NXT Gold Rush 2023 is in the history books of the WWE where a main event bout for the WWE NXT Championship was reserved on Night Two. The closing contest of the show saw Hayes defending his NXT Championship against free agent Baron Corbin and the reigning champion indeed went through a successful title defense. Hayes pinned Corbin with his Nothing but Net finisher to secure this big win.
Corbin recently returned with this Lone Wolf gimmick and his old Superhuman theme song on NXT to start this feud with Hayes. After weeks of back-and-forth going, the two finally met at NXT Gold Rush 2023 and produced a big-time match. This feud is seemingly over as Rhea Ripley appeared on NXT and confronted Hayes to tease that a program with Judgment Day could soon be kicking off.
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NXT Gold Rush 2023: NXT Women’s Championship successfully defended
As one of the headliners of the NXT Gold Rush 2023 edition, NXT Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton managed to retain her title against Thea Hail. In the opening contest of the special episode of NXT, the titleholder pinned the Chase U member but the match expectedly had some interferences to influence the outcome and the challenger had to suffer due to this.
With Duke Hudson by her side in this match at NXT Gold Rush 2023, Hail had trapped Stratton in the Kimura Lock, and the champion also tapped out. But the referee never saw it as he was preoccupied with an argument with Drew Gulak. Hail released the lock and she started arguing with the referee. This allowed Stratton to roll Hail up to gain the pin-fall win and retain her NXT Women’s Championship.
NXT Gold Rush 2023 marked the first championship defense for Tiffany Stratton which ended on a successful note. She won the gold at NXT Battleground by winning the finale of a tournament against Lyra Valkyria. Back then, the title was vacant due to the prior champion Indi Hartwell relinquishing the belt due to injury and a main roster call-up.
Two weeks later, Hail secured the title as she outlasted 19 other women to win a number one contender’s battle royal for the NXT Women’s Championship. She made a record by challenging for the title at the age of just 19. If she could have won the title then a decade older streak of Paige of being the youngest NXT Women’s Champion would have been broken.
