WWE NXT Recap (on WWE.com)
August 23, 2011
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Report by: Gregory “Grash” Walek of Wrestleview.com
Todd Grisham and William Regal are on commentary.
Matt Striker tries to host. He ends up in a match.
Tonight, NXT is in Calgary, Alberta.
Calgary is in Canada.
“I said we are wild and young!”
The show starts with Striker in the ring. Darren Young interrupts him as he walks to the ring. Striker asks if he wants him to say that that he can’t beat him. Darren wants him say that he’s the future. Striker is trying to put this aside. Striker says while Darren has been in the Gym, He’s been on a beach listening to Rush. Striker eventually gets Darren to shake his hand. Darren Beats on Striker. Darren ditches the ring as Regal enters it. Regal and Darren Young have a stare down.
Backstage
Tyson comes back to find his stuff tossed about. He calls it “real funny”. He starts putting his stuff back till he puts up a suit bag that has the strange kanji from last week. Tyson Kid pauses and reflects on seeing it again.
AD: Night of Champions.
MATCH: Tyson Kid vs. Trent Barretta
Tyson Young enters the Arena to a pop. It his hometown. Striker explains he’s had enough dealing with Darren Young degrading the Old Pros. Barretta comes out next with his Smackdown logos on screen. They lock up and Trent gets the advantage. But the ref breaks them. The crowd is in favor for Tyson Kidd. They lock up again, and Barretta gets two throws on Kid before they break up again. They stare each other down before locking up again. They both ping pong back and forth between the ropes. They stare down before they lock up again. Barretta is working Kidd’s hands. Kidd fights to his knees and bounces off the rope to set up an arm lock. Barretta fights to his feel but Kid knocks him over. Kidd runs the ropes and Trent clothes lines him hard. He takes over on offense and gets Kidd in the corner. Trent goes for a whip, but it’s reversed. Kidd goes in but Trent reverses it again as he plants both feet on Kidd’s chest. He rolls it into a neck lock. Trent has been wrestling with the strength advantage here. Trent runs the rope only for Kidd to get up and drop kick Trent. Kidd Bounces off the ropes on to Trent. Trent manages to roll it into a pin attempt. The Stream suddenly cuts to an Ad.
AD: WWE All Stars Video Game.
AD: WWE Rumblers Toys.
We get back to the action. No time has passed. Trent has Kid in a neck lock and is rolling him back and forth. They fight to their feet. Regal and Josh indicate that Barretta has never beaten Kidd. Trent throws Kidd out of the ring. He goes for a baseball kick, but Kidd catches the feet. He spins him around and kicks his face. Kidd DDTS him on the floor. The ref counts. Kidd rolls Trent into the ring. Kidd is fired up on offense and gets a pin attempt. Trent Kicks out. Kidd uses the ropes on Trent. Trent Looks Dazed from it. Kidd bounces over the ropes on to Trent who’s on the apron. Kidd looks hurt. Trent gets up and does a back flip over the ropes on to Kidd. The ref counts. Trent rolls Kidd in. He goes for a pin attempt. Kidd kicks out, Trent is holding his shoulder. He goes over and puts Kidd on the top ropes and strieks him. Trent climbs to the top ropes and grabd Kidd. Kidd manages to drop drown and kick Trent on to his nuts. Kidd looks sent as Trent. Kidd climbs on to top ropes and flips him. Kidd goes for the sharpshooter, but Trent reverses it into a pin attempt. Kidd Kicks out. The Collide, the ref counts. The get to their feet it starts with exchanging strikes till Tyson goes with kicks. Kidd goes for a big move, but Trent Clothes lines Kidd and goes for a pin attempt. Kidd Kicks out at 2. Trent goes to continue offense. Trent is pushed up, and bounces off the ropes. Kidd turns this into the Boston crab. The Kanji from last week appears on the tron again. And it disappears. The distraction is what Trent needs to get a whirling headscissor on Kidd. It’s the move that leads to the pin and the win. Josh and Regal put over that this is Trent’s first win over Kidd.
WINNER: Trent Barretta
We will be seeing Punk vs Cena for #1 Contenders match.
AD: OMG Top 50 Shocking Moments in WWE.
AD: Smackdown is Live next Tuesday on a Super Smackdown Show.
We revisit last week. Bateman insults Hornswoggle. This leads Swoggle and Titus out of the ring to leave AJ alone. Maxine reappears for the first time since NXT season 3 to beat on the little girl. Oh it is glorious my friends.
We cut to the Backstage. We see Bateman is massaging Maxine’s shoulders. He’s saying how he’ll be bigger than than other power couples after he win NXT. Maxine says she has to get rid of AJ and Hornswoggle. Bateman says he has a surprise. Maxine says then she has a surprise for him. On the sexual tension! And it’s all kept within the PG bounds! We cut back to the ring and AJ’s sugar pop music his the arena as she comes out with Hornswoggle.
AD: Superstars of the 21st Century.
AD: RAW next Monday night.
MATCH: AJ vs. Maxine
Maxine is out next. Bateman is with her. Each diva entered with their own, and not the NXT theme music. The bell rings. They lock up. AJ takes down Maxine. She then hits her in the corner. Then AJ runs the ropes and clothes lines AJ. Bateman pulls her out of the ring. AJ goes after. Bateman manages to bumps into Maxine as he gets between her and AJ. The two roll back into the ring and Maxine gets the advantage. She gets a lock on AJ’s neck. They scream. Maxine with hammerfirsts to AJ’s head. They scream. Maxine goes on offense and gets a pin attempt. AJ kicks out at 2. Maxine gets up to yell at AJ and Hornswoggle. An AJ chant breaks out as Maxine holds AJ’s chin. Maxine then whips AJ into the corner, AJ falls. Maxine pulls AJ over and goes for pin. AJ kicks out. Maxine screams at the Ref. Maxine uses the ropes on AJ as another AJ chant breaks out. Maxine screams at AJ to get up as AJ gets caught in the corner. Maxine throws AJ and goes for a pin. AJ Kicks out. Maxine goes to roll, but AJ turns it into a pin attempt. Maxine kicks out. AJ goes for offense, but Maxine turns the table and gets a neck hold on AJ. She rocks AJ back and forth in the hold. Maxine is screaming again as they fight to their feet. Maxine gets a European upper cut. Maxine gets a boot up and starts to yells “IS this what you want”. AJ recovers and gets on offense. She’s fired up. She goes for a pin attempt. Bateman walks over to Swoggle’s corner. He pushes him over. It’s a distraction for AJ. Maxine gets a roll up for the pin and the win.
WINNER: Maxine
After the match, Titus runs down to the ring. Maxine and Bateman Ditch the ring. The two groups stair each other down. Regal says Titus came out too late. He should have been out when Bateman was going for Hornswoggle. The crowd cheers as Hornswoggle’s music hits.
Next will be Cena vs Punk for the #1 contender from Raw last night.
AD: WWE Shop.com.
AD: Bret Heart will be GM of Smackdown this week.
RAW RECAP MATCH: CM Punk vs. John Cena
Winner gets Del Rio for the WWE Title at Night of Champions.
The video picks up with Punk already in the ring. Cena’s Music hits. It’s a mix reaction. Cena gets in the ring and pulls off his shirt and throws it into the crowd. It gets tossed back. Cena picks it back up and tosses it again. The shirt is tossed back to the ring again. Cena tosses it again to the crowd. The camera cuts to Del Rio trying to really the crowd to toss it back to Cena again. The bell rings. We cut back to a shot of Del Rio disappointed. The two circle the ring. They are Jaw jacking each other before Locking up. Punk goes for an arm lock and transitions it to a headlock. Punk gets a clothesline and goes for a fake Five-Knuckle Shuffle. Cena turns it around, clotheslines Punk and goes for his shuffle. Punk turns it around into inside cradle and then clothes lines as he goes on Offense. Punk goes for a GTS. Cena kicks out. Del Rio is on the edge of his seat as he watches. Punk goes to the top rope. Cena is in the middle of the ring, Punk flies, but Cena moves out of the way. Both Cena and Punk are selling being hurt early. Cena goes to the top ropes. Cena goes for a missile drop kick. Pin attempt. Punk Kicks out. Cena rolls to the side. He can’t believe he didn’t get the pin. Cena goes for the Attitude Adjustment. Punk uses his elbows on Cena to break it up. Punk gets a flying knee and goes for a pin attempt. Cena kicks out. Punk dallies. Cena rushes Punk and goes for an Attitude Adjustment. Punk kicks out. Cena props Punk on the top ropes. Punk turns it around with a head butt and a push from the ropes. Punk Flies. He his Cena across his chest and they roll. And Cena rolls it and picks up Punk to stand up for another AA. Punk turns it around for a pin attempt. they break. Punk gets a kick on Cena. Punk, sitting on the floor, signals for the GTS. He dallies and gets up and calls for the GTS again. Punk goes to set it up. Nash comes out from the back. He yells to Punk “This isn’t over yet” as he walk to the ring. Punk looks over to Nash as he approaches. Cena uses it to get an AA on Punk for the pin and the win.
WINNER: John Cena
Cena vs. Del Rio is now set for Night of Champions
As soon at this match finishes, Del Rio Jumps into the ring and attacks Cena. Jonny Ace has to jump into the ring to break Del Rio up from Cena. Del Rio breaks free and goes to attack Cena again. The ref and Johnny ace pull Del Rio back. Del Rio breaks free and kicks Cena out of the ring. Del Rio rolls out and whips Cena into the barricade. The ref and Johnny Ace finally pull off Del Rio. We end the show with a shot of Del Rio looking back to where John Cena is laying. The steam is done.
Grash Says…
Well, the word of the night is “Distraction”. In every match, including the Raw Recap, we ended out match with someone or something distracting one person for the other to capitalize on it. The only case where this actually made sense was in the AJ\Maxine Match. The reason for this is last week we established that what role Maxine has with Bateman. This week, we saw the vice versa of the situation and established that these two are a unit.
The Distraction finish didn’t make sense in the Barretta\Kidd match. Unfortunately, tonight I had a disconnect with commentary. They were putting over the fact that Trent had never beaten Kidd. And that was supposed to help establish the fact Kidd has had Trent’s number… well forever. But tonight, I saw that Trent was been getting the better on the exchanges with Kidd. Had Kidd been getting his offense instead, then distracting him a second time with the Kanji on the tron would makes sense. Tonight, the Kanji on tron felt forced and shoe horned. Another odd element of this match is Seeing Tyson Kidd work face in his hometown.
Punk having a distraction from Nash made sense for last night. It doesn’t work tonight because we had seen this already tonight twice. This is a fault in the NXT matches, than the Raw match up.
While the wrestling was not to the usual quality tonight, the two segments we got were of great quality. We got a sexually charged segment with Maxine and Bateman. It’s edgy but it doesn’t cross the line like we see with TNA or WWE Attitude Era programming. Our other segment established that Matt Striker and Darren Young are done with their feud and has launched Darren into conflict with William Regal. And that’s a match up, I’m looking forward to see in the up coming weeks.
So at this point, I’m going to ignore elimination factors till it pops up again. Apart of this reasoning is that the show has transition into a 1hr Smackdown. Let me put this in perspective. The show which was the next evolution from WWE’s ECW is now in a format that is similar to the ECW show when it went off the air. Bottom line: I’m not going to worry about this and use the energy I would have used to worry about an elimination to enjoy the show instead.
-Grash