NXT – January 25, 2011 – The Fink is Here!

NXT
Date: January 25, 2011
Location: US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Todd Grisham

I was a political science major in college so I’m having to stop watching the State of the Union Address for this show.  I hope you people are happy.  It’ll be on in the background so if you get random political ramblings I apologize.  Anyway on with NXT.  This is the eighth week in the season and we’re down to the final four.  The show should get a lot more entertaining now as other than arguably Curtis, everyone is at least mostly interesting.  Let’s get to it.

Theme song opens us up.  I can’t believe this show has been on almost a year now.

Striker is in the ring with the rookies.  There are two challenges tonight, one of which is a fatal fourway.  The winner gets the opportunity to switch their rookies if they choose to.  Before we start though we have a violation of rules and it involves Bateman.  We see a clip of Bateman as a ninja, slipping the answers to the Know Your Pro challenge to Bryan.  Nice to see them addressing this…I think.  Bateman gets penalized for this challenge.  Bryan: “That was the Ultimate Warrior!  Not Bateman!”

The first challenge is called Outthink The Fink.  There are trivia questions in envelopes that have been thought up by Fink.  They have thirty seconds but Bateman gets twenty as a penalty.  Here’s the Fink!  He always makes things seem more special.  Fink is uh, kind of chunky here.  If anyone beats Fink, they get an extra two points.  Fink picks the first envelope and the question is: “93,173 was the attendance at what show?”  Ah ok it’s rapid fire trivia questions and it’s most in 30 seconds.  Fink gets 2 right but can’t get the third out in time.  Striker asks questions very slowly.  He also got Taker’s first Streak victime.

Curtis goes second with the category of WWE Titles and gets very specific questions about individual PPVs.  He only got one, which was who is the youngest WWE Champion in history.  I knew some of them but they went way too in depth such as who did Edge beat at this PPV.

Bateman gets Firsts and gets one, which was who did Edge beat for his first singles title (Jarrett).

Saxton gets Potpourri and gets that HHH put a bounty on Goldberg and that’s it.  He didn’t know the team that Orton and Edge formed.

Going last is Clay and his category is the Royal Rumble.  He says that Cena returned at the Royal Rumble called Summerslam.  That’s not a typo either.  Clay gets one, which was who won the first Rumble.  So it’s a four way tie?  Does anyone get the two points?  No one gets the extra two points for beating Fink.

The fatal fourway is elimination.  SWEET!

They plug the Top 10 Rumble moments on WWE.com which is an absurd list.  Shawn winning from #1 is the top moment but Rey winning from #2 at almost twice the time is like 5th.  Cena’s return, which should be the top moment, was #6.

Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase

 

Before the match we get a clip of the Gail Kim moment last night which had me rolling.  I’m a bit sick of this match at this point.  Bryan starts by slipping behind him and Ziggler continues his shouting during these matches.  That’s always kind of funny as he’s a funny guy.  They speed it up a bit but Bryan takes it to the mat with an armbar.  Josh starts talking to Maryse and gets her autograph.

More arm work and he adds a leg lock at the same time.  He’s like a doctor out there with his submission precision.  They go to a test of strength which Ted throws a kick in to get control and he gets the hold down onto the mat.  LeBell Lock can’t go on.  Bryan controls as we take a break.

Back with DiBiase hammering him down in the corner.  Bryan misses a charge and it’s control back to DiBiase.  Neckbreaker by DiBiase as this is dragging a bit.  Truth and Ziggler start dueling chants in kind of a funny bit.  They hit the floor as this match is getting a good deal of time.  Ziggler keeps cracking jokes about Bateman cheating.  All DiBiase here as he rams Bryan into the steps and wants a count out.

Bryan beats the count and gets stomped on.  Ziggler makes jokes about being a Vegan while DiBiase gets a two count.  We hit the chinlock and Truth starts the “When I say Daniel you say Bryan” chant.  That lasts for three full names.  Bryan does his backflip out of the corner to take over.  This would be a lot more interesting if there was any doubt about the ending.

Big kick by Bryan puts DiBiase down and a flying dropkick off the top gets two.  This match has gotten over 10 minutes, probably making it the longest match this season.  Bryan gets a rollup for two twice and make it three times.  Dream Street is reversed and a sitout chokebomb gets two for DiBiase.  Bryan comes out of the corner and almost walks into a spinebuster.  He reverses into a guillotine but can’t get the LeBell Lock.

DiBiase gets sent to the floor and Bryan charges but runs into an elbow.  Ted sets for Dream Street and actually hits it…..for the pin???  DiBiase just got a totally clean pin on the United States Champion on NXT at 12:30.  I lay corrected on what I said about the ending being in doubt.  I’m really quite surprised by that and it makes the match a lot better actually.

Rating: B. This match got time and it wasn’t bad.  It was until the ending, but the ending actually changed my outlook on the match.  I can’t stand matches where it’s a waste of time and a guaranteed win.  Instead having this be competitive and the person that dominated win it (in a legit shock to me) helped tremendously.  I had it at a C+ before the ending if that tells you anything.

Rumble by the Numbers promo again which is still interesting indeed.

Maryse, Ted and Clay are talking about how DiBiase finally won.  If anyone else wins, Ted says they’ll want him.  Clay admits he’s flawed but DiBiase says he’s still the best choice.  Clay says he’ll win for DiBiase tonight.  He leaves and Maryse speaks more French which Ted still doesn’t understand.

Package on Miz vs. Orton for the Rumble.

Brodus Clay vs. Byron Saxton vs. Johnny Curtis vs. Derrick Bateman

 

This is the second week in a row where I couldn’t remember Curtis’ name.  That’s not good when I’ve watched every episode of this show.  This is elimination rules, no tagging, winner has the option of changing their pro.  Everyone goes after Bateman for some reason instead of Brodus.  He is thrown into a suplex from Brodus and is pinned in less than a minute.

Now they both go after Brodus as I scratch my head trying to figure that out.  They manage to get a suplex on him but Curtis tries to steal a rollup on Saxton which gets two.  Brodus is collecting himself on the floor so the others are in the ring.  Curtis takes out Brodus with a dive, leaving Saxton in the ring as we take a break.

Don’t try this at home.  These are good PSAs for lack of a better term to run.

Back with Brodus nailing Saxton with a clothesline.  Curtis is down on the floor and lets Saxton get beaten down like an intelligent person would.  Saxton gets something close to a Stunner to take Brodus down for two.  Curtis tries to come in off the top but gets caught.  He knocks Saxton down and gets a double guillotine legdrop to put out Saxton at 4:30.  We’re down to Clay and Curtis.

Clay is reeling and Curtis adds a European Uppercut to send him back on his heels.  Brodus is like wait I’m huge and splashes Curtis in the corner.  Off to the nerve hold which is my least favorite rest hold of all time.  Curtis fights out of it and rams some shoulders into the corner.  Josh has picked Rey to win the Rumble apparently.  Johnny goes up but jumps into the Tongan Death Grip Slam to end it at 7:20.

Rating: C+. This was quick and I think that was the right idea.  These guys aren’t very good in the ring so they kept this short.  Putting Bateman out that fast was kind of awkward but maybe that was due to an injury or something.  This was ok and probably about as good as it was going to get.

Post match Clay says his pro is rich and is likely going to dominate in the Rumble.  The one thing his pro isn’t is Ted DiBiase, as he’s switching to Alberto Del Rio.  The Death Grip Slam puts DiBiase down to almost dead silence.  Del Rio comes out and shakes hands with DiBiase to end this show kind of early at about 10:45.

Overall Rating: B. This show went by way faster than most do and I think that’s due to more wrestling.  There wasn’t some goofy competition as the trivia thing I guess shows what the guys know about the company’s history.  If nothing else it was cool to see Fink.  This was by far the best episode of the season and it was cool to see these guys in ring at the same time for once.  This was a wrestling heavy show and it worked much better because of it.  Good stuff here.

Results

Outthink the Fink Ended in a Four Way Tie

Ted DiBiase b. Daniel Bryan – Dream Street

Brodus Clay b. Johnny Curtis, Derrick Bateman and Byron Saxton – Tongan Death Grip Slam to Curtis

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