AJ’s NXT Great American Bash 2021 Results & Review

I don’t usually do this but, color me interested in Red, White and Blue because I’ll also cover The Great American Bash for NXT! With three championship matches for the card, this should be a great show. MSK against the hardest hitting mad men in Ciampa and Thatcher, LA Knight defends the Million Dollar Championship to see if he will have a Caveman Virgil by his side or if the championship was a fluke win. Io and Zoey Stark will have a chance to take some gold off of The Way and there is an announcement for the NXT Championship in the future.

Will Kross show he is as dangerous as always or will Gargano find a Way to get the championship again? Let’s find out TONIGHT!

Results:

• Ciampa and Thatcher vs MSK(c) for the NXT Tag Team Championship – MSK wins via Inside Cradle – *** ½ – TITLE DEFENSE!!
• Cameron Grimes vs LA Knight(c) for the Million Dollar Championship – LA Knight wins via Blunt Force Trauma – *** ½ – TITLE DEFENSE!!
• Zoey Stark & Io Shirai vs The Way(c) for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships – Zoey Stark wins via K-360 – *** – TITLE CHANGE!!!
• Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly – Adam Cole wins via Last Shot – ****

Review:

Ciampa & Thatcher vs MSK-

Ciampa and Carter start off the match and both men showing their skills  in the ring and Ciampa tags Thatcher to use some of that “Thatch Can” Wrestling and the challengers take it to MSK early with their brutality. The challengers keep going off with their brute striking and no matter what the champions do, the striking keep coming and the Champions look like the Underdogs.

Wes Lee gets a tag in and gets a proper amount of time with offense but no matter how many times that MSK gets a flight going, one of the challengers comes in and plays interference and slowing them down. Thatcher and Ciampa taking turns punching and striking Nash Carter in the corner every time but once Wes Lee comes in, he comes in, Thatcher wants to cut off the steam and Wes gives a 2 on 1 assault on the challengers but Ciampa dropkicks Wes to stop the momentum and MSK keeps looking like that they are a little weak but MSK gets something going for them. As MSK finally looks like they will get some winning ways, Thatcher comes in and stops that momentum. Timmy Thatcher comes in and tries to take things on his own but Wes Lee finds a way to break the focus of Thatcher and steals one from the challengers with an Inside Cradle.

Samoa Joe and William Regal come in and call Johnny Gargano out along with Karrion Kross. Gargano… remembering the Way is kind of in high school saying he sucks and will expose him in the ring. Regal makes it so Gargano and Kross will face each other next week for the title. Kross says he will win and actually cuts a scathing promo on Gargano and Regals last words are Samoa Joe is the special referee. Gargano makes another comment about Kross and he tries to attack Gargano but Joe cuts Kross off and it fades to the next commercial.

Cameron Grimes vs LA Knight-

Grimes wastes no time and takes Knight to the outside and kicks Knight’s head off like a Chargers QB except making the point and the beginning is all Grimes for the time being until LA Knight breaks some separation. Knight goes for a slightshot shoulder tackle and gets hit by Grimes with a forearm and takes over fully again. Grimes hits the sky and ground on LA Knight but Grimes’ anger gets the better of him and Knight takes over and keeps the challenger grounded and down as the champion is looking mint during the commercial break.

When we come back from the side by side commercial, Grimes counters Knight going to the ropes and does the spinning Scoop Slam of grimes and he gets heated against LA Knight and takes him to a ride with the burst of adrenaline and gets a nearfall. Grimes gets caught and tries to skin the cat but LA Knight catches him and hits a safer Burning Hammer but Grimes is ever resilent and stops Knights cheating ways and even hits a Poisonrana for a near fall against LA Knight. Knight rolls out as Grimes sets up for his finish but Knight makes sure that he lure Cameron Grimes out to the outside and DDT’s Grimes on the Million Dollar Championship to get the cheap win but Cameron Grimes comes back in at nine and nine-tenths but LA Knight catches the dummy and hits him with some Blunt Force Trauma to his new butler for the foreseeable future.

Zoey Stark & Io Shirai vs The Way-

Io and Indi start the match and The Way start off strong, doing frequent tags and tries to take it to the former Women’s Champion and getting Zoey Stark in the ring. Zoey shows off a good amount of offense but Indi comes back in and takes it to Zoey to swing the momentum their Way. Stark makes a form of separation from Indo with a Heel Kick and Indi tags Candice in but Io gets the tag as well, taking it to Candice. Stark and Shirai gets things going for them but Io misses the Moonsault and has a Garga-No-Escape with Indi applying the Silencer (Anaconda Vice)  and the Way see mto have everything going fro them, taking it to Io Shirai over and over but…. The lights go out and the battery is at 100% as Tegan Nox returns and Zoey Stark wins it for her team with a K-360 and we have new Tag Team Champions.

Hit Row come out to celebrate their North American Championship win with a rap cipher (It’s something different for once and it actually… pretty lit as each member of Hit Row spits some bars and call people out.

Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly –

The men start with a collar and elbow but they are so even and know each other so well and Kyle tries to split things up and cause Adam Cole to powered out of the ring to take a quick breather and takes it to O’Reilly for a little but Kyle goes to the injured knee of Adam Cole and shows he can take it to Adam Cole. Adam Cole finds a form of separation and starts to disarm and discombobulate O’Reilly with neckbreakers and whipping him into the corner chest first.

After Adam Cole gets cocky as always, O’Reilly comes in and takes it to Adam Cole with strikes and butterfly takedowns and dissecting Adam Cole with more attacks to the leg but Cole gets out of a maneuver and hits a Backstabber, getting a near fall and beginning the trash talk, mentioning Kyle’s wife and making the Canuck SNAP. He almost gets disqualified but that anger is what Adam Cole uses for his advantage and takes Kyle O’Reilly apart. As the play by play shows Adam breaking Kyle apart, Kyle pushes Cole out of a leg lace attempt and goes to an even field, both men damaging the other’s knee but Adam Cole gets the advantage, hitting O’Reilly’s knee with a chop block and kicks Kyle’s knee in for a Shining Wizard but Kyle breaks out of the pin.

Cole goes to hit the Panama Sunrise but O’Reilly moves out of the way and Adam Cole’s knee buckles and Kyle O’Reilly takes the advantage once again and both men go for submission holds, Leg lace and Arm Breakers from Kyle but Adam Cole gets the final advantage with a Figure Four. Kyle breaks the Figure Four and puts a version of the Indian Deathlock on Cole until he reaches the ropes to break it. Adam Cole gets desperate and hits a Panama Sunrise to the outside and O’Reilly gets his leg on the ropes. Adam Cole hits the Last Shot after a super kick and O’Reilyl kicks out of the Last Shot. Adam Cole goes to do the Panama Sunrise but fails until he gets another opportunity against Kyle with another attempt. Kyle kicks Cole away and damages his leg further with the kick and as Adam sees this, one more Panama Sunrise in the ring and one final Shot scores Adam Cole the victory.

Final Thoughts

I don’t usually do NXT Shows unless they are Saturdays but this was an exception. The matches were amazing because I don’t think I scored anything lower than a three. A rap cipher is DEFINITELY a new way to do things in wrestling but all in all, great show. Next week has the big belt being defended and all the other belts minus the North American Championship but, hey… I’ll take that cipher any day.

Cole and O’Reilly, always a good match up but don’t make it into the Steen/Generico, Owens/Zayn feud that is getting into Cena/Orton levels of matches. MSK showing they are still great even when they aren’t 100 Percent, Tegan coming back will be a fun little story going forward and who knows… next challenger for the Women’s Championship since Dakota is with Raquel. Let’s not forget one thing though and that’s Cameron Grimes went from going TOOOOOOOOOO THE MOOOOOOOOON… to going to be Cameron Virgil. Or Virgil Grimes. Maybe rebrand him by calling him Anthony and give him a pair of glasses to make him look like a Dummy (YEAAAAAAAAAAH). After all, Virgil/ Vincent was named out of spite from McMahon with Dusty Rhodes and Vincent was out of spite for McMahon in WCW. You don’t think WWE will go to that level of petty?