NXT Gold Rush kicks off tonight!
Week one of the two-week NXT Gold Rush special edition of WWE NXT goes down tonight at 8/7c on USA Network from the Capitol Wrestling Center inside the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
On tap for tonight’s show is Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Wes Lee vs. Tyler Bate for the NXT North American Championship with Mustafa Ali as special guest referee, as well as Dana Brooke vs. Cora Jade.
Also scheduled for the show this evening is Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs vs. Tank Ledger & Hank Walker vs. Malik Blade & Edris Enofe in a Tag-Team Title No. 1 Contender match, Thea Hail Pep Rally, as well as NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes and Baron Corbin going face-to-face.
Featured below are complete WWE NXT results from Tuesday, June 20, 2023. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 8-10pm EST. on the USA Network.
WWE NXT GOLD RUSH: WEEK 1 RESULTS (6/20/2023)
Week one of the special two-week themed “Gold Rush” editions of NXT on USA kicks off with the usual “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature narrated by John Cena.
Kicking Off Week 1 Of Gold Rush
From there, we shoot directly into “earlier today” footage that shows Seth “Freakin'” Rollins and Bron Breakker arriving to the arena earlier this evening for their WWE World Heavyweight Championship showdown for later tonight.
Now we head into an elaborate video package opening highlighting the Gold Rush theme and emphasizing the fact that all NXT championships will be on-the-line or in play this week and next week.
NXT North American Championship
Wes Lee (C) vs. Tyler Bate
The pay-per-view style cold open package wraps up and we shoot inside the CWC in the WWE PC where we see NXT North American Champion Wes Lee and his friend and opponent for tonight, Tyler Bate, already in the ring.
Also in the ring sporting the zebra stripes is main roster WWE Superstar and special guest referee Mustafa Ali. The ring announcer handles the formal pre-match ring introductions for the champion and the challenger and then the bell sounds to get this one off-and-running.
Vic Joseph and Booker T stress the significance of every title being on-the-line this week and next week as part of Gold Rush (isn’t the NXT women’s tag-team titles being defended in a unification match on SmackDown instead?)
Lee hits a cartwheel to avoid Bate’s forward-approach early on. Neither man gains an offensive edge on the other in the opening moments of this one. The show of respect starts to turn a bit more into a fierce competitive rivalry and they start picking up the pace.
On the ground, Bate holds Lee in a side head lock after a take over. He has Lee’s shoulders down so Ali drops down for the cover and does one so fast that even Nick Patrick in his biggest moment ever in WCW would be impressed at the speed of the count.
Bate and Lee both flash Ali cold stares after that. Ali does some more questionable officiating and this leads to Lee stopping the action and getting in Ali’s face to confront him about the issues.
Bate takes advantage of his loss of focus and now their friendship is going out the window and the hard shoves are coming into play. Ali smiles and seems proud of himself tearing their friendship apart and bringing their violent spirits out as they get more and more vicious.
On the floor, we see Bate bouncing Lee’s dome off the commentary table. After that, we head to a mid-match commercial break as the action continues. When we return from the break we see each guy landing a clothesline at the same time.
Lee misses a Cardiac Kick and the two end up on the top-rope slugging it out. Lee goes for a super-plex on Bate on the floor but instead the two each land knockout shots on the other. Bate crashes and burns in the ring, while Lee crashes and burns on the floor.
Mustafa Ali runs out and slaps Lee in the face to try and wake him up, he heads in the ring and gets aggressive with Bate to try and get him to snap out of it and get back to his feet as well. Lee gets up first and heads into the ring, where he connects with a Cardiac Kick for the win.
The commentators focus on Ali’s referee antics during the match. After the match, Ali raises both their hands and is trying to dominate the scene. Lee and Bate both look at him.
Winner and STILL NXT North American Champion: Wes Lee
Gigi Dolin Likes Art, Kiana James Doesn’t
Once the opener wraps up, we head to the latest sappy video package where Gigi Dolin talks about how much her life sucked growing up. She talks about her love of art and then we shoot live backstage where McKenzie Mitchell is standing by with Kiana James.
She talks about how she and Dolin had a similar upbringing, but each handled it differently. After this wraps up, we head to another commercial break.
Thea Hail’s Pep Rally
We shoot backstage and we see Duke Hudson leading Chase U and Thea Hail backstage towards the entrance to the ring, as Thea Hail’s pep rally is next.
Yes, Thea Hail looks like a mix of a kid who had too much sugar for breakfast crossed with a constipated person who is finally ready to explode but has to hold it in until they get to the bathroom.
When we return from the break, we see the ring all decked out for the pep rally. Duke Hudson is in the ring by himself and he begins doing the introduction for the Thea Hail pep rally segment.
She enters the ring with the rest of Chase U and screeches and screams her way through a promo explaining how she’s going to win next week and become the youngest NXT Women’s Champion of all-time. She says hello to Andre Chase watching at home.
Things stop briefly as Charlie Dempsey and Drew Gulak bring up her mentioning how she just graduated high school. They say, “What have we gotten ourselves into?” Hail thanks the two, who she calls a pain in her butt. Make of that what you will!
Hail’s intensity grows even more from there, if you can imagine. Tiffany Stratton’s theme hits and out she comes to up the douche-chill factor for this already super cringy pep rally segment. Stratton tells Hail she got super lucky in winning her title eliminator.
She tells Hail her post-match celebration was “so cute” but points out that she has no chance of winning next week. She tells her she has a 0-percent chance of winning. She says the thought of her taking her title is cringe. This whole segment is cringe.
Hudson says Stratton may not believe in Thea Hail, but he does. He says Chase U does as well as everyone watching at home. Tiffany tells him not to make her hug. She says not only will Hail not beat her next week, but she will also not make her tap out.
Hail slaps a submission on her on the spot and Stratton starts aggressively tapping out. She rolls out of the ring and Hail runs around like a chicken with its’ head cut off posing with the title she hopes to make hers next week.
Backstage With The Schism & The Creed Brothers
We shoot backstage and see The Schism talking from after their loss last week. Many complaints are being tossed around until Ava Raine speaks up in a leadership type of way and tries to get them to focus on what is important going forward.
From there, we shoot to another backstage segment, as The Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile essentially engage in a battle of the dozens. You know, grade school level jokes about someone’s physical appearance. Low hanging fruit type stuff.
Jacy Jane & Lyra Valkyria On NXT Anonymous
Now it’s time for the latest NXT Anonymous video footage from Twitter. This week we see Jacy Jane being approached by Lyra Valkyria backstage. She brings up hearing Jane has a problem with her and tells her to say it to her face.
Jane phonies it up and pretends there’s nothing going on. Valkyria tells her she doesn’t play games and storms off. After she leaves, Jane says she should have kicked her in the face.
NXT Tag-Team Title Eliminator
Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. Tank Ledger & Hank Walker vs. Edris Enofe & Malik Blade
We head back into the ring and out comes the duo of Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen. They settle into the ring and then the theme for their opponents hits and out comes Tank Ledger and Hank Walker.
After a quick time out, we return and see the ring entrance of the third and final team for this triple-threat tag-team title eliminator, Malik Blade and Edris Enofe. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one.
Following some initial back-and-forth action in the early goings, we see a shot of current title-holders Gallus watching on a monitor backstage with vested interest, as they will defend their titles against the winners of this match.
Now we see all six men in the ring brawling it out at the same time as the crowd comes to its’ feet. On that note, we shift gears and head to a mid-match commercial break as this high-stakes tag-team contest continues.
When we return from the break, we see things come to an end as Blade and Enofe end up firing up and taking over, finishing this one off with a pair of top-rope splashes for the pin fall victory. The commentators sell it like the biggest upset since Buster Douglas and Mike Tyson.
With the win, they challenge Gallus next week for the titles. We shoot backstage and we see Gallus reacting to the outcome. They decide to head off to the pub.
Winners and NEW No.1 Contenders for NXT Tag-Team Titles: Edris Enofe & Malik Blade
Raw Underground Coming To NXT
We see Eddy Thorpe spinning some records backstage for a crowd of nobody, as DJs do, ya know, when up walks Damon Kemp making excuses for losing the last time the two shared the ring together.
He informs Thorpe that Raw Underground is coming to NXT and the two will have a rematch in a 20 x 20 ring without ropes, where you can only win by knockout, submission or stoppage.
Roxanne Perez Attacks Blair Davenport Backstage
As he walks away, we hear some commotion in the background. The camera pans over and we see officials pulling former NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez off of Blair Davenport.
Davenport smirks and says, “Okay.” Lot of good all her months of build-up as the mystery attacker has done for her, eh?
Seth Rollins Backstage With Nathan Frazer & Carmelo Hayes
We see Seth “Freakin'” Rollins backstage when he is approached by Nathan Frazer. He congratulates him on winning the giant Heritage Cup that he has to carry around everywhere.
After the pleasantries wrap up, we see Frazer walk off and in comes NXT World Champion Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams. The two mock Seth Rollins’ “I am the visionary” routine. Rollins does his annoying laugh and the two talk about their title matches tonight and next week.
Cora Jade vs. Dana Brooke
It’s time for our third match of the evening, the second of which is non-title, here at NXT Gold Rush Week 1! “The Resident Mean Girl of NXT” heads out to the ring as the fans boo.
She settles inside the ring and we head to a pre-match commercial break. When we return, we hear the familiar sounds of Dana Brooke’s theme music. She makes her way to the ring and settles inside.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. The commentators remind everyone of Cora Jade slapping Dana Brooke in the face last week. After some early back-and-forth action we get to a pivotal point in the contest.
Dana Brooke is going a maneuver to get out of the way of Jade but her leg twists and gives out in the process. She screams in pain and the match stops. We head to a mid-match commercial break on that note.
When we return, we see footage of Brooke being loaded up on a stretcher during the break while Jade yaps in her face about faking the injury. She ends up slapping her and the fight is back on. The two get back in the ring and the action continues.
Brooke misses a top rope splash and grabs her leg afterwards. Jade follows this up by slapping Brooke in a single leg Boston crab. The fans, who have been chanting Cora Jade’s name throughout the bout, loudly chants “Tap! Tap! Tap!” Not sure if this was the desired crowd reaction here. She doesn’t tap out but the ref calls it off.
Winner Via Ref Stoppage: Cora Jade
Von Wagner Explains Skull Photos
Now we shoot to an emotional segment where Von Wagner sits down with Robert Stone and finally tells him the entire story about his childhood, explaining the very gruesome details about his skull fracture photos that we have seen in recent weeks. Wagner goes on and on about what he went through and how it affected him.
Gable Steveson To Train Eddy Thorpe For Raw Underground
We shoot backstage when we return from a commercial break. Reggie, Axiom and other NXT Superstars are showing Eddy Thorpe video footage of past Raw Underground fights and explain how messed up you can get if you aren’t prepared for something like that.
Thorpe says he’s got two weeks to put together a camp to get ready. In walks Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson, who says he knows more about Damon Kemp than anyone and offers to train Thorpe for their upcoming Raw Underground fight in two weeks.
Baron Corbin & Carmelo Hayes Go Face-To-Face
We head to the ring for the advertised face-to-face showdown between NXT World Champion Carmelo Hayes and his challenger for the title on week two of NXT Gold Rush next week, Baron Corbin.
The two exchange insults back-and-forth, with Corbin talking about how he’s been in WrestleManias, held titles on the WWE main roster and has dominated for over a decade.
Hayes fires back and says what happened then? He mentions Happy Corbin to taunt Corbin, but Baron fires back, “You know what Happy Corbin did? It bought me a $1.8 million house.”
Corbin mentions how Hayes might be used to doing things a certain way, mentioning how he has impressive swag, but makes it clear he doesn’t care about impressing internet nerds. Hayes fires back and talks about how Corbin was cut from the Arizona Cardinals.
The two wrap up the segment and it did a good job of building interest for their scheduled title tilt on week two of Gold Rush next Tuesday night on NXT on USA.
Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz vs. Jakara Jackson & Lash Legend
We shoot backstage for a quick segment involving the participants in our next match of the evening, which will be a women’s tag-team contest. When we return, we see Stacks attacking someone in the parking lot and driving off with them in his trunk.
Now we head to the ring where the ring entrances for our next match of the evening takes place. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. After some good back-and-forth action, we see Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend win. Neat.
Winners: Jakara Jackson & Lash Legend
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Seth “Freakin'” Rollins (C) vs. Bron Breakker
After the nothing-happening women’s tag-team filler, we switch gears and head to another commercial break. When we return, Vic Joseph and Booker T run down the updated lineup for week two of NXT Gold Rush.
We then head inside the CWC inside the WWE PC where the familiar sounds of former NXT World Champion Bron Breakker’s theme music hits. Out comes Rick Steiner’s boy for our week one NXT Gold Rush main event.
He settles inside the ring and his music dies down. We then hear “BURN IT DOWN!!!” and the fans immediately start singing along as “The Visionary” himself emerges. Seth “Freakin'” Rollins comes out and conducts the fans who sing him to the ring.
Rollins settles in the ring and the ring announcer handles the formal pre-match ring introductions for the champion and the challenger. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with our WWE World Heavyweight Championship main event of the evening.
The fans immediately break out into a loud “Welcome home! Welcome home!” chant towards Rollins. The two get after it and after some early initial back-and-forth action, we see Rollins send Breakker out to the floor, where he follows up with a big splash.
From there, we head to a mid-match commercial break as the action continues. When we return from the break, we see Breakker enjoying a prolonged beatdown of Rollins, as he is in a comfortable offensive lead at this point in the contest.
Rollins fires up and knocks Breakker out to the floor, where he proceeds to hit three back-to-back-to-back dives from the ring to the floor on the former NXT World Champion. This gets the fans out of their seats and singing again.
We see the WWE World Heavyweight Champion stalking Bron now and waiting for him to get up so he can hit him with a stomp. Breakker avoids it. On the floor, Rollins decks Bron and then stops and stares at the commentary desk. The fans chant “Table! Table! Table!”
Seth starts to oblige, clearing the commentary desk as Booker T and Vic Joseph take the cue to get out of the way. Breakker hoists Seth up, who escapes and blasts him with a super kick. He then heads to the top-rope. He connects, with his ribs still heavily taped up, with a big splash to put Breakker through the table.
As the two recover in the pile of one thousand tooth picks that used to be collectively known as the NXT commentary desk, we head to our final mid-match commercial break of the evening as the main event continues.
When we return, we see Breakker connect with a big top-rope Frankenstenier, ala his Uncle, “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner in his pre-Big Bad Booty Daddy days. This is followed up by more of his traditional match-ending spots, however he can’t finish Rollins off.
Rollins fires back up on offense again after that. He hits a Pedigree for a close near fall. The fans chant “Burn it down! Burn it down!” As Rollins looks to finish Breakker off, he walks right into a huge spear from Breakker, who follows up with a close near fall.
A loud “NXT! NXT!” chant breaks out as Breakker heads to the top-rope again while Rollins recovers. Rollins brings Breakker off the top-rope the hard way and connects with a stomp. And another. He covers Breakker and scores the pin fall victory to retain his WWE World Heavyweight Championship in an excellent main event.
Winner and STILL WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Seth “Freakin'” Rollins
Finn Balor Attacks Seth “Freakin'” Rollins Yet Again
Seth Rollins is celebrating his big win and heading up the ramp to close the show, when out of nowhere, Finn Balor emerges from the backstage area and begins yet another sneak attack on “The Visionary.”
Balor beats Rollins down all the way to the ring. He heads inside the ring and pummels him some more. He heads to the top-rope and looks for another Coup de Grace, when NXT World Champion Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams run out from the back to make the save.
Rollins recovers and tries scrambling to head out after Balor for revenge, but Hayes and Trick stop him. The fans chant “Whoop that Trick!” at Rollins, talking about Balor. The two stare each other down from afar as Rollins’ theme plays again to end week one of NXT Gold Rush. Thanks for joining us!
