In the main event of NXT Great American Bash 2023, Carmelo Hayes retained his NXT Championship against IIja Dragunov in a brutal encounter. With that, the “HIM” era continues on NXT and the reigning champion also claims to become a different man after going through this intense title defense against the former NXT UK talent.
As seen at the end of this match at NXT Great American Bash 2023, Hayes’ buddy Trick Williams arrived at ringside to cheer him up. Ilja thus was forced to turn his focus on taking out Trick. In turn, he got dropped by Hayes from behind and had to digest the pinfall loss after Hayes successfully connect with the Nothing but Net leg-drop finisher. Hayes celebrated to close the PLE night with a championship win celebration.
WWE NXT Great American Bash 2023 Results With Highlights
Hayes has been the reigning WWE NXT Champion since defeating Bron Breakker at NXT Stand & Deliver on April 1. He has defended the title against Grayson Waller, Noam Dar, and most recently Baron Corbin on the June 27 NXT Gold Rush special. Dragunov then earned the title shot at NXT Great American Bash 2023 after he defeated Breakker on the July 11 edition of NXT but he failed to capitalize on the opportunity.
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NXT Great American Bash 2023: Tiffany Stratton successfully retained her title
Heading into NXT Great American Bash 2023, there were concerns among the fanbase of Tiffany Stratton about her title reign since she entered a Submission Match against Thea Hail. Tiffany didn’t have any such submission move on her arsenal as seen in the past while Thea is the master of the devastating Kimura Lock hold.
Ultimately, Tiffany prevailed by applying the Boston Crab Submission hold. After punishing Thea with the hold, she dragged Hail in the middle of the ring for some more punishment when Thea’s mentor, Andre Chase threw in the towel to signal the end of the match. Interestingly, Thea never tapped out she still ended up on the losing side.
With this win at NXT Great American Bash 2023, Tiffany went through her first successful title defense at a premium live event. She now has two defenses following her title win at NXT Battleground and both those defenses had come against Thea Hail. The previous title defense took place at NXT Gold Rush Specials, earlier this month.