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

1. Great American Sash

Io Shirai has, in 2020, probably been the best thing in NXT. Sasha and Bayley have, in 2020, probably been the best thing in WWE. When this match was booked last week it felt like the biggest thing the company has put together in a long time, but the overriding feeling was "yeah, this will be great, but there's no way we're going to get a proper finish".

BUT WE GOT ONE, WE ACTUALLY GOT A FINISH! WE GOT A F***ING BRILLIANT FINISH AND ASUKA WAS THERE FROM UNDER THE RING AND I'M SORRY BUT I AM SHOUTING.

Prior to the sensational ending though, both Shirai and Banks put on an absolute masterclass of main-event wrestling. They're comfortably two of the company's most talented in-ring workers, both going through a purple patch, and allowing them to put on a full 15 minutes of uninterrupted pro-wrestling was, frankly, a gift.

Banks is back to her best as a bully heel, Io's one of the few babyfaces in the company who can craft narratively compelling wrestling matches without merely selling for hours on end, and as a combination, they've probably just delivered a Top 5 match of NXT's time on the USA Network. Bayley, for her part, played the disruptive cheerleader to perfection, and Asuka's late appearance gave us an x-factor that was both entirely unexpected but also just perfect when you think about it.

I know Extreme rules is already booked, but please, please, give us this tag-team match at TakeOver: Boston in August. Or just do Evolution II, whatever works.