WWE NXT on WWE.com
May 24, 2011
Spokane, Washington
Commentators: Todd Grisham and William Regal
Hosts: Matt Striker and Maryse
Report by: Anthony J. Valvo of Wrestleview.com
First off, whenever a venue is in Spokane or Topeka I demand this played. Hopefully there are no showers in “Spokane”.
(Reporter Note: Gregory “Grash” Walek will not be doing the recap this week as he is “on assignment”. So for the first time in months, “The Hardest Working Columnist in ALL of Professional Wrestling” will help a friend out and do the NXT Recap. I am not a good recapper, so don’t worry. Mr. Grash will return next week on May 31.)
Time for NXT…
Yes sir we promised you…
We Are Wild and Young is played. I think 90% of the wrestling community does not like this song.
First time ever on NXT: No DQ match. Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young.
Todd talked about Jacob Novak being eliminated, and Regal seems very happy.
Byron Saxton makes his way to the ring to kick things off this week. He asks for a microphone. Saxton has done a lot of thinking and said he does not need Yoshi Tatsu. Saxton thinks it is ok, but can’t relate to a guy who passes him for a diva. Saxton wants to take control of his career and will win NXT by himself. Saxton emancipates himself from Tatsu and declares independence and wants to be “big league”…”Big League” Byron Saxton.
Maryse enters and says “wait a minute”. Maryse said that she is a big deal and is the host of the show. She tells him to listen and welcomes the crowd to NXT Redemption. Soon, Yoshi Tatsu and Byron Saxton vs. (Saxton cuts her off, but Maryse tells her off) Tyson Kidd and Lucky Cannon. Next Week is the second elimination.
Lucky Cannon and Tyson Kidd vs. Byron Saxton and Yoshi Tatsu
Before the match, Cannon (in a very nice robe according to Regal) gets to kiss Maryse. When Tatsu saw Maryse, she gave him the hand.
The match started with Cannon and Tatsu. Tatsu begins with a set of rollups. Cannon holds Tatsu and Kidd is in with some corner attacks. Kidd with a running kick and a boot choke at corner. Kidd then goes to another corner with punches. Tatsu counters with a boot, but was distracted by Cannon and Kidd shoves Tatsu off the corner. Cannon gets a cheap boot and we go to break.
Commercial for WrestleMania XXVII DVD. You’ve seen this many times. It is written in the stars, ya know? During a commercial, I killed a bug but no one cares about that.
After the break, Cannon keeps Tatsu down, then attacks at the corner and Kidd is tagged in. Cannon gets yet another cheapshot in at the corner. Kidd then grounds Tatsu and applies and armlock. Kidd wants Tatsu to “give up”. (ASK HIM!) Now Kidd has his knee on Tatsu’s head. Tatsu gets up and breaks the hold. Tatsu responds with a hiptoss and rollup. Kidd gets back on his feet and tags in Cannon. Cannon then stomps away. Cannon attempts a pin, then stomps on the injured arm. After some stomps, Cannon applies another arm hold. Tatsu back up and delivers chops, but Cannon gets the advantage and puts Tatsu up top. Tatsu, breaks Cannon’s run and then hit a Top Rope Spin Kick. Saxton wanted Tatsu to tag, but pulls his hand away. Kidd was tagged in and Tatsu got away from the charge. Tatsu gains momentum with chops and very stiff kicks. Tatsu with Double Knees to the corner, takes out Cannon and hit the spin kick.
Saxton tagged himself in; Tatsu argued and then shoved Saxton to Kidd. Kidd applies the Sharpshooter and that is the end.
Winners via Submission: Tyson Kidd and Lucky Cannon
Grade: C+
After the match, Cannon and Kidd celebrate while Tatsu and Saxton stare each other down. After the replay, Saxton pie faces Tatsu and Tatsu gives Saxton the “KA-RA-TAY (as Dave Stephens once typed) Kick”.
Tonight: No DQ Match. Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young. Also, don’t forget to vote for the next elimination.
There is a commercial for Be A Star. I have my issues on this, but I won’t go into detail. All I will say is that “actions speak louder than words”.
There was a WWE.com plug. Cena make The Miz quit.
Raw Rebound: It starts with Ricardo Rodriguez getting shoved by The Big Show and Alberto Del Rio took offense to Show sitting on his car. Also, The New Nexus members David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty are the NEW WWE Tag Team Champions thanks to a kick by CM Punk and a Double Suplex. Show screams that they got robbed. Del Rio comes in with a slap and we got an injury angle with Rodriguez driving Del Rio’s car to The Big Show. Kane demanded help.
Todd Grisham takes us to Last Week when Darren Young “knew” where Hornswoggle was. During the match O’Neil saw Chavo Guerrero trying to help Hornswoggle. However, Guerrero was in on this the whole time and Hornswoggle got attacked. It was so bad that even William Regal found it despicable.
Matt Striker is with Chavo Guerrero and Darren Young. Striker asks why choose the act? Young thought it was genius. Young mentioned that he O’Neil twice. Guerrero said there was a method to the madness and said that he is a front runner. They found O’Neil’s weakness and asked for Young’s trust. Guerrero played around with Striker’s tie and walks away. NEVER MESS WITH A TEACHER’S TIE!
JTG is introduced to the ring. Looks like he will have a match. Next, JTG faces Conor O’Brian
Commercial for WWE Tough Enough. It is down to the Final Three. Check WWE.com to find out who are in the finals. There is also a clip for “That’s What I Am”. It did well on Rotten Tomatoes. Randy Orton “took it to the papers because he had to”.
JTG vs. Conor O’Brian (w/Vladimir Kozlov)
Before the match, O’Brian and Kozlov showed off their dancing and Sambo. They were better than JTG and Jacob Novak’s “flyness”
The match began with O’Brian hitting a shoulder block. O’Brian stomps JTG at the corner and then delivered a clothesline. JTG rolls to the ring frame, then baited O’Brian. JTG dumped O’Brian through the middle rope and then dropkicked O’Brian. Outside the ring, JTG punched him once.
Back in the ring, JTG tried a pin attempt and then punched away on the mat. O’Brian comes back with punches. But JTG hit the Back Suplex and said “He is the best pro in the world”. JTG then kept O’Brian grounded, then applied an arm stretch with his knee to his back. O’Brian broke the hold and delivered right hands and a back elbow. JTG then took O’Brian to the corner and hit the Mugshot. JTG turned his back on O’Brian and did something at William Regal’s direction. O’Brian took advantage and got the win.
Winner via pinfall: Conor O’Brian
Grade: C
After the match, JTG attacked O’Brian after the match. Kozlov saved his rookie by drilling his head to JTG.
Titus O’Neil is backstage and tells Hornswoggle that it will be ok. Hornswoggle is hiding in a bag and O’Neil calls Guerrero and Young bullies and said everything will be alright. As O’Neil walked away, the poor leprechaun hid back in the bag.
Commercial for WWE All-Stars.
You can watch the replays for NXT on YouTube, Hulu, and WWE.com. You don’t need them if you read this recap. Also, don’t forget to vote tomorrow on the NXT polls. Also, go vote for James Lacerenza’s Pepsi Refresh Project while you are at it. It’s a possible $25,000 grant to help kids with MD go to a camp at no cost to the parents. Please?
And now…THE MAIN EVENT
No Disqualification
Darren Young (w/Chavo Guerrero) vs. Titus O’Neil
The bell rang and Young ran away for a while. Wow, this went way too fast and O’Neil did not get the boot up clean. O’Neil then whipped Young to a couple corners. Young escaped a clothesline, but O’Neil quickly applied the abdominal stretch and clubbed Young in the chest a couple times. Young hit a couple basic moves, then connected on the back elbow. Young attacked the corner (Hornswoggle is watching), but O’Neil reversed to a whip that sent Young to the outside.
O’Neil then drilled Young’s head to the announcer table a few times. O’Neil barked, but when he tried to enter the ring Guerrero kicked the ribs of O’Neil. We then go to break.
Commercial Break of Christian’s Dream, then nightmare. Christian will vow to challenge Orton on Smackdown.
Back to the action and Young just drilled O’Neil along the ring frame. Young got this back in the ring and wears down O’Neil with a headlock (Hornswoggle backstage not pleased). Young with a kick to the back. Young chokes O’Neil to the ropes and Guerrero with a cheap kick. Young continued to work the head area of O’Neil. However, Young to goofy and O’Neil escapes a splash to the ropes. O’Neil threw Young back in the ring and connected with clotheslines. O’Neil then lifted Young up and connected with a Shoulder Breaker. After a pin attempt, Guerrero broke the pin and attacked O’Neil.
Guerrero then goes out of the ring and grabbed the handcuffs (uh-oh Hornswoggle got war paint and headband ready, it’s go time). Guerrero then hit O’Neil once with the chain. Samurai Swoggle enters and O’nieil used Swoggle as a battering ram. O’Neil hit the Clash of the Titus. Hornswoggle ended it with a Tadpole Splash to Young and O’Neil pinned Young, ending his losing steak. This even made Regal’s dark heart grow on that night.
Winner via pinfall: Titus O’Neil
Grade: C+
The replays were shown. Then Grisham reminded us to vote for our favorite. Someone will be eliminated next week.
End of Show.
Quick Results
* Tyson Kidd and Lucky Cannon def. Byron Saxton and Yoshi Tatsu via submission
* Conor O’Brian def. JTG via pinfall
* Titus O’Neil def. Darren Young via pinfall in a No Disqualification Match
Match of the Night: Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young
Closing thoughts
What can I say, right now I find NXT Redemption to be a “WWE Superstars” atmosphere plus some compelling storylines.
I am really digging Byron Saxton going full-blown heel on his pro Yoshi Tatsu. But after weeks of being ignored, Saxton said that ENOUGH was ENOUGH and just cut a promo that was fit for a pro. In my opinion, no NXT Rookie this season is better on the mic than Saxton.
The match was very good and told a pretty good story on both sides. It seemed like Cannon is giving up for a short time on his “It’s all about me” stuff and worked very well with his pro Tyson Kidd. On the other side of this match, it told a great story with Tatsu and Saxton not being anywhere near the same page. Tatsu getting a bit of payback at the end was brilliant after Saxton hit his finisher on Tatsu weeks ago. Wrestling wise, it was pretty basic. However, based on the story it got a better grade in the gradebook.
The match between JTG and Conor O’Brian was pretty average and I think I am a big generous with my grade. The story here is JTG’s jealousy that he lost his “wager” to Kozlov and now he was derailed with the upset loss. JTG worked a decent program, but O’Brian was a bit off at times.
O’Neil and Young had a very good no DQ contest. Sure it may have been a bit spotty near the end but I was highly entertained. The story was perfect. Guerrero and Young thought they solved O’Neil and had a good game plan. But Hornswoggle had a choice to either “fight or flight” and he chose to fight in honor of his pro. (sigh) For the first time, I say I enjoyed Hornswoggle in a contest. Also, outside of Chris Masters and even Drew McIntyre I don’t think anyone has improved more in the WWE than Titus O’Neil. Kudos to the FCW staff and WWE’s creative team for this pairing.
When I grade an overall show, I look for good wrestling and quality storylines. While the wrestling was not there at times in chemistry between the opponents, I still found it above average. The storylines however are some of the best in professional wrestling today (and I will challenge these stories to anything on Impact Wrestling or even Smackdown).
To conclude, there is an elimination next week. I will say who I think will be gone and who will probably be gone. There are two different solutions to the problem.
#1 – Titus O’Neil (He is the clear-cut leader. No one is coming close)
#2 – Byron Saxton (The wrestling is ok right now, but a “rookie” with charisma is hard to find)
#3 – Lucky Cannon (Improved a good bit and involved with Maryse. I think he is safe for a little while)
#4 – Darren Young (The most interesting I have seen from him since his South Beach Boyz days)
#5 – Conor O’Brian (He still has no character and his wrestling is pretty average)
In my opinion, O’Brian just did not do enough to stay on NXT Redemption. Give Vladimir Kozlov credit though, as he was a much better “pro” for O’Brian. However, with no stand-out type gimmick his pretty much gone.
I would not be surprised if the WWE Universe choose Saxton or Young though. Saxton just betrayed Tatsu so many times that the fans may not pick him to advance. However, if children and families watch (and I doubt there are many family TV-time opportunities on WWE.com) the show it could lead to Young’s demise.
So, I think O’Neil and Cannon are safe next week. And even though I think O’Brian did not do as much as the others I expect either Byron Saxton or Darren Young to be voted off NXT next week.
Mr. V Plug Time
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Thanks for reading the recap. Enjoy your week.