A Room with a Review: NXT 07/08/20

It’s night two of the Great American Bash. Just like the buttheads still firing off fireworks, WWE keeps the patriotic party going after the 4th of July.

• We are starting things off with a street fight as Candice LeRae squares off with Mia Yim. In fact, Yim jumps LeRae during her entrance. She throws Candice in the ring, then pulls many chairs and trashcans and kendo sticks out from under the ring. She even brings out a table early on. The fight makes its way into the “crowd” and Candice sprays a fire extinguisher in Mia’s face. Yim responds by dropkicking LeRae though the snack table. They eventually end up back in the ring and Canice hits Mia with a swinging neckbreaker off of a table that is perched on the top rope and onto a pile of steel chairs for the victory. NXT seems to use these hardcore-style matches a lot better than the main roster shows do. 

• Next up is a grudge match between Bronson Reed and Tony Nese. Well, as much of a grudge match that can be established based on one incident before the show. It’s a solid big man/speedster match won by Reed after a top rope splash.

• Backstage, Robert Stone and Aliyah are with McKenzie Mitchell. Stone spies Shotzi Blackheart working on her tank and tries to get her to sign with his Brand. She says no, and he tosses his drink in anger. To Robert’s dismay, the drink hits Killian Dain, who lays him out. Shotzi follows up by running over Stone’s leg with her tank.

• Back in the ring, it’s Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Johnny Gargano. They pull out some crazy moves, including Gargano hitting a poisoned rana on the outside. He follows that with the One Final Beat slingshot DDT for the victory. 

• Next is a great video package highlighting the upcoming Tegan Nox/Io Shirai NXT Women’s Championship on next week’s show. 

• It’s 6-man tag action as Legado del Fantasmo (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, and Raul Mendoza) against Breezango and Drake Maverick. Fandango tweaks his knee on a move to the outside and Escobar takes advantage. Maverick finally gets a tag and unleashes his anger on the former El Hijo del Fantasmo. Escobar, though, kicks Maverick as he heads to the top rope and follows that with the Phantom Driver for the win.

• McKenzie is backstage with Candice and Johnny, congratulating them on their respective wins. The self-proclaimed best power couple in the world say they may have some wrongs they need to make right. 

• Next up is some Women’s Division action as Santana Garrett is sacrificed to takes on Mercedes Martinez. The returning Martinez picks up a quick victory with a fisherman’s buster.

• It’s main event time as North American Champion Keith Lee faces NXT World Champion Adam Cole (bay bay)  in a Winner Take All match. Looks like Cole is leaving the rest of Undisputed Era backstage, but we’ll see how long that lasts. I’ll admit that I just sat back and watched without taking notes. These two just know how to tear the house down. In the end, Lee counters the Panama Sunrise with the Big Bang Catastrophe to finally dethrone Adam Cole. As Keith celebrates in the ring with pyro and confetti, Karrion Kross and Scarlett look on from the production booth.

Both nights together added up to a great pay-per-view-lite event (think the old WCW Clash of the Champions shows). It was a good mixture of match types and the right guy ended the night as champion. I just hope they aren’t going to feed him directly to Kross, but I’m sure Raw or SmackDown will be calling for Keith Lee soon.

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