WWE NXT The Great American Bash 2023

WWE NXT Great American Bash is an NXT PLE event, fourth one in 2023. The event took place on July 30, 2023, at H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, TX. Carmelo Hayes defended NXT Championship against Ilja Dragunov in the main event. Dominik Mysterio vs Wes Lee vs Mustafa Ali match was also on the card for the North American title.

MATCH CARD

• Pre-Show: Meta-Four(Noam Dar, Oro Mensah, Jakara Jackson & Lash Legends) vs Nathan Frazer, Dragon Lee, Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz – Mixed Tag Team Match
  • Winner – Nathan Frazer, Dragon Lee, Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz
• Gallus(Mark Coffey & Wolfgang)(c) vs D’Angelo Family(Tony D’Angelo & Stacks) – NXT Tag Team Championship
  • Winners – The D’Angelo Family
• Blair Davenport vs Roxanne Perez – Weapons Wild Match
  • Winner – Roxanne Perez
• Gable Steveson vs Baron Corbin
  • Result – Draw due to double count-out
• Dominik Mysterio(c) vs Mustafa Ali vs Wes Lee – NXT North American Championship
  • Winner – Dominik Mysterio
• Tiffany Straton(c) vs Thea Hail – Submission Match for NXT Women’s Championship
  • Winner – Tiffany Stratton(via corner stoppage)
• Main Event: Carmelo Hayes(c) vs Ilja Dragunov – NXT Championship
  • Winner – Carmelo Hayes

STORYLINES

The event was officially announced during Battleground 2023 event on May 28, 2023. This is the 25th event in Great American Bash series, the 11th under WWE, the 4th under NXT and the first NXT PLE event. This is also the first Great American Bash event to take place in the state of Texas.

Carmelo Hayes(c) vs Ilja Dragunov – NXT Championship

Bron Breakker attacked Ilja Dragunov backstage on June 7, 2023 episode of NXT after Dragunov had confronted Baron Corbin for NXT title shot. Breakker cost Dragunov the match for #1 contender for NXT Championship against Baron Corbin on June 13 NXT. Breakker was doing a promo about his loss to Seth Rollins on July 4 NXT when Dragunov confronted him and claimed that he was next in line for NXT title. This led to a brawl between them. Shawn Michaels announced on July 7 that Breakker and Dragunov would clash in a match on July 11 NXT with the winner earning a match against Carmelo Hayes at Great American Bash. After a brutal hard-fought match, Dragunov defeated Breakker to become the #1 contender.

Tiffany Straton(c) vs Thea Hail – Submission Match for NXT Women’s Championship

Thea Hail won the #1 contender Battle Royal for NXT Championship on June 6, 2023 episode. She got her title shot at Gold Rush night 2 and had the champion Tiffany Stratton tap out to Kimura Lock. But, the referee was distracted by Charlie Dempsey and Drew Gulak who were in Thea’s corner. Tiffany got the win ultimately and retained the title. After Chase U took care of Dempsey and Gulak after the return of Andre Chase, Thea asked for a rematch for the title. Thea and Tiffany met in the ring on July 18 episode, where Tiffany accepted the challenge for a rematch. Thea then asked for the match to be turned into a submission match. When Tiffany denied it, Thea put her in kimura lock once again and forced her to accept the stipulation.

Gallus(Mark Coffey & Wolfgang)(c) vs D’Angelo Family(Tony D’Angelo & Stacks) – NXT Tag Team Championship

Tony D’Angelo and Stacks were part of NXT Tag Team Championship match at Stand & Deliver 2023, where Gallus retained the title with the arrival of Joe Coffey. Just as they were making moves towards challenging for the tag team titles once again, Tony was arrested on May 23 episode of NXT. Stacks tried to get him out of jail in the following weeks and had doubts on Gallus being the one providing the Police with information against Tony. Stacks kidnapped Joe Coffey on June 20 episode.

Joe then visited Tony in jail on June 27 episode and played a voice recording inferring that Stacks was the one working with the police. Joe once again visited Tony on July 4 with Stacks, where Stacks told Tony that he would face Coffey in a match the following week. A stipulation was added to the match where Tony would be free from jail if Stacks won, while Tony and Stacks would also get a shot at NXT Tag Team Championship. Stacks came out on the winning side while revealing that he was not the rat and this was all planned to get Tony out of jail. Tony was released from jail on July 18 and the match for tag team titles was confirmed for The Great American Bash.

Blair Davenport vs Roxanne Perez – Weapons Wild Match

Blair Davenport was revealed as the mystery woman behind attacks on several women on the roster. Roxanne Perez got involved with her during #1 contender Battle Royal for NXT Women’s Championship on June 6 NXT episode which led to her elimination from the match. Perez called out Davenport on June 13 NXT. Davenport attacked Perez on NXT Gold Rush night 1 event. They clashed in a singles match on July 4 episode, where Blair got the win after sending Perez into the steel steps and hitting Ripcord knee.

Davenport put out a warning on July 11 episode saying that if Perez try to get involved with her again, she would leave Perez on the shelf like the other women she attacked. On NXT July 18 episode, Perez and Davenport sat down for a split-screen interview where Perez announced their rematch for The Great American Bash. After insults from Blair, Perez left the interview in between. On July 25 NXT episode, Perez attacked Blair in a store. Weapons Wild stipulation was added to the match after this.

Dominik Mysterio(c) vs Mustafa Ali vs Wes Lee – NXT North American Championship

WWE first announced a match for North American Championship between Wes Lee and Mustafa Ali. Lee lost the title to Dominik Mysterio at July 18 NXT episode. Lee confronted Dominik on July 25 episode before Ali interrupted. Dominik replied to them that he would not have a problem with defending his title against both of them.

Gable Steveson vs Baron Corbin

Gable Steveson was about to decide his future – whether to return to college and compete in the Olympics or to be in NXT. Baron Corbin interrupted him and tells him that it is hard to make it the ring. Steveson replied that Corbin made his decision easier and challenged Corbin for a match at Great American Bash which would also be his NXT in-ring debut. He hit Corbin with a German suplex.

Meta-Four(Noam Dar, Oro Mensah, Jakara Jackson & Lash Legends) vs Nathan Frazer, Dragon Lee, Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz – Mixed Tag Team Match

Noam Dar retained NXT Heritage Cup against Dragon Lee at Battleground event where Frazer was in Lee’s corner while Oro Mensah was in Dar’s corner. Dar then formed Meta-Four stable by including Jakara Jackson and Lash Legends. Frazer was supposed to challenge Dar on June 13 episode, but Dar pulled out of the match due to an injury. Oro Mensah then defend the title on Dar’s behalf where Leon and Feroz neutralized Jakara and Lash, leading to Frazer winning the title.

Jakara and Lash defeated Yulisa Leon and Valentina Feroz on Gold Rush night 1 event. Dar went in a shock after losing his title and was in Weekend at Bernie’s mode for the following week. Frazer defended the title successfully against Dragon Lee at Gold Rush night 2. On July 25 NXT episode, Meta Four tried to cheer up Dar by handing a new Heritage Cup trophy. Frazer and Lee took offense on this and called Meta-Four delusional. Feroz and Leon attacked Jakara and Lash while Frazer and Lee did the same to Dar and Mensah. WWE then announced a mixed tag team match between the two sides for pre-show of The Great American Bash.