NXT
Date: September 6, 2011
Location: Huntington Center, Toledo, Ohio
Commentators: William Regal, Jack Korpela

We’re back after a week off last week and now we can continue doing absolutely nothing with the rookies on the show! Anyway this is I think the 26^th week for this show, nearly combining the first two seasons of it. If nothing else we might get some more updates on the AJ/leprechaun romance and I for one can’t wait for that. Let’s get to it.

Jack Korpela, the guy from WWE 24/7, has taken the departed Grisham’s place.

We get a recap of Striker being interrupted by Young. Young blasted him and yelled at him until Regal made the save.

Here’s Young to open the show. He makes fun of Striker for saying the same thing every week. However he says NXT is over, finished and done. OH YES!!! THERE IS HOPE PEOPLE!!! And of course there isn’t because he says there’s no point to continuing it because he’s already won. He turns his attention to Regal and thanks him for wanting to fight tonight.

Regal grabs a mic and gets into the ring. He believes Young has a future in the WWE but beating people like Striker up isn’t the way to do it and Regal isn’t going to allow it. Young says stop stealing his spotlight. Regal says he doesn’t need it because everyone knows who he is already. He talks about how he’s committed more crimes in and out of this ring than anyone Young knows. Young asks for a match and Regal says if that’s what it takes to get through to Young so be it.

Inside Out trailer kills some time.

AJ/Titus O’Neil vs. Maxine/Derrick Bateman

The guys start us off and some of the camera work is cool here as it’s a lot closer than usual. All Titus the first minute or so in. Powerslam gets one. Off to the chicks and AJ hits a nice spin kick to put Maxine down again. Low dropkick gets two for her. This has been one of the most one sided matches I’ve seen in a long time. Naturally as I say that Maxine gets a two count.

We’re told Horny has coached AJ because he’s learned from DX and Finlay. Seriously, what are we supposed to believe that Horny has taught her? How to throw a spin kick? We’re supposed to buy that? Why am I questioning NXT logic anymore. Off to a chinlock and then an atomic drop. Scratch that and we’re back to the chinlock again. We get a double tag which is pretty pointless since we’ve established that the genders have to match. Titus cleans house and hits a shoulder breaker for two. Clash of the Titus and we’re done at 5:23.

Rating: C. Titus is so far and away better than anyone on this show including most of the pros it’s unreal. There’s no point in even having the competition anymore but I have a feeling they’re going to turn him heel eventually, saying he doesn’t need Horny anymore and they’ll drag the show out for another five months or so to flesh out that storyline and keep us from getting anywhere.

Maxine is yelling at Bateman over their failure. He brings up watching Dirty Dancing last night instead of Roadhouse and then they fight about hair. Maxine says they need to separate Horny from AJ and that’ll be what they need. This sums up the entire season: Bateman: “It’s so hot when you scheme against leprechauns.”

Regal leaves to get ready for the main event. Striker replaces him.

Here’s Tyson Kidd who says that someone has been messing with him lately, flashing Japanese characters on the screen. He says Yoshi needs to come out wherever he is. Kidd is from the Hart Family Dungeon so he’s the best, including better than Tatsu. Another character flashes up (Striker says it means pride) and here’s Yoshi….in a mask. The music is his and he’s announced as Yoshi.

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Tyson Kidd

He takes the mask off and has half his face painted white/red with a Japanese character and half is normal skin. Think Roddy Piper at Mania 6. I don’t get it. Was it supposed to be some kind of a surprise that it’s Yoshi? It’s not like there are many other Japanese guys in the company. Kidd takes over to start with pounding but Yoshi drapes him over the top with a release suplex. Tyson is on the floor as we take a break.

Back with Yoshi slingshotting Kidd to the ropes. Kidd tries to skin the cat (who thought of that term anyway? I mean who looked at it and thought of a cat being skinned?) so Kidd kicks him down to the floor again. Kidd takes over and after a beating we’re on to a chinlock in the ring. While in the chinlock Striker calls Regal the best athlete never to hold a major championship. The IC Title is a minor title?

With Tatsu in 619 position Kidd drops a leg from the apron which gets two. Back to the chinlock but Tatsu escapes with a belly to back to put both guys down. Out to the floor again and Kidd runs into a boot to the face to put him down. Tatsu goes up and hits a top rope chop and a shining wizard gets two. Striker asks if we should start calling Tatsu Hokori (it’s the Japanese word for pride so I probably misspelled that) and then says question mark.

Yoshi loads up a big kick but Kidd kicks the knee out to take over again. The springboard elbow drop hits knee, which you would think would hurt the knee a lot worse than it would hurt Kidd’s elbow. Either way Tatsu goes up but Kidd hits a running dropkick to take him down again. Tatsu blocks a super rana and a top rope spinwheel kick ends this at 10:32.

Rating: B-. These two have good chemistry together but the problem here was that Tatsu was the same guy in different color tights and with half of his face painted. He’s always worked hard and never given up, so why is this any different? It was just as good as any of their other matches so if you’ve liked them, you’ll like this one too.

Darren Young vs. William Regal

No entrance for Young. Regal takes over immediately with knees to the head of Young in the corner. Out to the floor and it’s all Regal. The fans seem into him also. Regal goes over to the broadcast table and grabs a headset, yelling at Young to apologize and Young says no way. Young reverses and sends Regal into the corner and he looks to be in a lot of pain.

Young yells at Striker because he’s not a nice person. Regal gets all ticked off but gets caught because the referee gets in the way. Young stomps on Regal’s hands and they go into a submission sequence on the mat which Regal gets kicked in the face for. Back to the mat and Regal takes over with a hard elbow to the face. The referee won’t shut up so Regal turns to him and apologizes, kicking his foot backwards into Young’s chest. That made me smile. Exploder suplex sets up the Regal Stretch and here’s JTG for the run-in but Striker takes him down! Running knee to the head of Young ends this at 6:50

Rating: C. Regal can still go in the ring and knows how to work a crowd and cheat like a master. Young on the other hand is as generic as you can get and is a great example of what’s wrong with the developmental system. The guy is built very well and is passable in the ring, but he has no ability to get the crowd into a match or against him at all. There’s nothing at all that makes him stand out from anyone else on the roster. The difference between someone that worked his way up through the indies and the old school way and the modern system is remarkable.

Overall Rating: C. I’m going to have to start grading this on an NXT scale, meaning for this show it was ok. The stories aren’t that bad but for the most part they have nothing to do with the NXT competition anymore. It was nice to see the rookies back in action though so at least there’s that. They were fighting announcers but at least they were there. Also it’s pretty clear that we’ll have Regal/Striker vs. Young/JTG soon, probably next week. Not bad here, but it’s still just NXT.

Results

Titus O’Neil/AJ b. Maxine/Derrick Bateman – Clash of the Titus to Bateman

Yoshi Tatsu b. Tyson Kidd – Top rope spinwheel kick

William Regal b. Darren Young – Running knee to the head

NXT
Date: August 30, 2011
Host: Matt Striker

It’s the show on the night of the live Smackdown….and it’s a highlight show. This is NXT Graduates, which means that we’re getting highlights of people that have been on NXT rather than any new material. This is EXACTLY what I wanted as this show KEEPS FERAKING GOING. With this, next week we’ll be at six months of this season. For those of you wondering, yes I do take donations for psychiatric care. Let’s get to it.

So yeah this is going to be Striker narrating kind of like a bad DVD.

We start with Barrett’s promo from last week’s Smackdown saying he won’t fight a jobber.

Video on Brodus Clay.

Time to talk about AJ and we don’t get a clip from her on NXT. We get clips from her on Smackdown! Since I really don’t want to watch these matches again, I’m just copying the reviews from the originals.

Originally aired August 19, 2011 (Smackdown)

Kelly Kelly/AJ vs. Natalya/Alicia Fox

Nattie vs. AJ to start and the cute one (in plaid) is in trouble. Natalya is killing it here as we’re just waiting for the hot tag to Kelly to clean house. AJ finally fights her way to the tag and Kelly does her usual stuff. Alicia misses the axe kick and K2 ends this at 4:30. Just nothing to talk about here.

Rating: C. Eh this was fine all things considered. They’re really pushing Kelly strong as a “wrestler” but it’s not doing anything for me. The girls are almost entirely interchangeable other than Beth and Natalya to a degree. The matches aren’t as bad anymore though which is a nice break.

Video on Justin Gabriel being in South Africa.

Matt talks about his sister thinking Gabriel was gorgeous.

Originally aired August 19, 2011 (Smackdown)

Justin Gabriel vs. Tyson Kidd

Well they had a great match on NXT a few weeks ago so I have high hopes here. We get some nice speed stuff to start and Tyson takes over with some shots to the face. Nice dropkick to the back of the head as the announcers are talking about fishing with sharks. A hard elbow gets two. Justin fires off with some kicks which get two. Kidd rolls through a springboard cross body and tries a leg lock but Justin escapes and hits an STO. Justin goes for the 450 and after knocking Kidd off the top the splash ends it at 4:23.

Rating: C+. They’re keeping the matches short tonight but I’m digging them. Justin and Kidd are both getting some solid TV time and the matches are getting better. The little clips from South Africa are nice touches as they’re giving us a reason to care about him which we didn’t have before. Good little TV match here and the 450 is great as always.

Well sure they picked that one. Why pick the really good one from NXT?

Video on Alex Riley.

Originally aired July 17, 2011 (Money in the Bank 2011)

The version they show is clipped but this is the full review.

Sin Cara vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater vs. Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Wade Barrett vs. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan

This is going to be a big insane match so it’s almost impossible to call what’s going on in these things. I’m really not sure who to predict in this. I went with Cody as a more or less random choice mainly out of a lack of anyone else. Big mess to start as these really should only have six people in them. Kane, Barrett and Sheamus clear the ring out and it’s a three way staredown.

The Europeans….wait Kane is from Spain. Ok the two guys not named Kane go down and it’s ladder time already. Bryan dropkicks Kane down as Slater and Gabriel team up a bit. Cara, who is in white/gray here, gets taken down but the former tag partners fight already. Slater goes for the ladder and is loudly booed. Gabriel goes up but the ladder is way off center. Bryan dropkicks him off but Cody goes up.

Kane sends Sheamus and Cody to the floor but Barrett stops the Big Bald. Kane throws a ladder at Sheamus to take him down. Slater vs. Kane and guess who wins that one. Cara pops up out of nowhere to drill Kane and break up the clothesline. Bryan hits a big dive and Gabriel does the same. Sorry for all the play by play stuff but it’s all you can do in these things for the most part.

Cara is like screw you guys I’m the flier here and takes out Sheamus with a huge one. He follows that up by kicking Bryan in the head and hitting the top rope C4 to take Bryan down. Sin tries to go for the briefcase but can’t pick a ladder up and into the ring. Barrett kicks his head off so it doesn’t matter. They do the whole set up a ladder as a bridge from the ring to the table thing as is customary.

Cara avoids going through it though and Barrett clotheslines the post. For some reason the masked guy goes in again without a ladder and gets his head kicked off by Sheamus. Not a good night for the Mexican dude. Cara gets powerbombed through the ladder to more or less kill him. BIG pop for Sheamus for that one. Sheamus is controlling almost everyone here as Cara is taken out on a stretcher.

Kane and Sheamus are in the ring and fighting over a ladder. Scratch that as all three go to the floor. Bryan, Kane and Cody are all in the ring with ladders now. The small guys work together to take Kane down and there goes that partnership. Cara is gone now, as in out of the entire arena via a stretcher. Kane has the big ladder set up in the ring and everyone comes in. Cody makes an attempt but all the small guys make a save.

The former Nexus triple teams Bryan and then the tag team tells Barrett to go ahead. Barrett proves why British wrestlers are stupid as he goes up and is pulled down just a few seconds later. Both of them go up but Rhodes shoves the ladder down. Cross Rhodes takes someone down and it’s time for Barrett and Rhodes to fight over the ladder. Cross Rhodes takes Barrett out but Sheamus makes the last second save.

There’s an Irish Curse and pasty goes up, only for Bryan to make the save. Bryan rams him into the ladder a few times and goes up at the same time. Sheamus and Kane combine for a Doomsday Device to END Bryan. Kane and Sheamus are alone in the ring now. Well other than a ladder but that doesn’t count I don’t think. The big ladder is in the ring and a regular one is set up as a bridge against the middle buckle.

Kane escapes though and chokeslams various small people. Big Bald goes up but Bryan makes ANOTHER save despite being legally deceased I believe. Bryan goes up and almost gets the LeBell Lock on the ladder. That would be awesome. Bryan manages to knock Kane to the floor but Slater stops him. Bryan saves AGAIN as he’s been insane so far tonight.

Slater goes up one more time but Barrett saves. Time for Barrett vs. Sheamus which doesn’t sound all that appealing. Thankfully they team up and stop Slater, using a ladder like a fork to stop Slater and shove him off the top. That was cool. Sheamus goes nuts and takes out a lot of people so he can climb. Naturally he’s not that smart so he sets up another ladder on the top rope.

Sheamus is just beating people up at the moment and not really trying to go after it. Even Booker is saying GO FOR IT. Ok now he’s going up but Kane pops up from nowhere to stop him. Sheamus has a bridge ladder beneath him. He goes onto it but doesn’t break it. FREAKING OW MAN! Wasteland hits Kane and Gabriel climbs a ladder and hits 450 in the tightest space possible. That was AWESOME.

Bryan and Cody go at it on the ladder as everyone but Barrett is down. Wade comes up as Bryan tries to choke Cody out because he’s an idiot. Cody goes down and Wade takes an elbow to knock him backwards a bit. Bryan is alone up there and Wade is on the bridge. Bryan kicks him down and WINS THE CASE! Totally didn’t see that one coming.

Rating: A. I liked the story telling aspect of this as Bryan was the MVP of this thing.  He made a ton of saves and certainly deserved to win it in the end. The spots in this were great and Cara going out might have been due to prevent him from botching something major, which says a lot.  I’m not sure I can see Bryan winning a title but stranger things have happened.  GREAT match though.

After the Inside Out trailer, we actually TALK ABOUT THE SHOW. It’s a highlight reel about what’s happened on the show over the last 25 weeks or whatever. We get clips of everyone being eliminated and Bateman returning…and that’s it. No word on what’s next, no words on upcoming eliminations, nothing. That’s it. I have never felt like I wasted my time on a show before, but I do now.

Overall Rating: N/A. This wasn’t about NXT but it was a nice breath of air on the surface. That being said though, this was supposed to be about people that used to be on NXT, and the furthest we go back is six weeks? The show has been on for a year and a half and they don’t go past the middle of July? Next week it’ll be six months. I don’t know what to say about that at all. Somehow this was the best show in months though.

Results

Kelly Kelly/AJ b. Alicia Fox/Natalya – K2 to Fox

Justin Gabrile b. Tyson Kidd – 450 Splash

Daniel Bryan won the Smackdown Money in the Bank Case – Bryan pulled down the case

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 9, 2011
Location: Power Balance Pavilion, Sacramento, California
Commentators: Todd Grisham, William Regal

It’s week….sweet mercy it’s week 23 of this show. This show started over five months ago. Think about that for a minute. What were you doing five months ago? This same stuff has been going on that long. The NFL season doesn’t run as long as the fifth season of this show. There hasn’t been an elimination in over a month. It might seem like I’m rambling here to fill in space. That’s because I am, as there’s nothing else to talk about regarding this season. Let’s get to it.

There’s a challenge ready to go in the ring and Striker gets cut off by Young. It’s something to do with eggs and spoons and finishing lines. Young says he’s not doing it and I think I know where this is going. Young says that Striker is just a wannabe while Young is a superstar. Uh…right. The obvious match is made.

Kidd says he’s facing Justin Gabriel tonight. Oh great now we’re bringing in MORE people to fight against people that have nothing to do with the contest anymore. Kidd isn’t afraid because he’s a pro. He also compares himself to British Bulldog and Bret. Ok then.

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Tyson Kidd vs. Justin Gabriel

Regal points out that he wrestled Gabriel’s father in South Africa. Also Gabriel was the first rookie to pin a pro. That pro: William Regal. They hit the mat quickly and fight for control. Kidd takes him down and fires off some kicks. We get a Lance Storm reference as Kidd has been training with him recently. Kidd keeps his advantage as we go to a break. Regal stutters a lot as Gabriel counteres an Asai Moonsault.

After telling us to buy the latest top stars of whatever decade DVD and that bullying is bad except when it makes money for the company, we’re back with Kidd holding a chinlock. Kidd fires off some strikes and here’s another chinlock. With Gabriel draped over the bottom rope, Kidd tries a slingshot legdrop but lands on the apron due to Gabriel moving. Here’s the comeback and a spinwheel kick takes Tyson down. Roaring Elbow gets two. Kidd avoids the 450 but Justin doesn’t crash. Kidd goes to the floor and Gabriel hits a kick through the ropes and a corkscrew plancha.

Gabriel tries a springboard cross body but Kidd rolls through for two. They go to the mat again and get into a weird position. Justin grabs some kind of chinlock with his knee up but Kidd makes the rope. Kidd gets out of the way of another 450 and crotches Gabriel. Big kick sets up a springboard rana for two.

Gabriel grabs a sunset flip for two and we get a double leg nelson analysis from Regal. Kidd picks the leg and it’s off to a half crab (taken from Storm according to Regal). Justin rolls through into a pinning combination for two. Kidd gets his head taken off and Gabriel goes up but Kidd is in the middle of the ring. This isn’t a problem though and the 450 ends this at 14:45. That was impressive.

Rating: B. Very good match here as it was almost like an old WCW Cruiserweight match. The 450 to end it looked very good also as it was definitely the furthest he’s ever gone to hit it. The main issue with this match: WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH NXT??? This doesn’t have anything to do with the rookies and the show is halfway over now and we haven’t even seen two of them. Wait why am I complaining? This was better than anything this show has done in months.

Darren Young vs. Matt Striker

Striker has tights with his name on them now. I’m so glad he didn’t have those last week. Striker takes him down and hammers away almost immediately. Regal says he trained Striker (partially) on one of his off days. Dave Taylor is the one that really trained him though, also according to Regal. Young takes him to the apron and gets a neckbreaker out there which gets two back inside.

Off to the chinlock and then he rams the arm into the post a few times. Young snaps off a belly to belly suplex and Striker lands on his head. Young hooks an armbar because he’s worked on the neck so far and he’s pretty stupid. Striker is bleeding from the nose and grabs something like a Gory Bomb. And never mind as Young grabs a fireman’s carry and drops backwards to drive both knees into the ribs for the pin at 4:50.

Rating: C. Pretty decent match as Young has about his 5^th different finisher in about a year but whatever. I’m not sure I get the booking here. Why have Striker come back just to lose? What does it mean for Young that he can beat a guy that has had one match in four years? Striker looked decent and the blood helped it a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a bit shaken up either.

We get the same long recap of Punk vs. Cena from last night.

Daniel Bryan is actually here and talks to Bateman. Bateman is playing some video game against Cena. Bryan turns off the TV and says that Bateman has been making a fool of himself lately. Until he figures that out, he’s on his own. That means we have one pro left of the three and he’s a leprechaun.

Titus O’Neil vs. Derrick Bateman

The bell rings and the crowd goes SILENT. Titus hammers away early on but Bateman gets something like a standing blockbuster for two. Dropkick to the ribs gets two. Off to another chinlock which is broken up by Titus. The crowd is just not caring at all. Backbreaker puts Bateman down but Titus can’t follow up. Bateman picks him up and falls down, letting Titus get the pin at 3:30.

Rating: D. What was the point of this again? I guess they didn’t have time for the full Punk vs. Cena segment from last night so we got a quick match instead. I wouldn’t get used to this as the rookies are a special attraction anymore it seems. Titus looked weak here and this was mainly more about Bateman looking lost without Bryan, because he’s had so much experience with him since the comeback right?

Post match Bateman goes after the Leprechaun but gets taken down and there’s a Tadpole Splash.

Overall Rating: C. That’s on an NXT scale, not a regular one. Yeah the wrestling was better, but we had three matches: One was a pro whose rookie is gone vs. a former NXT rookie, a rookie vs. a host and two rookies fighting again. One match actually means anything and that’s about it. What is the end game of any of this? The crowd going SILENT for rookie vs. rookie stuff is a very bad sign and it just needs to end already.

Results

Justin Gabriel b. Tyson Kidd – 450

Darren Young b. Matt Striker – Fireman’s carry into a gutbuster

Titus O’Neil b. Derrick Bateman – Pin after Bateman fell during a slam

NXT
Date: August 2, 2011
Location: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
Commentators: William Regal, Todd Grisham

We’re in week twenty-whatever here and there’s no sign of this wrapping up anytime soon. They at least have a story going here with the heels teaming up to take out the force of O’Neil, which is a lot better than what we’ve sat through for the majority of the season so far. More of the same tonight I’d assume. Let’s get to it.

This is being written on Wednesday, after I watched the show live last night.

We open with a recap of the last few weeks with O’Neil getting double teamed after dominating for months on end.

Here’s Titus minus the leprechaun. He thinks the alliance between the heels is cute. Titus says he’s the most dominant rookie ever so he’s not worried about Bateman or his family. During this promo Bateman’s video started playing but you can’t see it on the broadcast. Bateman and Young come out and Bateman points out that he beat O’Neil last week, which Titus agrees to. Young says he’s dominated NXT but Titus is in the points lead because he’s pandered to the fans.

Striker says that it’s not a bad strategy because the fans are 50% of the vote. Young says he doesn’t care because he doesn’t need the fans or a pro. Bateman says he and Young agree that Titus needs to go. Titus suggests a tag match and the heels agree, if they can pick the partner. Titus says cool, so they pick Striker. He protests, saying he hasn’t been in the ring in four years. The pop for this was a lot louder than it appears to be on TV.

JTG vs. Vladimir Kozlov

Vladimir is “gangsta” here. To be fair he plays it pretty well and the fans laughed at this which is the idea. The tag is on the back of his jeans still. He does a decent JTG impression. Actually he doesn’t because Kozlov is kind of amusing and interesting like this which JTG never has been. They stare each other down and do the comedy bit where they mirror each other.

JTG jumps him as Grisham says this should have been at Wrestlemania. Thankfully he’s kidding because even he’s not that stupid. Kozlov catches him and hits a fallaway slam to put him outside. Back inside and JTG finally gets a boot up in the corner to break the Russian’s momentum. We take a break to advertise an old video game (by video game standards 4 months is old right?) and come back with Kozlov getting a kick to the ribs.

That doesn’t get him anywhere as JTG hits a decent middle rope dropkick for two. We get a lot of rest holds here and the fans always started clapping almost immediately for Vlad to get out of them. Impatient lot they are. Vlad with the grill on his teeth is kind of hilarious. JTG gets his facejam off the top (Mugshot) for two. That starts Kozlov’s comeback which results in a bunch of power moves. Powerslam sets up the Iron Curtain and we’re done at 7:42. I timed the match last night and it was 8:00 even so not much was cut out.

Rating: C-. Pretty boring match here but it wasn’t bad. The comedy aspect wasn’t bad but then it turned into just another match. The fans liked the comedy but then the match turned into JTG vs. Kozlov, which isn’t exactly a great match that will have the people on the edges of their seats you know?

Post match Kozlov takes Grisham’s phone and planks on JTG. Yeah it’s still not funny.

Raw ReBound. This didn’t air until between Superstars and NXT in the arena.

Tyson Kidd comes out and we get a clip of him beating up Yoshi last week. He talks about his heritage coming out of the Hart Dungeon. In his WWE, there’s no room for stupid shrines or Yoshi Tatsu. In his WWE, there’s only room for him.

Sheamus vs. Henry video. That line of “I’ll fight him” is great.

Derrick Bateman/Darren Young vs. Matt Striker/Titus O’Neil

Striker gets a pretty nice reaction. AJ, who looks about 12, comes out with Horny and they sit in on commentary. Titus and Bateman start us off. Horny starts a Bill Cosby impression for some reason. Or maybe that was AJ. Off to Striker after Titus dominates for a bit. The announcers point out that it’s kind of odd that Striker brings his boots with him when he hasn’t wrestled in four years but Regal says it’s normal. Ok then.

Striker does pretty well for himself and it’s back off to Titus. Horny is making his usual noises and Regal is chattering with him. Titus sends Bateman to the floor so Horny can bark. Thankfully that takes us to a break. Back with Striker holding a headlock on Young. Striker tries to speed things up but runs into an elbow in the corner.

Bateman throws on a chinlock as Horny is throwing M&Ms into AJ’s mouth. Regal says he got a Rosetta Stone course in Leprechaunese. I give up. Bateman pops O’Neil to break up a tag. Striker gets a chop in but a forearm takes him down for two. AJ doesn’t want to talk about her time on NXT. I can’t say I blame her. She has a good voice. Bateman goes up but crashes. Hot tag with a dive to Titus. Domination begins but the heels cheat to get a sunset flip. Striker breaks up the cheating and the Clash of the Titus ends Young at 11:06. That’s about right with my time.

Rating: C+. Not a horrible match here and Striker looked pretty good all things considered. The main issue he has is telegraphing moves as he does stuff that makes you ask “why would you do that?” Anyway for a guy out of the ring for four years, this was fine. Pretty fun little tag match and a nice moment I guess.

The faces celebrate and we get a decent line to end it. Grisham: “Give me a hug William.” Regal: “No.” The bluntness of it is great.

Overall Rating: C. I’ll go with ok for this one. The Striker thing was a nice way to tie this together, but the problem becomes that the voting and competition is almost forgotten about. They’re running in circles here and it’s not interesting anymore. At the end of the day there’s one problem: how many times can we see these guys fight? The answer seems to be A WHOLE FREAKING LOT.

Results

Vladimir Kozlov b. JTG – Iron Curtain

Titus O’Neil/Matt Striker b. Darren Young/Derrick Bateman – Clash of the Titus to Young

NXT
Date: June 14, 2011
Location: Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Commentators: Todd Grisham, William Regal

Tonight is week fifteen, matching the longest season (season 1) of this show so far.  With the recent arrest of Lucky Cannon, there’s a chance he’s gone tonight.  That was definitely shocking news.  Not that he got arrested.  It was shocking that someone actually knew who he was.  My money is on someone not named O’Brian going home tonight because someone hates me.  Anyway let’s get to it.

The opening video is about Lucky Cannon and his interaction with Maryse over the course of the season.  Also last week the $3,500 purse Cannon got her was destroyed thanks to that pesky leprechaun.  If that was read out of context, it might make you think wrestling fans are really stupid for watching this product.  By reading it in context, we know for fact that they’re stupid for watching this.

Maryse brings out the rookies.  Oh and Striker is there with her.  Cannon is here with a different coat.  O’Brian is here with no apparent reason.  Young is here with the hair that will not die.  O’Neil is here with no Pro due to the attack by Truth last night.  Wait Striker just said eliminations, as in PLURAL!!!  Oh I’m all aflutter now.  The Redemption standings are as follows: O’Neil has nearly double what the other three combined have.  Maryse dashes my hopes by saying it’s just one elimination tonight.

The challenge is Talk the Talk and you get thirty seconds to say who should be eliminated.  Cannon says O’Neil for riding the coattails of his pro.  He has no charisma and won’t draw money.  The show is all about him apparently.  O’Neil makes fun of Cannon’s robe and says he’s smart.  Cannon has won nothing apparently and is just running behind Maryse.  Can you blame him though?  Still a bad promo, but far better than anything O’Neil has ever said.

O’Brian says Young should be gone because he’s had his opportunity already.  Young blew his chance and has already main evented Summerslam.  That’s a very good point and proof why Young either should be on the main roster or should be fired, depending on where you stand.  Young says he’s the best and that they should just give him the crowd now.  YES!  LISTEN TO THIS MAN!  Young jumps O’Brian and leaves.  Think that’s our main event?  We do the judging and Young gets the loudest pop actually but they call it a tie with O’Neil.  O’Neil does clearly get the biggest pop on the second try so I can live with that.

Darren Young vs. Yoshi Tatsu

This has the potential to not suck.  Tatsu works on the arm a lot and that’s about it for the start of this.  Remember when Tatsu was this hot thing on ECW?  How in the world has he fallen that far that fast?  We’re three and a half minutes into this now and there’s been nothing but the arm work so far.  Tatsu fires off some chops in the corner so Young punches him in the face.

Dropkick sends Young to the floor but he catches a DDT on the apron to Tatsu to take over.  Here comes JTG as we take a break.  Back with Young holding a front facelock and JTG is on commentary now.  Regal gets on JTG about various things and it stuns me that people actually liked JTG at some point.  Chinlock goes on by Young as this isn’t incredibly interesting.

Regal and JTG do their usual schtick and it’s kind of funny as always.  Young hits the chinlock some more to waste even more time.  How is it possible that this show is already halfway over?  Tatsu breaks the hold and takes Young down to start his comeback.  Some kicks abound and up he goes.  And speaking of go, there goes my feed.  By the time it’s back Yoshi is hammering away with nothing but strikes.  What a shock.  Double knees in the corner and a spinwheel kick get two.  Shining Wizard gets two.  Yoshi goes up but Chavo distracts him, allowing Young to pull him off the top for the pin at approximately 13:50.

Rating: D+. Based on just what I saw, this was pretty weak.  There’s no real point to having these guys fight and that’s what makes this show not work.  They can have these pointless matches all they want but the matches get really dull after awhile.  Tatsu and Young have no reason to fight and that becomes apparent after 12 minutes of them fighting.  Weak match and boring to boot.

Maryse tells Lucky that her purse can be repaired.  Lucky says he’ll take care of it and she says she gave the purse fixers Lucky’s credit card.  Ok then.

Titus O’Neil vs. Lucky Cannon

Pre-match, Cannon promises to beat up Horny when he gets back.  Power vs. speed for lack of a better term here.  Titus throws him around so Cannon runs.  In old school heel fashion, Cannon gets a shot in to Titus as he comes back in and takes over.  Apparently O’Neil is distracted due to the lack of small green clothed men.  I give up.  Legdrop gets two for Cannon.  Chinlock goes on and the fans aren’t all that thrilled.  Lucky does the dog bark as this needs to end.  Titus starts his comeback and hits a clothesline and there’s the dog bark.  Clash of the Titus ends this at 6:46.

Rating: D+. Well this match happened.  That’s about all there is to say here.  O’Neil is a good power guy and probably has done the best this season, which means he probably won’t win.  Weak match here which has been a theme tonight so far.  I’m not thrilled with this show at all as you can probably tell.  The problem is the same as earlier: how many times can we see these people have matches?  It gets really annoying really fast and it did about three months ago.

In one of the only funny lines of the night, Todd says elimination is next.  “One of these four superstars’ dreams are crushed tonight and it’s all your fault WWE Universe!”

Elimination time and Lucky is gone in 4^th place.  The reactions are great here, with Striker looking STUNNED.  No real shock due to what happened this weekend (he was arrested for impersonating a police office of all things) but rather annoying because O’Brian is STILL around.  Hopefully this ends soon though.  Lucky says he should be on Smackdown instead of on here and Titus leads us in the goodbye song.  Maryse says she appreciates the stuff but the purse was a fake and slaps Lucky to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. I really didn’t like this week as the in ring stuff is right back to where it was a few weeks ago.  Somehow they fit about twenty minutes into this show which is rather impressive for a 50 minute show, and will likely approach Impact in terms of overall ring time.  Not much here at all this week and another boring show.

Results

Titus O’Neil won the Talk the Talk Challenge

Darren Young b. Yoshi Tatsu – Slam off the top rope

Titus O’Neil b. Lucky Cannon – Clash of the Titus

Lucky Cannon was eliminated in 4^th place