| NXT Gold Rush | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Brand(s) | NXT | ||
| Date | June 20 and 27, 2023 | ||
| City | Orlando, Florida | ||
| Venue | WWE Performance Center | ||
| NXT special episodes chronology | |||
| |||
NXT Gold Rush was a professional wrestling television special produced by WWE. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the NXT brand division. Gold Rush aired as a two-part special episode of NXT on the USA Network, taking place live on June 20 and 27, 2023, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
NXT is the primary weekly professional wrestling television program for WWE's developmental brand, NXT. On the June 13, 2023, episode of NXT, WWE executive Shawn Michaels announced that the June 20 and 27 episodes would be a two-part special titled Gold Rush, themed around NXT's championships. The television special was held at NXT's home base, the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, and aired on the USA Network. [1] [2]
The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, [3] [4] while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT, and the supplementary online streaming show, Level Up .
On the June 6 episode of NXT, Bron Breakker challenged Raw's Seth "Freakin" Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship. [5] The following week, during Breakker's promo, Rollins appeared on the TitanTron to accept Breakker's challenge for his title during Week 1 of Gold Rush. [6]
On the May 30 episode of NXT, after Carmelo Hayes retained his NXT Championship, Baron Corbin, who became a free agent in the 2023 WWE Draft, made his return to NXT and attacked Hayes. [7] The following week, Ilja Dragunov interrupted Corbin's promo and challenged him to a match, which was made official for next week's episode. [5] During that week's episode, WWE executive Shawn Michaels announced on Twitter that the winner of this match would face Hayes for the NXT Championship on Week 2 of Gold Rush. The match was won by Corbin. [6]
On the June 6 episode of NXT, Thea Hail won a battle royal to become the number one contender for Tiffany Stratton's NXT Women's Championship. [5] The following week, the match was scheduled for Week 2 of Gold Rush. [6]
At Battleground, Wes Lee defeated Tyler Bate and Joe Gacy in a triple threat match to retain the NXT North American Championship. [8] On the May 30 episode of NXT, during a tag team match between Lee and Bate against The Dyad (Rip Fowler and Jagger Reid), Mustafa Ali, who became a free agent in the 2023 WWE Draft, returned to NXT. [7] Two weeks later, in a backstage segment where Lee, Bate, and Ali celebrated their win against The Schism, Ali proposed a match between Lee and Bate for the NXT North American Championship, where Ali would serve as the special guest referee. Lee and Bate agreed to Ali's idea, and the match was scheduled for Week 1 of Gold Rush. [6]
On the June 6 episode of NXT, Dana Brooke and Cora Jade participated in the aforementioned battle royal, and they were the last two persons eliminated in the match. [5] The following week, Jade interrupted Brooke's interview and blamed her for costing her the battle royal. After Brooke answered that she should not blame her, Jade slapped Brooke across the face. That same episode, Brooke distracted Jade during her match, causing her to lose. A match between Brooke and Jade was scheduled for Week 1 of Gold Rush. [6]
On the June 13 episode of NXT, Malik Blade defeated his tag team partner Edris Enofé in which Hank Walker, Tank Ledger, Brooks Jensen, and Josh Briggs watched at ringside. After the match, Blade and Enofé hugged each other with accompaniment of this two teams. After that, NXT commentator Booker T announced that the three tag teams would face each other in a triple threat tag team match during Week 1 of Gold Rush, with the winners facing Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) for the NXT Tag Team Championship during Week 2. [6]
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times [9] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wes Lee (c) defeated Tyler Bate by pinfall | Singles match for the NXT North American Championship [10] with Mustafa Ali as the special guest referee. | 12:59 | ||
| 2 | Edris Enofé and Malik Blade defeated Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs (with Fallon Henley) and Hank Walker and Tank Ledger by pinfall | Triple threat tag team match to determine the #1 contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championship [10] | 9:12 | ||
| 3 | Cora Jade defeated Dana Brooke by referee stoppage | Singles match [10] | 10:46 | ||
| 4 | The Meta-Four (Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend) (with Noam Dar and Oro Mensah) defeated Valentina Feroz and Yulisa León by pinfall | Tag team match [10] | 3:22 | ||
| 5 | Seth "Freakin" Rollins (c) defeated Bron Breakker by pinfall | Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship [10] | 17:06 | ||
| |||||
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times [11] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiffany Stratton (c) defeated Thea Hail (with Duke Hudson) by pinfall | Singles match for the NXT Women's Championship [12] | 9:08 | ||
| 2 | Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) (c) defeated Edris Enofé and Malik Blade by pinfall | Tag team match for the NXT Tag Team Championship [12] | 13:18 | ||
| 3 | Nathan Frazer (c) (with Yulisa León) defeated Dragon Lee (with Valentina Feroz) 2-1 | British Rounds Rules match for the NXT Heritage Cup [12] | 13:02 | ||
| 4 | Gigi Dolin defeated Kiana James by pinfall | Singles match [12] | 9:04 | ||
| 5 | Carmelo Hayes (c) (with Trick Williams) defeated Baron Corbin by pinfall | Singles match for the NXT Championship [12] | 16:32 | ||
| |||||
Christopher James Dijak is an American professional wrestler. He is currently working on the independent circuit under the ring name Donovan Dijak. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring names Dominik Dijakovic, T-Bar, and Dijak.
Barry Young is a Scottish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand, under the ring name Wolfgang. He is a member of Gallus and is a former NXT Tag Team champion with stable mate Mark Coffey, as well as being a former tag team champion in now defunct NXT UK brand alongside Mark Coffey.
Mark Anthony Coffey is a Scottish professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand as a member of Gallus. He is also a former NXT UK Heritage Cup and NXT UK Tag Team Champion.
The NXT Heritage Cup is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is a specialized championship for men of NXT, the promotion's developmental brand. The title is defended just like any other championship but has a special stipulation in which all matches are contested under British Rounds Rules. The current champion is Tony D'Angelo, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating previous champion Charlie Dempsey by 2–1 on the May 14, 2024, episode of NXT.
Christian Brigham is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Carmelo Hayes. He is a former one-time NXT Champion, a two-time and longest combined reigning NXT North American Champion, and a one-time and the final NXT Cruiserweight Champion, having unified it with the NXT North American Championship.
Bronson Rechsteiner is an American professional wrestler and former American football player. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Bron Breakker and is the WWE Intercontinental Champion in his first reign. He previously performed on the NXT brand, where he was a two-time NXT Champion and one-time NXT Tag Team Champion. A second-generation professional wrestler, Rechsteiner is the son of Rick Steiner and the nephew of Scott Steiner. Rechsteiner was voted "Rookie of the Year" for 2022 by readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The 2021 NXT Halloween Havoc was the second annual Halloween Havoc professional wrestling event produced by WWE, and 14th Halloween Havoc event overall. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event aired as a special episode of WWE's weekly television series NXT, broadcast on the USA Network. It took place on October 26, 2021, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The television special was hosted by Chucky in a crosspromotion for the Chucky TV series, with NXT wrestlers Grayson Waller and LA Knight also serving as hosts.
Joseph Ariola is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Tony D'Angelo. He is the leader of The D'Angelo Family stable as "The Don of NXT" and is the current NXT Heritage Cup Champion in his first reign. He is a former two-time NXT Tag Team Champion.
Matthew Farrelly is an Australian professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Grayson Waller. He is currently in a tag team with Austin Theory as A-Town Down Under where he is a former one-time WWE Tag Team Champion. Before signing with WWE, he previously performed on the independent circuit under the ring name Matty Wahlberg.
Oliver Sauter is a Swiss professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Oro Mensah as a member of The Meta-Four stable. He is also known for his time in NXT UK under the ring name Oliver Carter, where he became a one-time NXT UK Tag Team Champion alongside Ashton Smith.
Benjamin Timms is a British professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Nathan Frazer and is currently one-half of the NXT Tag Team Champions with Axiom in their first reign. He is a former one-time NXT Heritage Cup Champion.
The 2023 NXT Stand & Deliver was the third annual Stand & Deliver professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event took place on Saturday, April 1, 2023, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California as part of WrestleMania Weekend, being held the same day as WrestleMania 39 Night 1 with a special start time of 1 p.m. Eastern Time 10 a.m. Pacific Time. WWE wrestlers Pretty Deadly served as the hosts of the event. This was also the first Stand & Deliver to livestream on Binge in Australia.
Kayla Klingensmith is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Kiana James. She is a former one-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion.
The 2023 NXT Battleground was the sixth Battleground professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event took place on May 28, 2023, at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts. It was the first Battleground held since 2017, as well as the first to livestream on Peacock.
The 2023 NXT The Great American Bash was a professional wrestling event produced by the American promotion WWE. It was the 11th Great American Bash under the WWE banner, the fourth annual held specifically for its developmental brand NXT, and the 25th Great American Bash event overall. It took place on Sunday, July 30, 2023, at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park in the Austin suburb of Cedar Park, Texas. Unlike the previous three years, which aired as special episodes of NXT, the 2023 event aired via livestreaming, marking the first Great American Bash to air on both Peacock and the WWE Network, but it would be the only to air via livestreaming as the event returned to being a television special of NXT in 2024.
The 2023 NXT Heatwave was the second Heatwave professional wrestling event produced by the American promotion WWE, and ninth overall. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event aired as a television special episode of the NXT program on the USA Network, and was broadcast live on August 22, 2023, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
Matrick Mondre Belton is an American professional wrestler and former professional football player. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Trick Williams. He is a former one-time NXT Champion, one-time NXT North American Champion and the winner of the 2023 Men's Iron Survivor Challenge.
The 2024 NXT Roadblock was the third annual NXT Roadblock professional wrestling television special produced by WWE, and fifth Roadblock event overall. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event took place on March 5, 2024, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and aired live as a special episode of NXT on the USA Network. The event's title was a reference to its position on the road to NXT Stand & Deliver, NXT's WrestleMania Weekend event.