The 2020 NXT The Great American Bash was the eighth Great American Bashprofessional wrestling event produced by WWE, and 22nd Great American Bash event overall. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's NXTbrand division. The event aired as a two-part special episode of WWE's weekly television series NXT, broadcast on the USA Network. The event was taped on July 1, 2020, at the Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. The first part aired that night on July 1 while the second part aired on tape delay on July 8. It was the first Great American Bash event held since 2012 as well as the first to air as an annual television special of NXT.
Production
Background
The Great American Bash is a professional wrestling event established in 1985. Following WWE's acquisition of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in March 2001,[1] the promotion revived the event as their own annual pay-per-view (PPV) in 2004.[2] The event continued until 2009. Following this 2009 event, The Great American Bash was discontinued as a PPV. In 2012, WWE revived the event to be held as a special episode of SmackDown, but was again discontinued. On June 24, 2020, however, WWE announced that the eighth Great American Bash under the WWE banner, and 22nd overall, would take place as a special two-week event during the July 1 and July 8 episodes of NXT on the USA Network. Both episodes were taped on July 1.[3]
The event 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 NXTbrand,[4][5] while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television show, NXT.[6]
^The event was held without a paying audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, though it featured a live crowd of WWE wrestlers and trainees.
