28-year-old WWE star retains his championship in a brutal match against Gunther's former rival

Gunther's former rival Ilja Dragunov collided with Carmelo Hayes for the WWE NXT Championship at The Great American Bash in a hard-hitting match.

The two stars went back and forth after the bell rang as they traded moves in the ring. Dragunov blasted the champion with multiple thunderous chops to the chest and some uppercuts. Ilja pounded Carmelo with several strikes to the back of his head and locked him in a submission hold, but the latter escaped and kicked him in the chest.

Later on in the match, Dragunov went up the top rope to perform a Coast-to-Coast onto Carmelo Hayes, who was resting on the bottom turnbuckle across from him in the ring. After he dove off the ropes, Melo caught him with a Codebreaker. The champion then climbed up the ropes to hit his finisher, but Ilja caught him and countered it into a powerbomb.

Dragunov then smashed Melo with a jumping forearm for a nearfall. Later on, Ilja tried to superplex his opponent, but the latter turned it into a cutter, which got a two-count. Trick Williams was at ringside, and he grabbed the WWE NXT Championship to motivate his partner to win the match.

THIS MATCH IS CRAZY 😱😱😱

#NXTGAB pic.twitter.com/zQITlv6414

However, Ilja Dragunov took out Trick at ringside by diving into him off of the steel stairs. After he got back into the ring, Carmelo Hayes hit him with his Nothing But Net finishing move to win the match and retain the WWE NXT Championship.

Who would you like to see challenge for the NXT Title next? Sound off in the comments below!