Welcome to WrestlePurists’ Coverage of the July 25 Episode of WWE NXT.
The show kicks off with a recap of Dominik Mysterio’s week long NXT North American Title reign.
Judgement Day In Ring Promo
Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley kick off the show inside the ring. Rhea says the Judgment Day runs all of the WWE. She puts over the rest of the members of the group before introducing Dominik as the North American Champion. Dominik says he finally made the Mysterio name relevant. Rhea puts over Dom’s mullet. She then calls out Lyra Valkyria but suddenly Wes Lee’s music hits. He comes stomping down to the ring, angry to see Dom with the title. He is upset about how he lost the title because he poured his heart and soul into his title reign. He wants his rematch. We then hear Mustafa Ali’s music who comes to the ring. Ali says Dom steals everything he has and that he stole the North American title from him because he was about to win it from Lee. Ali calls out Lee for losing and calls him stupid. Lee slaps the mic out of his hand. Dom says he will fight both of them and that he is going to break all of Lee’s records. He pushes through Ali who swings on him but winds up hitting Lee instead. The two brawl until they are pulled apart.
Tony D’Angelo and Stacks Backstage Interview
McKenzie Mitchell is backstage with Tony D and Stacks. Tony says he was happy to be back and enjoyed the reception he received on his return. Stacks says that he is looking forward to being NXT Tag Team Champions. Suddenly, Bronco Nima and Lucien Price walk up. They say that Tony and Stacks will be hearing their names a lot coming up which leads to Tony challenging them to a match for later tonight.
After a commercial, we see backstage footage from Raw of Lyra Valkyria challenging Rhea Ripley to a match. We then cut to McKenzie Mitchell, who is interviewing Lyra Valkyria backstage. Lyra says she challenged Rhea because she wanted to show NXT who she is and that she isn’t just going to wait in the shadows.
Trick Williams, Carmelo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov Defeat The Schism (Joe Gacy, Rip Fowler, Jagger Reid)
In a fun 6 man tag, we saw TrickMelo and Dragunov Defeat The Schism. Melo hit Nothing But Net and scored the pinfall over Joe Gacy. This match was quick, but had some really solid wrestling. Dragunov accidently headbutted Melo at one point which obviously caused some friction between the two entities.
Tiffany Stratton Video Package
We see a video package highlighting Tiffany Stratton and her upcoming match against Thea Hail at The Great American Bash. Stratton says she won’t let a 19 year old brat spoil her first PLE as champion. She says she never tapped to Hail and that her hand only grazed the mat. She scolds Thea for forcing her to accept the submission match stipulation the way she did. She still guarantees that she will be leaving the Bash as champion.
Von Wagner Defeats Javier Bernal
As you would expect, this was an absolute squash match. Wagner dominated this two minute affair. After the match, the crowd began to chant for a table. Wagner then powerbombs Bernal through the announce table. Then out of nowhere, Bron Breakker hits Wagner with a nasty spear on the outside. He then smashes Wagner over the head with a chair before the officals come to intervene. They are able to grab the chair from Bron who continues to stare down Wagner. A distraught Stone begins to scream at Bron as we head to commercial.
We return from commercial to Dragunov limping backstage before getting confronted by Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams. Williams is especially hot and goes in hard at Dragunov. He then challenges him, which Dragunov accepts. Carmelo intervenes and asks Williams to calm down. Dragunov walks off. Carmelo tells Williams to settle down because they need to lead by example. Williams doesn’t listen. He says he’s going after his punk ass.
Gable Steveson In Ring Promo
Gable Stevenson is in the ring to announce his future with NXT. He is quickly interrupted by Baron Corbin who comes down to the ring. He tells Gable not to stay in NXT because he doesn’t belong. Corbin says that he wouldn’t make it in this business. He says that Gable is swimming with sharks and calls himself a great white that smells blood. Stevenson says that Corbin just made the decision very easy for him. He then challenges Corbin to be his first match, this Sunday at the Great American Bash. He suddenly starts throwing Corbin around and the two begin to brawl until they are separated by officials.
After a commercial we see Dom and Rhea in the locker room. Dom asks Rhea if it was good idea for him to challenge Lee and Ali to a triple threat on Sunday. Rhea says yes and to reassure him she says that Mami is always right.
Kendo Stick Match – Dana Brooke Defeats Cora Jade
These two ladies beat the ever living hell out of each other. They really worked stiff throughout. The match ended after Dana suplexed Cora into a pile of kendo sticks. She then climbs the turnbuckle and hits a flip onto Jade and wins by pinfall.
We then cut to the locker room with Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes. Hayes tells Dragunov he knows the headbutt was accidental. He apologizes for how Trick was acting. Dragunov is unimpressed and clearly still agitated. He says that if Trick’s challenge still stands, that he will break him and that Sunday, he will break Hayes.
In a darkened ring, we see Charlie Dempsey training with Myles Borne. It’s getting pretty intense, so Drew Gulak comes in and separates the two. Damon Kemp then comes in and proposes a partnership. He says that they are what he is looking for. Dempsey says that he will give him a chance.
Tony D’Angelo and Channing Stacks Defeat Lorenzo Bronco Nima and Lucienne Price
Lucienne Price and Bronco Nima are absolute monsters. They dominated the better part of this match, especially early on. Scrypts, who is on commentary is suddenly jumped by Axiom who chases Scrypts out of the arena. The match continues. Despite struggling early, Tony D and Stacks are able to take advantage of the distraction and score the pinfall victory.
After the match, Gallus is shown on the titantron. Joe Coffey tells Tony not to get too comfortable. He says that Gallus is always on top when it comes to the tag titles.
We hear from Dijak. Concerning Eddy Thorpe, he says that one win means nothing. He thinks Eddy is cocky and warns that he will tear him apart.
We then see some footage from last night, where Blair Davenport is jumped by Roxanne Perez at a gas station. The two brawl inside the store as employees and customers look on. The fight goes back and forth with the two using whatever they can to their advantage, including a shopping cart. We then begin to hear police sirens. Roxanne gets the better of Blair and slips out before the police arrive.
Supernova Sessions – MetaFour In Ring Promo
The group is trying to cheer up Noam Dar who is still motionless, sitting in a wheelchair. They talk about how Noam is the true NXT Heritage Cup Champion. They recount the night that Noam was unable to defend his title and Oro Mensah had to step in, but wasn’t successful.
They then present a Heritage Cup to Noam who finally breaks out of his trance and goes absolutely crazy. He begins to boast about being the Heritage Cup Champion before he is interrupted by actual champion, Nathan Frazer and Dragon Lee. Frazer challenges Noam to a match for the real Heritage Cup at Great American Bash now that he is no longer injured. Mensah tells Frazer and Lee that it’s 4 against 2. But Lee says that they didn’t come alone. Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon come from behind and attack Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson. Frazer and Lee then attack Noam and Oro. They clear the ring and stand with Yuliza and Valentina.
Chase U Segment
Andre Chase and Duke Hudson are getting Thea Hail pumped up and trained for her match against Tiffany Stratton. Andre talks about how Thea started training at 16. Duke says that she is the future of the NXT Women’s Division. We see her training with the rest of the students at Chase U. Thea says she knows she can win her match on Sunday and that she will become the youngest women’s champion in NXT history.
We then see backstage footage from last week. Humberto Carrilo and Angel Garza are arguing. Carillo asks if they are chasing women, or chasing glory. He then storms off. Garza is clearly very agitated.
Rhea Ripley Defeats Lyra Valkyria
This was a solid match, and a very impressive showing for Lyra Valkyria. Both women were very physical throughout, which led to some high impact offense. Rhea retains with a Riptide. Ripley is just a dominant force and is firing on all cylinders right now. She is such a special talent.
Just before the show ends, Trick Williams is in the ring and calls out Ilja Dragunov who abides and comes down for a fight. The two begin to brawl outside of the ring. The two go back and forth and end up finding their way into the ring. Dragunov begins dominating Williams and is set to deliver a kill shot. However, Carmelo sacrifices himself and gets in the way. Dragunov grabs the mic and says he is going to take Carmelo’s NXT Championship on Sunday at The Great American Bash.
Final Thoughts
This show was action packed and really delivered. A great go home show for a very promising PLE this Sunday.
