NXT – July 26, 2011 – Now at Twenty One Weeks.

NXT
Date: July 26, 2011
Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Todd Grisham, William Regal

Will we see O’Neil vs. Young VIII? Will Horny continue to think that Maryse likes him? Will there be more pro vs. pro matches that have absolutely nothing to do with the rookies whom the show is about? Can we actually manage to drag this out into our fifth month? If we go past next week we’ll hit that mark. I mean dude, it’s almost like they have no idea where this is going and are just running around with their heads cut off. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Tatsu vs. Kidd. I guess they get their fourth match tonight too. Isn’t that what Superstars is for? There’s a necklace on a pole match as Tatsu tries to put his shrine back together. Oh dear.

Titus O’Neil vs. Derrick Bateman

Bateman is in Creed/Balboa trunks since we’re in Philly. Todd says Bateman’s mentality might be to take O’Neil out of the competition early so he doesn’t have to deal with him later. Whoa whoa WHOA. WE’RE STILL EARLY IN THIS THING??? I’m sorry I need a minute. O’Neil dominates to start with his power game. Neither pro is here tonight and Regal wants to know where they are.

Titus grabs the arm but Bateman fights out of it. Ok never mind as he goes shoulder first into the corner. Regal says Titus has the perfect build for a star. Back to the arm as the crowd is dead. Bateman is thrown to the floor and looks like he wants to leave but Young comes out and says take Titus out. We take a break to shill WCW DVDs.

Back with Titus still dominating, hitting an elbow. Scratch that dominating aspect as Bateman gets a guillotine drop using the top rope to take over. Off to something resembling the inbred cousin of the Tazmission. Regal calls Bateman sloppy and Titus breaks a hold to give himself a breather. Never mind though as Bateman keeps stomping away. Apparently Derrick hates the bark. Regal thinks he sounds like a seal that wants a fish.

Titus gets a hard elbow in the corner to take Derrick down. Bateman goes up and misses something off the ropes so here comes Titus. Bateman charges into another elbow but Young interferes, allowing that weird bulldog kind of move (I don’t know what else to call it) to end Titus at 8:30.

Rating: D. Just going through the motions here. Bateman is boring beyond belief in the ring and I have no idea why they thought he’d be better as a heel. None of these guys are interesting at all. Titus has a decent look and that’s about it. No real point to this other than having all the rookies out there for awhile. Match was just bad though.

We’re going to get Cena vs. Mysterio tonight. As in the whole match.

Horny is in the back with his doll from last week and finds candy on the floor. He follows the trail of it to a note which we can’t read. It’s AJ, looking great in some jean shorts. She kisses Horny on the lips but Maryse comes up to make fun of them. Maryse really does tower over her. AJ smacks her and smiles at Horny.

Kozlov is doing what is apparently called planking (he’s on a vending machine and taking a picture of himself so I guess it’s a fad) when JTG comes up. This was part of the gangster bet which will be paid off next week. My breath is held in anticipation.

Tyson Kidd vs. Yoshi Tatsu

It’s a necklace on a poll match. Tatsu’s song is catchy I must say. On the necklace is the leg of the action figure that Tyson broke. Kidd goes for it immediately but Yoshi makes the save. They go back and forth a bit but Yoshi hits a spinwheel kick so he can go for the pole. Tyson hammers him down and we hit the formula for this match: one person beats someone down then climbs, the other person hits them in the back and we switch.

They go to the floor as I’ve never seen a crowd sitting so still. Snap suplex on the floor puts Tatsu down but Tatsu strikes back and a double knee smash sends Kidd into the post. Not the pole, the post. Another attempt eats steps though and back inside we go. Tyson stomps a mudhole and shouts a lot. Double clothesline puts both people down and Kidd goes for the corner. Yoshi tries to catch him and they both fall off.

We take a break with both guys down. You know, the match itself isn’t all that bad, but they’re fighting over a piece of an action figure. You couldn’t make this a bit more personal? Like a piece of jewelery that Yoshi’s family gave him? Something that somebody might see as valuable perhaps? Back with Kidd working Yoshi over and they’re outside almost immediately.

Regal tries to tell us that this isn’t to be taken lightly. I get that they’re trying and at least it’s not a totally cliched storyline, but this feud (which hasn’t been bad) is on NXT. Neither of these guys are on the show anymore as far as rookies go, so why are they here? Kidd puts on a Boston Crab on Yoshi using the bottom rope. Think of a Tarantula kind of. Grisham screws up and says Daniel Bryan is Tyson Kidd’s pro until Regal asks what the heck he’s talking about. I needed a bad flub like that.

Kidd goes for the corner but Yoshi saves (of course) and kicks Kidd upside his head to put him down. Yoshi can’t follow up though so it’s time for the slow climb. Isn’t it always convenient that the people climbing things in wrestling are REALLY FREAKING SLOW? Yoshi almost gets it but gets crotched. Both guys are standing on the top and Yoshi grabs the necklace to win but the Canadian hits a German to the Japanese to put him down. Yoshi wins though at 10:15.

Rating: B-. Not a classic or anything but this was a pretty solid back and forth match. At the end of the day though, these young guys that are having solid matches are fighting over a piece of plastic from an action figure from a shrine which hasn’t been explained on an internet show about rookies that these two aren’t associated with anymore. It’s a bit hard to get into it you know?

Kidd massacres him post match and hooks the figure four around the post.

We get a clip with music of Vince being relieved of his duties. HHH will be on Smackdown this week. Dang I wish that was next week.

We get the main event and the finale from Raw last night. I wasn’t paying a ton of attention so I’m assuming it isn’t abridged or anything. This is from the review I did of Raw so if it sounds a bit different, it was written during my initial viewing of the match.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. Rey Mysterio

There’s a bigger border on the belt now. Cena comes out post break. There’s a Divas Battle Royal next week on Raw. Rey gets a kick to the leg to start and there’s a second one. They’re kind of feeling each other out to start. There are three more of them but Cena runs Rey over with a shoulder block for two. Rey gets a sunset flip kind of move for two and grabs a headlock.

Cena gets a belly to back to escape and gets two at the same time. Rey goes for the knee again but Cena dodges. He misses a charge though and hits the buckle chest first, falling to the floor. The dueling chants begin and Rey hits a springboard flip dive to the floor. Rey speeds things up but gets his head taken off by a clothesline. Back in and Cena gets a waistlock but Rey gets up and hits a DDT for two.

STF doesn’t work as Rey gets to the ropes. 619 is caught and Cena tosses him onto his shoulder for that sitout powerslam for two. Here comes Cena’s ending sequence but Rey fires off a dropkick to block a shoulder. Nice counter and it’s remarkable how few people have blocked that before. Rey tries to speed it up but his spinning cross body is caught in an FU attempt which is also reversed.

Both guys are down and Rey drop toeholds him into the buckle. Seated Senton hits but Cena tries to roll through into the STF. Rey counters into an STF of his own. Cena gets up on one leg into an AA position but the leg gives out and Cena collapses, right into 619 position. It hits this time and Rey goes up top for the splash but it eats knees. Rey tries a rana out of the corner but Cena shoves him off in something resembling a powerbomb.

Cena loads up the top rope Fameasser but it turns into a leg drop on a standing Rey which only gets two. The fans are WAY into this too and I can’t blame them as it’s been a solid match. Cena sets the AA but Rey elbows out of it. Another 619 is set up but Cena catches him in the AA and is champion again at 12:47. I can live with this I think.

Rating: B+. Solid stuff here as Cena got to show off his power and how effective it could be. I’m not sure what more they could do given the amount of time they had. Rey’s STF was a cool addition which we haven’t seen before on Cena, or at least not that I can remember. Good stuff here as both guys usually bring it in big matches.

Cena helps Rey up and celebrates with the title but some music starts up.  It’s a song called Cult of Personality……..PUNK IS BACK!  Cena holds up his title.  Punk holds up his title.  They stare it down as the show ends with Cena leaving.

Since this was so short, it was definitely cut. I wasn’t watching tonight (Tuesday) because I really didn’t want to see it again.

Overall Rating: D. Yes, one match was good and the one from Raw last night was good, but I’m not going to count Rey vs. Cena in the rating. It wasn’t part of NXT. It’s a Raw match and yes it’s good, but this has nothing to do with NXT. It gets boring when we have to sit through 10 minutes of stuff we saw less than a day ago, even if it’s good. Do they really think people that don’t watch Raw watch NXT? Either way, this show is just like the others lately: totally pointless and they seem like they’re just killing time until….something that’ll be pointless I’m betting. Anyway, one decent match and that’s about it.

The review will be up late next week as I’ll be watching the show live and won’t be able to review it until Wednesday.

Results

Derrick Bateman b. Titus O’Neil – Falling bulldog

Yoshi Tatsu b. Tyson Kidd – Tatsu pulled down the necklace

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