-Hank and Tank were a strange choice to host the Great American Bash edition of NXT and the opening to this week’s show confirmed that. Were they spies? Why were they breaking into the WWE Performance Center? Like, WTF? Bizarre.
-Now, I do like the Great American Bash theme as a show for the brand. It’s a fun little summer tradition that plays nicely in the NXT ecosystem.
Champion underdogs
-Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn vs. Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson was fine. Fyre & Dawn going from Legend and Jackson to the team of Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill as challengers is quite the upgrade in opponent. While it was a fine match, Fyre and Dawn didn’t show enough to truly be considered as a team that could reasonably beat Belair and Cargill. Their title run is on borrowed time.
-NXT aired a very effective vignette hyping up Pete Dunne. Surprised to see them call out the name “Butch” as awful, but they did. Since Dunne is a player on the main roster, it would behoove WWE to air that video on Smackdown.
-Thumbs up to Tavion Heights vs. Tony D’Angelo. Heights is a new talent that is getting a test push at the moment. Heights delivered and the audience popped for his falls throughout the match. D’Angelo did his part. Don’t overlook Oba Femi crossing paths with D’Angelo on the show this week. We could be looking at a future NXT North American Championship match there.
-Overall, I really liked the Brooks Jensen presentation this week. Best yet for the new character. He lost to Cedric Alexander, though. That is worrisome. Not because of the loss itself, but because Shawn Spears lingered in the background the entire time. NXT is clearly writing a story where Spears turns Jensen into something and nobody really wants to see that.
Future star
-How great was the Je’Von Evans vignette?! He’s such a likable character and that came across in the piece. He needs a real storyline right away.
-The Rascalz segment reminded me of the scenes in That 70’s Show where the main characters were all getting stoned in a circle. LOL. Funny stuff and this worked for that team. Yes, a little cheesy, but not cringeworthy. MSK vs. Axiom & Frazer should be an excellent match next week for the NXT Tag Team Championships.
-Ok, the Joe Hendry concert. He isn’t exactly The Rock. This tried to be witty and just came up a little short on that mark. It wasn’t bad, but more Elias than Rock. Gallus was the right heel team to interrupt him and Hendry will have the full support of the audience when he officially clashes with them next week.
Way too green
-Man, Jaida Parker vs. Kendal Grey was a surprising match to see on this show. GAB is one of the bigger episodes that NXT does and Grey is way too green to be showcased in the way she was. Parker squashing her would have been fine, but this wasn’t that.
-On the flip side, the women’s trios match was a very strong showcase of the current NXT women’s division. That was stacked with the talent that WWE is pushing right now and if you were a casual NXT viewer tuning in, surely one of these women caught their eye.
Stellar main event
-Thea Hail vs. Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship was an excellent match. The moments of quick pace and action were strong, but it was the mat work that stood out most early on. Hail is a great babyface and her journey to the women’s championship is Sami Zayn-esque. With Guilia and Stephanie Vaquer coming in, I’m not sure if she’ll get there. If she does, it’ll be a moment. Perez is on fire. She had a very slow start as a heel, but has really found her character. In the ring, she’s untouchable and the best worker NXT has at the moment.
What did you think of this week’s episode of NXT? Let us know in the comments!
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