As Shawn Michaels and WWE attempt to elevate the NXT brand to new heights, mainly with weekly viewers but in general too, the dynamic quarter of Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, and Dominik Mysterio, collectively known as The Judgment Day, have made flying into Orlando immediately after RAW a part of their weekly routine, with “Mami” specifically entering the group into a full-on feud with NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes and eventually NXT North American Champion Wes Lee.

Discussing what it's like to have arguably the most popular faction on RAW down in NXT regularly on the WrestleBinge, HBK noted that he's incredibly excited to see what the group has in store for the developmental brand moving forward, with a spot at The Great American Bash on July 30th very much in play.

“Obviously, we’re thrilled to have Rhea and Dom and Judgment Day as a whole coming through NXT, and who knows how much they’ll be here in the near future? It certainly looks like Dom is at the very least gonna be here next week along with Rhea to receive an NXT North American Championship match from Wes Lee. We’ll see what kind of ramifications that has on our Great American Bash on July 30,” Shawn Michaels said via Fightful.

“We’re absolutely excited about Judgment Day, what they bring here to NXT, and the fact that they’re at least lingering around here for a little while. Very excited to see what happens next week in the North American Championship [match] as Wes Lee defends against ‘Dirty’ Dom, and we’ll see what that brings forward from an impact on Great American Bash.”

Is there a world where “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio returns to RAW on July 24th as the North American Champion? Totally; giving Mysterio a belt to defend – with the other members of The Judgement Day surely helping him out considerably – would be incredibly entertaining and could be the move that really elevates his status as a performer, even if he isn't the best wrestler in the promotion right now.

Shawn Michaels is excited for a clash of styles at The Great American Bash.

Elsewhere on his promotional tour for The Great American Bash, this time with Sports Guys Talk Wrestling, Shawn Michaels was asked about the main event of the whole show, Carmelo Hayes versus Ilja Dragunov, the latter of whom punched his ticket to the show by beating Bron Breakker in a qualifying match. While HBK wouldn't give too much away about what he expects from the match, as he is the man who is pulling the puppet strings behind the curtain, he is looking forward to seeing how the two performers match up in the ring, as their contrasting styles could create one heck of a barn burner.

“Carmelo [is] very flashy. Again, Ilja, the same thing, but he's more of a traditional really scrapping guy. He gets ugly, he gets intense. It's going to be very physical from his standpoint. I'm curious to see how durable Carmelo Hayes can be in this matchup because again, Ilja is someone who does not shy away from physicality. I've seen him get just battered by men twice his size. I find it hard to believe that Carmelo Hayes is going to be able to batter him more than what I've seen him go through before. And he doesn't give up then, he doesn't quit then. So I think this one is going to be a war of attrition in a way that I think we've never seen before,” Michaels said via Wrestling Inc.

“We've seen it out of Ilja, but I don't think we've seen that out of Carmelo Hayes,” Michaels added. “That's what makes this one so interesting to me is — can Carmelo Hayes hold up against the physicality of Ilja Dragunov and walk out with that ‘NXT' Championship?”

As crazy as it may sound, it really doesn't matter who wins the match between Hayes and Dragunov at The Great American Bash; both performers are going to be on the main roster in the not-too-distant future, either as members of a faction – The Hurt Business or Imperium, respectively – or in elevated versions of their NXT acts, and whether HBK and company opt to make a change at the top of the card or not, that likely isn't going to change. Still, it is interesting to see how the match ends for one reason and one reason alone: could this match “retire” Dragunov from NXT? Could he lose a big one and be on RAW in time for SummerSlam 2023, or could this all be for not, leading to an even longer stay for the 29-year-old Moscow native in developmental? Fans will have to tune into The Great American Bash to find out.