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MAIN EVENT TIME, SUBMISSION MATCH, MAMI MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE, STEVESON DEBUTS BUT GETS A TEXAS THUMBS DOWN, WEAPONS WILD LIVES UP TO THE HYPE: MIKE'S WWE NXT GREAT AMERICAN BASH BLOG

Welcome to my ongoing WWE NXT Great American Bash blog!

I only caught the last few minutes of the mixed tag on the Kickoff Show but Nathan Frazier especially was working his rear end off.  It looked like mostly everyone there was doing their best.  Jakara Jackson is going to be a star.  She has the right mix of look, attitude and timing.  Lash Legend has a long way to go but looked better than she's ever come off during the sequence where he she was showing off her power.  By the end, this was entertaining.

I really loved the idea of Cody Rhodes doing the opening for the show as a way to tie its history back to his father, who produced and created the original iteration of the Bash itself.

We are opening with the NXT Tag Team Championship match.  Big pop for The D'Angelo Family in Texas!  Gallus are a great throwback to gritty heels.  The storyline was that Stacks and D'Angelo were prepared for Gallus and beat them at their own game.  Lots of really good action here and some nice near falls.  Stacks came up short doing a flying headbutt and that looked scary for a second.  The Family scored the win after Joe Gallus was whacked with a Crowbar.  D'Angelo helped Stacks nailed a leaping flip dive.  They double teamed Wolfgang with a double belly to back suplex for the pin.  The crowd was loving this and it came across like a big moment for The Family.  Good stuff.

They plugged Wrestlemania coming to Philly then aired a video feature on Cora Jade.

Next up was the Weapons Wild match with Roxanne Perez vs. Blair Davenport.

Perez was really happy to be there, almost too happy, but you can forgive it given her mother and sister were there ringside.  Blair attacked her out of the crowd and they started brawling.  For this to work, they need to have an edge for this and show some real FIRE out of Perez, who is awesome but has never shown that sort of grit.  Perez went for a dive but was nailed with a trash can as she hit the ropes and was then beaten with a chair.  Davenport trashed her with weapons on the floor and back in the ring.  She put a trash can over Roxanne's head and beat it over and over with a branding iron.  What, no Terry Funk references Vic?

The crowd was really behind Perez, chanting "Let's go Roxy."  She came back with a dropkick into a chair Blair was holding, although the camera angle gave away there wasn't really contact.  Blair regained control in front of Perez's family on the floor.  She wrapped a belt around Perez's arm and used it to whip  Roxanne hard into the barrciade.  Perez's little sister was crying her eyes out, which gave this an even better dimension, shaking as her mom held her.  Perez pulled out the COWBELL BABY! She began beating Blair with it and got a massive pop pulling out a table.

Perez was cut off before she could use it and was suplexed onto a trash can, which the crowd had a big reaction to.  They battled outside, almost crashing off the apron through the table.  Perez finally placed her atop the table and splashed Blair off the top through it, which got a massive reaction.  She nailed Pop Rocks on a pile of chairs and scored the pin.  Really damn good performance from each and Perez's family really helped up the ante here.  Well worth watching.

Next up is Baron Corbin vs. Gable Steveson.  Thematically, the idea of Gable the gold medalist wrestling Corbin, who retired Kurt Angle makes a lot of sense.  New look and music for Baron.  Steveson seemed a little nervous early on to me.  He showed some good athletic prowess and hit a German suplex on the floor.  Corbin cut  him off after his missed a charge in the corner and began working him over.  The crowd was very pro-Corbin.  Steveson came back with some punches, which looked OK at best but was nailed with a DVDR.  Steveson came back with a series of overhead belly to belly suplexes, which looked way better than his punches.  The crowd booed when he clotheslined Corbin over the top to the floor.   

Steveson tossed Corbin over the announcers' table  and Corbin tackled him before he could return to the ring.  They were both counted out.  The crowd chanted "bullsh**" at that and then cheered for Corbin in a post-match brawl He laid out Corbin and stood tall, although the crowd wasn't feeling it.   This was just OK.  Steveson didn't seem to have the fire needed to blow everyone out of the water here and if anything, Corbin came out looking stronger than he looked walking in, which probably was not the plan.  Rough first night in the office for Steveson.  This was not the second coming of Kurt Angle, that much was obvious.

They aired a video feature on Bron Breakker.

Lyra Valkyria was being interviewed about wrestling Rhea Ripley when Jacy Jane attacked her, which led to a spirited pull apart in the back that was better than the Corbin-Steveson pullapart.

More thoughts on Page 2!

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