WWE NXT Results, Winners, Live Grades and Highlights Before Great American Bash 2025
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE NXT on July 8.
This is the final episode before two big events this weekend that will include talent from across NXT.
The roster will have its own Great American Bash premium live event on Saturday, and then the women's division will take part in Evolution on Sunday.
This week's show spent time wrapping up all of the big feuds before this weekend's festivities as well as featuring the usual array of action.
Let's take a look at everything that happened on Tuesday's episode of NXT.
Ricky Saints vs. Vanity Project
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This week's NXT opened with Ricky Saints taking on all three members of Evolve's Vanity Project. Ethan Page was there to provide support for the young trio.
Brad Baylor was the first opponent for Saints, and he came out of the gate hot hoping to surprise the former North American champion.
Saints pinned Baylor with a tornado DDT before Ricky Smokes took over. The two Rickys battled through the break until Saints scored his second win with a pinning combination.
That just left the Evolve champion, Jackson Drake. After an energetic exchange, Saints scored the third and final pin with the Roshambo.
Out of the three young prospects, Drake gave Saints the biggest challenge and the best challenge. However, this match was designed to make Saints look like a resilient fighter, and it accomplished that goal.
Result: Saints defeated Vanity Project
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
—The Evolve title belt is pretty slick-looking.
—The look on Baylor's face when Saints dragged him back into the ring was hilarious.
—Page is such a great heel for NXT. He brings experience and legitimacy while not being afraid to put others over when he needs to.
—This win gave Saints the ability to pick his stipulation for his match against Page, and he picked Falls Count Anywhere.
Tavion Heights vs. Charlie Dempsey
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NQCC already lost Myles Borne, and Tavion Heights was looking to get out of the group with a win against Charlie Dempsey this week.
They started off with some simple arm drags and takedowns before Dempsey hit the first real strike with an uppercut that sent his protege out of the ring.
Dempsey slapped him and Heights immediately turned up the aggression and started overpowering him at every turn.
We returned from a break to see Heights dominating, but Dempsey used his technical ability to wrestle him to the mat for some submission work. Wren Sinclair ended up throwing in the towel for Heights to give Dempsey the victory.
This was a good match with a slightly weird ending. Sinclair throwing in the towel may have been pre-planned between her and Dempsey, but she was acting sorry after it happened.
Result: Dempsey defeated Heights
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
—Having both men come out at the same time was a nice touch. They did it for the Borne match, too.
—The mask WWE gave Heights made him look like a serial killer who shouldn't be allowed near anyone.
Mike Santana and Joe Hendry vs. High Ryze
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Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe took on TNA's Joe Hendry and Mike Santana this week, with Wes Lee at ringside to support his allies.
Igwe and Dupont had the initial advantage, but Hendry and Santana sent them out of the ring as the show cut to a break.
When we returned High Ryze was back in control of Hendry. Once Santana got the hot tag, the former Proud and Powerful member began to go on a roll.
Trick Williams showed up and attacked Hendry, leaving Santana to fend for himself. Fortunately for him, he was able to get the win on his own.
Two semi-dirty finishes in a row is never ideal, and it didn't feel like this match had enough time to really get going, so it fell a bit short of expectations.
Result: Hendry and Santana defeated High Ryze
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
—Santana and Hendry are big guys, so the fact that they were almost dwarfed by their opponents tells you just how big High Ryze is.
—Natalya and Maxxine Dupri were shown arriving at the arena.
—There was a period of the time when the crowd noise was censored longer than usual.
Lainey Reid vs. Kelani Jordan
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Oba Femi and Yoshiki Inamura had a face-to-face meeting ahead of their title match at the Great American Bash this weekend. This was business as usual. Not much happened, but they did a decent job.
Up next was Lainey Reid taking on Kelani Jordan after the two got into a disagreement in the locker room.
Reid is still new on the scene and looking to make an impact, so she has been talking a big game. Jordan wanted her to back it up, and she proceeded to do exactly that by dominating much of the first half of the match.
There was a technical issue that caused the feed to cut out while Jordan was making a comeback, so seeing her hit a moonsault to win as soon as it returned was surprising. Other than that, this was pretty predictable but a decent performance.
Thea Hail attacked Reid after the match and drove her out of the arena.
Result: Jordan defeated Reid
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
—The video package for Inamura with Noah wrestlers and The Great Muta was great.
—The braids were a good look for Jordan. It seems like it would also be more manageable during a match than her previous style.
—Jordan's moonsault was fantastic.
Hank and Tank vs. The Culling
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Rizzo oversaw a meeting between Tony D'Angelo, Luca Crusifino and Channing Lorenzo. This didn't really lead to a resolution, but it looks like WWE might be toying with the idea of reuniting the group or having them all go their separate ways for good.
This week's main event saw Hank and Tank defending their newly won tag titles against Shawn Spears and Niko Vance of The Culling.
They started brawling before the bell, and after things settled, The Culling were in control and taking Hank apart.
It might be surprising to hear, but this ended up being the best thing we saw all night because everyone brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to their performances. Even Izzi Dame and Tatum Paxley were doing their part without taking away attention from the action in the ring.
After a fun back-and-forth fight, Hank and Tank scored the win. The Culling came close and looked great here, so this may not be the last time they challenge for the belts.
Result: Hank and Tank defeated The Culling
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
—Dame and Paxley have turned into a very interesting duo.
—Hank and Tank were decked out in red, white and blue.
—The spot with Vance pouncing Hank onto the announce table was awesome.
The Final Word
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This week's show ended with NXT general manager Ava talking about what is in store for the women's division at Sunday's Evolution. This led to her being joined by several women who each gave a brief promo.
As a whole, Tuesday's NXT was a fairly run-of-the-mill affair. It had to do a lot of work to hype the events this weekend, so it felt like it was lacking a bit in the in-ring department.
None of the matches we got were bad, but none of them stood out as memorable, either. The tag title bout was the most entertaining match on the card but not by a huge margin.
It has felt like WWE has dropped the ball hyping Evolution this time around, so it was nice to see the show end with the focus solely on building the PLE.
Grade: B-
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