NXT
Date: September 20, 2011
Location: Wright State University Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators: William Regal, Jack Korpela

I’m not going to bother talking about the competition or what week it is anymore until we get to a milestone or something like that. I’m not sure where they’re going to go with the stories as a lot of stuff was wrapped up last week. We have the old guys vs. the new guys still but that can only go so far. Regal and Striker got a pretty definitive win but I guess it’s time for the Uso Era now. Let’s get to it.

We open with the Percy Watson Show. He’s been back a week and he has a talk show? Anyway he brings out O’Neil with both guys being in suits. Titus talks about it being a long 29 weeks and says they should take a run at the tag titles after the season ends. Here are JTG and Young with a rebuttal. JTG says he’s a tag team specialist. It seems like JTG is Young’s pro now. Titus brings up the Usos running them off last week and JTG calls the Usos haters. Watson says he and Titus dress better and a tag match is made…I think. They brawl and Titus/Watson clears the ring.

AJ vs. Maxine

We get a clip from last week with the match they had already where Maxine won. Regal talks about Maxine’s uncle being a Peruvian hunchback pickpocket. He also makes saddles for seahorses. At least both chicks look good. Maxine controls early and grabs a chinlock. Off to a Liontamer with her foot on the head and that’s illegal apparently as the referee breaks it up. AJ grabs a pair of rollups for two each and Maxine takes over again.

Regal talks about pulling hair and Maxine puts on chinlock #3 of a four minute match. AJ tries to speed things up and Maxine’s shoulder goes into the post. Spin kick gets two for AJ. Maxine tries that same move she hit last week but AJ kicks her in the back and hits a Shining Wizard (called that by Regal) for the pin at 5:14.

Rating: D+. The ending was good but dude, three chinlocks in a five minute match? I mean is that really necessary? This is match #3 in the whole Where’s Horny story and it’s already boring. Granted when you have the same match over and over again it’s bound to get boring. This wasn’t anything special but it wasn’t totally horrible I guess.

HHH’s movie trailer and the Raw ReBound (all about Ryder/Jackman/Ziggler and zero about the firing or HHH etc) eat up a bunch of time.

Horny is in the back with a letter for AJ. Maxine comes in and implies sex between Tyson and AJ. Maxine keeps walking and finds Bateman and Kidd. Kidd leaves and Maxine says they’re this close to separating AJ and Horny. They make out.

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Derrick Bateman

Tatsu takes it to the mat and still has the paint on half of his face. Bateman chops away and Tatsu has white paint all over his chest. Yoshi drops a Muta style elbow for two and Bateman hits the floor. Tatsu gets sent into the post balls first and there’s paint on the mat now. He needs to look into some higher quality stuff. Back in the ring and Tatsu gets taken down by a clothesline for two. Bateman’s offense is pretty boring.

There’s an abdominal stretch but he shifts into a pumphandle backbreaker for two. Now Tatsu has the same stretch on Bateman but that’s quickly broken up. Tatsu fires away with strikes and a running kick in the corner and a big kick gets two. Cross body off the top gets two. Another attempt is rolled through for another two. A big kick puts Bateman down but Kidd runs in for the DQ at 6:43.

Rating: C. Not bad here but can we do something else besides Tatsu vs. Kidd? The matches are pretty good but have been going downhill a bit in recent weeks. Bateman is floundering at this point and needs something to do besides this pretty stupid love thing with Maxine/Titus/AJ. Not a terrible match, but where does this lead other than Tyson vs. Tatsu again?

AJ talks to Trent Barreta but Titus comes up and Trent leaves. Titus says make up with Horny but she’s not sure. Titus leaves and Horny is behind him. Horny leaves after shaking his head.

Titus O’Neil/Percy Watson vs. JTG/Darren Young

Percy vs. Young to start and Percy gets a butterfly suplex for two. Off to Titus who powers down Young with ease. And now we’re talking about Air Boom. Watson throws on an armbar and it’s off to Titus again. All Watson/O’Neil here. Young is thrown to the floor as we take a break. Back with Watson beating up JTG. Regal thinks Young might have cauliflower ear from going to the floor. JTG is sent to the floor and talks some trash to Regal but turns around into a baseball slide.

Young FINALLY gets a shot in on Watson for their first offense after about seven minutes. It’s Watson taking the beatdown here from Young with something like a weak camel clutch. And never mind as JTG comes in and talks too much trash, allowing Watson to get his foot up. He can’t make a tag though as the match keeps going.

Young cheats a bit and Regal starts coaching him before he realizes what he’s doing. Korpela: “Hold the phone.” Regal: “What phone?” Regal also says that he thinks Young is ahead of all the rookies. Watson takes Young down and gets Titus in for the comeback. He tries what looks to be a spinebsuter but settles for an atomic drop instead. We actually get a Who Let The Dogs Out line from Korpela. The numbers catch up with Titus and a fireman’s carry into a gutbuster ends Titus at 12:00. That’s a surprise.

Rating: C. Not a bad main event but as always with NXT, there’s the problem of the same stuff happening week after week and nothing ever developing out of it. It’s not a bad match but is this ever going anywhere? If it is I certainly don’t see it. I guess this is supposed to set up the Usos vs. Young/JTG but are we supposed to look forward to that now?

Post match the Usos come in and hit their double splash on the winners, ending the show.

Overall Rating: C-. Eh this was just kind of there. It’s like they took a look back at some of the stuff last week and wanted to make sure we really got it so they aired it again. The Usos being on there is almost a guarantee of our main event next week. Not a bad show but it was pretty boring and there was little that made me want to watch next week. AJ and Horny are pretty boring but that’s NXT for you. Not horrible but weaker than last week.

Results
AJ b. Maxine – Shining Wizard
Yoshi Tatsu b. Derrick Bateman via DQ with Tyson Kidd interfered
Darren Young/JTG b. Titus O’Neil/Percy Watson – Gutbuster to O’Neil

NXT
Date: August 23, 2011
Location: Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Commentators: Todd Grisham, William Regal

Yes we’re STILL in this season and now they’ve started bringing in other Divas like Maxine. You would think that someone somewhere would have an idea about where they’re going with this but it doesn’t seem like there’s one in sight at all. It’ll be more Titus vs. the evil two and no sign of the show ending at all while JTG and Striker have some random matches that no one cares about. Let’s get to it.

“A great main event.” Gee I wonder what it’ll be.

We’re in Canada tonight so who knows what the fans will be like.

Striker is in the ring and Young comes out to yell at him again. We get it already: Young hates him and has beaten him twice. PLEASE give us a loser leaves town match or something. Striker admits he can’t beat Young and after some Canadian insults Young kicks Striker in the gut and beats him down. Regal gets up from the desk and makes the save. Dude…..SERIOUSLY? You mean there aren’t enough people on this show already so we’re bringing in more from the announce desk? Whoever gets this show’s ideas together needs to start a workout series on how to stretch because it would be AWESOME.

Tyson Kidd vs. Trent Barreta

We talk about who the Japanese characters could have meant, including Kenzuke Sasaki, Yoshi Kwan or someone named Toyota. Why are announcers so stupid at times? The fans chant for Kidd (naturally) as Regal rants a bit. Regal rants about Young, calling himself and Striker “old veterans”. Striker wrestled in WWE for what, a year and a half? How much of an old pro can he be?

This is a can you top this match as both guys try to show off and neither really gets anywhere. Tyson takes over via the arm and down goes Trent. The fans popping like mad for Tyson Kidd is just weird to see. Forearm puts Kidd down and gets two. Kidd sends him into the corner and Trent gets the feet up but keeps them on Kidd’s chest, driving them down into kind of a double stomp.

Regal mentions his trainer, a man named Marty Jones and implies he kept Regal out of the Calgary territory for some reason that Regal isn’t happy with. Barreta has had four matches with Kidd but has never beaten him. That’s all you need for a little story sometimes and it’s fine for a simple match like this one. Kidd comes in off a springboard but Trent gets a dropkick to block for two and we take a break to talk about some video game that no one cares about anymore.

Back with Trent holding a headlock. I can’t tell what the fans are chanting now but it doesn’t sound like Tyson Kidd or anything like that. Out to the floor and Kidd gets a BIG kick to the head and something like a spinning DDT/neckbreaker to take over but both guys are down. Grisham asks about Regal and Young and Regal gets in a funny line with “I don’t hate anybody. Ok yes I do.”

Trent gets in a nice diving legdrop to the floor which gets two in the ring. This is getting some time and we’re getting a solid match out of it. Barreta goes up and gets crotched (Grisham: right in the capital of Thailand!), letting Kidd hit a top rope rana but Trent rolls through into a sunset flip but Tyson rolls through into a Sharpshooter attempt but Trent rolls through THAT into a victory roll for two. Sweet sequence there.

They slug it out and neither can get a solid advantage for a bit. Jumping knee to the head gets two for Trent. This has been almost great stuff so far. It almost sounds like the fans are chanting for Daniel Bryan. Double clothesline puts both guys down and Trent tries the tornado DDT but gets caught in a Canadian Mapleleaf. Lance Storm is in attendance according to commentary. And never mind as the Japanese characters pop up on the screen again and the distraction lets Trent hit the tornado DDT for the pin at 15:00.

Rating: B. Heck of a back and forth match here but the ending leaves something to be desired. I get that we’re setting up the idea of Tatsu coming back but can we just get back to the feud so that it can end and we can get a mention of an elimination? I know that’s a lost cause anymore but whatever. Still though, very solid match here as has become expected on this show.

We recap Maxine returning from last week.

Bateman is rubbing her shoulders and talks about how awesome they are and how much better they’ll be than other power couples. They don’t like AJ and Horny. Sex is implied.

AJ vs. Maxine

This is Maxine’s first match in a long time. Regal sings her praises and Maxine takes over. Horny is on the apron for this for no apparent reason. The crowd has gone from hot for the first match to dead for this one. Todd says Maxine should fear the beard of Hornswoggle. I can see the t-shirts now. AJ has gotten in nothing at all yet. Suplex gets two for Maxine. In a very telling/funny moment, Regal talks about going to get a haircut the other day and asking for highlights but only getting a DVD of other haircuts. Todd: “We’re really struggling in this match. Maxine GET THE WIN ALREADY.”

Maxine puts the chinlock on again and we hear about how she has a bunch of nationalities in her. So that’s what she’s done in the last year. AJ finally gets in a shot to take over and that lasts about 3 seconds. Maxine takes her down and Bateman is begging for a cover. Spinwheel kick takes Maxine down and a cross body gets two. Further proof of the dying commentary: “AJ going the aerial route and I’m not talking about the Little Mermaid.” Bateman shoves Horny down and the distracted AJ is rolled up for the pin at 6:26.

Rating: F. No. One. Cares. I haven’t heard a crowd go that quiet in a long time. I know Maxine has done some stuff in FCW that was impressive I guess but now on the main stage no one cares at all. She’s not interesting and is just another blonde chick that is out there offering sex to her male partner and that’s about it. Why should I care about another chick doing the same heel jazz?

Post match Titus makes the save.

Bret will be on Smackdown which is from Calgary and is GM for the night. Certainly can’t argue with that decision.

After seeing a sign that says Satan 3:16, here’s Cena vs. Punk from last night. You know the drill: it might be clipped, I don’t watch it and here’s the whole review from last night.

John Cena vs. CM Punk

Ace and Del Rio are at ringside. The fans throw Cena’s shirt back twice. I’ll take it if they don’t want it. This is a pro-Punk crowd. It’s a slow start but they have some time. The fans chant for the Oilers (hockey team) and here comes Cena. He goes into the finishing sequence very quickly. The Shuffle is countered into a rollup for two very quickly. Leg lariat sets up the corner knee and bulldog for no cover.

Punk goes up but gets knocked to the floor as we take a break. Back and both guys are down. Punk grabs the GTS but Cena escapes as does Punk from the AA. Another AA attempt fails and Punk gets the springboard clothesline for two. GTS is countered into an STF attempt but Punk escapes. Cena uses pure power to push Punk down into the STF where Punk is in trouble.

That’s a good looking hold but Punk makes the ropes. Cena’s shoulder goes into the post and the GTS gets two. They’re telling a good story as they know regular stuff isn’t going to work so they’re throwing bombs from the beginning. Punk goes up but the elbow misses. I love that tribute he does to Savage. That’s what it should be: a move done in his honor and the point to the sky is perfect in multiple ways for Savage.

Cena now goes up and hits the Famesasser for two. AA #4 is countered into a SWEET running knee for two. HUGE AA gets a very close two. Again I love the throwing huge stuff and almost nothing but huge stuff. Top rope cross body is rolled through into the AA but Punk reverses into a sunset flip for two. He sets for the GTS but here’s Nash again, saying it’s not over with Punk. Punk turns around and the AA sends Cena to Night of Champions at 14:25.

Rating: B+. Seriously were you expecting anything but a good match here? They have that chemistry that you need and it’s showing here. You give these two fifteen minutes and they’ll give you the top level match they’re capable of. Obviously TV is different than PPV but this was rather awesome indeed. Good match as the kicking out was good stuff.

Overall Rating: D+. I can’t say it’s a failure due to the great first match, but considering none of the rookies were on the card in a show ABOUT ROOKIES, it’s hard to say this was a show that did the things it was supposed to do. Cena vs. Punk is great, but did we need to watch the whole thing for over ten minutes while the rookies didn’t even wrestle?

This show has turned into an indy level TV show. You get one good match a week and then a highlight from a better show with bigger stars. Nothing is mentioned about the competition anymore other than someone saying they’ll win it. It’s really not a horrid wrestling show, but if you expect it to be anything resembling what it claims to be, you’re in for a disappointment/a big surprise, depending on where you stand.

 

Results

Trent Barreta b. Tyson Kidd – Tornado DDT

Maxine b. AJ – Rollup

NXT
Date: August 16, 2011
Location: Rabobank Arena, Bakersfield, California
Commentators: Todd Grisham, Michael Cole

 

We’re on the way to the sixth month of this show. I would make a joke about this show getting close to being able to having a baby but I’m not sure it’s a joke anymore. I’d expect more hijinks tonight with everyone talking about nothing in particular and nothing at all being mentioned about the show moving forward in any way at all. Let’s get to it.

We open with AJ, Titus and Horny in the ring. Is this the face faction now? Titus talks about Horny looking for true love and says he has something to say to AJ. Horny babbles a lot and Titus translates. Apparently Horny wants to propose to her. Oh give me a break. And yes, it’s a Ring Pop. AJ says it’s not about size (make your own jokes) but about the size of Horny’s heart. But she just said….oh never mind.

 

Bateman interrupts and says this is disgusting and that it’s not a soap opera. Titus tells him to leave and insults his jeans. Make fun of his win/loss record, beat him up, get more points than he does or whatever else you can think of, but INSULTING HIS JEANS??? YOU GO TOO FAR!!! Bateman says he’s not sure which one is the leprechaun and which is the troll. Horny goes after him and Bateman runs. AJ is alone in the ring and some chick jumps her. It’s a now blonde Maxine. THEY’RE BRINGING BACK THE DIVA ROOKIES NOW????? To be fair she looks much better without the black hair.

 

JTG vs. Tyson Kidd

 

Heel vs. heel? Really? Works for me I guess. Kidd has promised us something special next week in Calgary. JTG grabs a rollup for one a few seconds into this. The crowd is silent. Like creepily silent. JTG is wrestling face here despite being heel for the last 4 months or so. Then again is anyone paying attention to things such as that? Kidd speeds things up and gets some kicks to the head for two.

 

JTG hits Jay Lethal’s belly to back suplex into a neckbreaker for two. Half of the Lethal Combination gets two. Think he’s been watching some TNA/ROH stuff lately? JTG yells to the crowd but gets caught in a horribly botched looking rolling half crab (think Lance Storm)…and he taps at 3:10. That was unexpected. I guess JTG is a moderate face now.

 

Rating: C. The botch near the end hurt it a lot and the ending came almost out of nowhere. Also JTG suddenly being face is just weird as nothing happened other than Vladimir being released. Not sure what the point of this was but I guess it’s just to set up the whole YOSHI IS COMING thing. Granted that sounds like a really bad Nintendo ad but this isn’t the most well thought out show.

 

Post match some music starts for a bit and a Japanese/Chinese character (as in a written word) appears on screen. Does Japanese have written characters? Yeah we know: Tatsu is coming back.

 

Striker says he lost last week and he’s not making any excuses. Young vs. Striker II tonight. If Young wants respect, he has to earn it. Surprisingly good promo.

 

Matt Striker vs. Darren Young

 

Striker….strikes away to start. Well he lives up to his name I guess. He works on the arm and fingers to start but gets rolled up for two. Double clothesline takes both guys down but Darren is in better shape at the moment. A neckbreaker on the apron is broken up but Young gets something like a release belly to back onto the apron which looked good. A chinlock is broken up by Striker going after the leg. Why don’t more people do that?

 

Striker fires off and is getting all ticked off. He’s really improved in his long layoff. Striker takes Young down and gets two as Young gets his foot on the rope. This referee > HHH I guess. Young goes for that fireman’s carry into a gutbuster but Striker counters into a Backstabber for two. The fans go silent so Striker screams at them to wake them up. He tries La Majistral (and yes I know that’s probably not the right spelling) but Young rolls through into that gutbuster of his for the pin at 5:05. That was a good ending.

 

Rating: C. Striker continues to look good all things considered, but where does this lead? If Striker wins then Young looks even weaker than he already does. If Young keeps beating him, he’s beating up an announcer/host who came out of retirement a few weeks ago. I don’t get what the point of this is but the matches have been the highlights of the show recently. The ending here was cool.

 

Here are Bateman and Maxine. They’re holding hands so there’s your latest couple in WWE. Bateman wants the people to respect her and calls her his girlfriend. Maxine says Horny can’t handle a real woman like her. We’re just getting started according to her. Heaven help me.

 

Derrick Bateman vs. Titus O’Neil

 

For those of you that want something completely different I suppose. Regal and Grisham quote Bobby Heenan to liven things up a bit. Titus hammers away with power stuff to start as is his custom. Oh and there’s no Horny or AJ in sight. Bateman gets a dropkick for two. Bateman keeps hammering away while Regal talks about his turtle running away and the turtle (Speedy) getting mugged by some snails. This is the Gorilla Monsoon/Jesse Ventura formula of “we’re so bored we’ll do anything short of first degree murder to keep from falling asleep”.

 

The match is really boring, namely because we’ve seen them fight so many times already. Bateman controls for awhile until Titus starts channeling his football days and tackles Derrick a few times. Shoulderbreaker gets two. There’s the fallaway slam and Bateman hits the floor. Titus tries to get back in and Maxine trips him, letting Bateman get a rollup pin at 6:17.

 

Rating: D. It’s just boring. That’s the problem with this match: it’s just boring. It was so obvious that Maxine was going to cost Titus the match the entire time that there was no point in watching the whole thing up to that point. This story just keeps adding chapters for the sake of adding chapters and none of them are interesting. Thus is NXT.

 

And now we get the entire Alberto vs. Rey match from last night because NXT only has enough material to fill in 40 minutes. I have no idea if this is clipped or not but I’m not watching it again so here’s the review that I wrote for it live.

 

Raw World Title: Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio

 

The new champ rolls out in a bright red Ferrari. Rey is the hometown boy so he gets a huge pop. It seems to be the Undisputed WWE Championship now. We continue the old school weapon checks but don’t even get big match intros. Fast paced stuff to start but it’s pretty basic. Rey sends him to the floor as we take a break. The bell rang at 10 until 11pm so they don’t have a ton of time.

 

Back with Rey in a body vice and he pulls half of the mask off. Alberto takes him up to the top which doesn’t work at all as Rey takes him down with a tornado DDT. Wicked one too. Spinning cross body gets two. Rolling sunset flip gets two. Rey gets taken down for a bit but takes to the air, sending Alberto to the floor. Gorgeous Asai Moonsault takes both guys down.

 

Seated Senton hits and he gets Alberto into the 619 position. Alberto takes his head off with a clothesline though and complains when it only gets two. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets the same result. Corner enziguri gets two. Rey grabs a rollup out of nowhere for two to break up the armbreaker.

 

Dropkick puts Rey down and he goes for the arm again. Rey reverses into an electric chair position and into a rana for the 619 position. The call connects (hate that term but whatever) and it’s top rope splash time. Jerry declares it over which seals Rey’s fate. The splash hits knees and Alberto gets a small package for the pin at 12:50.

 

Rating: C+. Pretty good match here and Alberto wins clean which is something that he certainly needs. These two have chemistry and this was no exception to it, which is probably due to them having so many matches together over the past year. Good stuff here and it worked rather well for a TV main event.

 

Since a 13 minute match took 6 minutes to air, yeah it was clipped. We also get the close to the show with Cena saving Rey.

 

Post match Alberto goes for the arm and snaps it on the rope then puts the armbreaker on. Cena runs out for the save and wants a mic. Post match Alberto goes for the arm and snaps it on the rope then puts the armbreaker on. Cena runs out for the save and wants a mic. He rants about how much his weekend sucked and is all kinds of serious. he says Alberto cashed in a briefcase and got lucky. One days he’s going to have to defend it (kind of like he just did?) and if it’s against Cena, he won’t be so lucky. Serious Cena works very well and this was one of those moments.

 

Overall Rating: C-. The matches were ok, but the same complaints as always here: what is the point of ANY of this? Bateman now has some chick with him that hates AJ because….because AJ is a face and Maxine is a heel I guess. There’s nothing to see here as has been the case for the last three months or so. More of the same as always.

 

Results

Tyson Kidd b. JTG – Half Crab

Darren Young b. Matt Striker – Fireman’s Carry into a Gutbuster

Derrick Bateman b. Titus O’Neil – Rollup

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 7, 2011
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

It’s the last show before Destination X and we have a final push towards the PPV with another triple threat to determine who goes to the four way at the PPV.  There are only 5 matches by my math (Kaz vs. Joe, AJ vs. Daniels, RVD vs. Lynn, the four way and Abyss vs. Kendrick) and we’ve heard of an Ultimate X match but no one has been named.  Maybe that’ll be the contract match?  We should find out tonight so let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the ending of last week’s show and Angle making the save for Sting, perhaps joining him in the war with Immortal.

Ray, Gunner and Steiner are in the ring to open the show and Ray calls out Anderson.  Here’s Anderson and he does his usual intro.  Ray makes fun of it and threatens Anderson with a Steiner beating if he doesn’t shut his mouth.  Ray says tonight Anderson is going to join Immortal for his own good because Sting has been nuts lately.  The Bully says they need each other and joining Immortal will make everyone happy.
Steiner says it’s time for him to screw some people and tells Anderson he’s either with them or against them.  He has to decide tonight or he’ll deal with Steiner.  Gunner says tonight it’s all of Immortal vs. Sting and Angle.  Anderson has until the end of the match to decide.  Gunner says hit their music but Sting’s comes on instead.  The lights go out but a spotlight shows Sting in the rafters.  They come back up and Angle is in the ring.  He clears out Immortal and tells Anderson not to make a decision that makes things hard on himself.

Storm asks Roode if his arm is ok.  Roode says not really but he needs to get the points in the Series.  He gets Crimson so things don’t look great for him.

Bound For Glory Standings:

Crimson 24

Gunner 21

Matt Morgan 14

AJ Styles 14

James Storm 14

Rob Van Dam 14

Bully Ray 14

D-Von 14

Scott Steiner 7

D’Angelo Dinero 0

Bobby Roode 0

Samoa Joe 0

Bound For Glory Series: Bobby Roode vs. Crimson

 

Roode hammers away to start with some shoulders in the corner and a Hennig neck snap for two.  Crimson takes over with his power stuff and grabs the cravate which he turns into a swinging neckbreaker for two.  Crimson starts snapping off some suplexes but Roode goes up and hits his Blockbuster.  The shoulder gives out though and he can’t capitalize.  Crimson shows some intelligence by kicking him in the arm.  He hits the ropes and walks into the Roode spinebuster for two.  Roode grabs a Fujiwara armbar but Crimson makes the rope.  Slingshot shoulder block takes Roode down and the Red Sky ends this at 4:50.

Rating: C. Not bad here as I’m kind of surprised Roode keeps falling like he does.  The shoulder injury is fine for a reason for him not being his usual self though.  Crimson stays undefeated which really makes me wonder where they’re going with this series, especially since the top four advance to No Surrender for the #1 contender match.  Should be interesting.  This was fine.

Tony Nees says he wants to compete against the best and will do so in the three way tonight.

Abyss is still looking for his mask.  We cut to Kendrick who is wearing it.

Jack Evans wants the contract.  He can do flips really well.

Here’s Kendrick in the ring with the mask in hand.  He says he’ll give it back and doesn’t want violence.  What he wants is a word and he’ll share his thoughts on those if Abyss will come out here.  Kendrick talks about various religions and philosophies and their takes on things.  He asks what that has to do with wrestling.  Apparently he’s trying to restore the X-Division and says Abyss can help him do that.

His ego is holding him back though and Abyss can give up his pain this Sunday.  Kendrick’s mission is to defeat him though and he gives Abyss his mask back.  Abyss drills him and beats the tar out of him on the floor.  Back in the ring Kendrick gets in some shots but Abyss shrugs them off.  Shock Treatment hits as does the Black Hole Slam.

Jesse Sorensen says it’s time for the new guys to rise up in the X-Division.  Guys like him of course.

Tony Nees vs. Jesse Sorensen vs. Jack Evans

 

Evans does a standing moonsault on the stage and break dances in the ring.  Big chant for Evans and we get a three way test of strength to start.  It follows the same formula as the other matches have so far, with two guys staying in the ring while a third is down on the floor.  Sorensen hits a big flip dive to the floor to take out Nees but Evans hits a bigger one off the top rope, hitting a 450 to take out both guys.

Nees gets a running knee to Evans for two as Jesse saves.  Sorensen gets a modified Overdrive to Evans for two so it’s Sorensen vs. Nees for a bit.  German gets two for Nees as Evans hits a standing moonsault to break it up.  Sorensen gets sent to the floor by Evans and Nees gets dropped off the top.  Evans hits a 630 to pin Nees at 5:37.

Rating: C. Just your usual match here with three guys flying everywhere.  It’s fun but we’re seen the same match most of the last four weeks.  That 630 was nice but Evans has a tendency to do a lot of flips when they’re really not necessary.  Take the standing moonsault to break up the pin for example.  From a psychology standpoint, why set for a big flip when the extra time could cost you the match?  Anyway, fun match but we’ve seen it a lot lately.

The Brits say Mexican America is doing what the Brits did a few years ago.  Douglas Williams issues an open challenge for Sunday.

Shannon Moore, Robbie E, Amazing Red and Alex Shelley are in Ultimate X.

Velvet says she’s going to get rid of Jackie and ODB.  We can only hope.

Angle is walking into a locker room and Sting is laying on top of the lockers, singing modified versions of Rocky songs.  Angle says we have to get through tonight and Sting goes a bit nuttier.  He says this is all to get to Hogan.

Velvet Sky vs. ODB/Jackie

 

If Velvet wins, the two annoying girls leave TNA, despite technically not being in it right now.  Velvet comes in through the crowd with a chair and takes out Jackie with a shot to the back.  She and ODB start us off and Velvet is dominating.  Jackie gets back in and the numbers start catching up with Velvet.  We finally get down to regular tagging and never mind that as we’re back to the two on one at once.  ODB tries to bring the chair back in but hits Jackie by mistake.  A DDT by Velvet pins Jackie at 5:00.

Rating: D. The only good thing here was that ODB and Jackie are allegedly out of TNA now.  The match wasn’t anything more than an ending to this story (I hope) and other than that it was just bad.  Velvet isn’t that great in the ring and on her own she’s not capable of much physically other than looking good.  Bad match.

ODB shouts that Velvet hasn’t gotten rid of her yet.

D-Von tells Pope not to screw him over tonight.

Daniels talks about how AJ has had a better career in TNA than he’s had and that he’s been lost in the shuffle since coming back.

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Rob Van Dam

 

They have to tag in and out here and it’s Lynn vs. Daniels to start us off.  Lynn speeds up a headscissors and AJ tags himself in.  They exchange arm drags and then both try it at the same time, resulting in a stalemate.  The fans can’t decide if they like RVD or Lynn.  Jerry wants RVD and here they are.  They exchange a lot of counters with very little contact being made.

Off to RVD vs. Daniels and RVD kind of messes up Rolling Thunder, landing on his neck instead of his back.  Daniels gets sent to the floor and it’s AJ vs. RVD for a bit.  A very short bit as AJ knocks RVD into the corner which is classified as a tag to Lynn.  Jerry hits an enziguri to put AJ in the corner, followed by a hurricanrana.  Daniels comes in off an iffy tag.

Boot to the chest of Lynn gets two and everything starts breaking down.  Springboard forearm by AJ sends Van Dam to the floor.  Lynn sends AJ to the floor and a releases Rock Bottom looks to set up the BME.  Rob tags himself in as Lynn hits something like an Celtic Cross (Finlay’s old move) on Daniels.  Rob fires off the Five Star on Daniels for the pin at 7:13.

Rating: B-. Good match but not the classic they were hyping it up to be.  Granted this Sunday is the main thing they were building to so this wasn’t supposed to be the big match.  Van Dam needed a win as he’s kind of fallen off the charts the last few months.  Nothing great here but fine for a mostly big TV match to hype a PPV.

Eric Young says to the victor go the spoils because he’s apparently gotten a trailer somehow.  He’s a TV star now and is going to Hollywood to defend the title.

Bound For Glory Series: Matt Morgan/James Storm vs. D-Von/D’Angelo Dinero

 

Only one person gets points, kind of defeating the point of the team aspect.  Pope gives his glasses to D-Von’s kid which D-Von isn’t thrilled with.  D-Von and Storm start us off.  That doesn’t go much of anywhere so it’s off to Morgan who runs over D-Von.  Pope plays cheerleader and shouts encouragement.  Morgan sets for the elbows but Storm tags himself in.

Pope finally gets in so he can hammer on Storm a bit.  Storm fires back and Pope falls out of the ring, tagging D-Von as he goes.  Back to Morgan who gets to hit his elbows now.  There’s a side slam for two.  Back to Storm as D-Von is in trouble.  Pope gets back in and has a bit better luck this time, taking Storm down and Morgan as well.

Storm gets a Backstabber for two as Morgan (Storm’s partner mind you) makes the save.  D-Von and Morgan go to the floor with Morgan possibly hurting his knee.  Storm and Pope ram heads and Pope is outside too.  He gets Storm’s title belt and clocks him with it…then tags D-Von in so he can get the points at 6:00.  The plot thickens I guess.

Rating: C-. The aspects of tagging and teaming more or less meant nothing here as the partners were fighting each other and only one person got points in the match.  As a match in the series, this was ok but as a tag match it was pretty weak.  The Pope/D-Von stuff is kind of interesting though.

Anderson is mad.

The Jarretts say Jeff is now King of Mexico and they’ll be back next week with a big fiesta.

We run down the card for the PPV.  The Ultimate X match is #1 contender for the X-Division Title.

Hogan is punching Sting out in the back and Sting says that’s the Eye of the Tiger.  Hogan picks up the bat and Sting says aw crap.  He hits Sting in the face with it and Sting is out.  Hogan says he told Sting he’d never embarrass Hogan again.

Kurt Angle/Sting vs. Immortal

 

It’s Abyss, Steiner, Ray and Gunner.  And there’s no Sting so this is a handicap match.

Kurt Angle vs. Immortal

 

Steiner starts with Kurt and doesn’t do that well, taking a belly to belly for two.  Off to Ray who talks trash about Mexico, hitting a neckbreaker for two.  Bubba Bomb doesn’t work so Kurt snaps off a German.  Here’s Gunner who Angle runs through as well.  Let’s try Abyss and Angle is 4-0 as he gets an ankle lock.  Ray breaks it up and here comes Abyss.  Scott comes in to beat Angle down as Immortal takes over.

Gunner in now for some basic stuff before bringing Abyss back in.  Back to Ray quickly and he has the chain.  Here comes Anderson though and the distraction lets Angle get an Angle Slam to Ray.  Anderson gets in the corner as Kurt’s partner and takes a tag.  Anderson beats on Immortal and basically cleans house.  Mic Cehck is loaded up on Ray but he hits Angle with it instead.  Anderson “tags” Kurt back in and Ray pins him at 6:00.

Rating: C. Hard to call this anything but in the middle.  Angle dominated for awhile and then the numbers caught up with him as you would expect them to.  Anderson at the end doesn’t make much sense but I think that was supposed to be the point, at least until the end.  It was more about the ending than anything else though, which is fine.

Anderson joins Immortal post match and Hogan comes out to cheer.

Overall Rating: C. Still good but a step behind what they did for the last two weeks.  Destination X is going to be their best built PPV in a very long time and will probably be quite good, but I’m very interested in what comes after that.  Something tells me it’ll be more Immortal vs. everyone and that hasn’t been incredibly interesting stuff.  The non X-Division stuff was pretty boring overall and the matches were ok but not blow away great.  Anyway, not bad at all but a step behind what they’ve been doing lately.

Results

Crimson b. Bobby Roode – Red Sky

Jack Evans b. Jesse Sorensen and Tony Nees – 630 Splash to Nees

Velvet Sky b. Jackie and ODB – DDT to Jackie

Rob Van Dam b. Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn – Five Star Frog Splash to Daniels

D’Angelo Dinero/D-Von b. Matt Morgan/James Storm – D-Von pinned Storm after a shot with a title belt

Immortal b. Kurt Angle – Ray pinned Angle after a Mic Check from Mr. Anderson