued with the weapons spots like a suplex on a trash can. The finish saw Perez hit a top rope splash through a table and then add Pop Rox onto a pile of chairs in 11:50. That was a good hardcore match with some fine uses of weapons. [***¼]

Baron Corbin vs. Gable Steveson

Well, this was a spectacle. The crowd was not feeling Steveson at all and it showed. They were pro-Corbin which is something we haven’t seen in, maybe ever. Steveson busted out an ankle lock early because Kurt Angle comparisions even though that’s a bad idea for him. This was something of a showcase for him but it didn’t work. Corbin got in some of his usual offense and nothing more. The fight spilled outside for a lame double countout finish in 6:33. The crowd took a dump on that ending and this was a total mess. The fight continued after the bell but the damage was done. [*]

Backstage, Lyra Valkyria and Jacy Jayne got into it, much to the delight of Rhea Ripley, who wants to see more from Lyra.

NXT North American Championship: Dominik Mysterio [c] vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Wes Lee

Lee and Ali are great and Dom is nailing every character aspect he needs to right now. I loved the challengers just stomping out Dom at the start. The title is important but they also just wanted to give Dom the beating he deserves. Dom’s Three Amigos could be better. He swings to the wrong side on one of them. Anyway, they kept up the idea of Dom taking a beating from both challengers before they faced off with each other until Dom found a way to get back into the mix. The bigger spots started when Ali missed a 450 on the apron, followed by Lee diving over Rhea onto Dom. Rhea responded by hitting Lee with Riptide through the announce table. Dom nearly stole it with that and a belt shot but the resilient Lee found ways to kick out of both. Ali connected on the 450 on Lee but Rhea pulled him out and Dom hit the Frog Splash on Lee to retain in 12:06. That was just a really fun, well booked. Lee and Ali brought the action and Dom plays the cowardly heel paired with Rhea so well. [***½]

NXT Women’s Championship Submission Match: Tiffany Stratton [c] vs. Thea Hail

The Chase U signs in the crowd were a nice touch but Tiffany’s Barbie themed entrance was great. Submission matches can be tricky, especially with two wrestlers who don’t have a lot of experience. They did well early on with the submission attempts and exchanges. Thea’s attempt at a tope looked slow and the landing spot came off awkwardly. I dug things like Tiffany trying to roll through a cross body into a deadlift only for Thea to go for a hanging armbar there, only for Tiffany to then suplex her into a corner. It’s a layered series of spots that worked. Thea’s avalanche Exploder looked DANGEROUS. Tiffany survived a few submissions and then focused on the back with a not good looking Boston Crab. They tried to hype this as Thea being in major trouble but they never really made me believe and the horrible looking Boston Crab made it worse. Andre Chase threw in the towel for the finish at 11:46. Again, I didn’t buy that as being built up well enough for the towel throwing to feel believable. [**¾]

NXT Championship: Carmelo Hayes [c] vs. Ilja Dragunov

The two best guys in NXT in a main event position. The first third or so of this match had some issues as it seemed like Melo was unsure of how to adapt to Ilja’s style. They found ways to make it work though with spots like Melo’s springboard offense getting caught several times. Dragunov wore him down and slowed the pace to take away Hayes’ strongest qualities. Ilja held serve and it looked like Hayes was basically done. He was getting his ass kicked and he looked way out of it. What saved him was getting hit by Ilja so hard that he hit the ropes and rebounded off with offense of his own. He got going from there, hitting impressive moves like a sweet springboard DDT and then a ridiculous counter of Ilja’s Coast to Coast by turning it into a Codebreaker, complete with a wild Ilja bump. That set the tone for a closing stretch filled with action and big moves. I do think they maybe have gone a bit overboard with some close calls but the crowd was hooked through it all. The Nothing but Net counter into a powerbomb was fantastic, as was a superplex being countered into a super cutter. An Ilja dive took out Trick Williams but he hit his head on the NXT Title while doing so and Hayes hit Nothing But Net to retain back inside after 24:08. A tremendous main event despite a few issues that held it back from being one of my favorites of the  year. [****¼]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

A good showing from NXT. The main event delivered in spades and the North American Title match was a blast, as was the Kickoff match. The women did well and the Tag Titles were fine but hard yikes on the Steveson debut.