WWE NXT (7/11/12)

Full Sail University

Winter Park, FLA

July 11, 2012

Commentators: Byron Saxton & William Regal

This was the fourth and final set of tapings from Full Sail to establish the new NXT. We've established the core of the roster of what this show will be but we still have one big name to go with Bray Wyatt set to make his debut. The debut episode had a great Tyson Kidd vs Michael McGillicutty match and Tyson is opening this show against Camacho fresh off last week's main event. We also got The Uso's taking on the Prime Time Players so let's get to the action.

Match 1

Alberto Del Rio vs Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship

This is actually a dark match shown just for the fans in attendance. Why they chose to never air this or have this match at all makes no sense. Still, Sheamus retained the title by beating Del Rio.

Winner: Sheamus

Match 2

Tyson Kidd vs Camacho (with Hunico)

This stemmed from last week's match where Camacho's team defeated Kidd's team. Regal tells the exact same story he told last week where Camacho saved Hunico by biting someone's eyeball out....of course last week it was the dude's nose off. Bell's gone and Camacho throws Kidd down to start. Kidd shows off his agility before dropping Camacho with a dropkick. Camacho charges but Kidd counters with a roll-up before telling the ref to watch out for Hunico. Camacho takes over with right hands but Kidd rolls over the back of Camacho and dropping him with first a leg-lock, then a drop toe hold. Kidd hits a backslide for two then goes for an arm-bar. Regal praises Kidd's training from his Hart Dungeon days but Camacho heaves Kidd over the top rope. Kidd skins the cat and head-scissors  Camacho to the floor. Kidd baseball slides out but he's cornered by Hunico & Camacho. The ref throws Hunico out despite him not doing anything as Kidd dives out onto the floor onto both men. Saxton sends us to commercial and when we come back, he's got an arm-bar on Camacho with Hunico gone from ring side. Camacho sends Kidd off the ropes but eats a kick to the head. Kidd victory rolls Camacho and goes for the sharpshooter but Camacho makes it to the ropes. Camacho bails to the outside but blocks a kick and sends Kidd face first into the apron. Camacho sends Tyson ribs first into the apron twice before throwing him back in. Camacho covers for a near-fall then delievrs a backbreaker. Camacho stomps the ribs of Kidd but Tyson rallies with right hands. Camacho regains control with shoulderblocks into the corner then sends Kidd sternum first into the other corner, Bret Hart style. Camacho covers for 1...2...nope. Regal says every inch of the ring can be used as a weapon as Camacho hotshots Kidd into the bottom rope. Camacho locks in a modified abdominal stretch before Kidd fights out of it. Camacho headbutts Kidd down then delivers a back suplex. Camacho taunts Kidd and drops a leg before covering...1....2...nope. Camacho unloads with right hands and hits a facebuster on Kidd. He covers for 1...2....no. Camachi goes to the second rope but misses a leg drop. Regal says that's gonna hurt as Kidd kicks away at the left leg of Camacho. Kidd lands a dropkick and covers for 1....2..no. Kidd springboard legdrops Camacho on the bottom rope then goes upstairs. Camacho crotches Tyson and hits a top rope double underhook suplex. Camacho covers for 1..2...nope. Kidd flips over Camacho onto the apron and kicks him in the head. Kidd hits the Blockbuster from off the top rope and covers for 1......2....NOOOOO. Camacho got the foot on the rope but Kidd pulls him into the center of the ring. He goes to lock in the sharpshooter but Michael McGillicutty runs in and distracts Kidd. Camacho boots Tyson in the ribs and hits a DDT. He covers for 1...2....3 that's it. Camacho wins it off the distraction. Took Michael and Hunico to help him out to win the match, but that's a big win for Camacho. Regal says the feud between Tyson and Michael is gonna go on forever. Kidd once again puts on a great match and Camacho did his best to keep up.

Time of match: 14:19

Winner: Camacho

Before we go to commercial, Saxton hypes up the main event of The Uso's against the Prime Time Players. After commercial we get the Bray Wyatt vignette from last week saying he doesn't feel pain or fear. After that we go to Matt Striker interviewing Justin Gabriel of all people. Gabriel is back from an elbow injury and he's a former 3 time tag champion. Gabriel is booked to face Heath Slater next week and Justin says he's going to make a statement. Heath Slater walks in and cuts a promo says the statement is of failure and he's a legend killer. Gabriel says Slater won't be embarassed by WWE legends, he'll be embarrassed by him next week. Those are fightin words in my country! On to the next match.

Match 2

Aiden English vs Bray Wyatt

English enters first and Bray enters second cutting a promo to the song Broken Out In Love. Bray calls himself the angel in the dirt and he's pleased to meet everyone. Bray is wearing the Waylon Mercy shirt and straw fedora hat. Regal says Wyatt gives him the "collywobbles" as the bell rings. Wyatt kicks English in the gut to start and rakes the eyes. Wyatt heaves English outside of the ring, goes outside and throws him into the apron. Wyatt heaves Aiden into the barricade and then into the ring. Wyatt looks to hit a snap suplex but just throws English across the ring. Wyatt hits a big splash in the corner and literally dances around with English before hitting Sister Abigail. He covers for 1...2....3 and that's it. Between Regal saying Wyatt scares him, the aggressive squash and the finisher, that's how you put a guy over. The sky was the limit for Wyatt with the right booking.

Time of match: 1:48

Winner: Wyatt by pinfall

Before we go to commercial we get another video plug for The Uso's against the Prime Time Players. When we get back, Saxton hypes up this Sunday's WWE Money In The Bank 2012 ppv headlined by Daniel Bryan going one on one with WWE Champion CM Punk. AJ Lee will be the special guest referee for the bout. The MITB match for the WWE title shot is between Kane, John Cena, Big Show and Chris Jericho. Meanwhile the World Heavyweight Championship title shot will be between Tyson Kidd, Sin Cara, the Intercontinental Champion Christian, Damien Sandow, the US Champion Santino Marella, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler and Lord Tensai. Sheamus puts the WHC title on the line against Alberto Del Rio. We go to Briley Ziggl....Pierce who's with Richie Steamboat who says he's going to show NXT how good he is. All of a sudden Leo Kruger comes up and hypes himself up before they brawl. There's a match for next week. Cue "Don't Try This At Home" before we get a vignette for Raquel Diaz....Eddie Guerrero's daughter Shaul (and Aiden English's girlfriend). Raquel makes her debut next week. Onto the main event.

Match 3

The Uso Brothers (Jimmy & Jey) vs The Prime Time Players (Darren Young & Titus O'Neil)

Guest commentator: Jim Ross

Good ol JR joins on commentary for the main event. Regal says there's nothing wrong with bragging if you can back it up. Darren starts with Jimmy Uso as JR asks how how you can tell them apart. At the time Jey had a big tattoo on his left arm that Jimmy didn't. They lock up and Jimmy backs Darren into the corner before messing up his hair. Darren pushes Jimmy who slaps him in retaliation. Darren hugs Titus in the corner as JR says the Uso's are the twin sons of Rikishi. Jimmy tags in Jey and they deliver a double back elbow smash. Jey hits a big splash in the corner before landing a double chop clothesline. Jey covers for 1...2..nope. O'Neil tags in and rams Jey's head into the buckle. Titus lands a headbutt but Jey no-sells it like his dad used to. Jimmy tags in and hits a big splash in the corner but the cover gets 1. Regal says Titus is shilling the "Save the donkey association" this week. Darren tags in and Jey drops him causing him to bail to the outside. Jimmy grabs the comb the heels left behind and mock the Players with it. Darren runs inside only to get clotheslined out of it by Jey. Jimmy then launches Jey onto both men outside of the ring. The Uso's taunt them outside as we go to commercial. Jimmy has chinlock in but Darren makes it to the corner to tag Titus in. Jimmy gets in an arm-bar but Titus powers out of it only to eat a thrust to the throat. Jimmy knocks Darren off the apron but Titus trips Jimmy up. The Players make frequent tags on Jimmy including Titus stomping away. Titus locks in a leg lock before tagging in Darren. Young stomps away in the corner and locks in his own leg-lock. Jimmy kicks Darren through the ropes and to the outside so he knocks Jey off the apron so Jimmy couldn't make the tag. JR says that was good strategy but Jimmy rolls up Darren for a near fall. Young hits a dropkick to the knee and covers for 1...2...nope. Young does a stepover toe hold and Jimmy escapes but Young goes back to the leg-lock. Titus tags in and tries to suplex Young on top of Jimmy but Uso rolls out of the way. Titus dives on Jimmy to prevent him from making the tag and locks in a modified leg lock. Jimmy kicks him off but Titus rams him with a forearm. Titus misses a charge in the corner and Jimmy backdrops him. Titus tags in but so does Jey who cleans house. Jey hits a superkick to Darren's ribs and Darren clotheslines Titus by accident. Jey hits a samoan drop and a running ass bump to Darren. Jey covers for 1...2...Titus breaks it up. Jimmy pulls Titus out of the ring but Titus drops Jimmy. The ref inexplicably turn his back to check on Jimmy as Titus nails Jey from behind. Titus sets Jey up for the Decapitator and Darren lands it. Darren covers for 1....2....3 that's it. The Players win it with a page out of Demoltion's playbook. JR says they're gonna get better as a team because they're too smart not too but the Uso's are THIS close to figuring it out. Great praise by JR for both teams as it was defnitely a serviceable match. Hard to imagine that The Uso's were in purgatory doing jobs on NXT knowing what would happen a decade later.

Time of match: 11:49

Winners: Young & O'Neill by pinfall

Well now NXT is off and running and we have some talent, that's for sure. The matches were solid if not spectacular but better to be solid than boring or bad. Wyatt and Mahal are definitely going to be key players down the road in different ways. Kidd and McGillicutty as well. Next week we have the debut of Raquel Diaz, ex-Nexus members Gabriel & Slater going at it plus Leo Kruger vs Richie Steamboat. Should be a great show.

WWE NXT (6/27/12)

 

Full Sail University

Orlando, FL

June 27, 2012

Commentators: Jim Ross & Bryon Saxton

Last week's show established the new direction NXT to be the new developmental show with Florida Championship Wrestling closing. We saw the debuts of The Ascension & Bo Dallas along with a damn good Tyson Kidd vs Michael McGillicutty match. This week we have the debut of someone you might have heard of, guy named Seth Rollins. Also we got Derrick Bateman against Johnny Curtis and another debut, guy named Antonio Cesaro. Should be a fun show so let's get right to it.

Match 1

Seth Rollins vs Jiro

The NXT debut of Seth Rollins has him going against Jiro. For those that don't know, Seth Rollins was born Colby Lopez in Davenport, Iowa. He started wrestling on the indies at 19 years old and took the name Tyler Black while wrestling for Ian Rotten's outlaw promotion. He made his name working for Ring Of Honor from 2007-09 before signing a developmental deal with WWE in August 2010. After 2 years of FCW as Seth Rollins, he's here in NXT. His opponent was born Yuki Tazikawa who was trained by former WWF Light Heavyweight champion Taka Michenoku. Ironically this would be Jiro's only NXT match as he'd go back to Japan shortly after. Ross calls Seth a hot prospect as the bell rings. Rollins rolls through some armdrags before tripping up Jiro with a leg sweep. Seth sends Jiro off the ropes but eats an open handed slap to the chest. Rollins acts like it doesn't hurt and returns the favor. Jiro gets a kick in but is dropped with a clothesline. Rollins dropkicks Jiro and hits him with an enziguri. Rollins hit a splash in the corner and then hits a curbstomp to the back. Ross calls it the blackout as Seth covers for 1....2...3 and that's it. Took Seth 90 seconds to dispose of Jiro and send him back to Japan. Ross goes to the replay of the curbstomp and Saxton says Seth has turned a lot of heads. He's not kidding.

Time of match: 1:32

Winner: Seth Rollins

Dolph Ziggler's brother Briley Pierce hits the ramp to interview Seth after his victory. Seth thanks Briley, introduces himself and he's here to rip the clouds out of the sky. Kind of funny to see him struggle a bit here on the mic considering what we would see in the years'/:#$$##### after this. Before he can go any further he's interrupted by Jinder Mahal who's in the next match. Mahal and Seth give each other the stank eye as Jinder makes his entrance.

Match 2

Jinder Mahal vs Jason Jordan

We get back from commercial with Jinder cutting a promo in half Hindi/half English until he's interrupted. We saw Jordan last week but Jinder was born Yuvraj Singh Dhesi in Calgary, Alberta Canada. He's another Canadian Indian like Tiger Jeet Singh or his uncle Gama Singh who used to be a heel in Stampede Wrestling. He was trained by none other than Bad News Brown and the fake Razor Ramon, Rick Bogner. He made his debut in Canada in 2002 but was signed to a developmental deal in February 2010 as Jinder Mahal. After his FCW run, here he is in NXT. Ross brings up Damien Sandow refusing to wrestle Jordan last week but Mahal bum rushes him at the start. Jinder puts the boots to Jordan and hits a forearm to the back. Jinder hits a neckbreaker and covers for 1...2...nope. Ross calls Jinder athletically arrogant and he's right, Jinder always was in great shape. Jinder drops a series of knees as Ross brings up Jason's Indiana wrestling days. Mahal locks in a half nelson before Jordan gets to his feet but is dropped with a knee to the head. Jinder does a double underhook takeover and covers for 1...2...nope. Mahal misses a knee drop and Jordan rallies with a right hand but Mahal counters with a high knee. Jinder slaps on the camel clutch and Jordan taps out to end the match. Ross says somewhere the Iron Sheik is smiling......why? Sheik is Iranian, not Indian. Inconsistency aside, Mahal looked great in this and he definitely had a bright future ahead. After the match Jinder cuts another promo in Hindi then switches to English to say he'll mold NXT in his image establishing a new wave of dominance in WWE. Sounds good to me.

Time of match: 3:08

Winner: Mahal by submission

We cut to a vignette of a newcomer coming to NXT, the South African Leo Kruger. He claims he took the name Leo because he's the alpha male lion. He says he's a god in Africa which isn't that farfetched. Born Raymond Leppan, he was born in South Africa in 1979 and turned pro at the age of 16. His ancestor was former president of South Africa Paul Kruger so there's the hint of truth in his words. Saxton calls him the South African Aristotle and he's up next.

Match 3

Leo Kruger vs Aiden English

Kruger we just learned about but his opponent is Aiden English. Born in Chicago, he was an accomplished stage actor before turning pro in 2011. One year later he was signed to NXT and here he is. Bell's gone and Kruger gets the upper hand with forearms to the back but eats a dropkick. Aiden misses a second attempt and Kruger starts punching away. He clotheslines English in the corner and stands on his chest. JR says Kruger doesn't make a lot of mistakes and likes to beat people up. Kruger hits a snap suplex and taunts the crowd. Kruger applies a sleeper wrapping his legs around English and Aiden quickly taps out. Took 82 seconds for Kruger to dispose of English and he taunts English on his way out. Kruger had a great look, we'll see how he does moving forward.

Time of match: 1:21 

Winner: Kruger by submission

After the match JR says we'll be seeing Richie Steamboat in action later. Yes, the "Little Dragon" from Wrestlemania 4 was now 25 and wrestling on his own. We get a montage of Steamboat in FCW and saying he's not trying to fill his father's shoes but make his own name. Richie in an interview says he wants to add to the last name, not ride it. When we get back from commercial, the Uso brothers are in action.

Match 4

The Ascension (Connor & Kenneth) vs The Uso's (Jimmy & Jey)

Commentators: Chris Russo, William Regal and JR

William Regal and Chris Russo join us on commentary for this tag team match. Ascension won their first match last week and now face the Uso twins. Kenneth starts with Jimmy and foolishly tries a headbutt only for Jimmy to make like his father and do a dance shimmy before dropping Kenneth with a right hand. The Uso's double team Kenneth but he heaves Jimmy out of the ring. Connor tags in and stomps away at Jimmy in the corner. Kenneth and Connor make frequent tags to isolate Jimmy in the corner. Connor locks in a chinlock but Jimmy powers out of it. Jimmy hits a diving headbutt to drop Connnor and both men make the tag. Jey hits a back samoan drop then hits a running ass smash in the corner. Connor breaks up the pinfall attempt and throws Jey on the outside. Kenneth tags in Connor who hit Downcast on Jimmy. Connor covers for 1...2....3 that's it, Ascension win it. Really tough to tell the Uso's apart and even JR & Regal had trouble doing it. Russo "If Jimmy and Jey, NXT mainstays couldn't beat The Ascension, who can?"

Time of match: 3:31

Winners: The Ascension by pinfall

We head right to the next match

Match 5

Richie Steamboat vs Rick Victor

Little Dragon gets a match with Rick Victor who desperately needs a win. Steamboat starts with a go-behind with a waistlock takedown. Richie hits a series of arm-drags and Ricky The Dragon himself is shown in the crowd. Richie gets an arm-ringer in and takes Victor down with it. Richie drops a leg on the left arm before locking in an overhead armbar. Richie slugs away at Victor in the corner and rams his head in the buckle. Steamboat delivers a snapmare and a clothesline but the cover only gets 1. Victor shoulderblocks Steamboat in the corner then hits some european uppercuts. Steamboat flips over Victor and delivers another arm-drag as JR calls it his go-to manuver. Steamboat hits a crossbody and a shoulderblock before delivering another clothesline. Richie elbows Victor in the corner and hits a slingblade for 1.....2.....3 to win the match. Ricky in the crowd gives him a big hand as Saxton says so far so good. That was a straight jobber match out of 1993 with Victor barely getting any offense in. Still, he made Steamboat look damn good.

Time of match: 4:24

Winner: Richie Steamboat by pinfall

 

JR hypes up the main event coming up of Johnny Curtis vs Derrick Bateman. We get a vignette of Antonio Cesaro and Aksana saying he's up next. Oh joy.... We get back from commercial for the Raw Rebound and its Chris Jericho vs John Cena going one on one in a tune-up for Money In The Bank coming up. Jericho has Cena in the Walls of Jericho when Big Show interferes and drops a leg on Cena's neck. Jericho bails and Big Show chokeslams Cena before locking in the Colossal Clutch. Big Show gets some serious heat for that one. Back to NXT for our next match.

Match 6

Antonio Cesaro (with Aksana) vs Dante Dash

We all know Cesaro and Aksana from their WWE run earlier in 2012 but who's Dash? Born Teon Freeman, he got his start in his native New Jersey in 2010 before signing with FCW in January 2012. Bell rings and Cesaro waistlock takesdown Dante before rubbing his head into the mat. JR says Cesaro speaks 5 languages and Antonio picks up Dash in a gutwrench while lying down before kicking Dash in the kidneys. Cesaro neck twists Dante and drops him with a european uppercut. He pummels Dash in the corner and hits a big boot in the corner. Cesaro hits a spinebuster then cracks his neck to signal for the finisher. He hits the Neutralizer and covers for 1...2....3 that's it. JR marvels at the strength of Cesaro and says he's got the talent to be a world champion in the future. In a few years fans would agree, Cesaro is freakishly strong.

Time of match: 2:45

Winner: Cesaro by pinfall

We go to a Bray Wyatt vignette to signify his impending arrival to NXT.  A few NXT guys and a little girl reach their hands out to Wyatt. This whole show is right out of 1995 with vignettes and jobber matches. Anyway, time for the final match.

Match 7

Johnny Curtis vs Derrick Bateman

This match stemmed from the week before where Bateman confronted Curtis in the men's crapper and they settle it a week later. Bell rings and Curtis slaps Bateman before running for the hills. Johnny misses a knee drop and Bateman rams his head into the buckle. Bateman locks in an arm-ringer and slaps Curtis in retaliation. Bateman whips Curtis in the corner but misses a charge. Curtis does a spinning leg-wringer as JR says next week we'll see a women's match but doesn't name them. Also next week will be the NXT debut of Kassius Ohno. Curtis goes to work on the left leg and goes for the Indian death lock. Bateman slaps Curtis to break the hold and chops him in the chest. Curtis uses a spinning toe hold but Bateman gets out of it. Bateman hits a series of clothesline and uses a reverse DDT. Bateman then uses a D-D-D then covers for 1....2...3 for the W-I-N as JR proclaims. Big win for Bateman who gets revenge for Curtis wiping his hands on Bateman's shirt the week before. JR signs off saying more debuts are coming next week.

Time of match: 3:46

Winner: Bateman by pinfall

Kind of a let down show from the previous week as this felt like an episode of WWF Superstars from 1992 more than a WWE show from 2012. The jobber matches and vignettes would have fit right in 20 years earlier. Still, with the NXT and FCW merger some guys are going to be pushed over others, it depends on how they respond. With Rollins, Cesaro, Bo Dallas and others on their way, good things were coming. Next week we get Kassius Ohno and a women's match, yay. Still, this was the future of WWE in a few years so get used to these guys.