NXT – May 10, 2011 – This Show Flew By, Literally
NXT
Date: May 10, 2011
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Todd Grisham, William Regal
This is the tenth week and we still have no word on eliminations so I’m just going to forget about them now. There’s nothing to note on this show other than the potential of this being the week when Novak fights Regal. This would be the second week when that is supposed to happen so who knows. Anyway let’s get to it.
Regal is in gear and apparently it’s his birthday.
Striker is back as a host here and brings out Maryse. We get a clip of her getting beaten down by Kharma which means we see Kelly in those tiny white shorts which means I smile a bit. I’m not sure if it’s just my video but the video is going in semi-fast forward. Striker talks about the Redemption Points which Titus leads with 13. Naturally this contest is worth six, making the previous few weeks completely pointless.
THERE IS AN ELIMINATION NEXT WEEK!!!! THANK GOODNESS!!! This is called King of the Hill and all you have to do is run up to the stage, grab a flag and come back to the ring and sound off an air horn. Everyone goes at once so this takes like 15 seconds. The fast forward thing makes it even funnier. Titus wins, giving him 19 total points with second being something like 7. Titus gets on the mic and says he doesn’t know where Horny is and no one else does. He accuses Young of knowing something about it and says if Young doesn’t admit it he’ll beat it out of him.
Darren Young vs. Titus O’Neil
Look at these fresh matches NXT is giving us! They’re still in fast motion here and the times will be just in seconds as I don’t know what else to do. Young tries to leave but Titus pulls him back, shouting WHERE IS HE. Young takes over and works on the arm. I’m not sure if the sound is sped up also or not. Chavo criticizes Young, saying he wasn’t known in the first season of NXT. Did no one watch the show?
Some forearms get two for Young. Crowd flat out does not care. An electric chair gets Titus out of trouble and gets a gasp from the crowd for some reason. Chavo again denies that he took Horny as a powerslam gets two for Titus. A few seconds later a rollup ends Titus, giving him his first loss at 5:22
Rating: C-. Boring match that the fans didn’t really seem to care about. Titus is clearly being pushed as the megastar of this season but they have him lose to a guy like Young. I really don’t get that but I’m sure it makes sense in Vince’s mind. That would of course imply that Vince knew this show existed, so we’ll go with it makes no sense.
Kozlov and O’Brian (sans mustache) do some sambo which O’Brian isn’t that good at.
Conor O’Brian vs. Byron Saxton
They’re still moving in fast motion. I refreshed my browser and all that jazz so I’m guessing the production guys want this show to be over even more than I do. O’Brian works on the arm for a bit as Regal says Cannon is in the lead in his eyes. He’s making people notice him which makes sense.
The crowd flat out does not care and there’s nothing at all going on. Regal points out the lack of fire in the guys too so it’s probably one of them going home next week. O’Brian stays on offense the majority of the time here and puts on a stepover toehold. Saxton fights back with a downward stunner and a bulldog type move before a middle rope elbow to the chin ends this at 4:57.
Rating: D-. Regal was right: there was nothing of note here at all. They flat out didn’t care and there’s no reason at all to care about any of these people. Cannon is the only one that gets a reaction as Titus gets pops because of the leprechaun and that’s about it. Boring match all around and the lack of charisma by everyone shows through really badly here.
Saxton goes even more heel by saying Tatsu is too stupid to get that he doesn’t want him as his pro anymore.
Cannon gives Maryse a nice purse and she likes him now. There’s your romance triangle this season.
Smackdown Rebound is about Christian and Orton from Friday.
We recap Regal vs. Novak, which is old school vs. new school for the most part.
William Regal vs. Jacob Novak
Novak has a little Grandmaster Sexay going on. Novak represents the 3 S’s: street, skills and style. JTG is heel now apparently and he makes fun of country music to prove it. Regal sends him to the floor with relative ease. Crowd cheers for Regal louder than they have for everything else all night. Elbow in the corner sends Regal to the floor where JTG adds a dropkick.
Novak takes over and a knee lift gets two. We hit the chinlock for awhile as we talk about the elimination a bit. Clothesline puts Regal down again. Striker talks about how good Novak is and I keep wondering what these people are talking about when they say that. Back to the chinlock which doesn’t last as long. Regal fights back and takes over with relative ease and the Regal Stretch ends this at 6:20.
Rating: C. Well I think we all knew that was the ending, especially given that Regal was turning 43 today. Not much of a match but having an actual story really helped this as they had built it up to the point where you wanted Regal to show Novak who the master was out there and that’s exactly what you got. Can’t ask for more than that.
Overall Rating: C-. The main event was by far and away better than anything else, but other than the announcement that we’re FINALLY getting to an elimination, nothing really happened here. Horny is missing and after about 8 minutes that wasn’t mentioned again. Oh and Maryse can be bought with purses. Other than that, we have nothing here but thankfully someone (please O’Brian!) is gone next week.
Results
Titus O’Neil won the King of the Hill Challenge
Darren Young b. Titus O’Neil – Rollup
Byron Saxton b. Conor O’Brian – Middle rope elbow
William Regal b. Jacob Novak – Regal Stretch