Background in
Atlanta,
Georgia.
The Great American Bash is a
professional wrestling event established in 1985. Following
WWE's acquisition of
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in March 2001, the promotion revived the event as their own annual
pay-per-view (PPV) event in
2004, which 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. In
2020, WWE again revived the event, this time for the
developmental brand NXT as an annual
television special of the
NXT program until the
2023 event, which aired via WWE's
livestreaming platforms. It was then again a television special of
NXT in
2024. On May 27, 2025, it was announced that the 13th Great American Bash under the WWE banner, the sixth annual for NXT, and the 27th overall, would be held as a livestreaming event on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at
Center Stage in
Atlanta,
Georgia. In addition to
Peacock in the United States, the event was available livestream on
Netflix in most international markets and the
WWE Network in a select few countries that had not yet transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marked the first Great American Bash to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January in those areas. Beginning with
Halloween Havoc in 2024, all major NXT events are branded solely with the WWE logo instead of the NXT logo; The Great American Bash broke this tradition as it has the NXT logo in addition to the WWE logo for aesthetic purposes. The event had a special start time of 3:00 p.m.
Eastern Time, putting it head-to-head against
All In, the biggest annual PPV event produced by rival company
All Elite Wrestling. On the May 20 episode of
NXT,
Jasper Troy attacked
NXT Champion Oba Femi, which would lead to a title match between both men on the June 10 episode, where Femi retained the championship. The following week,
Pro Wrestling Noah's
Yoshiki Inamura stated he would be coming after Femi's championship, and on the June 24 episode, Femi said he wanted more competition and demanded an opponent. Inamura answered the challenge and set his sights on the title. After the confrontation, Troy attacked Inamura, before staring down Femi, making it clear that he would go after his championship once again. Later that night, a match between Inamura and Troy was scheduled for the July 1 episode, where the winner would challenge Femi for the title at The Great American Bash. The match was won by Inamura. On the May 27 episode of
NXT,
Jacy Jayne won the
NXT Women's Championship. One week later, several women interrupted Jayne's celebration, each discussing why they deserved a title match, which included the debuting
Blake Monroe (formerly known as Mariah May in
All Elite Wrestling). On the June 17 episode, Monroe officially signed her NXT contract, only to be interrupted by Jayne and her
Fatal Influence stablemates,
Fallon Henley and
Jazmyn Nyx. They took issue with not having a celebration for Jayne's victory. After some exchange of words, Monroe slapped Jayne, leading to a brawl, which ended with Henley and Jayne slamming Monroe through a table. A week later,
Jordynne Grace won a match to become the number one contender for the title at
Evolution, which would take place the day after The Great American Bash, On the June 3 episode of
NXT, Williams successfully defended the championship against TNA's
Mike Santana. On the July 1 episode of
NXT, it was announced that the contract signing for the match would take place at The Great American Bash. Their rivalry continued after the event, and on the May 27 episode of
NXT, Page defeated Saints to win the championship after Page injured Saints' throat. On the June 17 episode of
NXT,
Je'Von Evans praised Jasper Troy for his performance at the NXT Championship match he had the previous week, stating that Troy's time would come, but not before his time, with Troy telling Evans to get out of his face. The following week, Troy attacked Evans after the latter's match, with Evans doing the same to Troy on the July 1 episode. The following week, Troy attacked Evans twice backstage, and later that night, both men brawled. It was subsequently announced that they would face each other at The Great American Bash. ==Event==