Tegan Nox Returns To NXT As Battery Charges Up, New NXT Women’s Tag Champions Crowned

Io Shirai and Zoey Stark are your new WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions, and Tegan Nox has made her return to NXT.

Las night’s NXT Great American Bash special saw Shirai and Stark defeat Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell to win the straps, after Nox returned and caused a distraction.

Nox was revealed to be the Superstar behind the recent battery charger teasers. As The Way looked to end the match, the lights inside the Capitol Wrestling Center went out, and the battery charger hit 100% on the big screen. Nox then appeared on the stage, shocking LeRae. This led to Shirai taking out the champs one more time, and Stark getting the pin to win on Hartwell. Nox attacked LeRae after the match and chased her to the back, allowing Shirai and Stark time for their post-match celebration.

This is the first reign for Shirai and Stark. The Way held the titles for 59 days, winning them back on May 4 after defeating Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart in a Street Fight.

As noted before, Nox returned to in-ring action in a pre-RAW dark match on Monday night, against Toni Storm. She has been out of action since September 2020 after suffering a torn ACL, her third since 2017. She was feuding with LeRae at the time of the injury, and LeRae was blamed for the injury in the storylines. It was reported that Nox actually suffered the injury while doing rehab.

WWE NXT Great American Bash Preview 7/6/21

Tonight’s WWE NXT episode will be the special Great American Bash episode, live from the Capitol Wrestling Center at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.

Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly

NXT Tag Team Titles Match
Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher vs. MSK (c)

NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles Match
Io Shirai and Zoey Stark vs. Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae (c)

Million Dollar Title Match
Cameron Grimes vs. LA Knight (c)
If Knight wins, Grimes must become his butler.

NXT Champion Karrion Kross comes face-to-face with Johnny Gargano

Hit Row hosts a Championship Cypher

The person behind the battery charger teasers is expected to be revealed (possibly Tegan Nox, who returned last night in a dark match at RAW)

SmackDown Results from Tuesday

SuperSmackDown LIVE results: Ryder reigned supreme in The Great American Bash 20-Man Battle Royal

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In the absolutely explosive Great American Bash on SuperSmackDown LIVE, The Long Island Iced-Z Zack Ryder triumphed over WWE elite to win the 20-Man Battle Royal to earn the right to be the Interim General Manager of SmackDown next week. Also, the passionate AJ struck again, two more Superstars qualified for the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match and a pair of WWE Hall of Famers showed up to help celebrate America’s birthday.

(WATCH | PHOTOS)

Alberto Del Rio viciously slammed World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus with the hood of his car

Turning up his nose at America, Alberto Del Rio promised that he will win the World Heavyweight Title from Sheamus at Money in the Bank and beat him so badly that he would send him back to Ireland like a little girl.

The Mexican Aristocrat then began to torment the Corpus Christi, Texas, crowd, insisting that they were no different than Sheamus – confronting several audience members and demanding to see their “papers.”

When he tried to get one of them kicked out for not producing them, The Celtic Warrior came to the rescue – attacking his No. 1 contender and igniting a fierce brawl that spread all the way to Del Rio’s car. Thanks to a disturbance by Ricardo Rodriguez, Del Rio gained the upper hand and proceeded to slam the hood of his ride down upon The Great White over and over again.

Teddy Long hosted The Great American Bash Barbecue

With a very unhappy Eve volunteering to keep things tidy, this week’s Interim General Manager of Raw and SmackDown Theodore Long welcomed the WWE Universe, the Superstars and Divas to SuperSmackDown LIVE: The Great American Bash with a special barbecue celebration. When Santino Marella – whose Cobra was dressed up as Uncle Sam – couldn’t light the grill, The Big Red Monster Kane raised and lowered his arms to set the party ablaze. (WATCH)

Later during the barbecue, after Zack Ryder and the rest of the party goers booed Heath Slater away for his horrible singing, Long Island Iced-Z cued in Brodus Clay and The Funkadactyls. This prompted an all-out Funkasaurus dance party. (WATCH)

 

Still later, when Damien Sandow crashed the barbecue, claiming it was not what American’s Founding Fathers had in mind, Zack Ryder suggested he leave. Though at first it seemed like the self-professed “Intellectual Savior of the Unwashed Masses” was considering it, he instead attacked Long Island Iced-Z. In the midst of the heated battle that followed, Ryder threw the bowl of punch at his foe. The punch, though, hit Eve instead, bringing a smile to Teddy Long’s face. (WATCH)

The Great Khali & Divas Champion Layla def. Antonio Cesaro & Aksana in a Mixed Tag Team Match

(WATCH | PHOTOS)
In a match of retribution made by this week’s Interim General Manager Teddy Long, his ex-girlfriend Aksana and her beau Antonio Cesaro were forced to take on Divas Champion Layla and The Great Khali. Despite the spark that clearly existed between the controversial couple, it was their formidable foes that would bring the fireworks in the end.

After Khali threw Cesaro from the ring with giant force, the English-born champion overcame Aksana with the devastating Lay-out neckbreaker.

Following the action, The Punjabi Playboy and his lovely tag team partner celebrated with a dance.

 

 

Cody Rhodes def. Intercontinental Champion Christian to qualify for Money in the Bank

(WATCH | PHOTOS)
Last week, Cody Rhodes lodged an official protest – claiming that when he and David Otunga lost the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Qualifying Tag Team Match, he was not the one pinned.

On SuperSmackDown LIVE, Rhodes confronted Teddy Long, just as the temporary head ofSmackDown was trying to deal with the Sheamus situation. After the second-generation Superstar revealed that the WWE Board of Directors had given him another qualifying opportunity and demanded action, Teddy informed him that the Board had given him the right to pick the opponent. He determined that Cody would face someone who’s already qualified for Money in the Bank – Intercontinental Champion Christian.

With the championship contract in question hanging high about the ring, the long-standing rivals engaged in another fierce showdown. And after escaping Captain Charisma’s Killswitch in the final moments, the determined Rhodes hit the Cross Rhodes for the victory – earning his chance at the World Heavyweight Title Contract at Money in the Bank.

 

 

Dolph Ziggler def. Alex Riley to qualify for Money in the Bank

(WATCH | PHOTOS)
In his continued quest to prove his elite abilities, Dolph Ziggler captured another opportunity at greatness, overcoming Alex Riley in a World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Qualifying Match. Despite several near pins by the determined A-Ry, in the end, The Showoff would execute a fierce Zig Zag to seal his opponent’s fate.

 

 

Michael Cole interviewed AJ about her actions on Raw SuperShow

(WATCH | PHOTOS)
Week after week, the eccentric AJ has shocked and confused the WWE Universe with her off-the-wall actions in the direction of WWE Champion CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. On Monday’s Raw SuperShow, she took things to the next level. For a moment, it seemed as if the puzzling beauty was going to hurl herself off the ring ropes and onto a table that she set up at ringside. Instead, when Punk got in her way, AJ kissed him, distracting The Second City Saint long enough to throw him backward, onto Bryan and through the table. Then, as Raw went off the air, she began chanting “Yes!” (WATCH)

One day later, during The Great American Bash, Michael Cole stepped through the ropes and confronted AJ, looking to get some real answers to what she was thinking with her latest episode. When he questioned her being named Special Guest Referee in the WWE Title Match at Money in the Bank and even seemed to be putting the moves on her – both Punk and Bryan emerged.

While both Superstars agreed that the situation had nothing to do with Cole, kicking him out of the ring, that’s where the consensus ended. Though they both addressed AJ at first, they soon began to argue with each other over the motivation of their respective “worry” for the Diva in-question.

Then, after leaving both competitors in a sea of confusion by making out with both of them, the perplexing beauty just smiled and once again skipped away.

 

 

United States Champion Santino Marella, Sgt. Slaughter & “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan def. Drew McIntyre, Hunico & Camacho

(WATCH)
Nothing could have spelled Independence Day more than when Sgt. Slaughter and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan joined United States Champion Santino Marella in an explosive Six-Man Tag Team Match. And in the true patriotic fashion of The Great American Bash, the trio let the fireworks fly, culminating in Santino’s Cobra victory over Hunico.

 

Ryback def. Curt Hawkins

(WATCH | PHOTOS)
After Curt Hawkins lost the coin toss to Tyler Reks, he had the misfortune of becoming Ryback’s victim. The intense competitor ripped through the former WWE Tag Team Champion, finishing him off with Shell Shocked.

 

 

Zack Ryder won The Great American Bash 20-Man Battle Royal

(WATCH | PHOTOS)
Because of an earlier injury at the hands of his Money in the Bank No. 1 contender Alberto Del Rio, the WWE Universe learned that World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus was not able to compete in the main event 20-Man Battle Royal that would determine next week’s SmackDown Interim GM. (MORE ON SHEAMUS)

With WWE’s top talent, including WWE Champion CM Punk, Big Show, John Cena, Kane, Cody Rhodes, Intercontinental Champion Christian, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler and The Mexican Aristocrat himself, it had the potential to be the greatest Battle Royal of all time from the opening bell. Among such an elite group of competitors, even gigantic athletes like Brodus Clay and The Great Khali were destined to be eliminated in the blink of an eye.

In the final moments, after Kane eliminated both Big Show and Ziggler with an explosive boot, he turned his wrath on his final opponent, Zack Ryder. After escaping the chokeslam, however, the heroic Long Island Iced-Z suddenly dropped the top rope, sending his monstrous adversary sailing to the ringside floor to shock the WWE Universe to its very core.

As a result of his earth-shattering triumph, Zack Ryder will run SmackDown next week as the latest Interim General Manager! (WATCH CENA’S REACTION | ZACK SHARES HIS PLANS FOR SMACKDOWN)