We’re onto our second week of the second season of NXT with half of the roster yet to wrestle. Last week we had two tag team matches, pros teaming with rookies.
This week Kaval being “mentored” by Lay-Cool should break up that streak.
We open with Matt Striker in the ring. He talks about unanswered questions after last week. So they bring everyone back out to answer those questions. (more…)
Well arter a few weeks of doing the podcast thingy, I figured I’d return to the old format and the article thingy this week. Plus the allergies are pretty bad again this week so I’d save you from hearing me sneeze 20 times in 20 minutes. So without further ado, I say we get this ship sailing: (more…)
It looks like we will get a look at what happened on NXT according to my DVR description.
But first…
Match 1: Maryse and Jillian Hall vs The Bella Twins
Meh…standard Diva’s match. While the Bella’s and Maryse are hot, I HATE Diva wrestling. Maryse hits the French Kiss for the win. After the match, Maryse and Jillian harrass the Bella’s a little bit more until Eve Torres comes to the rescue.
Match 2: Vladimir Kozlov vs Random Jobber A
If I have to tell you who wins, then there is something wrong with you.
NXT Lookback
In case you missed it, Michael Tarver and Daniel Bryan (who is now known by his real name of Brian Danielson) were eliminated due to their comments last week and Skip Sheffield was eliminated by the pros.
Match 3: Vance Archer and Curt Hawkins vs Random Jobbers B and C
While we haven’t seen Vance Archer in a few months on WWE TV, Curt Hawkins hasn’t been for alot longer than that. Hawkins and Archer get the win here. I guess this is a last ditch effort for these two guys. Very random tag team. After the match, Archer tells everybody to pay attention. Hawkins says it couldn’t have been that easy to forget about him. He says they have been given contract for 30 days to make an impact. Whatever…
Main Event: Dolph Ziggler vs Chris Masters
At least this match sort of makes sense. These are two guys looking to get in the Intercontinental Title picture. Ziggler wins with the Zig Zag. This was a pretty good match…too bad nobody cares about them.
Hey, everybody. This week’s episode of Superstars was fairly entertaining. It at least furthered some storylines.
Match 1: Carlito vs Primo
Throughout the match, Carlito looked really apprehensive about apply any offense to his brother. The end of the match saw Carlito grab a mic and tell Primo to quit wasting his career and rejoin with him. Now the Colon’s are back together as a tag team contender and this match has no ending.
Match 2: Chavo Guerrero vs Chris Masters
This was the typical Superstars match-up that we normally get. Two guys that have no real direction and are thus thrown into a random match. Masters gets the win with the Masterlock after countering the Three Amigos.
Backstage Segment:
Michelle McCool and Layla walk into Kelly Kelly’s locker room and tell her she stinks, then try to hold her down for Vickie Guerrero to spray her with deodorant. Beth Phoenix and Tiffany walk in and break it up.
Main Event: Shad Gaspard vs JTG
This match was a good Superstars main event because it was a rematch from the Extreme Rules PPV. Shad gets the win with the STO after blocking a Shout Out. This fued is dying out now, especially considering they put it on Superstars. We shall have to wait and see where these two go after this.
That’s it for this week. Check back in again next week for another Superstars.
We open with the rookies in the ring. Daniel Bryan is growing a beard. Skip Sheffield has added spikes to his jacket. We’re down to two weeks till an elimination.
This weeks challenge is testing likability. Go out to the crowd and try to sell merchandise in 60 seconds. WHoever has the most cash wins and gets a shot at at a WWE superstar of their choosing.
Skip is given a bag of programs and some changes and asked to sell. Suggested retail price 15 bucks. He gets 60 bucks, selling four programs.
The first match is a tag team match. Christian and Heath Slater vs Chris Jericho and Wade Barrett.
Start off with Slater knocking Jericho down and he instantly tags out. Christian gets a forearm and a second rope missle dropkick. He decks Christian, then Barrett gets a boot. Stomps away then Jericho comes in and pummels him. Back suplex. Jericho pounds Christian down in the corner. Christian gets a reverse DDT and tags out.
Slater with a flying forearm, then one in the corner. Eats a kick as he ducks his head but comes back with a neckbreaker. Barrett breaks up a cover. Christian comes off the top, then tosses Barrett. Dive over the top.
Jericho attempts a Walls of Jericho. Rollup gets two, but Jericho gets the Codebreaker for the win.
Some good stuff during the match. Cole refers to the faces as the team of Christian Slater, and Jericho is just nuts. He gets in the ref’s face and tears up the announce table.
Daniel Bryan just tosses the books away for free. Cole calls him a tool, and Matthews says Cole is the definition of a tool.
Replay of the triple threat last week. Carlito is giving some advice, pay attention to the little things. Details matter. He then walks away, telling Tarver to get their stuff. When Tarver asks if Carlito wants him to carry bags Carlito congratulates him for getitng the little things.
Justin Gabriel is up next. He asks the fans for help. He wants to fight a pro and show them that he’s good at WRESTLING. He says all the American money looks the same to him. He sells 22 progams.
Michael Tarver has the next match. We get the pros talking about him. Most see nothing him. Punk says he’s saddled with a poor pro. Regal calls him a sleeper. Truth calls him a character. Miz sees nothing in him.
His opponent is Darren Young, who’s accompanied by Serena and Gallows. Punch to the gut and a hard whip to the corner by Tarver. Powerslam. Stomp to the gut. Punches to the gut. Keylock, of some sort. Young fights out.
Tornado punch. Dropkick. Flying shoulderblock. Runs into a kick, but nails Tarver in the gut. Tarver with a knee on the outside. Shoulder to the gut and pulls his shoulder to the corner. Serena distracts the ref and Gallows nails Tarver, allowing Young to hit his finish. Gallows separates Serena and Young.
Justin Gabriel only got 210. Otunga is up next. he says celebrities don’t do manual labor, so he picks a couple of kis to carry the stuff as he hawks the programs. “Money Otunga” like Money Mayweather.
The pros talk Justin Gabriel. He’s got some moves, but doesn’t really have a lot of personality basically. Replay of Otunga/Gabriel and R-Truth not helping him. Truth is giving his some advise backstage and tells him if he can’t run with the big dogs stay on the porch.
Heath Slater has to get over 315 dollars worth of merchadise. He encourages the fans to buy by saying that he’s beaten two pros so lets make it three. He falls a little short.
Darren Young wants to face CM Punk but he fails to get enough.
Michael Tarver refuses to sell, saying the WWE should sell him. He is thr product.
Wade Barrett says he’s proved he’s the number 1 rookie. He takes the money given to give change and walks out.
Pros on Daniel Bryan. Punk, Jericho, Regal and Christian all praise him. Miz says if he’s listened to him he’d be a winner. Matt Hardys says he needs more personality but if he gets that he says nothing but good things.
Otunga won the challenge. And he wants to face R-Truth. It’s time the student beats the teacher.
The main even is the Miz vs Skip Sheffield. Miz has a big ass bruise on his face.
Regal gets in Miz’s face. He has a mike. It’s very painful to talk. He can’t compete due to the Big Show’s suckerpunch. Taking his place will be Daniel Bryan.
Fireman’s carry but Bryan escapes. Kicks and then a dropkick in the corner. Punches to the gut. Leglock. Skip gets the ropes. Kicks to the chest, But he grabs a kick then knocks him down.
Clothesline. Skip gets his finish, a backpack stunner.
Overall an excellent show, but three out of five people choosing not to compete is a bit much. Breaking it up the way they did actually made it a bit better this week.
Last week: David Otunga and R-Truth had a bit of a falling out.
The theme song plays, the pyro goes off, and the broadcast team of Michael Cole and Josh Matthews welcome us to WWE NXT!
R-Truth and David Otunga make their way to the ring, Truth rapping the whole way. Otunga can care less about Truth’s performance, he walks right past his mentor and into the ring.
Matt Striker is standing by backstage, and he explains the rules of the show once more. The pros will vote on the rookies – but they can’t vote for or against their own rookies.
AWESOME!
The Miz leads his rookie, Daniel Bryan, to the ring. This is a tag team match, which will probably wind up coming down to which team can put aside their differences better. Miz has a pep talk for Bryan. Right now, Bryan is 0-2. He hasn’t proven anything to anybody yet. Last night on RAW, Miz was jumped. This match is very important to him. If Bryan is pinned tonight, Miz will make sure he never achieves his goal of becoming a WWE Superstar. And he’ll have him thrown off of NXT.
R-Truth & David Otunga def. The Miz & Daniel Bryan
Bryan starts off with R-Truth, with Truth having the upper hand early on. Otunga gets the tag in and the team of Truth and Otunga start utilizing classic tag team strategy, keeping Bryan away from The Miz. Things get a bit crazy – Bryan and Miz get dumped to the outside by Truth, who dives on them, sending us to a…
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
When we come back, Michael Cole screws up David Otunga’s name, calling him Daniel Otunga. Miz and Bryan are also in control by this point. Bryan tags in The Miz, who admonishes him for showboating. Miz is nearly pinned by Truth off of a rollup, but manages to take control right back from him. Truth causes some separation, and finally manages to get the tag in to Jennifer Hudson’s fiancee. He gets Miz in a pinning predicament, but Bryan makes the save. Bryan tags himself in and turns the tide back into his team’s favor. He locks a heel hook in on Otunga. Will Otunga snap or tap? Miz tags himself back in, and then the two start battling – meanwhile, Truth sneaks in and nails the Lie Detector on The Miz, allowing Otunga to pin the WWE United States Champion.
After the match, Miz threatens Bryan’s career again, telling him to go away. Bryan feigns punching The Miz, who flinches, before leaving.
Video: Carlito Surprised Heath Slater by spitting in his face. That wasn’t cool to Slater. Slater says if he had an apple and Carlito was standing in front of him, he wouldn’t spit in his face, he’d chuck it like a fastball at Carlito’s head. He’ll have the opportunity, as he takes on Carlito, NEXT!
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
Matt Striker wants to know how Miz feels about the fact that it was he who lost the match for his team, and not Daniel Bryan. Miz reminds Striker of all the gold he has. Bryan comes in, he doesn’t care about Miz’s accolades. He says that everybody he’s ever been partners with have carried him. Miz reminds him he’s the pro. Bryan asks if Miz is so talented, why is he the one who lost tonight?
Video: Justin Gabriel grew up in the wrestling industry and he’s a martial arts expert.
Matt Hardy is giving Gabriel a pep talk backstage, telling him to do exactly what he did last week. Chris Jericho and Wade Barrett come in. Jericho says he did good last week, but not good enough for this week, because Wade Barrett is Jericho’s protege, and look at the size of him. Barrett reminds Gabriel that last week, he destroyed Daniel Bryan in less than 3 minutes. Hardy tells Jericho that his protege will defeat Jericho’s tonight.
Heath Slater makes his way to the ring along with his pro, Christian. Carlito heads to the ring with his rookie, Michael Tarver. Carlito heard what Slater had to say about him, but he should be honored that Carlito spit in his face. You know how many WWE Superstars faces Carlito’s spit into? Slater should be begging to get spit at again. Carlito gets in the ring, takes a bite of his apple, but Slater ducks the spit.
Heath Slater def. Carlito
Slater decked Carlito to start the match and then we went to a…
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
Carlito is in control when we come back, but that doesn’t last very long. Slater holds his own with Carlito, and when Carlito kicks Slater in the face, Tarver cheers from ringside, saying “that boy’s gonna need to go to the dentist!” Carlito takes control for a few minutes, but he takes some time to talk to Tarver on the outside, and Slater takes advantage. Carlito hits a spinebuster on Slater, and he goes to grab his apple, but Christian took it away. Christian tosses it to Tarver, who doesn’t think it’s funny. Carlito tells Christian to watch what he does to Slater – he goes for a Backstabber, but Slater escapes. Carlito tries to roll up Slater, but Slater rolls through and pins Carlito.
Video: Darren Young says this is his destiny. He thinks the WWE Universe will find him entertaining. There’s no better feeling than being in the spotlight, and he looks up to guys like Shawn Michaels and Ricky Steamboat.
CM Punk is discussing Young with the Straight Edge Society. Young comes in and says he respects Punk’s lifestyle, but wants to know why he can’t live his own. Punk says he can lead a horse to water, but he can’t make him drink. Straight Edge can make him a winner, but Young can live his own lifestyle and see where that gets him.
Up next, Justin Gabriel takes on Wade Barrett in our main event.
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
It’s confirmed that “Be Yourself” by Audioslave is an official theme song of WrestleMania.
RAW REBOUND: Mr. McMahon defeated John Cena in the main event. Nevermind the fact that it was a handicap gauntlet match and that the WWE Champion Batista was Mr. McMahon’s last partner, Mr. McMahon pinned John Cena.
We get a rundown of the WrestleMania XXVI card – Batista vs. John Cena, Chris Jericho vs. Edge, Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker in a no DQ match, Triple H vs. Sheamus, Bret Hart vs. Mr. McMahon, John Morrison & R-Truth vs. ShoMiz – what a hell of a card we’ve got for the show of shows!
Chris Jericho leads Wade Barrett to the ring and we’re informed that for the first time in two years, this Friday on SmackDown it’s the return of Chris Jericho’s Hi-Lite Reel with special guest Edge!
<COMMERCIAL BREAK>
Matt Hardy leads Justin Gabriel into battle, and last week, Gabriel became the first rookie to have pinned a WWE pro, that pro being William Regal.
Justin Gabriel def. Wade Barrett
Power vs. speed – that’s what this match is. Barrett is a big guy who can really hurt you, and Gabriel is a smaller guy – well, compared to Barrett anyway – who can use his speed to avoid being hurt by a bigger guy like Barrett and to strike before his opponent can counter. The crowd actually starts chanting USA in this one, despite the fact that the only American in this match is Gabriel’s pro, Matt Hardy. Gabriel manages to squeak out the win, knocking Barrett down and hitting the 450 splash from the top for the victory.
Jericho attacks Hardy after the match, knocking him out of the ring, then hitting a codebreaker on Gabriel before locking him into the old school Lion Tamer style Walls of Jericho. Barrett and Jericho are the ones standing tall as NXT goes off the air.
My Thoughts: WWE did a great job this week and getting me interested in some of the rookies who I didn’t care about at all. Darren Young showed a bit of personality, Heath Slater showed that he could be a great commodity for World Wrestling Entertainment, and Michael Tarver seemed to open up a bit more this week than he had a couple of weeks ago. Still the star of this show is Daniel Bryan, and that’s not by accident. WWE is trying to make that happen, and they’re doing a good job of it – though Justin Gabriel seems to be developing quite a fan base, even if they don’t realize he’s from South Africa and not the United States. Some people I’ve talked to don’t like the show – I, on the other hand, have really enjoyed it the last few weeks and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next. See you Friday for SmackDown!
Match 1: The Bella Twins vs Jillian Hall and Katie Lea
Brie Bella has a tattoo and Nikki doesn’t. That’s all that matters in this match. The Bellas get the win.
Match 2: Chavo Guerrero vs Primo vs Chris Masters w/ Eve
The winner of this triple threat match gets a spot in the Royal Rumble. I like Chris Masters. I think the guy can get the job done. All he needs is a chance. This is a pretty fast paced match, as it always is with Primo. Maybe Chavo and Primo should form a tag team. That would be pretty entertaining. Masters gets the win with the Masterlock on Chavo to get his spot in the Rumble. I would love it if Masters would win the Rumble…that would be sPECKtacular! See what I did there???
Chris Jericho makes his way to the ring to cut a promo in his dapper suit. He then proceeds to call every superstar in the WWE a liar for claiming they will win the Royal Rumble because he guaruntees a victory. R-Truth interupts with a WUSSUP?! in Jericho’s face. He says he will win the Rumble and beats Jericho down.
Main Event: Matt Hardy w/ Great Khali and Ranjin Singh vs David Hart Smith w/ the Hart Dynasty
This is the perfect place for Fatt Lardy to main event. He just doesn’t do anything for me. I apologize to the people who like him, but he sucks now. David Hart Smith has grown on me, however. He still needs to tone that belly he has, but he is good. Smith wins with a Big Boot after the ref is distracted and Tyson Kidd hangs Matt’s arm on the top rope. Khali then comes in to clean house including Matt Hardy. I guess he thinks he’s gonna win the Rumble too.
That’s it for Superstars this week. Remember Smackdown is tomorrow night and the Royal Rumble is Sunday.
What’s going on people, hope you all have been well since we last met. Sorry I’m a little late but I had a very late night last night and can still feel the after effects of it so without further ado, lets get this show on the road: (more…)