NXT Gold Rush Notes: Two New Matches & 1 Updated Match for Week 2 Card, RAW Underground Match for July 4, Gable Steveson

Jun 20, 2023

Edris Enofe & Malik Blade Win #1 Contender for NXT Tag Team Titles at NXT Gold Rush Week 2

Tuesday’s NXT Gold Rush Week 1 special featured a #1 Contender for the NXT Tag Team Championship Triple Threat match of Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. Hank & Tank vs. Edris Enofé & Malik Blade.

The finish to this match involved Brooks hitting a Doctor Bomb onto Tank and tagging in Briggs for a Hart Attack to Tank. Enofe broke up Briggs’ pinfall attempt to Tank with a top rope elbow drop leading to Blade hitting a Frog Splash over the referee onto Tank for the pinfall victory.

As a result, Enofe and Blade earned a title shot for the NXT Tag Team titles against champions Gallus for next week’s NXT Gold Rush Week 2 special.

Two New Matches Announced for NXT Gold Rush Week 2 Special

Tuesday’s NXT Gold Rush Week 1 show also featured two new matches officially announced for the card of next week’s Gold Rush Week 2 show, which takes place on June 27th at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

The first new match announced was a singles match of Gigi Dolin vs. Kiana James. This match was setup following a backstage interview segment involving James who responded to Dolin’s video promo that aired right before and mocked Dolin for “swimming in the pool of mediocracy.”

The second and final new match announced was a NXT Heritage Cup match of Dragon Lee vs. Nathan Frazer. This match was setup following a backstage segment involving Frazer, Lee, Yuisla Leon, and Valentina Feroz. Frazer told Lee about the conversation he had with Seth Rollins earlier in the show about taking care of those who had helped him on his road to success in NXT. Frazer offered Lee a shot at his Hertiage Cup for next week’s Gold Rush Week 2 show as his way of paying back Lee for his help for his recent Cup victory over Ora Mensah on behalf of Noam Dar.

Updated Card for NXT Gold Rush Week 2 Special

Following Tuesday’s NXT Gold Rush Week 1 show, here is the updated card for NXT Gold Rush Week 2, which takes place on June 27th at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando:

NXT Championship – Baron Corbin vs. Carmelo Hayes (c)
NXT Women’s Championship – Thea Hail vs. Tiffany Stratton (c)
NXT Tag Team Championship – Edris Enofe & Malik Blade vs. Gallus (Wolgang & Mark Coffey) (c)
Gigi Dolin vs. Kiana James
NXT Heritage Cup – Dragon Lee vs. Nathan Frazer (c)

RAW Underground Match Announced for July 4th Show, Gable Steveson Surprise NXT Appearance

Tuesday’s NXT Gold Rush Week 1 show featured the official announcement of a RAW Underground match for the card of NXT’s July 4th show.

This was announced to be a RAW Underground match of Eddy Thorpe vs. Damon Kemp. This match was setup during a backstage segment between Thorpe and Kemp over Kemp’s stipulation that he had been working on for some time for their upcoming third match of their feud. Kemp stated that this would be a RAW Underground match that would feature no ropes and the only way to win is by TKO or submission and would take place in two weeks. Kemp also stated that Thorpe has no idea what he is in for with this upcoming match.

Raw Underground to NXT?!?!@damonkempwwe has decided what his match stipulation is for his rematch against @EddyThorpe_WWE 😳#NXTGoldRush pic.twitter.com/GRNcTXscGo
— WWE (@WWE) June 21, 2023

Later in the show, Thorpe was seated in the NXT locker room viewing videos of RAW Underground matches to help study for his match. Gable Steveson made a surprise appearance and interrupted Thorpe’s conversation with Axiom and Scrypts saying that he would be willing to help train Thorpe for his upcoming match. Steveson stated that if anyone knows how Kemp thinks, it would be him.

Woah!

Olympic Gold Medalist @GableSteveson just offered to train @eddythorpe_wwe for his match against @damonkempwwe 😳#NXTGoldRush pic.twitter.com/xLs3p9B7vc
— WWE (@WWE) June 21, 2023