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WWE NXT 7/1/20 Great American Bash Part 2: No One's Ready for Asuka

It's time for the second hour of WWE NXT: Great American Bash, Night 1, which means this marathon wrestling session is nearly over. In the first part of our report, we covered the opening fatal four-way elimination match for a shot at the NXT Women's Championship, Rhea Ripley take on Aliyah and Robert Stone at the same time, and more. Read all about that in the hour one report. We're in the home stretch now.

Roderick Strong vs. Dexter Lumis kicks off the second hour. We get a video package about their feud before the match. Dexter Lumis is a creep. Tom Phillips shills Mountain Dew and tries to justify his shameless shillery by saying they paid for the main event tonight to have no commercials. But does that matter if the whole show is a Mountain Dew commercial? Strong comes out first, followed by Lumis. Strong is reluctant to be attached to Lumis by a leather strap, and can you blame him? Strong attacks Lumis instead, but Lumis gets the better of him and puts the strap on him himself.

It's a strap match, It's all punching and kicking and whipping and otherwise inflicting violence with the strap. It's mostly Lumis inflicting the violence, as expected. Eventually, they brawl up to the stage, where WWE has placed a Dodge Viper as part of the Great American Bash theme. Lumis opens the trunk with the intention of putting Strong in there. Strong fires up as a result and hits an Angle Slam on Lumis on the floor. Mauro explains that Strong needs to get Lumis in the win to pin him. So it's that kind of strap match then. Too bad, I like the one where you have to touch all four corners of the ring. Strong has Lumis on the ropes for a bit, but Lumis fights back. Strong hits some leg slaps and whips Lumis with the strap. Lumis is enjoying the pain. The crowd chants "Dexter likes it." Lumis makes a comeback with a massive clothesline. He gets a two-count off a bulldog.

Lumis hits a slingshot suplex and then whips Strong with the strap. Then he tries to gouge Strong's eyes out. Lumis goes for the urinage, but Strong escapes. He puts Lumis on the top turnbuckle and climbs up after him. He hits a superplex off the top rope on Lumis and gets a two-count. Strong ties Lumis's feet together with the strap and then puts him a modified Boston crab, except with Lumis's legs between Strong's instead of outside them. Lumis slithers out of the ring and gets the better of Strong when Strong follows him. But with the ref's back turned, Bobby Fish runs out and hits Lumis. Strong is only able to get a two-count. Fish runs in and gets clotheslined by the strap. Then Lumis whips Strong into Fish on the apron, knocking him to the floor. Lumis hits a urinage on Strong and makes him tap to Silence. Bobby Fish collects the beaten Roderick Strong from the ring.

Man, I love me a god damn strap match, and that one delivered. Tom Phillips introduces a video package for next week's main event between Keith Lee and Adam Cole for the NXT North American Championship and NXT Championship. After that and some commercials, Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae are giving an interview backstage when LeRae sees Mia Yim and runs after her and they brawl in the hallway,

But Wait! There's Even More WWE NXT!

Santos Escobar comes to the ring with his crew and gives a "get off my lawn" speech about how Lucha Libre culture used to mean something back in the day. But that tradition has become a sideshow. Escobar says people have come to believe Lucha Libre is just guys in masks doing flips. The crowd chants "that is Lucha." Escobar tells them they're wrong. He and Legado del Fantasma are going to rediscover the true roots of Lucha Libre and restore its honor, leaving a legacy they can be proud of. Basically, they're going to make Mexico great again. Escobar's promo is interrupted by NXT's resident underdog, Drake Maverick, in a neck brace.

Maverick takes off the brace and charges the ring. He gets beat down. Escobar tells Maverick no one can touch him. Breezango run out and Escobar retreats. Fandango challenges them to a six-man tag match next week. McKenzie Mitchell interviews Cameron Grimes backstage. Grimes mocks Damian Priest in response to his challenge earlier tonight. Grimes is moving past that. He calls out the winner of Adam Cole vs. Keith Lee. Next up is the main event, after some commercials and a video package for Mercedez Martinez, who will be back next week.

Sasha Banks and Bayley ride to the ring in a Jaguar convertible for Sasha's match against Io Shirai. Sasha's dog is with them, but he stays in the car. There's a lot of gold at the ring tonight, but this is a non-title match, so Shirai's NXT Women's Championship is safe no matter what. The match begins with some one-upsmanship. Shirai hits a missile dropkick on Sasha, sending her out of the ring, and then hits a dive. Shirai brings Banks back into the ring and stomps her in the corner. She gets a two-count. Shirai mounts Banks on the turnbuckles, but Bayley runs over to one of the cars at ringside and honks the horn, distracting Shirai and allowing Sasha to get a rollup for a two-count.

Banks dominates for a while now with rest holds and pin attempts. Shirai goes for a comeback and charges Banks in the corner, but Banks catches her head with her legs and smashes it into the turnbuckle in a cool spot. Shirai hits a "Frankensteiner." Now Shirai is in control. She hits a flapjack and a 619 and a springboard dropkick and gets a two-count. They trade some reversals and Shirai hits a brutal German suplex on Banks, dropping her on her face.

Banks gets the Banks Statement on Shira, but it turns into a series of reversals that ends in Shirai in the tree of woe as Banks taunts and beats on her. Shirai dodges a dropkick and tries for a moonsault, but Sasha gets out of the way. Sasha tries a Meteora pin but Shirai kicks out. Shirai ends up on the apron but they botch a spot where Shirai is supposed to jump up on the top rope and get kicked in the face by Sasha. So they do it again. Then Sasha powerbombs her against the plexiglass barrier.

Shirai rolls back in the ring. Banks tries for a frog splash, but Shirai dodges and gets Banks in the crossface. Bayley hands Sasha one of the tag belts right in front of the ref. The ref takes it away, which allows Bayley to punch Shirai in the face. The referee and Bayley get into a tug of war over the belt. Sasha tries to use the other tag belt, but Asuka appears from under the ring and has a hold of it too. Oh my god! It's coronavirus! Asuka blows a big cloud of coronavirus right in Sasha's face! She's infected! Her face is turning green! Oh, wait, it's just the green mist. Shirai rolls her up but only gets a two count. Shirai dropkicks Bayley at ringside into the barrier then hits a moonsault on Sasha for the pinfall. Great match, even if it ended in shenanigans.

Sasha is acting like she's blind outside the ring. Bayley is pissed, but not enough to get in the ring and get her ass kicked. The announcers shill next week's show and WWE NXT: Great American Bash Night 1 goes off the air with Asuka and Io Shirai standing tall. This was a very good show with some great wrestling and a little bit of something for everyone. It was a great night all around for both WWE and AEW. God, I need some sleep.

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