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

3. Castrate American Bash

In theory, there should have been no stakes here whatsoever. Aliyah shouldn't be able to land so much as a glove on Rhea Ripley, and Robert Stone's entire gimmick is that, one way or another, all the women in this company just routinely take the p*ss out of him. Credit where it's due though, NXT had somehow created the anxiety of an upset here.

It's been a bizarre story this, from Chelsea Green walking out the very moment the gimmick began to click, Aliyah's will-she-won't-she involvement in the whole thing, and, well Robert Stone was sick in the ring that time wasn't he. In the end, we needn't have worried - Ripley picking up the win the same way a dog picks up a win against some chew toys - but fair play to the booking for somehow managing to give us that doubt on any level.

A lot of people have seen this feud is a relegation of sorts for her, but with so much talent in the title picture, it was important to find something entertaining with which to spin her wheels. There's a lot of words you could use to describe this match, and "entertaining" is just about one of them.

Ultimately Aliyah's going to benefit massively from this feud and, for all his pitched as a loser, Robert Stone's in-ring work was surprisingly enjoyable here.