NXT – June 28, 2011 – Best NXT Match In A Very Long Time

NXT
Date: June 28, 2011
Location: US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: William Regal, Todd Grisham

It’s another elimination week to get us down to the final two which will hopefully end soon after that.  The final three are Darren Young, Conor O’Brian and Titus O’Neil.  It seems like the competition is Titus’ to lose here but you never know with this show.  That being said, I’d probably bet on O’Brian to win it because we all want to see him for another four months down the road right?  Let’s get to it.

Here’s Darren Young who now has no pro as Chavo has left.  Young says that Chavo quit because he couldn’t handle the fact that his rookie was better.  Young points out how he’s faced Cena and main evented Summerslam this year which is something Chavo has never done.  True actually.

O’Brian comes out to say that after tonight, Young is done.  He promises utter destruction.

Darren Young vs. Conor O’Brian

They fight over a tieup to start and head to the floor.  Hot crowd tonight too.  Back inside and Conor takes over with a clothesline.  A shoulder by O’Brian gets two.  Young hits a neckbreaker on the apron and both guys are down as we take a break.  Back with O’Brian escaping a cravate but getting thrown down for two.  Off to a neck crank by Young which doesn’t last long.

Kozlov isn’t here tonight either apparently as he’s in Australia with the Raw roster.  Chinlock doesn’t work long and O’Brian hits a slingshot to send Young into the corner.  Young hits the ropes and gets his head kicked off by a big boot.  That looked good.  Regal brings up the point that these guys know each other way too well.  Young hits Three Amigos to the biggest heat he’s gotten since he had a big yellow N on his chest.  A Frog Splash ends this a few seconds later at 8:45.

Rating: C+. Not bad here and that big kick was the biggest part of the whole thing.  The lack of pros actually helped a lot here as it was just a competition rather than about the pros, which is the point of the show.  O’Brian is still dull but if he can get even a single move going for him it’s an improvement.

Tatsu is at his shrine with his action figure again and Kidd comes up and breaks it.  They have a match later but Yoshi jumps him and attacks him until he’s pulled off.

Tyson Kidd vs. Yoshi Tatsu

TYSON’S HAIR IS GONE!  He cut that little thing off his head and it’s due to Bret pulling on it apparently.  Yoshi is all ticked off and hammers away to start, sending Kidd to the floor.  HARD chops in the corner and Kidd is in trouble.  Kidd comes back, hitting what looked like a forearm off the middle rope.  On the floor he hits a dropkick to send Yoshi into the steps as we take a break.

Back and we’re in a chinlock by Kidd.  He works the arm and gets two off a hammerlock suplex.  Big kick into the arm has Yoshi in agony.  Fujiwara Armbar goes on which is becoming a very popular move anymore.  Yoshi starts his comeback with his variety of kicks.  Big kick gets a close two as the fans are into this again.  They go up and Kidd is shoved off.  He manages a dropkick to crotch Yoshi though and a top rope rana gets two.  I would have bet on that being the ending.  Rollup gets two for Yoshi.  Another big kick finally ends Kidd at 9:20.  Abrupt ending but rather good.

Rating: B. For NXT, this was AWESOME.  They were allowed to go out there and beat the heck out of each other.  Those kicks and 2 counts were great and I really didn’t know who was going to win there at the end.  Sick high kick to put Kidd down at the end also made this a very good match and one of the best NXT matches I’ve seen in a long time.

JTG is getting ready and here’s Horny in a trashcan which he’s able to walk in somehow.  O’Neil comes up to stop an attack because he’s only trying to steal the gold jewelry because he’s a leprechaun.  They get in an argument over what it’s made of.  I give up.

Titus O’Neil vs. JTG

Maryse is on commentary here for no reason other than “she feels like it”.  O’Neil throws him around as Regal and Maryse argue a bit.  Horny has a note for Maryse and it’s in English apparently.  It’s an old school style of do you love me?  Circle one.  We hear about the required height to date Maryse as JTG takes over a bit.  Maryse is taking pictures as O’Neil fights back.  JTG is sent to the floor and almost runs into Horny.  He gets on the apron and poses at JTG.  Back in the ring the Clash of the Titus ends this at 3:20.

Rating: C. Just a quick match here as Titus continues to be so far and away better than everyone else in this season it’s unreal.  Nothing of note here as JTG is still a jobber, no matter which way he’s leaning on the face/heel spectrum.  Maryse was far more of the focus here than the match and I can’t say I blame them here.

Maryse rips up the letter post match.

Raw Rebound eats up some time.  They only talk about the main event and the Punk promo though.  That’s still awesome stuff, but it makes me think Cena wins clean at the PPV.  Just parts of it here though instead of whole thing due to time.  Most of the controversial stuff here is gone.

Grisham says that Punk has been suspended indefinitely and Vince might be on Raw.

Time for the elimination and thankfully O’Brian is gone.  He asks Hunter (HHH I presume) for a chance to play the game.

But wait we’re not done yet because someone else is going to the finals.  Derrick Bateman is back and Bryan is his pro again.  What in the world?  Why are they adding someone else NOW?  Do they really want to extend this even further?  I’m going to be at the show on August 2.  There better be a new season by then.

Overall Rating: B. All things considered, this was the best episode of NXT in months.  There were good matches and the crowd was red hot all night.  O’Brian finally being gone is the right choice because you could make a case for Young or O’Neil winning the whole thing.  Bateman being added is uh….puzzling.  At least he was funny during his time here so it’s not too bad.  Good show this week that flew by in a good way.

Results

Darren Young b. Conor O’Brian – Frog Splash

Yoshi Tatsu b. Tyson Kidd – High Kick

Titus O’Neil b. JTG – Clash of the Titus

Conor O’Brian was eliminated in 3^rd place.

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