Primo/AJ vs. Kaitlyn/Dolph Ziggler

The boys start us off which lasts about 20 seconds. AJ used to be homeless and according to Cole she’ll be homeless again in about three weeks. Cross body by AJ for one before Kaitlyn takes her head off and tags out. Men vs. women is illegal here but we get it for a second anyway. AJ can’t get by Dolph so she slaps him in the face.

Again I would often advise that as a solution to a problem: when all else fails just HIT THEM IN THE FACE. Primo comes in and has about 20 seconds of offense, cementing his jobber status before the Zig Zag ends it. Kaitlyn and Dolph celebrate, making Vickie jealous.

Rating: D+. Really more about storyline tension between Kaitlyn and Vickie rather than the wrestling. Given the short amount of time in the season this time they needed to get things moving and this is probably the highlight of the angles. It’s not much but it’s probably the best they’re going to get and if it gets Ziggler on his own I couldn’t be happier. Ok I could but you get the idea.

Here’s a six Divas tag from November 30, 2010.

Naomi vs. Kaitlyn

Let’s get this over with. I’m having some connection issues so the times might be off a bit. Kaitlyn busts out a giant swing as Matthews says DOZENS are tuning into WWE.Com for this. Gah my stream keeps freezing. Kaitlyn is in control because that’s the most illogical thing we could have. Cole apologizes to Harley Race for forgetting him last night in former kings.

The pros don’t seem interested. Kaitlyn throws her over the top and we get like a 7. My screen is frozen so I’m doing what I can to keep up with this. Cole isn’t really helping but he’s making me laugh at least. Cole gets in a great line on a cover by shouting: “if you shout faster it’ll be over!” So true good sir, so true. Kaitlyn blocks a suplex into a rollup and gets the pin. Well of course she did. No clue on the time due to the freezing.

Rating: N/A. With all the choppiness and the freezing I can’t really give a fair grade of it but it didn’t seem all that good from what I could tell and the crowd definitely wasn’t into it. Seemed to be about a D. Oh and of course Kaitlyn wins because she has no experience and isn’t the wrestler of the final two so Naomi has lost at least two in a row.

Kaitlyn would win the season of NXT and debut on the WWE roster (along with multiple other Divas). Here’s a main roster match on Smackdown, January 28, 2011.

Laycool vs. Kaitlyn/Kelly Kelly

Striker sings Laycool’s song which is rather disturbing. The non-Flawless ones jump Laycool during their entrance and the beating is on in the aisle. Is this Kaitlyn’s non-NXT debut? She starts with Michelle and is clearly green. Layla distracts Kaitlyn though and Michelle kicks Kaitlyn’s head off to end this at 43 seconds. AWESOME kick and if that hadn’t ended it there was no way I would have believed it. The replay makes it look even better as that kick was spot on.

From Raw on June 13, 2011 in the required mess.

Tamina/Alicia Fox/Rosa Mendes/Maryse/Bella Twins/Melina vs. Kelly Kelly/Eve Torres/Gail Kim/Natalya/Beth Phoenix/AJ/Kaitlyn

If this goes past two minutes I’ll be stunned. Kelly and Brie start but it’s off to Melina or Rosa and there’s the big brawl almost immediately. Kelly hits the K2 on Rosa and we’re done at 1:25. Three out of the fourteen were actually legal.

We’ll go to another country now for NXT on October 19, 2011.

Kaitlyn vs. Maxine

Both of them look good but Kaitlyn looks better with darker hair. She has great legs though. Maxine is in essence in a swimsuit. Here’s your Maxine fact: her aunt is a careless maiden from Guadalajara who is engaged to a one legged Elvis impersonator who does a great version of Blue Suede Shoes. The match is your usual basic stuff here that isn’t very good.

Maxine hooks something like a dragon sleeper but Kaitlyn falls into the ropes. The fans here do not care at all. All Maxine so far but I’d rather look at Kaitlyn in gold so I’m not paying attention to the match here. Kaitlyn takes over with her horrible looking offense. She hits a Bubba Bomb and then a full nelson with her legs to make Maxine tap (with her foot) out at 4:48.

Rating: D. It’s your usual bad Divas match and more proof that AJ was the best choice for the 3rd season winner. Kaitlyn looks great in tight gold shorts and other than that, she’s about as worthless as anyone else you’re going to find on the roster. Not much here overall and the girls just aren’t that good. Granted this is on NXT so it’s not like anyone is watching them.

Kaitlyn would be back for a guest spot on NXT Redemption, April 4, 2012.

Natalya vs. Kaitlyn

New music for Kaitlyn and Kidd is on commentary. Nattie takes her down and Kidd says there’s nothing going on with them. Bridging rollup gets two for Natalya. I think Natalya is a face here but I really have no idea. Kidd admits that he isn’t a Hart, which ticked him off when McGillicutty rubbed it in his face weeks ago. Natalya works on the arm and uses more holds on whatever part of the body she picks. Kaitlyn’s first offense is a cross body but Natalya laughs it off and the Sharpshooter gets the submission at 3:30.

Rating: C-. This was a squash for Natalya as she picked apart Kaitlyn with ease. I’m so glad they’ve dropped that idiotic gimmick she’s been using for the last few months as she’s very talented and can make even someone like Kaitlyn look good. I’m still not sure if she’s a face or a heel though, but I doubt WWE has put any thought into it either.

Back to the big shows with Smackdown on August 31, 2012.

Kaitlyn vs. Natalya

Eve is on commentary. Nattie takes her down with a headlock to start and the place is eerily quiet. Kaitlyn shoulder blocks her down and they head to the floor where Kaitlyn gets her head slammed into the floor. Natalya hooks an abdominal stretch and slaps Kaitlyn’s side which has to hurt bad. Kaitlyn comes back with some armdrags but Natalya clotheslines her down. The Canadian runs her mouth and gets small packaged for the pin at 2:45. Getting extra time is helping the Divas a tiny bit but this was more about Eve, who spent the whole match being the corporate suckup, which does nothing for me at all.

Kaitlyn would start going after the Divas Title, starting on Raw, October 8, 2012.

Divas Title: Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn

Layla is on commentary as she always is anymore. Apparently she gets the winner of this. Eve is champion coming in just in case it’s like 2031 or something. Kaitlyn takes over to start and suplexes Eve down a few times followed by a fireman’s carry into a kind of Torture Rack. Eve rakes the eyes and kicks out the bad ankle to take over. Kaitlyn hits a backbreaker but it hurts her ankle again. Eve goes after the ankle by standing on it before putting on a heel hook for the tap at 2:54. This wasn’t terrible at all.

Another title shot at Hell in a Cell 2012.

Divas Title: Layla vs. Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn was attacked at Night of Champions and Layla had to defend against Eve instead of Kaitlyn. Eve won the title and was accused of attacking Kaitlyn, setting up this. The challengers double team Eve, argue a bit, and then double team Eve again. Eve and Kaitlyn finally start fighting and we get a pinfall reversal sequence. Eve comes back in and knocks Layla to the floor so she can beat on Kaitlyn a bit.

Eve works over Kaitlyn’s leg with a long hold until Layla finally gets back in. A hard kick to Eve’s face slows her down and Layla pounds away in the corner. A cross body gets two for Layla but Eve throws her into the splits. Eve gets thrown into the splits as well and Kaitlyn gives us a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER!!! Kaitlyn puts Layla in a Fujiwara Armbar but Eve makes the save. The crowd dies as the match starts to drag. Kaitlyn hits Stratusfaction on Eve to send her to the floor and powerslams Eve down. Eve hits a middle rope Swanton to break up the pin and covers Layla to retain the title at 6:39.

Rating: C-. The girls are getting better and they have an actual story anymore, but the fans still don’t care. This is MILES better than they were having a few months ago, but at the same time it’s still nothing to write home about. Kaitlyn appears to be the future but I’m still not sold on her at all. Decent match that ran too long.

Kaitlyn would get another shot at Survivor Series 2012.

Divas Title: Katilyn vs. Eve Torres

Eve is defending. Kaitlyn jumps her to start and pounds away in the corner before sending Eve out to the floor. The champion is sent into the barricade and apron before heading back inside for some hair pulling. Eve kicks her in the ribs and slams Kaitlyn’s head into the mat over and over for two. Off to the corner for some choking and an elbow to the back gets two on Kaitlyn.

Eve puts on a figure four choke before clotheslining Kaitlyn down for no cover. Kaitlyn pops back up to break up the moonsault, sending Eve out to the floor. Back in and Eve is tossed around by the hair followed by a fireman’s carry gutbuster for two. Eve comes right back by sweeping Kaitlyn’s legs out and finishing her with a swinging neckbreaker.

Rating: D. As is the case with the Divas around this time, there isn’t much to brag about other than the girls looked good in their outfits. Kaitlyn just wasn’t that good in the ring and hasn’t gotten much better ever since. Eve was good but her character had hit a ceiling around this time. It’s no surprise she was gone soon after this.

One more shot in Kaitlyn’s hometown of Houston on Raw, January 14, 2013.

Divas Title: Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn

If Eve gets disqualified or counted out she loses the title. Kaitlyn sends her to the floor to start so the champ hides a bit. Kaitlyn is the hometown girl tonight so it’s pretty clear what’s going down here. Eve knocks her down and hits her running flip splash as we hear about Lamb Chop for no apparent reason. Off to a triangle choke from Eve but Kaitlyn makes a rope.

The reverse DDT gets two and Kaitlyn seemingly dives onto Eve’s knee. The spinning neckbreaker gets two for Kaitlyn so Eve pounds away a bit. Kaitlyn’s gutbuster hits but it sends Eve to the floor. The challenger follows her out and gets whipped into the barricade. Eve puts her over the barricade but Kaitlyn sneaks back in and spears Eve for the title at 5:35.

Rating: D+. This was better than any of their other matches but at the end of the day I have no reason to care about either of these girls anymore. Word on the street is that Eve is gone after this so I guess this is the passing of the torch. Am I supposed to care more now because Kaitlyn wins after not being able to win the title after like four tries? At least they finally did the freaking switch.

Time for a PPV title defense at Elimination Chamber 2013.

Divas Title: Tamina Snuka vs. Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn is defending and this match was set up on the WWE App on Monday. The crowd is silent for Kaitlyn’s entrance so we get a quick promo from her about how scary Tamina is. Tamina shoves Katilyn around a bit to start but gets caught in a rollup for two. A backslide gets two more for the champ and Tamina is knocked to the floor. The other Divas are watching in the back. Kaitlyn goes to the apron, only to be rammed into the buckle and knocked out to the floor. Back in and a Samoan drop puts Kaitlyn down but the Superfly Splash misses. Kaitlyn spears her down to retain at 3:15.

Rating: D+. Did we really need this? No? I didn’t think so either. When your match is set up on the WWE App, it’s pretty clear that it’s not needed on the card. For about two weeks there were no Divas mentioned anywhere on WWE TV and it was a very nice break. Why did they need to come back again?

And another at NXT Clash of the Champions.

Divas Title: AJ Lee vs. Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn is defending. The fans chant YES at AJ before we get going. Kaitlyn runs her down to start but Kaitlyn shoves her into the corner to take over. Off to a Fujiwara Armbar by the challenger and she even throws in a Dolph Ziggler handstand. A hammerlock suplex puts Kiatlyn down and AJ is in full control. Kaitlyn gets in some right hands before rolling through a top rope cross body for two. A reverse DDT gets two on AJ but she sends Kaitlyn to the floor for an eight count. Back in and AJ puts on a sleeper followed by an enziguri for two. Kaitlyn pops up and spears AJ out of nowhere to retain at 5:06.

Rating: D. Again, the WWE Divas show that they have nothing on the NXT girls. I have no idea what the appeal of Kaitlyn is as her two moves are both terrible and she can’t work a match to save her life. AJ was fine with the Ziggler impersonations being a nice touch. Anything from Kaitlyn was just dreadful though.

Kaitlyn would be in a six Divas tag on Raw, June 3, 2013.

Kaitlyn/Funkadactyls vs. AJ Lee/Bella Twins

Kaitlyn and AJ start things off. AJ backs into the corner and elbows both dancing chicks before bringing in Brie. Off to Naomi for the Rear View and a rolling senton from Cameron for two. Naomi hits the ropes with a crossbody and the Bellas take over on her arm. Nikki stays on the arm until Naomi slugs her down and brings in Kaitlyn. The reverse DDT only gets one on Nikki but AJ drops to the floor instead of tagging. The spear finishes Nikki at 4:32.

Rating: C-. That’s on the Divas scale so this wasn’t half bad at all. The arm work went nowhere but when is the last time you remember psychology in a Divas match? They’re to the point where they can get through a match without looking completely horrible which is at least progress. The camera shots of the girls didn’t hurt either.

AJ Lee would take the title from Kaitlyn, triggering a long feud between them. Here they are on Raw, July 29, 2013.

Kaitlyn vs. AJ Lee

Non-title. AJ takes over to start and has that insane look on her face the entire time. Katilyn throws her off and loads up the spear but a running knee to the head puts her back down. An armbar doesn’t get AJ anywhere as Kaitlyn comes back with a backbreaker. AJ comes back with another armbar as we hear about Tweets from Vickie. Kaitlyn fights up and hits the spear out of nowhere for the pin at 4:51.

Rating: D. You remember those matches between these two that had a ton of heat and were awesome? This is the total opposite at it was just there to fill in a few minutes and set up yet another rematch. They took out all the good parts of this feud and turned it into the same exact thing that plagued the division for years.

One last match from Raw, December 30, 2013.

Total Divas vs. True Divas

It’s the Bellas/Funkadactyls/Eva Marie vs. Rosa Mendes/Summer Rae/Alicia Fox/Kaitlyn/Aksana. Eva and Kaitlyn get things going with Eva elbowing her in the face and blowing kisses to the crowd. Kaitlyn is staggered by a kick to the chest but none of the other Total Divas want to deal with Eva. Eva finally tags Cameron in but Alicia makes a blind tag and cleans house.

Summer Rae and Rosa (dressed almost identically) take turns stomping on Cameron in the corner before it’s off to Aksana for some choking. Cameron finally crawls over for a tag to Nikki who puts Aksana in the rack (get it?). Everything breaks down and Aksana hits a reverse Eye of the Hurricane for the pin on Nikki at 5:10.

Rating: D-. Yeah it sucked, but it was a bunch of good looking women in tiny outfits. That’s more than the Tribute to the Troops show managed to pull off. They need to figure out where this division is going though because it’s getting even worse. From what I can find, that’s Aksana’s first pin on TV in nearly two years.

Kaitlyn is a case of someone trying to be different than most Divas and succeeding to a degree. She was gorgeous and looked great in the outfits but that was rarely her focus. If nothing else she could spear AJ in half and make it look better every single time. She didn’t really stand out but her stuff worked when she had a decent opponent.

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We’re at the next to last show of the year on this season and it’s becoming pretty clear this is going to go on to the beginning of the WWE Network. Therefore, there’s almost no point to paying attention to this show. However, if I was going with that philosophy I would have been out of here months ago. Let’s get to it.

This 4pm thing is ridiculous. It’s 6:40 and I’ve been checking on things every 20 minutes or so and it’s just now up.

Here’s Bateman to open things up. During Bateman’s entrance we recap the Percy Watson show from last week. He says he’s here to win and win back the Courtney to his Kurt and the Bonnie to his Clyde (aren’t both of those men dead?). Striker says they have to work together and be partners here. Curtis shows us a still of him kissing Maxine and then offers a handshake.

Usos vs. Derrick Bateman/Johnny Curtis

The Siva Tao makes me want to invade a small country. Bateman starts and the brothers take turns beating on him. Once he finally gets a bit of a break though, Curtis tags himself in. It doesn’t go very well for him either though as the Samoans hammer away. Curtis gets a hard clothesline for two and the fans aren’t really interested. He goes over to tag in Bateman but Derrick walks away. It doesn’t take long for the Superfly Splash from Jimmy to get the pin at 3:37.

Rating: D. The match was pretty much nothing but that was the point. The Usos are light years better than everyone and that’s been obvious for months, so I’m getting tired of seeing them wasted in stuff like this. Curtis is about as uninteresting as anyone I’ve seen in years, but it’s just NXT so it’s not so bad.

Trent Barretta asks Yoshi to watch his back against Hawkins tonight since Reks will be out there. Yoshi says sure but after Trent leaves, Yoshi gets jumped by Hawkins/Reks and locked in a utility closet.

Curt Hawkins vs. Trent Barretta

Striker goes on a rant against Hawkins and Reks for making fun of legends on their Youtube show. If he doesn’t like them, why does he keep booking them on NXT if he has matchmaking abilities? Hawkins takes over to start and hits a slam for two. Hawkins keeps beating on him and heads to the floor to yell at Striker who yells right back. Trent fights back and the fans are SILENT. A running knee gets two for Trent. He goes up but has to kick Reks down, allowing Hawkins to finish Trent with a move that starts as a reverse neckbreaker, but he spins forward to slam Trent’s face into the mat for the pin at 4:45.

Rating: D+. I like Barretta but he couldn’t overcome the boredom of the crowd here. Nothing special at all but I guess it sets up drama between Yoshi and Trent which is the latest place they’re going here that has nothing to do with NXT but they have to fill in an hour either way. Also, who comes up with these dull finishers? All these face slam moves are getting old.

Kaitlyn vs. Maxine

Maxine’s outfits really aren’t PG. Kaitlyn dominates to start and shows off her range of offense, going big with a legdrop. Maxine fights back and chokes away. This is the usual boring stuff from the Divas. Maxine hits her in the chest and hooks a standing guillotine choke. Kaitlyn fires off some but Maxine keeps beating her down. Cue Bateman who says he’s been looking everywhere for Maxine. The distraction lets Kaitlyn roll her up at 3:03.

Rating: D. Other than the chest strike thing, this was rather dull. Somehow this was WAY better than the Raw and Smackdown Divas who are just awful at this point. It’s amazing what happens when they’re down in FCW with trainers and get to actually practice a bit isn’t it? This was nothing special though.

Bateman begs forgiveness and sings the Righteous Brothers’ You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling but gets blasted by Curtis. Maxine walks out on both of them.

Percy Watson vs. Tyson Kidd

Good to see Kidd back on the show though. Percy starts off with his power game and he hammers Tyson into the corner. The referee tells him to get out of there and Percy actually says yes sir. Very nice to see some manners. Just because you’re in combat and trying to get a full time job, there’s no excuse for rudeness. Kidd takes over and uses his feet to take over. Off to a dragon sleeper which Percy escapes pretty easily. He fires off some dropkicks and adds a belly to belly for two. They go to the corner and Percy gets guillotined on the top rope. That and a springboard elbow drop are enough for Tyson to pin him at 4:03.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t bad and it’s nice to see Tyson back on screen. He would have been the prime candidate for an NXT Title if they’d ever just get to one. Either way, this was fine for power vs. speed and that’s all it needed to be. Watson is kind of floundering and I think a heel turn might be in the cards for him.

Same video on the Tribute to the Troops from Monday.

Bateman and Curtis almost get into a fight in Striker’s office so he makes a match between them for next week.

Titus O’Neil vs. JTG

Darren Young is on commentary and his arm is in a sling. Titus uses the power game to start (common theme tonight) as Young says that he’s better than anyone on Raw or Smackdown. Titus throws JTG to the floor and barks. He gets crotched on the ring skirt though and JTG takes over. To the chinlock! Titus powers out of it and hammers away, hitting a powerslam for two. Clash of the Titus ends this at 3:55.

Rating: D. Not much here but it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t particularly good hence the grade, but the point of this was to have Titus look dominant before the post match shenanigans with Young happened. JTG just doesn’t work as a heel because of his size and that he’s more annoying than menacing.

Post match Darren stares Titus down as JTG trips Titus up. Darren rips off his sling as his arm is fine. The post match beatdown ensues.

Overall Rating: D+. You know, this show has potential. They got it back to being like an old school territorial show and I can live with that. If there was a title on this show and you keep in mind that the stakes are as low as you can have while still having stakes, you can enjoy this show. Not a terrible show and if they can keep this style, I could see this show becoming almost ok.

Results
Usos b. Derrick Bateman/Johnny Curtis – Superfly Splash to Curtis
Curt Hawkins b. Trent Barretta – Neckbreaker into a face slam
Kaitlyn b. Maxine – Rollup
Tyson Kidd b. Percy Watson – Springboard Elbow Drop
Titus O’Neil b. JTG – Clash of the Titus

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Time for another week of this. We’re almost in December of a show that started in early March. We’re also approaching the wedding of Maxine and Bateman, which I think is scheduled for late January. This show really is going to last an entire year isn’t it? I was kidding when I suggested that at first. I guess we’re supposed to ignore that all three guys have appeared on Smackdown in the past few weeks right? Let’s get to it.

The song saying that they have just begun scares me.

No Regal this week???

The main event is a triple threat with the rookies and the winner gets a match on Smackdown.

Tyler Reks vs. Percy Watson

Watson has an annoying spoken part before his song now. I’m sorry but he really isn’t on the level that he deserves that yet. Hawkins sits in on commentary. Fast paced start with Watson flying around the place but he walks into a Downward Spiral into the middle buckle for two. Striker says that the money here is way better in the NFL. If my math is right, the minimum salary in the NFL is about a quarter million dollars a year. Methinks Matt is lying.

Watson starts his comeback and hammers away. The fans actually seem to care for him here as a cross body gets two. Hawkins gets up and plays ugly cheerleader, allowing Reks to get in a shot to break the momentum again. Reks goes up for what appears to be a double axe off the top but jumps into a dropkick for the pin at 3:20.

Rating: C-. Just a match here for the most part. It wasn’t bad or anything but it’s kind of hard to get interested in a match like this where there’s no reason at all to see them fight. They’re not fighting for anything but pride so it doesn’t really add up to anything. Watson is fun to watch when he jumps though.

Curtis is hitting on Kaitlyn when Maxine comes up. He has good taste. Kaitlyn is invited back to his bus which Maxine says doesn’t exist. Kaitlyn leaves and Maxine yells because that’s insulting to her to go from Maxine to someone like Kaitlyn. Maxine talks to Curtis and they’re about to kiss but he kisses his fingers and puts them to her lips. She isn’t happy. He leaves and Bateman comes up so she kisses him hard…..with his mother next to him. Bateman leaves and Mama Bateman threatens her with violence if she hurts Bateman.

Yoshi Tatsu/Trent Barretta vs. Tyson Kidd/Johnny Curtis

We get a High Fliers reference from Striker, who swears some people know who he’s talking about. Tatsu vs. Curtis gets us going and there isn’t much going on so they both tag out. Trent winds up in the corner as the announcers aren’t all that interested in the match. Kidd gets two off a kick to the head and hooks in a chinlock. They go up to the corner and Trent mostly misses what we would kind of call a Whisper in the Wind. That sets up the hot tag to Tatsu who beats up ever heel in sight. He tries to fire up the crowd and it doesn’t work at all. The top rope spinwheel kick misses and Curtis hits a sitout brainbuster for the pin at 4:30.

Rating: D. Just dull again here as Curtis is as uninteresting of a guy as I’ve seen in years. A sitout brainbuster isn’t an interesting move at all and that fits perfectly. At least with the diving legdrop it looked ok. Nothing to see here and for the life of me I don’t get why he keeps a job, especially with some of the other people they could put on this show.

We get the entire Piper’s Pit from Monday. It still doesn’t quite work as the fans didn’t boo Cena. It eats up about 10 minutes though which is ten minutes of NXT stuff I don’t have to watch.

Maxine vs. Alicia Fox

Matthews asks Striker to compare the offensive styles here….and somehow he does it. For the life of me I don’t get why the Divas are on TV all the time. Alicia uses a lot of moves involving her flexibility which get her nowhere. Bateman and Mama Bateman come out to watch. Maxine sees them and panics a bit, allowing Alicia to hit the Axe Kick for the win at 2:24.

Derrick Bateman vs. Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young

Young waits on the floor as Titus beats Bateman up. He slides in and chops away (WOO) so Titus pounds him down also. Young continues his Flair impersonation and is slammed off the top for two. After a break for a bad Cena movie, the heels are double teaming Titus. As is custom, they get in a fight of their own, allowing Titus to fight back. Young hits a clothesline for two on O’Neil.

The heels fight a bit more and I’m trying to care. I mean I really am trying, but it’s just not going to happen at all. Bateman goes up and gets crotched and it’s a TOWER OF DOOM!!! They actually call it that and it’s a wicked one too. Titus can’t get the pin on Young so he grabs the rope like Batista and yells a lot. Young and O’Neil fight to the apron and Young takes him down with a neckbreaker. Bateman grabs O’Neil as he comes back in for the pin at 8:49.

Rating: C-. Pretty dull stuff here and my goodness why would it be Bateman? I mean, it couldn’t be clearer that O’Neil is the class of this group but instead their answer is try to make it seem like a competition. I don’t know who thinks this is interesting to watch, but it’s really not working at all. Boring match to end a boring show.

Post match Bateman wants Maxine to come out but he gets JTG and Tamina instead. They say she left with Curtis. Oh joy.

Overall Rating: D. It was an hour long and it was the Derrick Bateman Show tonight. I have no idea why they’re choosing to push him but that’s all they seem to think is the right idea. Titus is a guy that could be an interesting character on one of the big shows but it just isn’t happening here. Bad show.

Results
Percy Watson b. Tyler Reks – Dropkick
Tyson Kidd/Johnny Curtis b. Yoshi Tatsu/Trent Barretta – Sitout Brainbuster to Tatsu
Alicia Fox b. Maxine – Axe Kick
Derrick Bateman b. Titus O’Neil and Darren Young – Pinned O’Neil after a neckbreaker from Young

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Back in Bloomington this week as the show was taped. There’s a chance this is the final episode on Sci-Fi but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. On my digital preview there’s a sci-fi show on next week, but a week later, on the 12th, NXT is listed. It’s likely a misprint but interesting nonetheless. Let’s get to it.

We open by recapping musical chairs. It amuses me how they’ve just given up on this being a wrestling show at all and are just trying to make it as entertaining as possible. Talk the Talk is a bit better but it is kind of interesting to see WWE say how talking is very important and apparently more important than wrestling.

No Punk to start us out which makes me a sad reviewer.

Striker brings out the girls who mostly look good. Maxine still has the straight hair which looks really weird on her for some reason. Voting for the first elimination begins tomorrow on WWE.com which is where the results show will likely be seen. There’s a wheelbarrow in the aisle and they have to run around the ring with it, fastest time wins.

Maxine is first but before we start we need something in the wheelbarrow. And here’s Hornswoggle to make me roll my eyes. Cole asks what this has to do with being a Diva as Maxine sets the mark at 14.7 seconds. Horny bites her tights after she shoves him out of the wheelbarrow.

Naomi goes second and beats her time but they keep the clock running anyway for some reason as they have a tendency to do, putting her in second.

Jamie gets 14.4 to take the lead.

Kaitlyn is fourth and flies through this, getting 12 flat. Cole gets the line of the night as he yells at Josh: YOU’RE ANALYZING A WHEELBARROW RACE! He’s annoying but you can’t deny that he’s right.

AJ is the next to last girl and is rocking an I Love Nerds t-shirt. She’s nowhere close and Horny hugs her for a long time.

Aksana goes last and gets 13.9 to give Kaitlyn the win. What a great way to spend the first 13 minutes of a wrestling show.

This Week in WWE History is about Madison Square Garden and in particular the Raw where there was a triple interview with Dude Love, Cactus Jack and Mankind where Cactus returned and had a great falls count anywhere match with HHH. Oh and Austin gave Vince the first Stunner between the two. And now, back to the wheelbarrow racing show.

We profile AJ and how nerdy she is. We get a cool clip of her in line for tickets to Wrestlemania in MSG which I’m assuming was 20. That’s very cool that she is in a clip from footage like that as a kid for some reason.

Diss the Divas later tonight. Oh joy: more reading from scripts.

And now we recap Raw. I wonder how long they can go without actual wrestling on this show. Well that’s enough content so we need another commercial now.

Yep next week we’re on WWE.com. Not sure how that’ll effect the reviews but I’ll get it up somehow.

We profile Kaitlyn now who wants to be herself. And ANOTHER commercial. It’s 10:35 and there has not been a single piece of wrestling whatsoever. They’re coming back for 2 minutes of profiles etc and then a commercial.

Back from a break and we recap Smackdown with the Taker vs. Kane segment. When I say that, I mean they PLAY THE WHOLE THING. I don’t mean a highlight package, I don’t mean a synopsis, I mean Kane is talking about Undertaker and the druids are about to come out and Paul Bearer is about to return. If you’re curious as to what’s going on see my Smackdown review because I’m not talking about something I reviewed four days ago.

Time for Diss the Divas which is exactly what it sounds like. Aksana goes first and says she’s hot which she is. Her diss to the Divas is they don’t look as good as she does and she’s in better shape.

AJ goes second and is rather adorable. This is by far the highlight of the show which is hardly saying much. AJ says she belongs more here and she should be the winner because she’s not the typical Diva. This would come off better if Cole would SHUT UP. It’s one thing to get on the girls but it’s another thing to talk over them so we can’t even hear them.

Kaitlyn does an impression of Naomi by sticking her hips out. Naomi literally kicks it and that’s all for Kaitlyn.

Jamie says Aksana belongs in a circus and AJ is a ten year old but Jamie is awesome. Striker is more or less begging them to pick this up as it’s awful.

Naomi says this is about wrestling and entertainment and has them beat in those areas. Kaitlyn only won last week because Naomi messed up. Shame AJ won last week but whatever.

Maxine says the same thing she’s said every week as AJ and Kaitlyn conspire and play patty cake in the background.

AJ wins the competition over Naomi but just slightly, giving her the most victories and immunity.

And here’s Vickie to make sure we get her face time this week since this is the Vickie/Cole show. She bashes Kaitlyn who more or less turns face and wants Vickie in a match. Vickie accepts but gets a BIG OLD SLAP to Kaitlyn. That was Stephanie level slapping and somehow the highlight of the show. They “brawl” to end this joke of a show.

Overall Rating: F. This was an absolute joke. They can’t throw in a two minute match just to give us something? I don’t watch this show to see a segment I already watched. The show is moving to WWE.Com and I can’t imagine this show is going to make people want to watch it. I love the WWE but I never want to hear them complain about ratings again, not after this. Horrible show with no appealing value at all like this show usually has with its bad comedy. I feel sorry for the people that paid for tickets to it.

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It’s the one year anniversary show, despite the season not being on the air for a year yet but again, counting is probably too complicated for WWE. Striker has promised us a major announcement tonight which probably won’t wind up meaning much of anything because this is NXT, the land of crushed and broken dreams. Let’s get to it.

Alex Riley/Percy Watson vs. Darren Young/Titus O’Neil

Titus starts with Riley and the beating begins. Riley gets in a dropkick and it’s off to Young. Alex takes him down but goes up and is kicked down to give Young the advantage. Things slow down a lot with Titus taking over and saying that he has five. Riley tries to dive for a tag but Titus carries him back to the corner to bring in Young again.

Atomic drop gets two and it’s off to a chinlock with a body scissors. Riley manages to get a kick into the face of a bent over Young and tags in Watson. Watson speeds things up and hits the Heisman Splash for two. Watson goes after Titus though and walks into the double knee gutbuster from Young for the pin at 5:46.

Rating: D+. Technically this was fine but this feud has been going on forever. While they’ve done a good job of having it evolve over the months with logical step after logical step, it’s still not an interesting feud. Again, this would be so much better if they had something to fight for other than just pride.

Titus says Percy gets his rematch next week.

Back from a break and we have Alicia, Kaitlyn and Justin Gabriel in the ring in chairs. It’s supposed to be Bateman vs. Slater at this point. Apparently this is an intervention. Oh dear. They’re intervening about 5’5 of pure evil. Bateman: “You mean Trent Barretta?” They talk about how crazy Maxine is and how she beats up random rew members and makes everyone miserable. Kaitlyn set this up. This is being booed out of the building.

We get a highlight package of Maxine and Bateman’s relationship, including the whole engagement and the Johnny Curtis stuff. Bateman says she’s a lot better at home and he doesn’t want to die alone. Kaitlyn says that constantly getting slapped in the face is weird, not love. He asks Kaitlyn what love is then, so she bends him back and kisses him. Maxine runs out and gets in a fight with Kaitlyn which is quickly broken up. Maxine beats on Bateman and the girls are in the main event tonight.

Tyson and Natalya run into each other in the back. McGillicutty comes up and says something smells around here but it’s not Natalya. They’re up next.

Michael McGillicutty vs. Tyson Kidd

They go tot he mat and Michael controls with a quick headlock. Regal talks about Tiger Mask as Tyson hooks a hammerlock. Michael works on the wrist but Kidd reverses into a cradle for two. McGillicutty sends him into the corner and out to the floor for the first big advantage. Off to a chinlock with McGillicutty having a way too excited look on his face. Back up and Kidd gets up a boot in the corner and they clothesline each other.

Kidd starts firing off some hard strikes and a jumping spin kick gets two. Rolling cradle gets two. Kidd goes up but gets crotched. He knocks McGillicutty off and hits a moonsault press for two. Kidd loads up the Sharpshooter but McGillicutty kicks him away and the McGillicutter gets the pin at 6:22. McGillicutty’s face looks like it belongs in a Will Ferrell movie.

Rating: C. Why did that just happen? They’ve been pushing Kidd very strong the last few weeks and now he loses clean to Michael McGillicutty? For what? Was Kidd getting too over or something? I really don’t get this, especially after the last few weeks where they’ve had Kidd being Bret-esque with the Sharpshooter combinations. Then again it’s NXT so it’s not like anyone is paying attention.

Raw ReBound is about Rock and Cena of course.

Maxine is freaking out in the back and runs into Aksana. Maxine says everyone is plotting against her and she thinks even Aksana is in on it. Anyone that crosses Maxine will regret it.

Striker is in the ring for his major announcement, drawing a Regal chant. He talks about all the ring announcers and commentators and the thirty new superstars they’ve added. He does know that NXT has been around two years and that this season has been a year right? However there’s only been one host. He’s got this job because he loves this stuff. NXT was supposed to be about exposing the unseen because the guys in that locker room are carrying the business into the future. Yep the business is dead.

Anyway, lately NXT has been missing its point and that’s because of Striker. Tonight that changes….and here are Hawkins and Reks to interrupt. They have a surprise for Striker and they pull out chairs and drinks because they want to see this. Striker finally yells at Curt to shut up. He tells Hawkins to come try him if he wants to. Someone with veteran experience needs to take over. Someone that has worked his entire career so that Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks can be called wrestlers. Striker will still be host but the matchmaker is now Sir William Regal.

Regal gets in the ring and says that there are going to be some new people coming to NXT to face Hawkins and Reks. As for them, why are they wearing sunglasses inside? This is the beginning of the new NXT and their first surprise is next week.

Kaitlyn vs. Maxine

Bateman and Curtis are on commentary for this. Curtis rubs lotion on his chest. He says that Maxine is in his back pocket for whenever he wants to pull her out. Brawl to start and Regal says he’s very open to bribes. Kaitlyn books a body scissors for a bit but Maxine takes over with basic stuff. A running double ax gets two. Maxine beats on her a little more until Kaitlyn hits a Bubba Bomb and a rollup for the pin at 3:21.

Rating: D. As usual this was boring. These girls hate each other but always have coherent wrestling matches instead of wild brawls. That’s one of those wrestling things I’ve never quite gotten. Anyway, dull match and the ending came out of nowhere. It is nice to see something other than a mat slam of some sort for a new finisher though.

Maxine gets in Regal’s face and says she looks forward to working closely with him.

Overall Rating: C-. I wasn’t all that thrilled with this show but it wasn’t terrible. Regal taking over could be a good thing but if he just does the same things Striker did, this isn’t going anywhere. I’ve been saying it for months but this show is desperately in need of some fresh blood or at least some fresh faces. Also, end the whole Bateman/Curtis/Maxine stuff. It’s been going on for months now and it’s still going around in circles. Not a bad show tonight but this glimmer of hope needs to go somewhere.

Results
Darren Young/Titus O’Neil b. Alex Riley/Percy Watson – Double Knee Gutbuster To Watson
Michael McGillicutty b. Tyson Kidd – McGillicutter
Kaitlyn b. Maxine – Bubba Bomb

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

It’s the 100th episode of this accursed show and we’re in Vegas for a wedding. Naturally it’ll be here in the arena in front of an audience because that’s how wrestling works. Also we’re going to have Titus vs. Young for like the 9th time because that’s all we can do on this season. Something big has to happen tonight right? Let’s get to it.

The opening video is a recap of the wedding thing and the love triangle.

Theme song. This is the closest thing to an NXT Supershow we’ll ever have anymore I think.

Cole is on commentary tonight. Oh boy. I think this is just a one night return.

Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young

No DQ match. Young runs to the floor for a bit but back in the ring he gets run over by an elbow. Backbreaker gets two for Titus. Darren gets thrown to the floor an DO THE DOG BARK! A slam of some sort on the floor puts Darren down but he manages a neckbreaker on the apron to take Titus down and we take a break. Back with Darren getting two off something we missed.

Belly to back gets two. Off to a cravate and Young sends him into the corner. The gutbuster gets two. The No DQ aspect of this has meant nothing so far. Young sets for another gutbuster but since he used that already and isn’t a main event guy, Titus counters and sends him in for the Clash of the Titus and the pin at 5:57.

Rating: D. What in the world was the point of the No DQ rule? This was nothing special at all, which is probably due to Young being worthless on almost all counts. Titus is ok but there’s nothing left for him to do here. Hopefully this is the end of this feud because it’s gone on way too long.

Titus gets on the mic afterwards and says he wants to thank the fans. He wants to thank them for absolutely nothing. Titus goes on a rant about how he’s sick of doing everything for 46 weeks and getting stuck with a leprechaun for nothing. He’s the star of this show and the star of every show the WWE has to offer. Cole’s heckling kills this for a bit because he laughs instead of acting like this is something special. Thanks for nothing and now he’ll be making it a win for himself. Cole makes fun of him again, totally diminishing the shock value of the turn.

Heath Slater vs. Percy Watson

Watson takes over with a dropkick to start. Cole lists off his various accomplishments as Slater takes over. Cole asks about the Redemption Points thing and Josh isn’t sure how they work either. Slater takes over and there’s nothing interesting going on here. Josh and Cole argue about Lynyrd Skynyrd and Watson starts his comeback. He jumps around a lot but the fans seem more interested in Slater than Watson. Spinning splash gets two. Persecution ends this at 3:41.

Rating: D. Boring match again and we’re told that this was a rookie upsetting a Superstar. That’s so cute: they think people still care about something like that. Also, Slater qualifies as a Superstar? Isn’t that like 20 losses in a row for him? Boring match and the crowd shockingly didn’t care.

Maxine yells at the Usos. Jey sneezes on her dress.

Maxine yells at more people when Curtis shows up and says calm down. She goes off ranting and Kaitlyn comes up. Curtis hits on her and gets called creepy.

Yoshi Tatsu/Trent Barreta vs. Tyler Reks/Curt Hawkins

This match AGAIN? Wait why am I surprised by that? Trent vs. Curt starts us off but it’s off to Reks quickly. Yoshi jumps in with a top rope chop for two. Was there a tag that I missed? Josh brings up Cole not talking about Superstars enough. Cole says look what he did for Bryan and Hawkins gets two. Cole also says he had a role in keeping the title on Miz. Powerslam gets two for Reks.

Cole blasts the hypocrisy of people praising Bryan’s cash-in but blasting people like Edge. Double tag brings in Trent and Reks as this match is very forgettable. Running boot gets two for Trent. Cole says none of these guys are part of the competition which is true. I love Cole pointing out stupid stuff on here. Whisper in the Wind gets two for Barreta and everything breaks down. Reks loads up Barreta onto a shoulder like for a powerbomb but spins to the side into a DDT and the pin at 5:39.

Rating: D. I know I’ve used that every time but it’s been the case every time: the matches are ok but they’re nothing I’m going to remember after about five minutes. These are almost all matches we’ve seen before and there isn’t much of a reason to want to see them again. Boring stuff here, but it is interesting that there’s a tag division on NXT alone but the two biggest wrestling companies in the country can barely find a pair of teams for a PPV title defense.

Raw ReBound. Ace’s eruption is still pretty good.

The wedding set is built in the ring. Elvis is performing the ceremony. And it’s Striker as Elvis. He’s been ordained for a full five minutes. The fans aren’t impressed by his accent at all. Curtis is brought out who is in a leather jacket and a tuxedo t-shirt. There’s some guy with him who looks a little drunks. Maxine comes out and to be fair, she does look good in the dress. She yells about the drunk guy (Chad, who says he was promised a chance to meet Hillbilly Jim) but shuts up eventually.

We get to the vows and Curtis says yes. She says yes also but we get to the objection part and the crowd pops in expectation. You would think Bateman would come out there but actually Striker takes off the glasses (it was obvious it was him and not meant to be a secret I don’t think) and says “Really? No one here objects to this?” Funny line. Bateman finally comes out for the big overly dramatic objection and actually rocking a suit.

He says he didn’t send the e-mail, but Curtis did. Bateman shows us footage of Curtis stealing an iPad and sending the e-mail. It took him about 4 seconds to send an e-mail that took 20 seconds to read but whatever. Maxine freaks and Curtis says he wants Maxine to come with him to the top. She slaps him and the brawl between the guys breaks out. Bateman hits his finisher on Curtis and walks off. Maxine says wait and slaps Bateman then kisses him. And that’s it. No seriously, that’s the end of the show.

Overall Rating: F. I can’t believe that they actually ended like that. I come into NXT with no expectations at all anymore and somehow this came off as a disappointment. I think it might be that I’m trying to avoid yelling about how we just wasted 10 or so weeks going around in a circle to get back to Bateman and Maxine being together but I’m not quite sure. Where in the world do they go from here? I’m not sure, but I’ll bet it takes at least 2 months to do it. Just WOW.

Results
Titus O’Neal b. Darren Young – Clash of the Titus
Percy Watson b. Heath Slater – Persecution
Tyler Reks/Curt Hawkins b. Trent Barreta/Yoshi Tatsu

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Back to what has officially become the most boring show this side of Warriors of Wrestling. We’re hopefully wrapping this season up but getting there is really dragging, as there were zero stories last week as well as no promos at all. That’s a shame as the show was starting to get good up until that point. Let’s get to it.

To give you an idea of how much WWE.com cares about this show, their website says it’s up every Wednesday at 4pm EST. It’s currently 8:05pm EST and I have to watch this on Youtube because neither today’s show, nor last week’s show are currently on WWE.com’s NXT page.

Curt Hawkins/Tyler Reks vs. Usos

It’s 8:19 and the show can now be found on WWE.com, if you look in the What’s Hot section instead of the NXT section. If I’m a TV company, I’d be curious as to why I should put a show on that they don’t even bother to put up on time. Anyway Jey and Reks get us going. Not much going on so far so Jey shouts to the crowd a little bit. Hawkins comes in and nothing goes anywhere now either. A quick chin/headlock by Jey goes nowhere so we head to the mat.

Off to Jimmy who armdrags Hawkins down and it’s back to Jey. A headbutt to the chest gets one and the Usos tag again. Regal explains what cutting the ring in half means, because a term like that needs an explanation apparently. Jey escapes a slam and hits a great superkick to put Hawkins down. Reks pulls Curt to the floor to avoid the Superfly Splash so the Usos dive onto both heels as we take a break.

Back with Jey holding a hammerlock on Hawkins on the mat. Jey loads up a superkick but Hawkins drops to the floor and suckers Jey in. Blind tag brings in Reks and the Usos lose control for the first time. Hawkins comes in with a kick to the back and a chinlock. Back to Reks who puts on something like a Tazmission.

Jey escapes and it’s off to Jimmy on a not very hot tag. A Bubba Bomb puts Reks down and the Umaga hip smash gets two. Hawkins interferes, allowing Reks to hit a Downward Spiral for two. Jey comes in with a Samoan Drop for two. Jimmy is sent to the floor and Reks/Hawkins hit a powerslam/neckbreaker combo to pin Jey at 10:59.

Rating: C. The match was pretty boring until the ending where things picked up in a hurry. That being said, we’ve seen these two teams fight more times than I can remember, which makes this a little less interesting. Also having no story to it hurts things, but the match was perfectly fine. More Usos please.

Tamina Snuka vs. Kaitlyn

Maxine is on commentary, which is literally the first continued story in two weeks. She’s fought them both before and this is due to last week’s Kaitlyn vs. Maxine match apparently. Kaitlyn takes her to the mat and hooks a bodyscissors and a rollup for two. Tamina takes her down as well and puts on a seated abdominal stretch. Maxine makes fun of Kaitlyn’s hair and Tamina changes to a chinlock. The crowd is surprisingly not completely dead here. Kaitlyn fights out and hits a bad cross body for two. Kaitlyn trips her up as they run the ropes and hooks a full nelson with her legs to make Tamina tap (with her foot) at 5:21.

Rating: D+. The match was pretty dull, but I’m digging this dueling submission story they’ve got going with Maxine and Kaitlyn. Also it’s amazing how far less unbearable the Divas are when they get some time to work out a match instead of hitting like three kicks, a missed charge and the finisher with a signature move thrown in. Imagine that: wrestling makes things better.

Raw ReBound is about Big Show, which is all that Monday’s show was about anyway.

Justin Gabriel/Derrick Bateman/Percy Watson vs. Michael McGillicutty/Johnny Curtis/JTG

Hey Justin is back. JTG still has the new attire and I still don’t want to see him ever again. Watson and JTG get us going Watson works on the arm but JTG speeds things up a bit. That’s cool with Watson as he runs over JTG and slams him down for two. Off to Justin who hooks an armdrag into an armbar. JTG gets him into the corner and it’s off to Curtis who takes over.

Gabriel channels his inner Steamboat and armdrags his way to freedom, taking Curtis to the mat. Off to Bateman who dropkicks Johnny down for two. He misses a charge though and McGillicutty stomps Bateman down in the corner. Everything breaks down and the faces stand tall as we take a break. Back with Michael putting Bateman in a chinlock and punching him in the face a few times.

Dropkick gets two on Bateman. Back to Curtis who has #letsgetweird on his trunks. If you really want to push Twitter that hard, you would think they could find a better billboard than Curtis. McGillicutty and Curtis tag two more times as I guess they won’t like JTG either. Curtis gives up the tag and it’s off to Watson. Watson cleans house but JTG low bridges him to send Percy crashing to the floor.

JTG pounds on Percy both in and out of the ring, getting two in the former. Off to the chinlock again and then back to Curtis. Elbow to the face gets two. Watson hits a belly to belly out of nowhere and makes the tag to Justin. JTG comes in at the same time and things speed up. Gabriel hits a blue Thunder Bomb for two and everything breaks down. Bateman dives on McGillicutty and Curtis while Gabriel hits a jumping tornado DDT for the pin at 12:13.

Rating: C+. This was pretty good but it came and went. You had three good guys, you had three bad guys, you had twelve minutes, and the good guys won. It was pretty entertaining though and that’s really all you can ask for on NXT in this weird kind of limbo period they’re in at the moment.

Overall Rating: C+. Like I said in the main event, you really can’t ask for more than about 45 minutes of entertaining matches from Superstars II anymore. Regal’s position as matchmaker is never mentioned anymore, the attacks in the back are never mentioned anymore, and the Hawkins/Reks being security is never mentioned anymore. I know I’m in the small minority here, but I kind of wanted to see where those things were going. I’ve spent a year on this already and I’d like to see some resolution to those stories. This was entertaining at least though.

Results
Curt Hawkins/Tyler Reks b. The Usos – Powerslam/Neckbreaker combination to Jey Uso
Kaitlyn b. Tamina Snuka – Full Nelson with Legs
Justin Gabriel/Derrick Bateman/Percy Watson b. JTG/Johnny Curtis/Michael McGillicutty – Tornado DDT to JTG

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This is the final regular taping for NXT as after this the show is going to move to Florida permanently which is probably a good thing. We can now get the FCW guys on the show and give them some time. Also we don’t need to sit through this show on Smackdown tapings because about 80% of the fans don’t have a clue who these guys are. Let’s get to it.

Johnny Curtis vs. Percy Watson

Apparently Curtis has stolen tape (as in Scotch) tape from the announcers at some point. As they talk about Josh’s shoes, Watson takes over with an armbar to start. Leg lariat sends Curtis to the apron but he guillotines Watson on the top for two. Quick chinlock goes nowhere and Curtis chokes him a bit. This time the hold of choice is a surfboard with a knee in the back. Watson gets out of that pretty easily and hits a few dropkicks. Heisman gets two. Persecution is escaped and Curtis hits a spinning Falcon’s Arrow for the pin at 4:40.

Rating: D+. This was ok enough I guess, but Curtis’ weird gimmick doesn’t do much for him. It’s good for promos but in matches he’s just kind of standing around and looking at the fans instead of really being strange. Watson is a guy that the fans seem to like but there’s nothing to him as far as a personality goes. It’s the completely opposite of how he was in Season 2.

Great Khali/Ezekiel Jackson vs. Curt Hawkins/Tyler Reks

See, THIS is what NXT needs: appearances from bigger names that are regulars on the main shows. It gives us some fresh faces but we don’t need to spend a month to figure out who they are. Weren’t Hawkins and Reks security guards or something recently? I vaguely remember something about Ace rehiring them but they don’t seem to care enough to let us know and neither do the announcers.

Khali and Hawkins start things off. The taller one chops him a lot and tags in Jackson, who seems to scare Hawkins a lot more than Khali did. Off to Reks who gets knocked into the corner with ease. Reks takes him down and Hawkins adds a top rope clothesline before tagging right back out. Jackson plays Ricky Morton, which is one of the most curious casting choices I’ve ever seen.

Reks is the legal evil one at the moment, kicking away at Jackson followed by a chinlock. A slam gets two. Off to Hawkins who again is only in for a few moments. Back to Reks who has more luck, hitting a big boot for two. Another chinlock goes on but Big Zeke comes back with a backdrop and makes the tag to Khali. He cleans house and the Plunge ends Reks at 6:04.

Rating: D+. Another so-so match here which was fine for filling in a few minutes. Still though the problem here is why Hawkins and Reks are back in the ring. I checked and last week it was said that they were security and not wrestlers. Therefore, we should get an explanation as to why they’re wrestling here. That’s basic storytelling and for some reason it’s just not happening at all.

Maxine vs. Kaitlyn

This is billed as a big showdown, which would make sense if this wasn’t what, the third time they’ve fought in a month or two? Maxine is in more traditional attire here and it’s working for me. Kaitlyn immediately takes her down with a rollup for two, followed by a slam for the same. Maxine hooks her guillotine choke but Kaitlyn eventually breaks it up by draping her over the top rope.

Maxine comes back with forearms and a chinlock. She’s very fired up this week. There’s another chinlock with a knee in the back which is shifted into a kind of camel clutch. Kaitlyn fights up but gets ax handled down for two. Kaitlyn comes back with a dropkick and a bad crossbody for two. Maxine grabs a rollup for two and hooks a Last Chancery. That’s easily broken and Kaitlyn grabs a Bubba Bomb. She drops onto her back and puts on a full nelson with her legs for the pin at 6:00.

Rating: C-. You know when these matches go longer than 90 seconds they’re a lot more enjoyable. At the end of the day, having some decent matches by girls in small outfits is something that’s hard to mess up. Having a match get six minutes makes it more enjoyable instead of having them go like a minute. Matches like those are pointless whereas something like this wasn’t bad.

Raw ReBound is about Big Show getting fired.

Cena Make-A-Wish video.

Tyson Kidd vs. Michael McGillicutty vs. Derrick Bateman

They have almost fifteen minutes for this. McGillicutty lets them fight while he chills on the floor. The good guys take turns with armdrags until it’s a stalemate. After another stand off the pair goes outside and chases McGillicutty back into the ring. There’s a double hiptoss and a LONG delayed double vertical suplex to put Michael down. Bateman has a smart idea and rolls up Kidd for two.

Bateman gets knocked to the floor but McGillicutty breaks up a suicide dive attempt. He hammers on Kidd for awhile until Bateman finally revives from his coma. The pair sends McGillicutty to the floor and Bateman hits a GREAT suicide dive. He may have hurt his knee on that though. Kidd goes up top and tries a moonsault press onto them but mostly lands between them as we take a break. Back with Kidd stomping down on McGillicutty in the corner.

Here’s a Sharpshooter attempt but Michael kicks him into Bateman who is on the apron. Saito Suplex gets two for McGillicutty. McGillicutty sends Bateman into the post as Regal talks about having a step ladder because his real ladder left him. Everyone is back in now and Kidd kicks out of a dropkick. McGillicutty and Kidd collide on stereo cross body attempts.

Bateman comes up and hits a few clotheslines on Michael for two. Tornado DDT is broken up but here’s Kidd with the kicks to Michael. Bateman hits a flip neckbreaker to Kidd but McGillicutty hits a backbreaker on him for two. Kidd hits a high kick to McGillicutty to send him into a northern lights bridging suplex by Bateman. Kidd breaks that up with a springboard elbow for two. McGillicutty breaks up a rollup and hits a Perfecplex for two on Kidd. Bateman breaks it up and sets for a superplex on McGillicutty but Kidd breaks it up and sends Michael to the floor. Sharpshooter followed by the Dungeon Lock gets the tap at 13:40.

Rating: B. Best NXT match in months, hands down. This was really entertaining and I legitimately didn’t know who was going to win the whole way through. Also, I LOVED the knee injury coming back to cost Bateman the match later. That’s a great little bit of storytelling in there and it made the match that much better. This was Bateman’s best match ever by about a thousand miles.

Overall Rating: B-. Pretty good show here with a great main event and some other ok wrestling on here too. It does have problems like the attacks in the back not being mentioned at all and Reks/Hawkins all of a sudden being back as active wrestlers, but if you throw out a nearly 15 minute main event like that every week I can more than over look it. Good show this week and check out that triple threat.

Results
Johnny Curtis b. Percy Watson – Spinning Falcon’s Arrow
Ezekiel Jackson/Great Khali b. Curt Hawkins/Tyler Reks – Punjabi Plunge to Reks
Kaitlyn b. Maxine – Leg full nelson
Tyson Kidd b. Michael McGillicutty and Derrick Bateman – Dungeon Lock to Bateman

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We have an actual changed show this week as we’ve got a bunch of people gone from the show after the great NXT purge last week. I’m not sure what to expect this week but it should be interesting to see who they bring in to replace the guys that have left. Either way it’s a good thing to get some fresh blood in here. Let’s get to it.

Striker is in the ring and says that Josh isn’t able to do commentary tonight because of the beating that Lesnar gave him on Monday. He recaps the firings and hirings of Young/O’Neil, which gets limited responses. That means there are some roster spots open and Regal is going to bring in some new talent. He’s out looking for that talent at the moment, so tonight Horny is the match coordinator. Oh good grief.

He says there are no more redemption points or challenges (duh) and brags about how he can talk. Hasn’t he been able to do that for the last six months or so? Tonight it’s Watson/Kidd vs. Curtis/McGillicutty. First of all though, he calls out Derrick Bateman. Wasn’t that his rookie like 6 months ago? Bateman says something to Horny from the aisle but JTG jumps him. Oh great he’s back. He complains about being off the show and that he has to beg Horny for a match. Bateman jumps him so here we go.

JTG vs. Derrick Bateman

Bateman immediately dropkicks him down and takes over. Clothesline takes JTG down as Horny says Bateman will be on Raw or Smackdown very soon. Out to the floor but Bateman misses a missile dropkick from the apron. JTG takes over back in the ring and hooks a chinlock. The video messes up now but the audio is still good.

JTG gets two off something as Horny is talking about Brodus while Striker corrects his English. The video is back now as Bateman rams JTG into the corner and starts his comeback. JTG speeds around behind him though and hits Jay Lethal’s belly to back suplex into a neckbreaker which is awesome. It only gets two and Bateman hits his falling bulldog for the quick pin at 4:42.

Rating: D+. I’m not wild on either of these guys but JTG getting his head smacked against a mat is always a good thing. I really hope he’s not going to be one of the main heels on this show now but for a one off appearance he’s a breath of bad air after the weeks of Young boring me to death.

Horny leaves commentary. I think there’s going to be someone different with Striker every match.

Maxine and Bateman arrive and a referee handcuffs them together as per Regal’s orders. Maxine tries to flirt her way out of it but it doesn’t work. Horny comes up and laughs at them. There’s a Divas tag later.

A shortened version of Brock/Ace/Cena from Monday is shown.

Watson comes up to Kidd to talk about their match later and Kidd says he hopes Watson isn’t another victim of Kidd’s bad luch with tag teams. Kaitlyn comes up and asks for the name of the new submission hold he used on McGillicutty. He says he’s going to let the fans pick when Natalya comes up and gets in her face about flirting with Tyson. The girls leave and the guys make fun of them but it’s nothing harsh.

Maxine has managed to change her clothes while being handcuffed. Natalya comes up and asks about the tag match which they agree to work together for. Curtis has to go with them.

Natalya/Maxine vs. Tamina Snuka/Kaitlyn

We get a video comparing Tamina to her dad. This is an insult to Jimmy. Kaitlyn and Tamina hit dropkicks at the same time to start the match. We have Natalya vs. Kaitlyn to officially get things going. Natalya throws her around to start and hooks a quick stretch which Curtis can’t explain the pain behind. Kaitlyn comes back with a bad looking cross body which gets two.

Off to maxine who hooks a front chancery with a body scissors. Striker gives a quick explanation of how the move works which Curtis can’t do or doesn’t know. Natalya comes in to break up a tag and hooks a leg lock. Kaitlyn knocks her off and it’s a double tag to Tamina and Maxine. The Samoan destroys her and the Superfly gets the splash at 4:40.

Rating: D+. Another dull match here and that splash really isn’t anything special at all. It’s just a top rope splash rather than a top rope splash that looks awesome, which is what Jimmy’s was. Kaitlyn continues to be all looks and little skill in the ring, but that could apply to almost all of the Divas.

Striker says Maxine has to stay here because Curtis has a match.

Kidd finds Watson in the back holding his knee. He thinks it was Michael McGillicutty.

Johnny Curtis/Michael McGillicutty vs. Tyson Kidd/???

McGillicutty is a surprise partner apparently. Ok then. I could have sworn they announced that earlier but whatever. Horny throws out McGillicutty so it’s a one on one match.

Tyson Kidd vs. Johnny Curtis

Maxine is at the table but doesn’t have a headset. McGillicutty hits on her as Curtis has to keep moving to avoid the technical skill of Kidd. He gets in a shot on Kidd’s arm to take over but Kidd speeds things up, sending Curtis to the floor. Tyson hits a sweet rana off the apron to send Curtis to the floor and we take a break. Back with Curtis putting on an armbar to keep Tyson on the mat.

During the break Kidd’s springboard elbow hit Curtis’ knee to set up the arm work. McGillicutty is quoting country songs for some reason. The arm work continues and the announcers talk about Cena vs. Lesnar to fill time. Kidd comes back with some kicks but goes up and is caught in a superplex for two. Kidd goes up again and hits a Blockbuster for two. I’ve always been a fan of that move. Sharpshooter is countered into a wheelbarrow suplex by Curtis for two. Guillotine legdrop misses and the Hart Lock (which is the name from FCW from what I can tell) gets the submission at 10:23.

Rating: B-. Good match but not a great one. Kidd is one of those guys that can go out there and have a good match with anyone it seems, even someone like Johnny Curtis who is hardly the most interesting person in the world. I’m hoping one of these changes that’s coming in NXT is a singles title for him to compete for.

Overall Rating: C. This show is kind of a placeholder until Regal can come back and bring in some new talent with him. That’s fine as the show wasn’t horrible or anything, but the wrestling wasn’t much to see. Still though, it’s so nice to have some fresh blood coming soon on this show and that’s a rare thing on Wednesdays.

Results
Derrick Bateman b. JTG – Falling Bulldog
Tamina Snuka/Kaitlyn b. Maxine/Natalya – Superfly Splash to Maxine
Tyson Kidd b. Johnny Curtis – Hart Lock

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