NXT
Date: January 11, 2012
Location: Laredo Energy Arena, Laredo, Texas
Commentators: William Regal, Matt Striker

It’s episode 99, and somehow that’s not just of this season. This is only episode 45 of this one. You would think they would be good and redeemed by this point but I guess not. Titus should be back this week and next week it’s off to the Meadows for the wedding between Maxine and Curtis. Let’s get to it.

There’s a new intro, which looks like any other WWE TV show intro. Well at least they’re admitting it now.

Striker says next week is the 100th episode from Vegas. He brings back another former member of NXT: Alicia Fox. Oh because she used to be a Pro. Apparently it’s impressive that she’s on Raw and Smackdown now, which is what got her a position as a Pro in the first place. The hooded fur thing looks stupid but that’s “fashion” I guess. Maxine was her rookie and Alicia says she tried to sell her on Ebay but it didn’t work.

Cue Maxine who says this is her ring and show now. Alicia is a waste of space and they get into an argument. Striker tries to calm them down and Maxine says shove it Striker. Alicia tries to be nice and asks how…or I mean who, are you doing? Brawl starts and we get a referee for a match.

Alicia Fox vs. Maxine

Regal asks an interesting question: how did Striker get all this power? Alicia tries to do the splits but Maxine drops a knee onto her to take over. There’s no fascinating fact about Maxine this week because all she would talk about was the wedding. As for the match, it’s your usual Divas match. Maxine beats on her for awhile but as she tries an O’Connor Roll, Alicia rolls through it for the pin at 2:10. Nothing else to say here.

Trent Barreta vs. Tyler Reks

Reks pounds him away to start. They’re playing up Barreta as a prankster or something like that. Trent takes it to the floor and hits a big dive. Reks has a bad ankle now. And never mind as he kicks Trent’s head off and was playing possum. A Downward Spiral into the middle buckle gets two and it’s off to the chinlock. They’re using the camera angle that was used in Season One, which is practically eye level with the top rope.

Trent gets two feet up in the corner as the announcers talk about star quality, which Reks says, so says Regal. Trent misses something off the top and Reks puts him in a torture rack. When you’re channeling Lex Luger, there might be something wrong with you. Either way, Barreta rolls through it and gets a backslide, yes a backslide I say, for the pin at 4:20.

Rating: C. I’m a sucker for Trent Barreta as he’s just good at what he does. If you give him a gimmick and some kind of a different look which actually sets him apart, you’ve got something interesting. Still though, fun little match and it worked fine. Reks is in desperate need of a change as well but for NXT he’s ok.

Reks yells at the announcers as Hawkins pounds Trent down. Yoshi comes in for the save.

Gabriel and Bateman are in the back and Gabriel mentions the e-mail that broke up Maxine and Bateman. Derrick has no idea what’s going on and says he never sent it, even pulling out his phone. Now they’re stealing ideas from Raw? Gabriel suggests that Bateman’s e-mail was hacked. He freaks, shouts CURTIS and walks off.

Usos vs. Tyson Kidd/JTG

Great. It’s JTG. No Tamina here. Kidd vs. let’s say Jey to start. The twins double team him and a double back elbow gets two. Off to JTG as the Samoan hits a European Uppercut to the American. The crowd is dead for this. When a Siva Tao can’t fire them up, the show is pretty bad. Kidd is in and there’s some cheating with Jey getting beaten down. Off to the chinlock which Jey breaks pretty quickly. Double tag off to JTG and Jimmy and the corner hip smash gets two. Kidd hits a suicide dive to take Jey out but Jimmy hits a superkick for the pin at 4:16.

Rating: C-. Nothing of note here but anytime someone as annoying as JTG gets kicked in the face it’s a good match. Other than that there was nothing to see here. The Usos have nothing to do because they’re way better than any team on this show but they can’t get a push at all on a main show.

Raw ReBound.

Aksana and Maxine are in the back and Maxine freaks out. Aksana offers any help she can give with the wedding. Bateman comes up and they get in a mini argument. She says she and Curtis are going to the top.

Rumble 94 is the moment this week.

Alex Riley vs. Johnny Curtis

I love Riley’s music. Curtis however couldn’t be more generic if his life depended on it. Striker makes marriage jokes and the fans seem to be into Riley. Riley sends him to the floor where he gets a kiss from Maxine. And scratch that as Curtis takes him down and hooks a chinlock. Regal won’t be bringing a gift to the wedding. Riley gets in a boot but Maxine distracts him, allowing something like a falcon’s arrow brainbuster ends Riley at 2:04.

Bateman comes out and says next week, this ends. OH PLEASE LET HIM BE TELLING THE TRUTH!!!

Here’s Darren Young and we get a recap of their feud. After he says he’s better than Titus he calls the big bald one out. Titus goes off on Young and partially on the idea of the show, saying Striker has given up on the challenges and he doesn’t care about the points. There’s no Watson, no JTG and no Tamina here, so let’s deal with this right now, one on one. Young says he’s beaten him more times than he can count and he’s won all the matches.

Actually from what I can find they’ve had 7 one-on-one matches and Titus leads 5-2. Young yells at Titus and Titus says watch it. Darren insults Titus’ kids a few times and it’s on. Striker breaks it apart and says next week, those two in a No DQ match. That would be better if it hadn’t already happened back in May with Titus winning but whatever. The brawl end the show.

Overall Rating: D. Just awful. The matches were ok, but these stories with the rookies have got to stop. Darren Young is the least interesting person I have seen on a WWE roster this side of Johnny Curtis. Who does the other main story involve? JOHNNY CURTIS OF COURSE. These same stories have been going on for four months now and they’re not interesting, at all. Striker says they both end next week and why should I believe him? Anyway, bad show this week as I’m totally burned out on these stories.

Results
Alicia Fox b. Maxine – Rollup
Trent Barreta b. Tyler Reks – Backslide
Usuo b. JTG/Tyson Kidd – Superkick to JTG
Johnny Curtis b. Alex Riley – Sitout brainbuster

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NXT
Date: January 4, 2012
Location: Verizon Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas
Commentators: Josh Matthews, William Regal

It’s a new year and it’s the same old show here. NXT will continue to defy all odds and reach new levels of worthlessness, and I’ll still be here to watch it because…..uh….. someone has to do it I guess. Anyway we’re inching closer to the 100th episode of this show and somehow, this season has been almost half of those. Let’s get to it.

We open with Striker who hypes up the 100th episode. He brings out The Natural Michael McGillicutty. Striker offers him a handshake but Hennig (seriously, just call the guy Joe Hennig and let him be Curt’s son) says this show sucked and that it gave him nothing. He became part of the Nexus, the most dominant faction in WWE history. That’s hilarious but we’ll move on.

Everything he’s accomplished has been because of his own abilities. Cue….ALEX RILEY??? He’s got his varsity jacket again and REGAL IS BACK!!! Sorry for shouting but you have to take what you can get with this show. They argue and start fighting. Striker shouts to get a ref here and it’s match time.

Alex Riley vs. Michael McGillicutty

Regal can’t pronounce McGillicutty’s name. He asks about any new year’s resolutions Josh may have made. Regal had his toes amputated so he can be closer to a bar. McGillicutty sends him to the floor and Riley is in trouble. He laughs as we take a break. Back with him in control still and it’s off to a quick chinlock. This match is going nowhere but it’s not that bad. Backbreaker gets two. Here’s a longer version of the chinlock.

Riley fights up and starts his comeback as Regal talks about how he had years in WCW before he got here. That’s such a huge difference in today’s product: there really are no major places to learn your craft other than FCW so you see so many styles that are the same. That’s what I like about OVW: you got a nicer variety to pick from. The inverted DDT is countered into a Saito Suplex for two from McGillicutty. McGillicutty goes up but gets crotched and caught in something like a super-butterfly suplex for two. TKO attempt is countered into a McGillicutter attempt which is countered into the TKO for the pin at 9:30.

Rating: C+. Better match than I was expecting but the part before the break was pretty dull. Riley is a guy that I like what I see out of but for some reason he was thrown off the main shows for whatever reason. He’d be a guy you could throw into Vickie’s stable really easily but instead he’s back here on NXT, hopefully as a regular if he’s not going to be on Raw anymore.

We get a video from last week where Maxine left with Curtis.

Bateman is talking to Kaitlyn who calls him Derrick Sweet Meat Bateman. Maxine and Curtis come up and it turns into a big argument. Maxine yells a lot and then kisses Curtis. After Maxine and Bateman both leave, Curtis hits on Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn vs. Maxine

Maxine has a cousin is a part time pilcher pickler from Portland and is married to a Peruvian pygmy who is a purveyor of fine pot-bellied pigs and peacocks. Josh: “You can get all that out of her but you can’t say McGillicutty?” Anyway Kaitlyn uses her power to control but Maxine counters into a slam into a dragon sleeper minus the arm trap with a bodyscissors for the tap at 1:55.

Here’s the Raw ReBound.

Yoshi and Barretta are in the back playing WWE 12 when Hawkins and Ryder show up. Trent invites them to jump in on their game and apparently Yoshi put superglue on the controller so Reks is stuck. Yeah….comedy.

Royal Rumble moment from 1988.

Trent Barretta vs. Curt Hawkins

When Hawkins was coming out, Curtis’ Tron video popped up for a split second. We talk about how Yoshi is always smiling. Regal: “You should always have a smile on your face. You make a better corpse that way in case you die.” We wish JR a happy birthday as the match is very basic to start. You hear that a lot anymore in WWE. Regal talks about coming to America and seeing JR as the first thing he saw on American TV. Suplex gets two for Hawkins.

We’ve gotten Norman Smiley and Gordon Solie references so far. The commentary is more fun than the match. All Hawkins so far. Regal and Josh won a Slammy for best announce team according to Josh. Regal wants cash instead of a trophy. Trent hits an enziguri and a running jumping elbow in the corner. Out to the floor and Trent hits a gorgeous flip dive to the floor. Back inside a tornado DDT gives Trent the win at 6:02.

Rating: C. I’m a big Trent fan and this was a great example as to why. He’s so smooth in the ring and can go from one thing to another with seemingly no effort at all. The dive was absolutely perfect and the DDT had a great spike to it. It’s a shame he doesn’t get more time, even just a spot fest with someone like Kidd. Still fun though.

We recap Titus vs. Young, which resulted in a bunch of brawls. O’Neil will be back next week.

Darren Young vs. Derrick Bateman

They have just over 4 minutes left in the video so this isn’t going to last long. They start fast and Bateman gets a quick two count. They go to the floor and Young hits an atomic drop kind of move onto the apron, taking the advantage. Back in Bateman sends him into the post shoulder first and we’re running out of time very fast. A running missile dropkick takes Young down. Maxine pops up and says in two weeks, she and Curtis are getting married in Vegas. Young hits his gutbuster for the pin at 3:30.

Rating: D. This was nothing other than a way to make the announcement about the wedding in a few weeks. I couldn’t be happier it was short either as these two are just not interesting at all, especially Young. He’s just boring and offers nothing at all of note. He never has and I can’t imagine him ever doing so.

Overall Rating: C. Much better show than usual but two of the matches were long and had people in them that I like so I’d think that has something to do with it. The two shorter ones were just there and the main storylines continue to bore me on this show. The love triangle thing has been played out for months now and it’s going to continue until they have their own network. Decent show from a wrestling perspective though.

Results
Alex Riley b. Michael McGillicutty – TKO
Maxine b. Kaitlyn – Standing dragon sleeper
Trent Barretta b. Curt Hawkins – Tornado DDT
Darren Young b. Derrick Bateman – Fireman’s Carry into a gutbuster

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NXT
Date: December 28, 2011
Location: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Commentators: Matt Striker, Josh Matthews

It continues. Anyway here we have another edition in the never ending saga that is the fifth season of NXT. I know I say that a lot, but what else is there really to say at this point? We have a love triangle regarding Bateman, Curtis and Maxine, which would be a bit better if the people in it were interesting. Anyway let’s get to it.

Striker is in the ring and says that in three weeks, we’ll be having NXT’s 100th show. A lot of people got their start here, so here’s Justin Gabriel. Before he can say anything though, here’s Slater. He talks about carrying Gabriel all the time and reiterates that he’s the One Man Rock Band. Someone find out what that’s supposed to mean. I’d really like to know. Gabriel asks him just that and Slater says that he plays instruments. Striker makes the match.

Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater

Slater hides in the corner as Josh tries to get the nickname Capetown Werewolf over for Gabriel. Striker goes over some of the history of NXT, such as Zack Ryder being the pro for Titus O’Neil back in Season 2. They speed things up and the fans like Gabriel’s speed moves. Gabriel works on the arm and the fans aren’t exactly thrilled with this. I can’t say I blame them. This has been pretty dull stuff so far. A clothesline puts Slater on the floor and Gabriel hits a big flip dive to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Gabriel breaking Slater’s momentum with an STO. He loads up the 450 but Slater crotches him. Justin gets knocked to the floor and is holding his thigh a bit. That gets two back in the ring but the hand hit the mat three times. Time for a chinlock now. Gabriel gets a small package for two and it’s back to the chinlock, both of which have been by Slater. Josh says this is his favorite season of NXT. The man has no taste.

Justin fires off some kicks and a springboard crossbody gets two. Striker takes credit for this (with a Barry Horowitz reference) as Gabriel’s second 450 attempt gets the same result. They slug it out from their knees and Justin hits an Eye of the Hurricane and a top rope Lionsault for two. You can hear what sounds like the referee saying “go home” and Slater hits a spinebuster for two. They go up to the corner and Slater is knocked throat first onto the top rope. A springboard 450 gives Gabriel the win at 13:02.

Rating: C+. It’s really impressive what happens when you give a match more than a minute and a half. I know it’s impossible to have matches going 12 minutes every week on TV and I’m not saying that’s what should happen, but it’s nice to see things like this every once in awhile. Not a classic or anything but it was a pretty decent match.

Raw Recap eats up a few minutes and focuses on Punk and the gauntlet.

Bateman comes up to Maxine in the back and says they’re both crazy so they’re perfect for each other. Maxine says that she didn’t like the weekly pillow fights and having to watch Titanic every week with his head on her shoulder. He says he’ll get her back and kisses her. That earns him a slap. They leave and we see Curtis watching from the shadows and being very happy about what he saw.

Percy Watson vs. Tyson Kidd

Darren Young is on commentary. Watson controls to start and Young complains as a distraction to let Tyson take over. Tyson hammers on him for a few minutes and you can hear individual fans shouting in the crowd. Watson gets a dropkick and makes a comeback. This crowd is almost eerie. Kidd jumps into a dropkick and there’s the spinning splash for two. Young gets up and distracts Watson so Kidd can hit a spinning fisherman’s neckbreaker for the pin at 4:00.

Rating: D+. Absolutely nothing to see here at all. Young is trying to get into the mind of O’Neil through Watson, which would be more interesting if this hadn’t been going on for going on ten months now. Also they waste Kidd on this? He’s one of the best regulars on this show if not the best and they waste him here? Seriously?

Aksana comes up to Maxine and and shows her some e-mails she found on Teddy’s phone. They’re from Bateman and says that he’s looking forward to being a Smackdown Superstar but to keep Maxine on NXT because she drags him down.

Johnny Curtis vs. Derrick Bateman

Brawl to start and Bateman takes over with loud clotheslines. They fall to the floor after more beating by Bateman. The crowd sounds like they’re at a funeral. Curtis takes over and Maxine takes over again. After a break Curtis is still in control. Clothesline gets two. This is one of the least interesting matches I’ve seen in years. And then Bateman rolls him up for the pin at 7:10.

Rating: F. Imagine how interesting it is to watch white paint dry on growing grass. You might have a more entertaining day doing that than watching this match. The feud and story is decent but the matches are just dreadful because Bateman is better as a zany face and Curtis is better as a waiter, so the matches suck. Nothing to see here, just like every other week.

Bateman gets on his knee as Maxine gets in the ring. She walks past him and Curtis comes back out. They kiss and leave together.

Overall Rating: D. GAH JUST END IT ALREADY!!!! How in the world do they think anyone cares about these people at this point? There’s time for a sixth season before the Network launches. But are they going to do that? No. They’re going to keep this up until everyone on the planet is dead from a gunshot to the head after watching Curtis every week.

Results
Justin Gabriel b. Heath Slater – Springboard 450 Splash
Tyson Kidd b. Percy Watson – Spinning Fisherman’s Neckbreaker
Derrick Bateman b. Johnny Curtis – Rollup

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NXT
Date: December 20, 2011
Location: Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Matt Striker

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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NXT
Date: December 14, 2011
Location: RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina
Commentators: Matt Striker, Josh Matthews

We’re almost to the end of the year and we’re in the ninth month of this show. This show could have been a whole pregnancy by this point. After last week, it appears we have a second good guy rookie in the form of Derrick Bateman. Given that he’s been one of the most worthless characters in recent memory, that can’t really be a bad thing. Let’s get to it.

If this show is the search for the next breakout star, how dim is this star that it’s taken them this long to find it?

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

Reks says the two of them aren’t rookies and they’ll never beg for support from dirty North Carolinians. Trent calls them grumpy and Yoshi tells Reks to wash his hair. That’s the latest chant and according to Striker, it’ll be trending. Just….no. Tyler gets double teamed to start but Yoshi takes too much time on the top and is slammed down. Yoshi gets beaten down by both guys as Striker tries to get Hawkins nickname over as “And 1”.

Not very hot tag brings in Trent who beats on Hawkins and hits a top rope cross body for two. Barretta doesn’t get to be on TV much and has a pretty basic cruiserweight style, but he’s very smooth out there. Speaking of smooth, Trent spins out of what looked like a slam attempt into a rollup on Hawkins for the pin at 4:00.

Rating: C-. Not bad but I’m over Reks and Hawkins. They’re not interesting at all and they keep showing up and talking about how great they used to be. They’re about as low on the heel totem pole as you can get and that’s not a place that I’m interested in watching. I would however like to see more of Barretta. He’s just fun to watch for some reason.

Percy Watson has a talk show now. Let’s get this over with. The subject is the saga of Bateman/Curtis/Maxine. We get a LONG video on the whole thing, concluding with Maxine ending the engagement last week. Here’s Bateman and Percy asks him if there’s anything going on between Bateman and Maxine’s mama. Bateman says that’s insane, just like all women.

Cue Curtis who shows a still of Derrick kissing the finger of Maxine’s mom as it’s against his lips. Curtis talks about how JTG said that he and Maxine left together and that wasn’t true. Cue JTG and Watson asked why he said that. JTG says Curtis paid him to do it. Curtis denies this and JTG leaves. Cue Maxine now who says she’s tired of all this stuff. Bateman: “That girl is so crazy, how can you not want to spend the rest of your life with her?” Curtis: “She doesn’t like you man.” Bateman drops Curtis and leaves. Watson laughs and Curtis goes after him. Striker makes the match for later.

Jey Uso vs. JTG

No Siva Tao which makes me sad. Basic back and forth start as Striker seems to agree with Bateman’s statement that all women are crazy. Josh: “You’re still single right?” Absolutely nothing to talk about in the first few minutes of this. JTG controls with his usual really basic stuff. He’s just not effective as a heel, mainly because he’s nothing special at all as far as a character or from a looks perspective. Jey comes back and hits a superkick for the pin at 3:34.

Rating: D. I love the Usos but man this storyline is dull. JTG is perhaps the least interesting character this side of Derrick Bateman on NXT. That’s the problem with this show. Ok one of many problems with this show: outside of the Usos and at times Titus, no one is anybody I have any interest in watching and rarely are their matches good. The guys that do regularly have good matches (Kidd, Tatsu, Barretta) are rarely on here. This match was boring though and JTG controlled all but like 15 seconds.

Earlier today in Striker’s office (he has an office???) Titus came in to apologize but the challenge to Young is still on. I don’t know why this segment existed.

Slammys recap eats up some time.

Bateman goes up to talk to Maxine and says that before the show is over, he’ll marry her. Curtis comes up after Bateman leaves and kisses her. She tries to slap him but says they’ll get physical after the match.

Percy Watson vs. Johnny Curtis

STRIKER STOLE MY BABY JOKE!!! He said we could have a baby by the end of the season. So Matt Striker thinks like me? I’m not sure I like that. Watson takes over to start and drops a leg for two. Curtis fights back with a single arm suplex for two. Curtis works on the arm a bit and then Percy hits a dropkick to break that up. There’s another and make it three. Jumping clothesline hits but he hurts his arm on it. Never mind though as he hits an overhead belly to belly release. Flipping splash gets two. Curtis gets up and hits a Falcon’s Arrow for the pin at 4:10.

Rating: D. This was another boring match, mainly due to Johnny Curtis being completely uninteresting. He’s done his same uninteresting thing for like a year now and once they got something different about him, the word play thing, they got rid of it as fast as they could so that they could make him as bland as possible again. That’s why I’m so bored by WWE heels anymore: as soon as they get something going, it must be killed before they get over at all.

Titus comes out for his showdown with Young. You know, their at least 8th fight this season. He’s in a suit for this one so maybe this isn’t a match? He apologizes to his sons for not being perfect and losing his cool last week. Young cuts him off, also in street clothes. Titus says he doesn’t have Young’s resume but he’s out here working every week.

Young says he’s just an ex-football player. Titus says this has nothing to do with that and runs down a list of a bunch of ex-football players, like DiBiase Senior, Ron Simmons or Rock. Titus says he’s going to leave and this is done. Young calls him a failure and shoves him. A brawl ends the show. Titus leaves him laying and isn’t happy about it.

Overall Rating: D+. Not one of their better episodes here as the whole thing was about Maxine and Bateman and Curtis and then the showdown was just a talking segment where Titus beats Young down. Hopefully this ends in a loser leaves NXT match and we actually get closer to ending this never ending show. This wasn’t their worst show ever, but it was really quite dull indeed.

Results
Trent Barretta/Yoshi Tatsu b. Curt Hawkins/Tyler Reks – Rollup to Hawkins
Jey Uso b. JTG – Superkick
Johnny Curtis b. Percy Watson – Falcon’s Arrow

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NXT
Date: November 30, 2011
Location: Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Matt Striker

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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NXT
Date: November 23, 2011
Location: Mohegan Sun Arena, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Matt Striker, William Regal

It’s the Thanksgiving week show and the show is somehow back up to three finalists. Only this show could go from two finalists to three to two to three again and take a few months to do so. This is the 38th episode of the season, putting this on the verge of being as long as the first three seasons combined. I thought just the third was ridiculous but this passed that long ago. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Young to open the show with I believe new music. We get a clip of Young beating up O’Neil and his finisher is called the Gut Check. It’s the fireman’s carry into a double knee to the ribs. Young says this is his show and wants to know where the people were last week when he beat O’Neil down. Is there a difference between being beaten up and being beaten down? He says his usual stuff about how he’s done a ton of stuff and how O’Neil hasn’t done anything.

Cue Reks and Hawkins of all people who say that the only thing Young accomplished was jumping Titus, which they’ve done a bunch of times. They’re impressed with Young and say they’re very similar. They think he has the It Factor but here are O’Neil and Watson. They make fun of Reks’ lack of charisma and cut Young off. Titus talks about getting eliminated a year ago in this town but he’s back to show his agenda. There’s the brawl but Striker makes O’Neil/Watson vs. Reks/Young.

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Johnny Curtis

Bateman and Maxine are on commentary for no apparent reason. We talk about the wedding and then realize that’s stupid so we talk about Johnny Curtis. That makes it stupider so let’s talk about the wedding again. Regal offers to explain the misery of being married, since he’s been married 16 times. Regal talks about Bateman’s mother in law and implies sex. He even admits they’re ignoring the match. Can’t fault him for lying.

Curtis goes to the apron for a slingshot legdrop and shakes his hips at Maxine. Regal: “I think that was for me. At my age you have to take what you can get.” Suplex gets two for Curtis. Bateman makes another joke about Curtis and Maxine dating so they walk off. The wedding is in eight weeks, which I guess means we’ll be here until January. Yoshi fires off the chops and a spinwheel kick puts Johnny down. The top rope spinwheel kick ends this at 4:35.

Rating: C. This was fine. Yoshi is a solid hand while Curtis….well he’s Johnny Curtis. That should summarize this match as well as I can put it together. Not much to see here but it advances Bateman vs. Curtis I guess because we need to see it right? Not much to see here but Yoshi’s stuff is always fun to see.

Bateman goes to the ring post match but doesn’t attack Curtis.

Maxine and Bateman argue more in the back about what Curtis did during the date. She cancels sex until future notice. Curtis comes in and implies Maxine wants him.

Here are the Usos who do their dance before their promo. Jimmy talks about being nervous every time they come out here. They represent every Samoan ever in wrestling history. Jey talks about people like Yokozuna, the Wild Samoans, Umaga (didn’t expect to hear that name) and Rikishi. They talk about how Uso means brother but saying Us (pronounced Oos) can mean friend, close person, etc. They start a call and response chant with the audience of we say Us, you say O, which gets a surprisingly strong response. The fans like these guys.

This brings out JTG and Tamina, who says this isn’t about heritage because she’s an independent woman. Let’s have a match.

JTG vs. Jimmy Uso

Jimmy knocks him to the floor quickly so he can glare at Tamina a bit. Off to a chinlock by JTG as we list off the huge Samoan family tree. Stinger style splash in the corner hits JTG and there’s the running him smash in the corner, which is credited to Rikishi but it’s an Umaga move I believe. A superkick and frog splash are enough for the pin at 3:50.

Rating: C-. Why are the Usos on NXT? The fans like them, they’re decent in the ring, they have a gimmick, and they’re on NXT. I have no idea what the thought of this company is about them, but they’re more than good enough to be something on one of the main shows, but they’re not getting that at all here. It’s WWE I guess.

Percy Watson/Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young/Tyler Reks

Young vs. Watson gets us going. My goodness what a difference a gimmick change makes for Watson. O’Neil comes in and Young runs. He’s now the Big Deal Titus O’Neil. Reks talks trash so Titus hammers him in the face. This goes on for awhile until Watson comes in and cleans house. The heels go to the floor so Percy dives onto them as we take a break. Back with Titus getting two on Reks off a move we don’t see.

Back to Watson who doesn’t do as well. We talk about Bateman getting a Smackdown contract and we hear about how this season is about getting to one of the main shows. So at least there’s no talk of season 6. Regal talks about WWE 12. “I HAVE ABS!!!” Young hooks a chinlock on Watson to eat up some time. Gordbuster gets two for Reks. There’s your double tag to Young and O’Neil but Hawkins throws in the cane, so that the Gut Check can end Titus at 11:00.

Rating: D+. Boring main event here with neither team being interesting in being out there it seems. We have a heel team now I guess which is fine, but I’ll spare you the drill here on “but where is this going”. We’ve been past that for a very long time and there’s no point in saying it all the time. Too long of a main event though.

Overall Rating: D+. Pretty ho-hum stuff tonight with not much going on of note. This was more of a show about advancing the existing storylines rather than adding anything new to the mix. In other words, if you liked the rest of the storylines, you’ll like this. Nothing to see here for the most part though and it wasn’t much of a show.

Results
Yoshi Tatsu b. Johnny Curtis – Top Rope Spinwheel Kick
Jimmy Uso b. JTG – Frog Splash
Darren Young/Tyler Reks b. Percy Watson/Tyler Reks – Gut Check to O’Neil

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NXT
Date: November 15, 2011
Location: Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Commentators: William Regal, Jack Korpela

We’re back in America for this week and we’re rapidly approaching the time needed to have a full pregnancy with this season. There’s still no talk of eliminating anyone or anything like that and I’m sure we’re leading up to a wedding or some jazz like that. Also we’ll have more Johnny Curtis matches to suck the life out of all that is good and pure in the world. Let’s get to it.

The opening video includes Young in the list of finalists. Oh give me a break.

Watson and O’Neil are in the ring to start the show. Waton introduces O’Neil and Titus barks. There are leather chairs in the ring so this looks like a talk show segment. Titus says this show has been long with people coming and going. However he’s been one of the constants and after being eliminated last year, he’s following the light to being the next WWE Breakout Star.

Cue Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins who I guess are back together again. Reks thinks Titus has been here two months. This season has been going on for 9 months now so I guess math isn’t Reks’ strong suit. Hawkins says O’Neil has no heart. O’Neil gets fired up and says he’s earned his way here (I’d ask for a refund) and he isn’t going to listen to these guys talk down to him.

This brings out Bateman. “Worst show ever!” PREACH IT BROTHER!!! O’Neil and Watson make fun of Bateman and Maxine with fish noises included. Now we get fish jokes and a brawl breaks out. Striker says calm down and makes Reks vs. O’Neil for the main event. Bateman vs….someone but he won’t turn around to listen to Striker. It’s Bateman vs. Watson.

Percy Watson vs. Derrick Bateman

O’Neil sits in on commentary here. Watson controls to start and pounds on Bateman which doesn’t mean much. Derrick is sent to the floor as Regal talks about Maxine being able to yodel with a dinner plate in her mouth. You can’t say Regal is boring. Percy asks Regal to coach them but he says they don’t have enough of a mean streak. Bateman and Titus yell at each other and Watson makes his comeback. Spinning splash gets two. Persecution (the fireman’s carry into a pancake) ends this at 4:14.

Rating: D+. This was just a step above a squash and really was more of a live workout for Watson. I have no idea what the company sees in Bateman but it’s not his in ring abilities. The guy is so average and bland and would never stand out in a crowd at all and I think I just answered my own question.

Maxine is flipping through a wedding magazine and Johnny Curtis comes up to hit on her. He wants things to be like they used to be and puts his hand under her chin like he’s going to kiss her. She moves it away and says she invented this game. Maxine had no idea Bateman had a match. She says she doesn’t need his help and slaps him. So are they engaged now too?

Yoshi Tatsu vs. JTG

JTG has Tamina with him again. The crowd is SILENT when the bell rings. The announcers talk about England to try to avoid the match. A neckbreaker gets two for JTG and it’s off to the exact same half nelson that Bateman used earlier. Is that a required move to use anymore? Regal talks about meeting the French inventor of the sandal: Fillipe Fillop. That’s how boring this match is: that line was amusing by comparison. Yoshi starts his comeback but Tamina distracts him. JTG throws him into the post and a rollup ends this at 4:08.

Rating: D. So now we’re pushing JTG. I think we’ve officially run out of ideas here. Tamina and JTG are the newest heel couple or whatever and I know I’ve said this time after time, but at what point does this end at? What is the point of having anything happen on this show because there aren’t any titles to fight for and the “pros” are here just because no one else wants them. Let’s just get this over with.

Raw Rebound eats up some time by showing the end of Raw for about ten minutes. The Rock schilling Twitter is still annoying.

The Usos run into JTG/Tamina and the twins are left standing there with nothing being said. JTG and Tamina keep walking and run into Bateman who is looking for Maxine. We stay on Bateman who runs into Curtis and asks where she is. Maxine pops up and they get in an argument over where she was during his match. I have no idea what the point of this is. Bateman gets on the phone and calls for Teddy Long. Ok then.

Titus O’Neil vs. Tyler Reks

Power battle to start as Titus hammers him down to take over. They head to the floor and Hawkins gets involved. He also gets punched down by Watson, making both of them get ejected. After a break we’re back with Tyler in control due to ramming O’Neil into the railing during the break. Reks hammers on him more with really basic stuff. This is a boring match so far. Off to that same quarter/half nelson which we’ve seen in both matches so far. Titus hits a backdrop to put Tyler down and hammers away. Clash of the Titus and we’re done at 7:20. It was as abrupt as it sounded.

Rating: D-. No. One. Cares. I mean no one cares at all. Why is this supposed to be an interesting main event? Reks hasn’t been around in almost a month and now he’s still around doing the whole “it’s my show” thing? Horrible dull match which is a perfect way to end a horribly dull show. Also the ending was identical to the one that Crimson beat Pope with on Impact. I mean the EXACT same thing.

Post match…..oh you have got to be kidding me. DARREN FREAKING YOUNG is back to beat down Titus.

Overall Rating: F. This show SUCKED. JTG is getting a singles push and the main event is the same thing we’ve seen a dozen times now. The ten minutes of Rock vs. Cena is annoying on top of that as it’s just more I have to fast forward through because I watched it two days ago. On top of that, Darren Young is back. WHY DOES HE HAVE A JOB??? This was one of the worst shows they’ve had in a very long time.

Results

Percy Watson b. Derrick Bateman – Persecution
JTG b. Yoshi Tatsu – Rollup
Titus O’Neil b. Tyler Reks – Clash of the Titus

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NXT
Date: October 5, 2011
Location: Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, Mississippi
Commentators: Jack Korpela, William Regal

After last week’s newest tag team debut in the form of Hawkins/Reks, there’s an actual tag division on this show which is more than most of the WWE and almost all of TNA can say right now. There are no Pros left and that’s certainly a good thing. It’ll be interesting to see how the walk out from last night will affect the show, but I’ll bet it’s not much at all. Let’s get to it.

Oh and this show is now on Wednesday and we were told that…..oh a good never after the show aired. I read it on a tweet on WWE.com. Nice job guys. Nice.

Two new developments today: first of all if you go to the NXT page it offers you the 9/27 show but if you go to the full episodes tab you can watch today’s show. Also, it offers you an option of voting for rookies. As in potential eliminations. That hasn’t been an option in MONTHS.

Here are Hawkins/Reks to open the show and we get a quick recap of them beating down the Usos last week. They’re invading the show tonight because everything is in chaos. Hawkins apologizes to the fans that watch the show, saying they’re not going to see O’Neil or Tatsu because it’s the Hawkins and Reks Show. Reks says that last night (the video is dated the 5th but Raw was on the 3rd) they walked out on HHH on Raw. He’s tired of opportunities being handed out and squandered. They’re sitting on the top ropes for this so it’s kind of a different looking thing.

Here come the Usos in street clothes. They talk about the lack of respect that Hawkins/Reks have for everything including the ring, the people and HHH. The tag match is made and the Usos clear the ring with a double superkick to Reks and a simple toss to Hawkins. How exactly has Hawkins, a former tag champion, never had an opportunity? I guess that’s in the whole pay no attention to it part of history.

Titus O’Neil vs. Derrick Bateman

Regal says he was torn about walking out on Raw. Titus takes over with his power game and gets two off a side slam and a shoulder block. Regal talks about Maxine’s uncle who is a defrocked abbot who teaches chimpanzees to ride unicycles and on Sunday mornings piddles around in flea markets. Can we just get an hour of Regal’s stories? Bateman takes over with a dropkick but gets a delayed two. The idea here is that Titus is off because there’s no Horny to coach him. Titus starts his comeback but Maxine gets in his way as he tries to go up top. Bateman goes for the knee and that stupid falling bulldog ends it at 5:06.

Rating: D+. Boring match here but at least there was an idea to it. Titus losing that fast makes the bulldog look better, but at the same time it’s still the falling bulldog. Is that really the best they can come up with for him? Also, I can’t believe we actually saw two Rookies fighting each other. It’s almost like this is a competition show or something.

The Raw ReBound eats up about five minutes

JTG and Young make fun of Yoshi for his makeup. They leave and Yoshi goes up to the makeup table but it’s missing. All that is left is a mirror with the letter H and the number 8 (hate) crossed out. The word CHEA is underneath it. So this is what this show has come to? JTG vs. Yoshi Tatsu. Oh me oh my.

Yoshi Tatsu vs. JTG

No paint for Yoshi today. JTG runs immediately and the chase is cut off as he hides behind Darren who has the makeup/paint. Yoshi kicks Darren upside the head and is like GO BACK TO BEWITCHED BOY! The distraction lets JTG take over and he pounds away. Off to a chinlock as we hear about JTG running through the streets of Brooklyn to show he’s not afraid. It also shows he’s an idiot but that goes without saying. Yoshi starts firing off the kicks and the chops because he’s Asian and that means he has to be a martial artist. Top rope spinwheel kick ends this at 4:50.

Rating: C. This was fine. It’s a traditional heel vs. face match and that’s all it tried to be. I kind of like that: there was a quick story made up with JTG as the bad guy and Yoshi as the good guy and the good guy got his revenge on the bad guy. It’s bare bones storytelling but that’s all it really needed to be. I liked it.

Video on Mark Henry who is big and mean.

Daniel Bryan vs. Heath Slater

The announcers talk about almost nothing but the walkout (trademark probably coming soon) but Bryan is his usual submission based self. Bryan hooks Slater’s feet in a surfboard position but jumps up and drives Slater’s knees into the mat. We talk about Regal training Bryan and Regal mentions he let him go on his own to avoid falling into some of the snares Regal fell into.

Now we talk about the end of the PPV because the match isn’t all that interesting. On the floor Slater is sent into the barricade and Bryan hits the running knee off the apron. Back in Bryan fires off a kick and shakes the ropes like Ultimate Warrior. A running dropkick in the corner gets two. Slater starts a comeback but walks into some kicks and a Regal Stretch for the tap at 5:43. Regal: “That’s the first time that move has been seen in 8 years.”

Rating: C-. This was really boring. I think it’s because Slater is officially a jobber to the stars and there’s almost nothing interesting in his matches anymore. Part of that is because of his name I think: what is a one man southern rock band? It tells you nothing about the character. I mean, something like Macho Man tells you he’s tough and Hulk sounds like someone big and imposing. One Man Rock Band says…..what exactly?

Usos vs. Curt Hawkins/Tyler Reks

We’ll call that Jey starts with Hawkins. Jimmy comes in and cheating takes him down. There’s almost no time left in the show so this isn’t going to last long. Hot tag to Jey who hits a Bubba Bomb and the running hip smash to the face for two on Hawkins. A double assisted Samoan Drop (Alley-Us, pronounced like the team’s name) gets two. Jey goes up but is slammed down by Hawkins. A top rope elbow ends the Usos at 4:53.

Rating: D+. Another boring match here in a string of them tonight. These five minute matches get a lot of people out there but there’s nothing interesting about them. I’d assume this is to keep up the tag title chase meaning something but don’t these teams need to compete somewhere else besides here on NXT? There are four teams here and I’ve seen one on Raw or Smackdown. That’s kind of missing the point isn’t it?

Overall Rating: D+. I wasn’t thrilled with this one and the biggest factor I can attribute that to is the Bryan vs. Slater match. It took time away from other matches and didn’t really add anything at all to the show. Bryan and Slater haven’t been parts of the show in months and the match felt like it was thrown in there to take up space on a shot that was a bit crowded already anyway. This was a step down from recent weeks.

Results
Derrick Bateman b. Titus O’Neil – Falling Bulldog
Yoshi Tatsu b. JTG – Top rope spinwheel kick
Daniel Bryan b. Heath Slater – Regal Stretch
Curt Hawkins/Tyler Reks b. Usos – Top rope elbow to Jey

NXT
Date: September 27, 2011
Location: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Jack Korpela, William Regal

Another week here and after the last two weeks I’m assuming that it’s time for the Usos to face JTG and Young in what Gorilla Monsoon would call a main event in any arena in the country except the one we’re in now where it’s a filler match 2 spots down on the card because it’s a pair of teams that not many people care about. Also I’m sure Maxine and Bateman will try to further the split of Horny and AJ because….because….because that’s what bad people on an internet wrestling show do. Let’s get to it.

JTG and Young open the show and I still want to hurt JTG. Regal: “You know I absolutely hate him.” Young calls JTG a tag team specialist and they go over their tag team success here. They talk about winning NXT and then the tag titles but the Usos interrupt. They actually get to talk and no one seems that interested. We get clips of both Uso attacks after the wins by Team Annoying. The Usos talk about the Samoan heritage and how great at tag team stuff the Samoans are. Fan: “SHAD WAS BETTER!” JTG says the Samoans were a joke and gets chased to the floor. The tag match is mentioned.

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Jinder Mahal

Yep it’s officially the minor league show and not about a competition anymore. Yoshi’s music doesn’t really fit with the new look. Regal says he was at Mahal’s christening 25 years ago and was rivals with Mahal’s dad. We hear about how Yoshi was squashed by Mahal about two months ago and got some teeth knocked out in the process. I remember that match and if this isn’t better than that one, that says a lot.

Yoshi takes over with a headlock but a suplex gets Mahal out of trouble. A chinlock eats up a few seconds and Mahal takes over. Korpela: “What would your strategy be if you were Yoshi?” Regal: “Win the match.” You can’t buy this kind of analysis people. Regal follows that up by talking about Mahal’s uncle, the Indian Karaoke Champion: Getupta Singh. Back to the chinlock. A kick by Yoshi gets two. The Indian hits a Samoan on the Japanese but it gets reversed into a crucifix for two.

They go up to the corner and Yoshi blocks a superplex. Tatsu tries a dive as Regal talks about how you have to be a special kind of man to headbutt someone. Yes you do, but it takes a more special man to Coco Butt someone. As Yoshi is getting up he gets caught in the full nelson slam for the pin at 6:07.

Rating: C-. Not too bad but I feel sorry for Mahal. He was getting a fairly decent push on Smackdown or at least the opening stages of one and then that just kind of stopped. That’s another case of someone getting some kind of momentum and then the writers getting bored with him and so much for that. The match wasn’t bad but it’s nothing I’ll remember tomorrow.

Video on the Cell.

And now from that to something completely different as Horny is looking for AJ and has a note for her. Maxine tries to tell him that AJ is with Titus but Horny shushes her. Horny finds Titus and AJ (score one for Maxine) and the note (read by Titus for some reason) is a very poetic letter (it talks about being a boat tethered in a storm and stuff like that), basically saying that Horny is leaving NXT for Smackdown. AJ is sad but uh…isn’t she on Smackdown too? Horny leaves all sad and AJ points out just that: she’s on Smackdown too. I believe that officially eliminates all the remaining Pros.

Percy Watson vs. Tyson Kidd

Regal talks about how Punk winning would mean he has no more worlds left to conquer because he’d be WWE Champion. My face actually scrunched up and I looked up from my computer in a state of confusion over that one. Kidd speeds things up to start but Watson (much better without the glasses and OH YEAH) hits a dropkick for two. Korpela says everyone is talking about Watson’s vertical leap. Today I talked about how the Monopoly game is back at McDonald’s which means the McRib is back soon, but that’s just me.

Back in after a quick bit on the floor and Tyson hooks a chinlock. He shouts to the crowd and they don’t shout back. A belly to back breaks the hold up and both guys are down. Watson hits another dropkick and a clothesline in the corner. A spinning splash gets two as Regal makes fun of JTG a little more. Kidd hits something like a spinning neckbreaker that has a long name including the word moss that I don’t feel like typing and a springboard elbow for the pin at 4:12.

Rating: C. Kidd is getting better and better every week and thankfully he’s regularly appearing on Smackdown because of it. However, I’d like to see him doing something more than just appearing on NXT beating up random former NXT rejects. They need to just turn this into its own independent show and make an NXT Champion already so Kidd can challenge for it.

Mahal says not to talk about Khali because he’s the only one that matters. Most of this isn’t in English so it’s hard to really get what’s going on. I think he says eat more chicken. His eyes are all freaky looking. Tonight he’s returning to greatness.

Usos vs. JTG/Darren Young

Why does no one jump the Usos during that dance thing they do? I mean….it wouldn’t be that hard. JTG vs. let’s say Jimmy (like I can tell them apart) to start us off. I was watching the 88 Great American Bash and turned off Fantastics vs. Midnight Express for this. I have a feeling this isn’t going to be as good. Jimmy hits a northern lights suplex as we’re told that JTG never won a tag title despite being in a (not named) popular tag team.

Korpela talks about how there’s still a competition and says it’s about being the next break out star. There’s no mention of being on Season Six now. I think my blood pressure just dropped down to healthy. I think that’s Jimmy getting beaten down but I don’t particularly care enough to remember which has the chest tattoo. Hot tag brings in Jey who kicks and punches a lot. Young manages to grab a belly to back to Jimmy (I had them wrong) on the apron to shift momentum as we take a break.

Back with JTG coming in to pound on I guess Jimmy. After a long chinlock, Jey breaks up a cover and it’s off to Young. Regal explains the point of the rapid covers that don’t work as he says Young knows it’s not going to get a pin but it’ll drain Jimmy a lot. See, THAT is what an analyst is there for. He knows what he’s talking about because he’s been in there. It’s a lot better than saying someone is in the Fave Five which has about 27 people per week.

Jimmy’s back is worked on and Young sends him into the corner for two. Has anyone ever been pinned off an Irish Whip? Young slaps away at the back and hits a chinlock again, this time with the knee in the back. Maybe he did learn something in Nexus. Regal talks about how Young is working on the back. Korpela: “Good point.” Regal: “I know.” Jimmy breaks up the chinlock but JTG gets a tag to break it up again.

To my great surprise, this hasn’t been a very bad tag match. It’s amazing what random guys can do when they’re thrown out there and allowed some time to develop and get experience isn’t it? Jimmy sends JTG flying with something called an Alley-Us (I’d call it a flip but what do I know?). Either way it gets the tag in to Jey and the lower half of the house is cleaned. He hits the running Umaga smash to the face in the corner which Korpela says is shades of Rikishi and a double superkick sets up the superfly splash to Young for the pin at 11:23.

Rating: B-. I don’t know if it was the total lack of anticipation or expectations, but this was a pretty good match. The hot tag was obvious, but they built it up the whole time and with Regal talking about how good the back work was, I was getting into it a little bit at the end. Keep in mind that this was Usos vs. JTG/Darren Young and you’ll get why that’s a lot harder than it would be in most matches.

Post match the Usos celebrate but Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins run in for an attack. Again, that is almost territory style as you bring in whatever random talent you can find for a quick feud/program with someone else after another program is over.

Overall Rating: C+. I liked this tonight because they got a step closer to making this the C show instead of the competition nonsense. Also it means no more Hornswoggle at least here which means maybe that story is over. AJ’s reaction to it made me chuckle too. When you look at this show, there’s the makings of some decent stuff, especially if they gave up on the competition and just let it be its own thing. Not bad here as it gets closer to dropping the NXT nonsense.

Results
Jinder Mahal b. Yoshi Tatsu – Full Nelson Slam
Tyson Kidd b. Percy Watson – Springboard Elbow
Usos b. Darren Young/JTG – Top rope splash to Young