5 Ups & 2 Downs From NXT: The Great American Bash

Downs...

2. Great American Slapdash

The idea of NXT reviving formerly-retired PPV formats for special occasion shows is one of the most joyous concepts WWE has put forward in a good long while. It's a shameless attempt to cash-in on wrestling nostalgia, sure, but that doesn't inherently make it bad. We saw at In Your House that when enough care and thought goes into it, the results are a lot of fun.

Which made the announcement of a Great American Bash a little over a week ago seem incredibly strange. A show which traces its origins back to the 1980s with the Four Horsemen, saw through latter-day WCW, and even became a staple part of the Sports Entertainment diet in mid-00s, surely deserved more than a week's build?

While the matches booked looked to be more than worthy of the famous name, the set dressing of random balloons, two cars, and an old GAB banner with an NXT logo stuck over the top simply reeked of how hurried this decision was. With time, build, and some actual effort this could have been a real highlight in the calendar, but what we got was an afterthought designed only to prize some viewers from AEW's Fyter Fest.