If it's Tuesday night, that means it's time for WWE NXT! Later this week, I'm going to do a special "scouting report", discussing where the NXT Rookies are at after four weeks of competition, since that will be 1/4th of the way through Season one.
- WWE Opening.
- "Wild & Young". Do you suppose they will keep that in Season 2, or come up with a new theme song? I rather like the theme, personally. In a year or so it might overstay its welcome, but its fine right now.
- CM Punk's music hits right off the bat. Ahh...tag team match.
CM PUNK & DARREN YOUNG (W/Serena & Luke Gallows) vs MATT HARDY & JUSTIN GABRIEL
- Darren Young isn't smiling tonight. A graphic reminds as that Young is 1-1. Matt Striker informs us that, in two weeks, the 8 Pros will evaluate the Rookies and apparently hit their first round of voting. Interesting. Justin Gabriel is 2-0. Young and Gabriel to start. Young powers Gabriel down. Wristlock by Young, Gabriel flips into a reversal, but eats a forearm. Gabriel ducks a punch and hits an armdrag and Hardy is in! Gabriel with a Hardy-assisted clothesline, followed by a Hardy clothesline! Hardy tags Gabriel who flips in with a sunset flip! Young cuts him off. Apparently the party animal Young is also super serious about the competition. Interesting. Tag to Punk, who is beating Gabriel down. Young tags back in and continues the corner beatdown. Gabriel flips over Young's back and hits a spin kick! Sends Gabriel over the top, but he nails Young, but misses a springboard cross body! Young gets two. Young is crushing Gabriel in the corner. Gabriel tries to catch his feet on Young's shoulders, but Young tosses him up and kicks him! Hardy is trying to keep Young from going after Gabriel on the floor...Young sends Gabriel into the steps! Commercials.
- Back from the break and Gabriel hiptosses Punk! Splash, but the knees as up! Punk is hammering on Gabriel. Dragging Gabriel to the corner and double stomp on Gabriel. Matthews and Cole are arguing about whether or not Young should join the Straight Edge Society. Young taunts Gabriel, who is firing back with kicks! Chops! Snap mare and cover gets two. STO! He's going up top...misses the 450! Tag to Punk, Gabriel barely kicks out! Hardy looks a bit miffed that he didn't go for the tag. Punk has Gabriel in a leg scissors and is working the midsection. Gabriel elbows out and hits a jackknife cradle! Punk nails Hardy and tags Young. Big slam gets two. Young drives Gabriel into the corner, and Punk is back in, working on the ribs. Gabriel is rallying, but Punk takes him out with a big knee. Punk is setting up a springboard...Gabriel dropkicks him out of the air! Hardy calls for the tag! Hardy is in! Hardy unloads! Clothesline/bulldog! Side Effect! Gets two. Hardy goes up, Punk bails to Young! Hardy hiptosses Young in, and gives him the Cactus Clothesline out of the ring! Gallows nails Gabriel while Serena distracts the ref! He goes after Hardy and eats a Side Effect on the floor! Hardy sends Young back in...calling for the Twist of Fate...Gallows distracts the ref...PUNK WITH THE GO 2 SLEEP! Young gets the pin!
Winners: DARREN YOUNG & CM PUNK via pinfall on Hardy (Punk GTS for Young Pin)
- Gallows attacks Gabriel! He attacks Hardy! My God, he attacks Young! GALLOWS POLE on Young! The Straight Edge Society stands tall!
- Easily the best NXT match since Jericho-Bryan, and maybe the best NXT match to date, and it wasn't all because of the Pros.
- Young looks ticked as the SES walks away. Punk is watching the Titantron and acknowledges it.
- Daniel Bryan vs The Great Khali! The first appearance on NXT by a non-Pro! The Internet just exploded!
DANIEL BRYAN vs THE GREAT KHALI (w/Runjin Singh)
- Bryan is 0-3. Bryan doesn't look intimidated. Matthews calls Cole out for living in a bubble. Staredown for the visual. Khali tosses Bryan in the corner. Bryan kicks away at Khali's legs. Khali with a huge corner chop. Tree Slam? No! He turns it into a choke! Bryan is choking Khali! He's choking him down to his knees! Khali shoves him off, but eats kicks! Khali grabs the throat, Bryan kicks free! He kicks Khali to the mat! Missile Dropkick! Power kickout! He goes back up...BRAIN CHOP OUT OF THE AIR! TREE SLAM!!! One boot pin!
Winner: THE GREAT KHALI via pinfall (Tree Slam)
- Aw hell...The Big Show. Khali stares down The Big Show. Tag match next week?
- Show Choke Slam! Show walks away. I was expecting a Khali save, actually.
- Skip Sheffield faces Wade Barrett later on, with Chris Jericho and William Regal at ringside.
- Raw Rebound.
- Another (the same?) David Otunga video. I must tell you, I had never heard of this guy before NXT. WWE's obviously pretty high on him...yeah, this is basically the same video. Bleh. Has the show gained any viewers since the premiere, when they aired this?
- Michael Tarver vs Heath Slater is NEXT. I think this is going to be the first week that all eight rookies are getting any real amount of face time.
HEATH SLATER vs MICHAEL SLATER
- Hm. No pros? Slater without Christian gets no reaction. What are the odds that Tarver knocks him out in 1.9 seconds? Yeah, no Carlito...which means no pros. Slater is 2-0 to Tarver's 0-1. Oh...already past 1.9. Headlock by Slater. Tarver swings and misses, Slater with a shoulder and an armdrag into a wristlock. Tarver shoves him into the ropes...Slater sends Tarver out of the ring, hits a big twisting plancha...but the crowd doesn't care. In fact, they cared more when he missed a corner charge. Tarver with a HUGE running kick. Carlito and Christian are walking on backstage, Christian with a mocking look. Tarver is showing some great aggression. Neck vise on Slater. He fights up and gets snapped down! Slater dropkick out of nowhere! Big clothesline. Crowd is DEAD. Flapjack gets two. Big knee by Tarver. Slater with a schoolboy that one of them botched.
Winner: HEATH SLATER via pinfall (Schoolboy)
- Tarver attacks Slater from behind! T-Bone Suplex! Tarver now gets the only heat this match has seen. Not MUCH, but a bit.
- Regal and Sheffield are arguing...kinda. Sheffield won't shut up and keeps interrupting Regal, not meaning to.
- Seriously...I am now to the point that I don't care about HBK-Undertaker. They have pushed it TOO hard.
WADE BARRETT (w/Chris Jericho) vs SKIP SHEFFIELD (w/William Regal)
- Barrett is 1-1. Another three minute special for Barrett? Sheffield has the best music in NXT right now...Because Regal's music is awesome. Sheffield is 0-1. Regal and Jericho are having some mock tension. Barrett is all over Sheffield. Sheffield hops over the top rope on an irish whip, then runs up the next buckles and hits an ax handle! Nice! Snap mare and slap to the back! Barrett bails, and Sheffield attacks! Barrett tries to send him headfirst into the post, but Skip blocks...so Barrett rams his back into the post! Barrett works the back in the ring. Stretching Sheffield on the ropes. Huge knee to the back. Surfboard on the mat. Sheffield fights up, Barrett hammers him. Suplex blocked by Sheffield! Big suplex of his own! Crowd's still rather dead. Barrett misses a charge and Sheffield with the Polish Hammer! Huge clothesline! Scoop slam! Awesome, Cole says Sheffield should have went for the cover, and Matthews mocks him as being an "expert". Strut Splash by Sheffield! Kickout at one! Shoulder by Barrett. Sheffield blocks a corner charge and goes up, but is talking to Regal and Barrett takes him down. Fireman's Carry Slam! Barrett wins it! Regal is ticked.
Winner: WADE BARRETT via pinfall (Fireman's Carry Slam)
- Jericho shakes hands with Barrett as Regal watches on ticked. Sheffield is trying to talk to Regal, who is ignoring him, Jericho is acting kind of apologetic go Regal...well, mock apologetic.
- Great show...the best one so far, I would say, from a wrestling perspective and a "face time" perspective, although I would have liked a new Otunga video or SOMETHING. I'll be back with my NXT Roster thoughts later this week as I Rank The Rookies!
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