WWE NXT on WWE.com
January 18, 2012
Las Vegas, Nevada
Report by: Gregory “Grash” Walek of Wrestleview.com
The show starts with a package from the separation of Derrick Bateman and Maxine. It goes through the means Johnny Curtis as stirred the pot leading to “The Email.” The reveal by Aksana lead to the Maxine going to Curtis and getting Engaged … for tonight… in Vegas.
“We Are Wild and Young”
Josh Mathews welcomes us to the show. “Love is in the Air” and puts over the wedding with a comparison to the Jersey Show. Lilian is announcing this week and welcomes back Michael Cole for the 100th NXT episode. The crowd boos him as he walks to commentary. Oh god, Cole opens his mouth and trashes the show in one breath.
Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young – NO DISQUALIFICATION
Cole is surprised to see Titus still here. He’s walking down with intensity in his step. Cole likes Darren Young and rattles off his previous achievements. Cole Calls NXT a “Silly Show.” Josh has to butt in and explain NXT is where emerging stars a born. Thank you, Josh. Thank you.
The match starts and Darren ditches the ring. He runs and runs and finally gets the boot to the face. Titus goes on dominating Young. Cole brings up his infamous keg drop. Darren goes flying out of the ring and Darren does his Dog call. Titus heads out of the ring. Cole asks what we’re celebrating. Josh says it’s Big O’le #100. Cole says NXT isn’t on TV. Josh says it is around the world. Cole says only America matters.
Meanwhile Darren gets a move. This is before Titus drops him outside of the ring and throws him around the ring like a rag doll. He tosses him into the ring and continues the action. Cole calls Titus “a fry short of a happy meal” as Darren drops Titus on the Apron.
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When we return to the action, we’re shown Darren throwing Titus a barricade during the break. Darren is in control of the match and is getting big moves on Titus. Cole brings up Aksana-Goldust. Commentary talks about weddings in Vegas. It moves on about Striker’s role on NXT. Cole talks about how he likes how Striker talked over the scuffle at the end of last week’s show. Darren hits his heat wave. But Titus kicks out. Darren goes for it again, but Titus grabs him for a slam and the pin for the win.
Winner: Titus O’Neil
After the match, Titus grabs a mic. He’s happy to put the Darren Young drama behind him. He goes on to thank his dawgs… for absolutely nothing. Welcome Darth Titus. He complains about challenges. He complains about Hornswoggle being his pro and leaving for SmackDown. Titus calls himself the star of NXT… and every WWE Show. The crowd is chanting “You suck.” Titus continues the promo calling the crowd “Deadweight.” Says he’s definitely “Going to Make it a Win.” Josh says Titus snapped. Cole says Titus hasn’t learned anything and still can’t cut a promo.
We cut to a shot of Curtis putting on a Tux printed T-Shirt. Cole loves this guy. Compares him to the serial killer “Dexter” and the fact he’s marring Maxine.
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Heath Slater vs. Percy Watson
As the wrestlers enter, Cole reads off a tweet. Josh reveals it’s from Cole’s Mom. When Percy enters, Josh says there can’t be any possibility that Cole any anything negative about him. Cole responds there isn’t a care in the world for this match. Josh and Cole say we’ll find out next week how Percy is going to react to Darth Titus. Cole mentions he won’t be around, but then back peddles and says “Given how announcers drop like flies around here, I might be.” The bell is just ringing now, by the way. The two lock up and Percy is athletic in taking control of the match. Cole mentions that this is the NXT Alumni Match. He moves on talking about himself in a wax museum. Is in WWE ’12 video game. And has an Action figure. In the meanwhile, Slater has taken control is now posing to the crowd for their displeasure. Cole asks about redemption points. Josh says they’re gone to the wayside and explains their original use. He goes over who’s still left in competition and explains Bateman has a match on SmackDown to come soon. Slater goes for a pin, but Percy kicks out. Slater gets pissed and argues with the ref. Commentary is talking about the song “Freebird”. Percy manages to take control of the match. He prances around before hitting the “Heisman”. Slater kicks out, but Percy manages to hit a big move for the win.
Winner: Percy Watson
After the match, Cole cracks a bad Sherlock Homes joke about Watson. We then cut to the back. The Usos run into Maxine. She yells at them about the dress she’s wearing. One of the Uso Brothers sneezes all over it.
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When we get back, Maxine is going crazy trying to get a prop person. Curtis walks in and tries to calm the Force of Nature that is Maxine. He mentions that Bateman isn’t here. She yells that they have a wedding. She walks off crazy. Kaityln walks into the scene looking like she’s just walked off the street. Curtis tells her he hasn’t had a proper bachelor party. He then asks if she wants to get weird. Kaityln looks disgusted and with a soft voice tells him “You are so creepy” and walks off.
Yoshi Tatsu & Trent Baretta vs. Tyler Reks & Curt Hawkins
Cole talks up Curtis and says everyone should be about. Josh asks about Reks and Curt, and Cole loves them. Cole is flat out and says it doesn’t matter how they get a reaction. They’re getting a reaction and compares it to the reaction Cole gets. When the Match starts, Reks takes control of the match over Yoshi. Hawkins is tagged in as Cole doesn’t care what the twitter and internet people think and leads into talking about Daniel Bryan. Reks is back in the ring as Cole talks about helping the Miz hold his title. Josh and Cole disagree about Daniel Bryan as Reks and Tyler tag in and out on Yoshi. Yoshi manages to tag Baretta, and he comes in hot. He dominates and it leads to a corkscrew drop on Reks. Hawkins makes the save. Yoshi comes in to Hawkins out of the way. As the ref pulls Yoshi back to the corner, Hawkins baseball bats Trent’s gut with his cane and rolls out of the ring. In the background, Hawkins can be seen taking out Yoshi. This is the setup for the win.
Winners: Tyler Reks & Curt Hawkins
After the match. Josh promotes the Wedding. He calls it epic. Cole is livid and says it’s going to be a disaster.
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Raw Rebound
Package recounts the end of raw from the point Mick Foley enters the six man tag match. Jonny Ace over turns the win, and Punk goes nuclear on the old skater. After Punk leaves, Foley gets Ace to admit that he’ll screw Punk at the Rumble. And with that, Big Johnny drops Foley with the mic. After the end of the package, Josh and Cole talk about the situation. Josh moves on to the wedding as we see ring staff preparing the ring.
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The Wedding of Maxine and Johnny Curtis
Josh tells Cole that this isn’t a nightmare. Cole says the ring looks alike tree with toilet paper. And then Elvis music hits. And out comes Elvis… Cole then realizes that the Elvis is Matt Striker and compares him to the King on the throne fat ’75 Elvis. Striker gets in the ring, and uses an Elvis voice to get the crowd going. He brings out the Groom first. Curtis is out with a Leather jacket on, and some random dude who is disheveled and drunk. Striker then drops a Giggity-Giggity as he introduces the bride. She comes down to the cliché traditional wedding music. cole muses about if Uso snot is still on the dress and likes the fish net look of the Dress. When Maxine gets in the ring, he asks who the other guy is. He’s Chad… no… Curtis changes and his name is Chris. He’s apparently the best man. Chris asks drunkenly, “But I’m gonna meet Hillbilly Jim”. Striker starts singing the wedding rite. The crowd boos. The wedding vows do not include “death do us apart”, but instead “till you get bored”. The both say I Do. He’s about make it official when he stops to asks if anyone objects. The crowd cheers. Striker drops Elvis Kayfabe to ask if no one objects to the wedding. Striker gets back in character, as Elvis and starts to make it official. He’s unable to finish as Bateman calls out “WAIT!”. He appears and is in a suit. He reveals that he didn’t send the email. Curtis did. Bateman says he got evidence. We cut to a security cam shot of Curtis picking up a tablet doing something with it, and walking off. During the segment, we get commentary between Maxine and Bateman. After it’s done, Cole mentions that’s a one line email as Curtis used the table for such a brief time. Maxine turns to Curtis and asks if this is true. Curtis doesn’t deny it. He’s going ot the top and she’s coming with him. end ends with “I want to make her feel good”. Maxine Slaps Curtis and drops him. Bateman and Curtis then brawl. Maxine jumps into the action and pulls Curtis off. It allows Bateman to drop Curtis for good. He walks to the ring side and goes Hulk on his jacket and shirt. He picks up the mic and says “I always wanted you on top.” Bateman drops the mic on Curtis and starts to walk off. Maxine holds him back. The crowd is chanting “Kiss her”. Maxine then slaps Bateman across the face and embraces him in a luscious kiss as they have before.
BATEMAX IS BACK!
As the show ends, Cole complains as the good guys never wins. Too Bad for you Cole.
Grash Says…
So with Cole back, all bets were off on this week’s show. In the past, Cole has been a train wreck to the show. This was the case when he did commentary with Jack. However, Cole and Josh both work SmackDown. Given that however, Josh was tasked most of the night to pull back Cole. The one moment on commentary that is extremely insightful was during Cole’s discussion of Hawkins and Reks. In the clearest and simplest terms, Cole stated that it is his job to piss everyone off and to be the train wreck on commentary. Now, I highly agree with Cole on what he said. What is not discussed is the fine line of getting the match across and doing the role he’s set out to do. The man can do both. He chooses not to, and it’s at the expense of the match and talent in the ring when it goes wrong. And it does. Often.
The Wedding tonight was simply crazy. Striker was Elvis and forced me to coin the once and only ever use of term “Elvis Kayfabe”. Earlier in this love triangle, I discusses that all three could not be heels. One of them was going to get turned. That ended up being Bateman. The result of Maxine turning on Curtis got cheers from the crowd. Weeks ago, BetaMax was the heel power couple. The return of this BetaMax is a face. Maxine as things stand, ended tonight’s show as a Face.
We started the night off however with a turn on the other side of the coin. Darren Young may have lost tonight, but in the long term fued he’s won. Titus has fallen and has turned heel. Darren has turned the man built as the shining knight in armor into a new villain. Several months ago when I recapped Young’s Heel turn, I referred to him as Darth Young in reference to the Star War Siths. Siths have a rule, there are always two. A Master and Apprentice. Chavo was the Master and Darren the Apprentice then. Now, Darren is the Master, and Titus the apprentice. The ramifications of Titus’s Heel turn, have not yet been felt. One point already brought up is the relationship between Percy and Titus. Regardless, we have a new story going forward with Darth Titus.
Playing Darth Vader’s Imperial March somehow doesn’t pack enough punch for the situation. Luckily there’s The Emperor’s Version of the Imperial March. Should give you cold and chills through your spine.