AEW's Cody Rhodes on WWE Continuing to Use Great American Bash for NXT

Tonight's NXT will see the return of the classic Great American Bash theme for the second year in [...]

By Connor Casey

Tonight's NXT will see the return of the classic Great American Bash theme for the second year in a row, and once again wrestling fans are asking Cody Rhodes how he feels about the situation. Rhodes' father, "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, first created the concept for the event in 1985 for Jim Crockett Promotions but the copyright for the show now belongs to WWE. Rhodes made a subtle nod to it with his merchandise when the show was revived last year and Dusty's daughter Teil openly called the company out last year. But when asked this time around, Rhodes tweeted that there was no ill will.

"Business is business," Rhodes wrote. "They have the rights to many of Dusty's greatest creations. My hope is that they do them justice and I will never be bitter about his legacy being honored and a whole new generation seeing he was a genius w/lasting concepts.

Rhodes said in an appearance on AEW Unrestricted last year that of all the copyrights his father created, the two he wants the most back at Starrcade and Great American Bash. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE had been using the Starrcade moniker for a house show once a year.

"Starrcade and Great American Bash are Dusty's," Rhodes said. "I would rather have those than a 100 Slamborees."

Last year's Great American Bash events marked two of the rare occasions where NXT was able to bring in a bigger audience than AEW Dynamite while the shows were running head-to-head.

Here's what NXT has lined up for tonight's show:

  • NXT Tag Team Championships: MSK vs. Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher
  • NXT Women's Tag Team Championships: The Way vs. Io Shirai & Zoey Stark
  • Million Dollar Championship: LA Knight vs. Cameron Grimes
  • Kyle O'Reilly vs. Adam Cole
  • Karrion Kross & Johnny Gargano face-to-face
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