WWE NXT Recap (on WWE.com)
June 28, 2011
Phoenix, Arizona
Report by: Gregory “Grash” Walek of Wrestleview.com
Tonight NXT is in Phoenix, Arizona.
Maryse and Matt Striker are hosting NXT.
Todd Grisham and William Regal are on commentary.
Kozlov is on Tour overseas with the Raw brand and is not here tonight.
ELIMINATION TONIGHT
The show starts with a package recapping the previous eliminations from NXT and who is left. “Who will Survive and Who is Going home?”
“I said we are wild and young!”
Pyro goes off. Regal says the Conor should be the one going home. Darren comes out and takes the mike. He says “Chavo quit on him”. Chavo had been released from the WWE last Saturday. He’s done more than Chavo ever has. He says that he the NXT winner, to which the crowd is mixed about. Conor comes out next, and tells Conor that once he’s done with him there will be no more talk about Darren and how Conor turned “Redemption” into Destruction”.
MATCH: Conor vs Darren
They lock up, They struggle back and forth till Conor overpowers Darren and both tumble out of the ring. The show a replay of it and when we return Conor is on offense. Conor controls and does some damage to Darren till he’s able to turn things around for a bit. Conor turns the tables and goes on beating Darren. The crowd is amazing silent during the match. The end up on the apron. Darren manages to turn things around and drops Conor on the apron. Regal says he’s seen him use that move before and extremely effectively well. Both look hurt as we head to an ad.
AD: Best Cage Matches Video.
AD: The best of WWE – WWE Magazine.
Back to the action. Darren is in control and on the offensive. He goes for a pin attempt. Conor kicks out. Darren does some elbows to Conor’s shoulders. It leads to a head lock. Conor gets to his feet. He turns table, but cannot sustain it. Darren knocks him over. The ref pulls Darren away from Conor. It sets up a boot to Conor. Darren moves to a face hold. The crowd is booing this. A closer show shows Darren pulling at Conor’s beard. Conor gets to his feet as he builds the crowd up. It turns into a slam to. Both look hurt on the mat. Conor manages to catch Darren and toss him into the turn buckle. He rolls it into pin attempt. Darren kicks out. Conor whips Darren in to a corner. He goes in after him, but Darren moves away. When Darren comes back off the ropes Conor boots him in the face. Darren manages to take control once more and uses the Three Amigos in mock of Chavo. He gets to the top rope. And manages kick Conor and sets up for a frog slash. It’s the pin and the win.
Winner: Darren Young def. Conor O’Brian
After the match, video shows a shot of Darren young and he’s got a cut in his mouth with some blood.
Backstage
Yoshi is has his shine set up again with his action figure. He places down a cactus in the shrine. The crowd however does not react this week. They are dead. Kidd walks up and pulls the Yoshi Action figure. He taunts Yoshi asking if this will help him in his match. Yoshi is telling him to give it back. Kidd starts pulling the action figure apart an Yoshi goes berserk on Kidd. Kidd and Yoshi have to be pulled apart by refs.
PSA: Be A Star – Anti Bullying.
AD: Smackdown.
MATCH: Yoshi Tatsu vs Tyson Kidd
Yoshi is out first. Kidd follows. He’s rubbing his face from the beatdown from the back. Regal notes that Kidd is missing the little lock of air from his head after going home. Bret the Hitman Hart had caught Kidd in a hold and used it against him. Yoshi is over charged and going after Kidd. Kidd has to roll out and the ref counts. Yoshi goes out of the ring. Kidd gets in first. Kidd goes to slam Yoshi as he enters, but Yoshi stops and Kidd hits mat. Yoshi then enters and goes on offense. After a minute, Kid manages to turn the tables on Yoshi. He manages to get a kick in the corner. Tyson whips Yoshi, but it’s reversed. Yoshi pulls Tyson back, but he jumps onto the ropes and kicks Yoshi. Yoshi rolls out of the ring. Kidd follows and kicks Yoshi into the steel steps. We go to commercial.
AD: WWE All-Stars video game.
AD: Best of WCW Nitro.
Back to the action. Tyson Kidd is in control. The recap the kick form Tyson into the steel steeps. Tyson manages to back drop yoshi and goes for a pin. kick out at 2. Yoshi manages to get back up and get two slaps on him. Tyson manages to take control and throw Yoshi. He put his arm on the ropes and starts working the arm. Yoshi is crawling as Tyson taunts him with claps. The crows is awake now and is chanting Yoshi. Tyson has an arm hold on Yoshi and working that taunting him telling him it’s all over. Yoshi is hulking up with a first in the air. He manages to throw Tyson and go on the offense till a double clothes line knocks both of them down. Kidd gets to his feet first. But Yoshi turns the table and goes on a strike and Kicking clinic. Yoshi pulls Kidd and the both rolls and he kicks him in the face, but doesn’t pin him. Yoshi gets more kicks in and goes for pin. A kick out. Yoshi is grunting settling the damage. Yoshi goes to the top rope. Kidd goes to stop him Yoshi pushes him off. Kidd is back and drops Yoshi on his balls. This sets up a flip from the turnbuckle. He goes for a pin, but Yoshi kicks out. Yoshi does a roll up. Tyson kicks out. Tyson gets up and kicks Yoshi in the crotch. Yoshi manages to get a head kick that sets up for the pin and the win.
Winner: Yoshi Tatsu def. Tyson Kidd
Backstage
JTG is talking to a mirror. “Mirror Mirror on the wall who’s the fliest of them all… Me” . Behind JTG a barrel is moving. It’s Hornswoggle and he’s going for JTG’s chain. JTG sees him and grabs Hornswoggle. Titus enters and breaks them up. JTG calls Hornswoggle a thief. Titus points that he likes gold. JTG says that it’s platmun. Titus says it looks like White Gold. JTG is bullshit as he walks out.
AD: WWEShop.com.
AD: K-Mart – Orton on the table.
Match: Titus O’Neil vs JTG
Maryse is coming out to the ring side area and joining commentary. Maryse asks if her hair is okay. Titus and Hornswoggle come to the arena. A package plays showing Maryse getting a candy ring last week from Hornswoggle and the resulting rejection. Maryse laughts at the packackage while Hornswoggle is dejected. JTG comes out next. Maryse clearifies that she was never dating anyone. We were all assuming that because she was getting items from others. The match starts and Titus is in charge. Mayse calls Regal a miserable old man. Hornswoggle then passes Maryse a note. In the ring JTG has taken control of the match. The note is written in blue crayon and says “Do you love me?” There are three boxes labeled “Yes\No\Maybe” below it. Maryse laughs it off. Titus has taken control of the match. In the meanwhile Maryse is taking an image of the note on her cell phone. After this, JTG rolls out and heads after Hornswoggle. Maryse says “Get him”. Hornswoggle jumps on to the apron and starts flexing in front of JTG. Maryse sees this and says “He’s like a little fat roll”. This is the distraction Titus needs to grab JTG, slam him, and get the pin for the win. Maryse is laughing . She pulls out the note and fans herself with the note and then rips it up to toss it. The Crowd boos her. Hornswoggle heads to the back as Titus consoles him. We cut back to a shot of Maryse is laughing at all of this.
Winner: Titus def. JTG
AD: Wrestlemania 27 video.
Cena: Passed 7 million Facebook followers.
RAW Rebound: Raw Roulette. Cena\R-Truth Tables match. Punk Interferes. Truth wins. And “The Promo”. We are shown a package of the promo with edited video into it.
Josh indicates CM Punk has been suspended. The Chairman will be at the next Raw to address it. (Or you can read the spoilers and find out what happened)
ELIMINATION
Striker recounts the purpose of redemption points as a tie breaker. Maryse tells us who has what points. O’Neil has 22. Young has 7. O’Brien has 3.
CONOR O’BRIAN HAS BEEN ELIMINATED FROM NXT
Conor thanks for the support of those voting for him. He thanks Kozlov for being his pro. He turns to the camera and addresses Hunter (HHH). He asks for a chance to play the game.
Striker tells us that the Titus and Darren are going to the finals. But they’re not going alone. The NXT Rookie music hits and Derrick Bateman walks out. At his side is Daniel Bryan, his pro from the previous season. Bateman has a shot at “Redemption”.
And that’s it. “Gig-gig-giga, That’s all folks”. The show is over. The steam is done.
Grash Says…
So before the show starts we have a bit of awkwardness going in. Chavo got released from the WWE last Saturday. He was the pro for Darren Young. Out of the gates WWE chose to take care of this in the form of a promo from Darren. A bit shooty, but then again it worked for Punk the night before. Chavo took off and said he wasn’t being used right. Darren responds that he’s a bigger star that Chavo ever was. This was the set up for the match between Darren and Conor. The crowd was dead through this match and made watching the match awkward. Ultimately, Darren manages to get a clean win on Conor.
The Shrine is back this week. However the crowd is dead when it is shown. So what should have been a great cheap pop fizzled this week. This segment brings up the one important thing we learned today: Do not mess with the Mini-Yoshi. For those whom follow Yoshi on Twitter, there was a similar incident of someone ripping the head. What we saw was a feral Yoshi in action. And while he’s supercharged, he’s still in control. This was evident by not getting into the ring right away and letting Tyson Kidd hit the mat.
JTG and Titus. There are three words that sum up this Match. Maryse, Maryse, Maryse. This is a match that’s not about the wrestlers. It’s all about Maryse. Maryse said that. Maryse said this. MAryse laughed at that. The match in this case doesn’t matter. Maryse matters. The action in the ring is secondary to the action that is taking place out side of the ring. And it’s done well. So I’m saying this was a good match for reason which do not define a good match. I am pushing on the edges of what can make a good match here. If you don’t agree with me on this one, then join the WV forums and join the “Match of the Year” Project. I’ve nominated this match.
Conor was eliminated this week. When we look him in comparison to Darren and Titus, Conor was definitely the low man on the totem pole. Darren has the best wrestling of the three. Titus has Hornswoggle which is giving him a big boost with the crowd. Again, the crowd was dead during his match tonight. For a face, when no one cheers for you, that’s a bad sign. Back to Conor. This season of NXT made Conor likeable and I will enjoy seeing him again in the future.
Derrick Bateman is back. For the few of you who read this but didn’t see the last season of NXT, Bateman was eliminated head of Brodus Clay and Johnny Curtis. Clay got brought up to the main roster and had been Muscle for Del Rio till taking time to film a movie project. He will be back. Curtis, while he won, is just getting vignettes on Smackdown introducing him to the rest of the WWE. Bateman, up to that point had been the favorite going forward to win NXT. Seeing Bateman go was the shock of the previous season. After Season 4 wrapped up, Wrestleview picked up a report from the Observer on Bateman. Bateman had been shipped out for surgery just as the season came to the close. I argue on dates in the report, which now is a minor detail.
The fact is Bateman could win this season of NXT. As I mentioned above, the only people who are watching NXT now have pretty much stuck with it through. So the NXT fan base already knows Bateman. Bateman still has Daniel Bryan as his pro. Say what you want about Hornswoggle, Daniel Bryan is a bigger star, and a bigger star among the NXT fan base. (That’s Cole’s doing.) This is going to trump the Hornswoggle advantage that Titus has had all season long. Next week has to be the Derrick Bateman show. We’re still in this introduction phase, so we need to showcase him to make adding him to NXT worth it. Having that feature now, as apposed to weeks ago, is going to influence things even more. And here’s the kicker on top of everything. The winner of this season gets a spot on the next season of NXT. Bringing him in now is a great way to get the ring rust of him before going on to the next season.
So here’s how I see things going. Titus is first to go for elimination. He’s gotten over with Hornswoggle and built character. He’ll go back to FCW and work on his ring skills. Darren will make the final two, but will falter cause he’s the heel here. Darren was on Superstars before NXT. He will head back to Superstars after NXT. Derrick will win and move on to the next Season of NXT. Could I be wrong on this? Absolutely. And I’m going to have fun finding out. I’m excited to see what is coming.