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 (7/4/12)

Full Sail University

Orlando, FL

July 4, 2012

Commentators: Jim Ross & Bryon Saxton

After the great debut show two weeks ago, last week's NXT felt like an old episode of WWF Superstars with vignettes and squash matches. Hopefully the upcoming weeks will be better once everybody is introduced and they can all just wrestle. We got a women's match and Kassius Ohno making his debut. JR thanks us for joining and sends us right to our first match.

Match 1

Sofia Cortez vs Paige

Sofia Cortez was Ivelisse Velez on Tough Enough the year earlier and she was actually the protoge of indy legend Steve Boz in Chicago before being signed. Her opponent was actually a 19 year old Saraya Bevis who made her debut at the age of 13 in her native England in 2005. She's the daughter of Sweet Saraya and Roy Bevis, both English wrestlerts. This is booked as a "divas" match and Saxton gets excited before the bell. They lock up but Paige throws Sofia backwards. Sofia ducks under a clothesline and goes for a waistlock but Paige blocks it with a headbutt. Sofia blocks a hiptoss with a headscissors into a frankensteiner. Paige bails to the outside as JR brings up Sofia;s singing talent and martial arts skills. Back inside Sofia kicks and punches away in the corner and tells the ref to shut up. Paige follows with right hands but Sofia lands a martial arts kick. Sofia covers for a 1 count and locks in a arm-trap chinlock but Paige flips out of it and chops Sofia. Paige eats a kick to the face and Sofia executes the Mysterio DDT. She covers for 1....2....3 and that's it. This was definitely nearing the end of the "divas" era as 19 year old Paige looked pretty good selling here and just needed more experience. Sofia gets the duke as JR puts over both having a future. We go to the highlight of the finish as Saxton calls it an impressive debut.

Time of match: 2:27

Winner: Cortez by pinfall

Saxton hypes up Kassius Ohno's debut later tonight but up next is Seth Rollins taking on Camacho with Hunico in his corner. After the commercial break we go right to the match.

Match 2

Camacho (with Hunico) vs Seth Rollins

Camacho was born Tevita Fifita, the son of Haku. He was signed in 2009 as Tonga before becoming Donny Marlow in FCW. He made his main roster debut as Camacho, bodyguard of Hunico. Hunico was born Jose Arriaga who won the Texas state wrestling tournament his senior year of 1996 and was voted tournament MVP. He turned pro in 1999 and worked as Mistico in Mexico until someone else named Mistico (Luis Urive) showed up and Arriaga had to change his name. He signed with WWE in 2009 under the name Hunico and was in their developmental program when WWE signed Urive to work as Sin Cara. When Urive got suspended for 30 days following a wellness violation, Arriaga became Sin Cara. We all know how Sin Cara vs Sin Cara came out of that and eventually Arriaga became Hunico again doing a cholo gimmick. Now he's backup for Camacho against Rollins who made his debut the week before. Rollins makes his entrance punching up the ramp like Donkey Kong before getting in the ring. Rollins and Camacho slug it out at the bell but Camacho takes his head off with a big elbow. Camacho works him over in the corner before whipping Rollins off the ropes who turns it into a cradle for a deuce. Rollins trips up Camacho and covers for a 1 before chopping Camacho. Rollins works him over in the corner then whips Camacho into the other corner. A charge eats boot to drop Rollins and Camacho drops a leg before stomping away. Camacho pulls Rollins into the middle and covers for 1 before taunting him. Camacho executes a back suplex and covers for 1....2...nope. Camacho stomps away at Rollins as JR calls Seth highly regarded. Saxton says that's driving Camacho to beat him up if everyone's high on Rollins. Rollins nips out of a giant swing to hit an enziguiri to stun Camacho and drives Camacho into the buckle with a one armed ddt. Rollins hits a dropkick and kicks Hunico down but runs into a big forearm by Camacho.  Camacho holds Rollins for Hunico to hop up on the apron. Rollins sends Camacho into Hunico then hits the curb stomp on him. He covers for 1....2....3 and that's it. Hunico gets in and beats up Rollins with Camacho joining in. They doubleteam Rollins until Bo Dallas hits the ring to save Rollins. Rollins had a bright future ahead and he did the best he could in that.

Time of match: 4:33

Winner: Seth Rollins

We go right to the next match after commercial.

Match 3

Corey Graves and Jake Carter vs CJ Parker and Nick Rogers

Tag team match to showcase the four new guys. Parker we know but Corey Graves was born Matthew Polinsky and started wrestling in 2000 at age 16. He took the name Sterling James Keenan which was a tip of the hat to Sterling Sharpe of the Green Bay Packers and Maynard James Keenan of Tool. In 2006 he worked dark matches with WWE before signing a developmental deal in 2011. Jake Carter is the son of none other than Big Van Vader and played football for Oklahoma University before injuries derailed him. He also got a developmental deal in 2011. Rogers was born Austin Spencer and he made his name on the Canadian indies before signing with FCW. He had a good run there and now he's here on NXT. Graves & Carter were the FCW tag champs right around the time FCW closed. Parker starts with Graves at the bell and Graves gets in a sideheadlock before Parker monkey flips him. Graves gets mad and rams Parker in the corner who punches Carter. Carter tags in and beats up Parker before landing a forearm. Graves tags in and holds him down before Carter splashes Parker in the corner. Graves chokes Parker on the middle rope before Parker fights back with punches and a backdrop. Rogers gets the tag but runs into a Carter spinebuster who had tagged in. Carter knocks Parker off the apron and tags Graves. They hit their finisher "Bottoms up" on Rogers and Graves covers for 1....2...3 to win the match. Carter & Graves definitely had chemistry and it showed in this match. Just a basic squash to get the team over.

Time of match: 2:25

Winners: Graves & Carter by pinfall

We go to JR and Byron and JR calls Kassius Ohno a knockout artist. We go to a highlight package of Kassius before we go to commercial. Back from commercial we get a Bray Wyatt vignette saying he's not afraid of anything and feels no pain. He tells his future opponents they need to run as we hear sinister laughing. Wyatt is making his debut next week.

Match 4

Mike Dalton vs Kassius Ohno

Ross says Dalton was trained by Lance Storm as Dalton starts with an arm-bar but Ohno overpowers him. Dalton sends him off the ropes and hits a drop toe hold before high school pinning Ohno for a 1 count. Ohno reverses a prawn hold and hits a dropkick to the face. Ohno goes in the corner and shouts "OHHHH....NO" then delivers a clothesline in the corner followed by a jumping forearm. Ross says Ohno prefers knocking people out as Ohno kicks Dalton around. Ohno chops Dalton in the corner and locks in a cobra clutch. Dalton fights out of it and hits a spinning wheel kick. He covers for 1...2...nope. Ohno rakes the eyes then hits the K.O. punch. Ohno covers for 1...2....3...its over. Dalton is out cold as Ross puts over the discus punch as something special. Ohno grabs the mic and says he knocks people out and when they hear him coming they say "Oh no!". Gonna need to do better than that but its a start.

Time of match: 2:32

Winner: Ohno by pinfall

We go to commercial then straight to the next match.

Match 5

Derrick Bateman vs Jinder Mahal

Both Mahal and Bateman won in the previous weeks before so it makes sense to put them together to give someone a possible winning streak. Bell's gone and they tie up to start with the crowd starting a small USA chant, ha! Bateman takes advantage with a northern lights suplex and clotheslining Mahal over the top rope to the floor. Bateman dives onto Mahal on the floor before sending him back inside. Mahal snaps Bateman off the top rope and covers for a near fall before choking him on the second rope. Mahal drops some knees to the sternum and goes for a Rude Awakening but Bateman counters with a backslide for a deuce. Bateman catches Mahal with a cradle for a two count then a slam with a roll up for yet another near fall. Bateman drops Mahal with two clotheslines and a facebuster. A running neckbreaker by Bateman gets a two count and Derrick gets frustrated. Bateman is sent into the ropes and Mahal delivers a knee to the back of the head. Mahal then locks in the camel clutch and Bateman quickly submits. Mahal sold his ass off for Bateman yet one move turned the tide for him. The crowd boos but Mahal is your winner.....but wait! Mahal puts the clutch back on as JR says there's no call for this. Guess he needed some more heat.

Time of match: 4:02

Winner: Mahal by submission

Late breaking news, tonight's main event is now a six man tag with Michael McGillicutty teaming with Hunico and Camacho against Tyson Kidd, Bo Dallas and Seth Rollins. Dusty Rhodes isn't wasting any time plus Rollins & Camacho are pulling double duty. After an obligatory "Don't try this at home" commercial we got to our main event.

Match 6

Seth Rollins, Bo Dallas and Tyson Kidd vs Michael McGillicutty, Hunico and Camacho

Guest Commentator: William Regal

Stemming from the match to start the night, now we got an impromptu six man. Kidd and McGillicutty had a great match two weeks earlier and Dallas was victorious last week. Dallas starts with Michael who Michael tells to scram. Tyson tags in so Hunico does as well. JR complains about Hunico's durag as Kidd hits a top rope headscissors. Hunico gets a boot to the mid-section and a Gory Special and uses it as a pinfall attempt for 1...2...no. Kidd uses his abdominal strength to sunset flip out of it for a two count then Kidd victory rolls out of a waistlock. Kidd armdrags Huncio and tags in Dallas who drops an elbow to the left arm. Rollins tags in and goes to town on Hunico in the corner before splashing him in the other corner. Rollins gets distracted by Camacho allowing Hunico to nail him from behind. Camacho tags in as we cut to commercial. We're back with Camacho covering Rollins for a near-fall before locking in a chin-lock. Rollins fights out of it but is in the wrong corner as Hunico tags in to stomp away. Hunico charges but eats boot then Rollins monkey flips Hunico halfway across the ring. Rollins rolls into the corner to tag Dallas but Camacho tags in. Camacho falls down so Dallas somewhat misses a big elbow so they repeat the spot. Dallas kicks Camacho in the head then knocks Michael off the apron. Camacho counters by throwing Dallas head first into the bottom buckle. Regal says Camacho manhandles people with ease. McGillicutty tags in and and puts the boots to Dallas. Michael gets in a chinlock and punches Dallas for good measure. Dallas powers out of it but Michael locks in a leglock to keep Dallas from tagging. Hunico tags in and delivers a double-underhook backbreaker then covers for 1...2.....nope. Hunico locks in a chinlock as Regal tells a cockamamie story of how Camacho saved Hunico in the barrio from a gang stabbing by biting the nose off the guy stabbing Hunico. Hunico tags in McGillicutty to deliver more damage before executing a backbreaker. The cover gets a deuce and Michael pounds away as Regal says Dallas suffered a kidney injury a few months earlier. McGillicutty cheap shots Rollins but that allows Dallas to make the tag to Kidd. Kidd cleans house of the heels and hits a dropkick to the face. A pier sixer develops with Dallas taking out Hunico to the floor. Rollins dives off the top onto Dallas, Hunico and Camacho. Down to Kidd and McGillicutty, Michael chopblocks Kidd and hits the McGillicutter. He covers for 1...2....3 that's it. Good booking to have Michael get a big win after putting Tyson over two weeks earlier. Hunico struts around as JR signs off. Damn good match for time constraints and it showcased the stars of the future. Kidd and McGillicutty took command but the others kept up nicely.

Time of match: 13:19

Winners: McGillicutty, Camacho and Hunico by pinfall

That was a better show than last week as they're still in weeding out mode. They're trying to establish everyone's skills before they start storylines. It's fairly obvious a lot of these guys could go like Kidd, Rollins & McGillicutty and NXT was to develop character. Paige was only 19 here which is a blessing that NXT was established to get her experience before being put in a WWE ring. Kassius Ohno is a bit of a gimmick but he can definitely work on it. Jinder has a GREAT look and he could be a special heel someday. Bray Wyatt makes his debut next week so let's see what the former Husky Harris has in store.

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.

WWE NXT (6/20/12)

June 20, 2012
Full Sail University

Winter Park, Florida

Commentators: Jim Ross, William Regal

For all intents and purposes THIS is the first episode of NXT in the format we know of today. To give a little backstory, NXT started in 2010 to replace the failing WWECW. It was basically Tough Enough under a different name taking "rookies" and seeing who'd be a future WWE star. Unlike the earlier Tough Enough's where they'd hire people off the street or small time independent wrestlers, the 2010 class featured veterans such as Daniel Bryan and Wade Barrett. Up until 2012, NXT kept the game show, elimination format until right around this time in June. Someone had the bright idea to merge their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling with NXT to create one big developmental conglomerate. As FCW came to a close, one by one their top stars started making their way to NXT. 

The show opens with a montage of the WWE legends and saying the next ones are on the way, the future begins...right now. The theme song is pretty badass and worth a listen if its your first time hearing it. William Regal is on the voice-over greeting us when Jim Ross makes his entrance. He welcomes everyone and introduces your new general manager Dusty Rhodes. Dusty says the main event will be Michael McGillicutty and Tyson Kidd one on one. Dusty says NXT will be wilder and crazier than ever and we're sent to a montage of a new NXT rookie named Bo Dallas. Dallas says he's the grandson of Blackjack Mulligan, son of Mike Rotunda and nephew of Barry & Kendall Windham. He says he knew he was going to be a wrestler his whole life and he says he's ready to fulfill expectations. He like to smile....yay. Its time for the first match

Match 1

Bo Dallas vs Rick Victor

Dallas makes his debut against FCW's Rick Victor. Ironically around this time Victor had beaten Seth Rollins to be the FCW Champion. Victor was a 10 year veteran of the independent scene so he definitely had experience going into his developmental deal. Dallas is in the black and white striped trunks and Victor is in the long purple tights. Victor starts with a headlock and Dallas gets in a top wristlock. Ross says Victor is a superbly conditioned athlete as Regal reminds us that he was trained in the legendary Dungeon with Bruce and Ross Hart. They trade armringers before Dallas gets a fireman's carry takeover followed by a few armdrags. Victor backs Dallas into the corner and chops away but Dallas reverses it with right hands. Dallas heaves Victor across the ring then hits a clothesline in the corner. Dallas tosses Victor again and hits a powerslam. Dallas hits a spear and covers for 1...2...3 that's it. Dallas wins it quickly and that was pretty good for what it was supposed to be. Rather them go 2 minutes than 10 and bore everyone.

Time of match: 2:20

Winner: Bo Dallas by pinfall

After the match Briley Pierce in a coat and tie interviews Bo. Pierce is none other than Ryan Nemeth, the real life brother of Dolph Ziggler who was nursing an injury at the time. Dallas says he had a gameplan and he executed it. He says its just the beginning for him and his smile is here to stay. "You will know Bo!" He's only 22 years old here so this is the perfect training ground for him. Ross then says another guy will be making his debut the following week, you might have heard of him......Seth Rollins. As mentioned earlier, Rollins was the former FCW champion and in the montage, he says he's the change we've all been waiting for. He called that one. Ross hypes up the main event and the debut of the intellectual Damien Sandow next before we go to commercial.

Back from commercial we get a montage for another guy about to make his debut, Antonio Cesaro. The next match was supposed to be Damien Sandow making his NXT debut against Jason Jordan. In case you forgot, Sandow was Idol Stevens back in 2007. His opponent is actually former Indiana University wrestler Nathan Everhart going by the name Jason Jordan. The announcer incorrectly calls Palo Alto "Palto Alto" causing Sandow to get pissed off and say he's not wrestling Jordan. No I'm not kidding, Sandow legit leaves.....the only time I'd ever seen that before is when Diamond Dallas Paige refused to wrestle a jobber in 94 or 95. Ross says he doesn't know whether to be mad or thankful as we go to a vignette introducing The Ascension. Longtime developmental wrestler Ryan O'Reilly was rechristened Conor O'Brien and his partner is Kenneth Cameron aka Thomas Latimer....yes, Charlotte Flair's ex. The British accent of Kenneth works here as Conor says they're the gateways of the future and they will rise.

We go to the Raw Rebound where we show John Cena vs John Laurinitis from the recent Raw. Vince McMahon had fired Laurinitis and he came out in a neckbrace saying he made a main event handicap match of David Otunga, Big Show and himself against Cena. Big Show says thanks for the contract and leaves Johnny Ace high and dry. In the actual match, Cena beats the crap out of Otunga and Laurintis refuses a tag. Then when Otunga gets the upper hand, Laurinitis tags in and beats up Cena causing Otunga to turn around and leave too. Cena hits three FU's in a row on Johnny and locks in the STFU to send him off TV. On to the next match.

Match 2

The Ascension (Conor O'Brien and Kenneth Cameron) vs CJ Parker and Mike Dalton

The Ascension's entrance is pretty cool, especially when Conor's eyes light up. For those that don't know, CJ Parker is now known as Juice Robinson and we got a young Tyler Breeze (Mike Dalton) here. Cameron bullrushes Parker to start with takedown punches before knocking Dalton off the apron. Cameron heaves Parker in the corner and stomps away before tagging in Conor to do the same thing. They frequently tag to stomp and drop elbows on Parker.. Cameron screams and tags in Conor before hitting a jawbreaker. Parker turns right into a flapjack by Conor who Ross calls The Downcast. Conor covers for 1..2....3 and that's it. Ascension makes quick work of Juice & Breeze to establish them as mean looking fellas. Cameron and Conor pose over the fallen Parker as we go to the replay. Regal says the rest of the roster is in a panic over them. Standard jobber match, not much to say.

Time of match: 1:18

Winners: The Ascension by pinfall

We go to a vignette of another fella making his debut, a weirdo named Bray Wyatt. Hmmm, where have we seen him before? Its Husky Harris under a new gimmick. He cuts a promo saying monsters and boogeyman are real. Of course he's real, he beat Booker T at Wrestlemania! We then cut to Derek Bateman, today known as EC3 looking for Johnny Curtis, now known as Fandango, in the bathroom.  Next week its going to be Bateman vs Curtis in the main event. Its funny how Curtis towers over Bateman and Bateman admonishes him for not washing his hands. Curtis says he's going to win next week and washes his hands on Bateman's shirt. Derek calls Johnny a dirtbag as we cut. Today Curtis is known as Dirty Dango on the indies so I guess this is where he got the "dirty" part from. Anyway let's go to the main event.

Match 3

Tyson Kidd vs Michael McGillicutty

Both these guys had their runs in WWE before being sent down to NXT to get some fresh feuds. Both of them will be back on the main roster but for now they go one on one here to show the "rookies" how its done. Before the match, Regal calls Johnny Curtis a "dirty, filthy swine." The match starts and Regal says Kidd started wrestling when he was 12 years old in the Dungeon. Ironically Kidd came from the Hart clan and their battles with Michael's father Mr. Perfect are well documented. They lock up and Kidd gets in an armringer before Michael grabs the rope. Ross explains the rope break rule as Kidd gets in a headlock. Kidd and Michael exchange go-behinds as Regal says both men have evilness about them that he respects. Kidd and McGillicutty circle before Kidd gets in another headlock before exchanging takedowns. Kidd drops McGillicutty and Michael bails to the outside to stall for some heat. The crowd chants and Kidd caters to them as Michael gets back in. Michael gets a greco-roman knucklelock to gain control but Kidd springboards into an armdrag as Regal says its wonderful to watch. Regal says Kidd was heavily influenced by Owen Hart which makes sense since Kidd made his debut in 95 when Owen was still alive. He also says the aggression he sees in McGillicutty reminds him of Mr. Perfect and Larry "The Axe" Hennig. Michael kicks at him in the corner and hits a snap suplex. Michael covers for a deuce but puts his head down and eats a boot. Kidd clotheslines Michael over the top to the floor and Tyson hits a suicide dive through the ropes. We cut to commercial and when we come back Kidd rams Michael's head into the buckle. Tyson stomps on Michael and hits a dropkick. A cover gets a deuce and Michael blocks a headscissors attempt to throw Tyson on the apron. Tyson goes for the shoulderblock but Michael blocks it with a knee. Michael nails a second rope neckbreaker and covers for 1...2.. nope. Michael rakes the ear across the apron and Regal likes that. Jim Ross "You're essentially an evil man." Regal "Yes." Kidd takes a sternum bump into the corner and Michael covers for another deuce. Michael locks in a chinlock but Kidd powers out of it. Kidd tiltawhirls into a sunset flip for a two count and Michael hits a powerful clothesline to stop the momentum. Another lateral press gets a two and ties Kidd into the tree of woe. Michael pounds away on the chest and chokes him from under the bottom rope. Michael covers for 1...2..nope. Michael goes for the Tajiri dropkick but Kidd rolls up, sending Michael nut first into the ringpost. Kidd strikes with hard kicks to the quadriceps and one to the face. A dropkick drops Michael and covers for 1..2....nooooo. Michael runs into a boot and a kick on the apron. Kidd springboards but Michael counters with a dropkick of his own. Michael covers for 1...2...nooo, Tyson gets the shoulder up at the last second. Michael sets up Tyson for a superplex but Tyson shoves him down. Tyson comes off the top with a moonsault but the cover only gets two. Kidd goes for the Dungeon Lock but Michael holds onto the apron to kick him off. Michael then hits a Saito suplex then covers for 1...2...nope. Michael applies the sharpshooter to add insult to injury but Kidd makes it to the ropes. Michael goes for the Perfect Plex but Kidd counters with an inside cradle for 1...2...nope. Kidd rolls up Michael then finally applies the Dungeon Lock. Michael taps and this one's over, Kidd wins it. Regal says he's proud to be a wrestler and there's no losers here. He's right about that, that was a great match and the crowd salutes it. McGillicutty made one mistake and Kidd made him pay. We go to the highlights and Kidd salutes the crowd after its over. That was a hell of a match between two guys that know what they're doing. Kidd had been wrestling for 17 years at that point and Michael 5. They were perfect to end this show by showing what veterans can do. As the FCW stars began to migrate toward NXT the vets would be called up to the main roster and anyone not getting over would get the boot. No way in hell these two were getting the boot, both had a future.

Time of match: 14:06

Winner: Tyson Kidd by pinfall

Ross and Regal sign off and that's it for the first episode of the "new" NXT. With the FCW stars such as Rollins, Wyatt and Cesaro coming, it was the end for what people called "NXT Red". It was only the beginning as NXT as been WWE's version of Triple A baseball ever since. Basically half of the crew for Wrestlemania 30 were in or going to be in NXT around this time. That's how great a crop WWE had at the time. They also had the perfect team in Regal and Ross to do the commentary as Ross shills his ass off for anyone in the ring and Regal puts over any and all dirty, underhanded tactics he himself would have done. All in all this was pretty good for a "debut" show that was now trying to take itself seriously after that weird period where NXT Redemption just kind of ended with no notice. Next week we got Curtis vs Bateman, the debut of Antonio Cesaro and the debut of Seth Rollins. That should be good.

WWE NXT (2/23/10)

 

WWE NXT

Bradley Center

Milwaukee, WI

February 23, 2010

Commentators: Michael Cole & Josh Matthews

Ring Announcer: Savannah

Host: Matt Striker

Its the debut episode of a new WWE show, NXT. With Vince McMahon mercifully killing off WWECW for good, we got a new "Tough Enough" style show but rather than insult the fans intelligence by having indy wrestlers "train" under Hardcore Holly, Al Snow, etc, this show format will take eight independent wrestlers and call them "rookies" with individual "coaches". This is still pretty absurd considering who some of the "rookies" are but we'll get to that soon enough. The show opens with a montage of the rookies and their coaches. Skip Sheffield is coached by William Regal (it was supposed to be MVP), Darren Young will be matched up with CM Punk, Justin Gabriel will be paired with Matt Hardy, Wade Barrett is with Chris Jericho, David Otunga will be coached by R-Truth, Daniel Bryan is matched with The Miz, Michael Tarver is coached by Carlito and Heath Slater will be matched with Christian. Before we do anything, we got a dark match.

Dark Match:

Jimmy Wang Yang & Slam Master J vs Tyler Reks and Vance Archer

With ECW biting the dust, a lot of the dregs of the roster had nothing to do so they put these guys in a tag match before the show went on air. Yang and J win.

Winners: Yang and J

We start the show after the opening montage with all 8 "rookies" posing for the camera. David Otunga looks Straight Outta Compton while Daniel Bryan looks like he's bored. The Miz sizes up all of them but singles out Bryan. Maz says he's US Champion and Tag Team Champion and calls Daniel an "internet darling" and a star of the "minor leagues". Miz asks if Bryan is ready and Miz says he has to expect anything. He wants Bryan to go to the ring, introduce himself, show charisma and to give the fans a reason to watch every Tuesday. Bryan says that's no problem and Miz says to use his music, Bryan counters with that's a problem (Ha!). Miz says to have a good catch phrase as Bryan leaves. Miz says what Bryan doesn't know is if Bryan doesn't show personality, he'll slap some personality into him.

Out comes Daniel Bryan as Michael Cole and Josh Matthews welcome us to ring side. Matthews sends us to our host, Matt Striker. Striker says he'll be waiting to get reactions from Bryan or Miz depending on how this goes. Bryan thanks the audience and shouts out The Miz to a chorus of boos. Bryan says "I'm sorry" because he wishes his pro was William Regal. He says he's been wrestling all over the world for 10 years and finally he has an opportunity here. Bryan says NXT is the next evolution but he's cut off by The Miz. Cole says he's not surprised since he dissed Miz and Miz says this is going to be a lot of fun. Bryan says to watch what he says or he'll submit him right now. Miz calls him cute and a submission machine but he needs charisma and personality. Bryan says he was going to go on a reality show, get a faux-hawk and act like an idiot...oh wait, that was Miz. Miz says that's fine and wants a catch phrase like "I'M THE MIZ AND I'M AWESSOMEEEEEE." Bryan says if Miz tries him, its "Tap or Snap". Bryan asks the crowd what they think and they love it. They cheer Bryan as Miz asks if he belongs in the same ring. Miz says Bryan failed and slaps him across the face. Bryan is barely fazed by it and smiles at him. Miz storms off and Bryan says "you got nothing on me" as we go to break.

I know they're going to explain it and I already covered Bryan a long time ago in his Velocity matches but what the hell. The reason this whole scenario is ludicrous is Daniel Bryan was born Bryan Danielson and he was trained at the age of 18 by none other than the "Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels. He made his in ring debut in December of 1999 and worked in both the US and Japan with school alums & future WWE stars Lance Cade and Brian Kendrick. In 2000, he was signed to a WWF developmental deal with Memphis Championship Wrestling and was given further guidance by William Regal (hence the name drop earlier) where he got the nickname "American Dragon". He was released in July of 2001 without ever being called up to Raw or Smackdown. He did make sporadic appearances on Velocity for the next two years while working in Japan or Ring of Honor. In Bryan's WWE Blu-Ray story, he said John Cena got heat for letting Bryan get some shots in rather than squashing him in their Velocity match. After a 7 year run with Ring of Honor, he was finally signed by WWE again who put him in their new developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling in early 2010. At first he wrestled under his own name but before he was to make his NXT debut he had to choose a stage name. Apparently he had to choose between Buddy Peacock, Lloyd Bonaire and Daniel Bryan. Once again, where Vince got his names I'll never know but thankfully Regal bailed him out by calling him Daniel Bryan. What makes this storyline more absurd is while Bryan was literally on WWE TV doing jobs and working with Cena, Miz was making his pro debut in 2003 after being an MTV star before becoming a Tough Enough 4 finalist (outlasting the very same Skip Sheffield we'll see later) in 2004. Not that the Miz didn't scratch and claw his way to stardom, but what the hell could Miz possibly teach the guy personally trained by Shawn Michaels and William Regal? That's basically the storyline here moving forward. 

Back from commercial, Bryan is still in the ring and he says he's going to slap him back someday. After an out of place Triple H vignette, Matt Striker asks what Bryan feels about being slapped. Bryan says he slaps harder than Miz does. Striker says Miz is his mentor and Bryan says he can say that because he's been wrestling longer than Miz has. Striker says not in WWE and Bryan says he can be a star on his own. That's rich coming from the guy who was still a teacher when Bryan was on Velocity working with John Cena. 

Before we get to the match, we're told that Daniel Bryan will go one on one with World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho tonight. As if you needed any more proof that Bryan is a bigger deal than he's being presented as. Carlito comes out with a mic and says let's introduce Michael Tarver. Carlito says with his skills, Tarver will be the next breakout star. The video montage shows Michael grew up in Akron, Ohio and is known as "Mr. 1.9 seconds" because he can knock out anyone just like that. His father was professional boxer Tyrone Evans who was Mike Tyson's sparring partner. He would join his father and Mike in 5 mile runs in the snow before school & church. He figures that it doesn't matter how big someone is, you take out the head and the body falls. He says he had it hard sleeping in cars and earning just $20 for indy shows but this is his way to prove what he's capable of. He wants the other rookies to bring their A game because the world is in front of him. So what did that montage not tell us? He started wrestling in 2005 and was signed to a developmental deal in 2008. Because of his boxing background, he was one of Floyd Mayweather's bodyguards at Wrestlemania 24 if you looked closely enough. He spent the next 2 years in FCW where he and Wade Barrett were a tag team managed by Byron Saxton. So this is no "rookie" either.

Christian and Heath Slater come out next. Slater apparently is a rock star without the instruments and likes to showboat a lot. He wanted to be a WWE superstar since he was born and we get a video montage of him in the 90's with wrestling toys and backyard wrestling belts. Slater says being a superstar is the only thing he's ever wanted to do. He came up with the party boy thing and his motivation is to prove everyone wrong. He's about to blow your mind! So, what WASN'T said? Slater was born in Pineville, West Virginia and really did grow up a massive WWF fan. He was trained by none other than Mr. Hughes and made his pro debut in 2004 under his real name of Heath Miller. In 2006 he was signed by WWE and put in their developmental territory Deep South Wrestling then moved over to Florida Championship Wrestling where he had been a mainstay ever since. Just a few months prior, he and Justin Gabriel feuded over the FCW Heavyweight Championship. Now in NXT, he wrestles under the name Heath Slater. Let's get to the match.

Match 1

Carlito and Michael Tarver vs Christian and Heath Slater

Slater is going to start with Carlito as Matthews says these guys are meeting each other for the first time. Slater and Tarver just came from FCW together and Slater was actually in a feud with Carlito's brother Primo. I'm sure they've met before. Slater gets a quick roll up for a two count and Heath shouts "Yeah baby" to no pop. Carlito goes to town with strikes then kicks away in the corner. Tarver tags in and punches away in the corner with body shots. Slater hits a springboard splash and a few arm drags to no pop again. Tarver hits a drop toe hold onto the bottom rope and Carlito gets a cheap shot. Christian distracts the ref long enough for Slater to kick out of the pinfall attempt at two. Cole says Christian told him he could do without the Slater hair flip. Carlito locks in a chin lock as Christian tries to start a clap for Slater. Cole then goes on to babble on about Daniel Bryan as Tarver tags in to lock in a chinlock as well. Slater does manage to catch Tarver with a powerslam as Carlito tags in. Christian gets the hot tag as Cole brings up Christian qualifying for the Money In The Bank ladder match coming up at Wrestlemania 26. Christian drops Carlito with a forearm and a second rope dropkick. Christian covers for 1...2..no. Christian goes for Killswitch but Carlito rolls out of it. Carlito jumps off the second rope but right back into Christian's arms. Carlito elbows Christian but is kicked in the corner. Christian hits a second rope sunset flip for 1..2....no. Tarver tags in and whips Carlito into an elbow by Christian, whoops! Tarver's charge eats boot as Slater pulls Carlito out of the ring. Christian hits a second rope elbow smash and hits the Killswitch. He covers for 1...2..3 to win the match. Kind of a short match but this whole episode is just an introductory showcase anyway. Christian and Slater celebrate as Christian does get a pop. Good, safe tag match to kick off NXT.

Time of match: 4:23

Winners: Slater and Christian by pinfall

CM Punk is joined by his Straight Edge Society members Luke Gallows and Serena with Darren Young babbling on inaudibly because Christian's music and Michael Cole's talking downs out whatever Darren is saying. Meanwhile R-Truth is talking to Otunga who looks like something out of an Eazy-E music video. Back from commercial, its time for our next match. The SES come out with Young who doesn't even get an introductory montage.....the hell?  Young was born Fred Rosser and he was trained in New Jersey back in 2001. He worked most of 2002-04 for local independents including Chaotic Wrestling. He actually got some WWE dark matches wrestling as Fred Sampson in 2005. I know this was still before the internet was as advanced as it is today, but how are you going to call someone who was wrestling on WWE TV in 2005 a "rookie" five years later when his "mentor" didn't even show up himself until 2006, no diss to CM Punk of course. Speaking of Punk, he gets his own mini-interview where he has no idea why he's here or who Darren Young is. Punk says he mentored Gallows and Serena so if Young wants in too, he has to live straight edge. Considering Young is trying to pass himself off as a "party boy" this isn't gonna work. Matthews wants to party with Young but we send it to a David Otunga montage.

Otunga says he's from Hollywood, California and he's a touch above everyone else. He's a very busy man and he's engaged to Jennifer Hudson. He's met President Obama, he's popular, nobody can touch him, you get the idea. He graduated from Harvard Law School and everyone's jealous of him. Great heel promo to be honest. Now for the real story....most of it is true. He really did graduate from Harvard Law school and passed the bar in Illinois. He made his name on the TV show I Love New York 2 where he came in third place. He really was engaged to Jennifer Hudson and they had a son together. He's not actually from Hollywood as he grew up in Illinois. He was signed to WWE in 2008 in a path similar to The Miz, cashing in on his ILNY2 fame. 

Match 2

Darren Young (with CM Punk, Serena & Luke Gallows) vs David Otunga (with R-Truth)

Otunga makes his entrance completely ignoring Truth's rapping at ring side during his entrance as the SES pretty much blow off Young as well. Bell's gone and Young gets in a knee to the ribs. Young drops Otunga with a back elbow smash and covers for a deuce. Otunga ducks a line, hits a few clotheslines of his own and damn near botches a Ron Simmons style spinebuster. Otunga covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. I know they were pressed for time since they had Jericho and Bryan later but that was ridiculous. That made Young look worthless. Otunga celebrates with Truth in the ring as the SES bails without showing any emotion. Otunga had the look and the charisma, but just could never do it in the ring.

Time of match: 38 seconds

Winner: Otunga by pinfall

We cut to earlier where Miz slaps Daniel Bryan and get a graphic for Jericho vs Bryan coming up. Back from commercial we get a Divas vignette and the "Raw rebound". John Cena on Raw complains that he won Elimination Chamber yet Vince McMahon forced him to wrestle Batista at the end of it. McMahon says he's going to face Batista in a match, and if he wins, he faces him again at Wrestlemania. Batista then demolishes Cena to earn a DQ but the beat down was to send a message that John couldn't take him. Its a shame it took damn near 5 years for Cena and Batista to get it on when they were neck and neck in popularity in 2005. Back to ring side where Cole says he's the mentor to Matthews and Josh fires back. A graphic saying Justin Gabriel will be making his NXT debut the following week.

Match 3

Daniel Bryan (with The Miz) vs World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho (with Wade Barrett)

As I said earlier, it was high praise to put Bryan in the ring with Jericho in his NXT debut when the others had to wrestle each other or in standard tag matches. We don't get an introduction vignette for either Bryan or Barrett so that might be coming next week. Before the match starts, Jericho grabs the mic and says he wants Barrett to introduce him instead. Barrett goes on about himself that he's a European champion and bare knuckles fighter. He says its an honor to be paired with Chris Jericho and tries to put him over, but Chris cuts him off. Chris says just introduce him as Barrett says "Have it your way." He introduces Chris and here comes The Miz and Bryan. Bryan runs right past him and gets in the ring, ha! Bell rings and Bryan wants a hand shake. Does he think he's in Ring of Honor? Jericho slaps his hand away and goes on about himself. He shoves Bryan and Daniel slaps him before dropping Chris with a dropkick. Daniel stops away in the corner but Jericho counters with a dropkick. Jericho kicks away at Bryan and delivers a back suplex. Chris gets a forearm to the back and a snap mare. Jericho locks in a half nelson but Daniel powers out of it. Daniel rolls him up for a two count and Jericho counters with an enziguiri. Chris slaps the back of the head and hits an elbow to the chest. Jericho hits forearms in the corner as Matt Striker sneaks ring side to ask Wade Barrett what he's learning. Wade replies that Jericho is quality and says he's going to get to his level. Bryan kicks Jericho int he chest, slides hunder him and goes for the dragon screw, but Jericho botches it by back bumping. Cole screams at Matthews for saying Bryan is a sensation and that he's wrestled in front of high school gyms. By the way, THIS was the start of the Michael Cole heel turn no one wanted. Bryan runs up the turnbuckle and backflips over Jericho and drops him with a clothesline. He covers for 1...2....no. Bryan nails Chris with a forearm against the ropes, causing Jericho to bail outside. Bryan goes for the suicide dive and it looks like Jericho countered with a powerslam against the announce table, but Bryan doesn't sell it. Jericho rolls inside and Bryan goes for a hurracarana but jumps right into the Walls of Jericho. Bryan rolls through and applies an Indian Deathlock. Jericho screams and barely makes it to the ropes. Jericho catches Bryan with the codebreaker out of nowhere to drop him. We're shown the "rookies" in the back all watching the match. Jericho locks in the Lion Tamer and Bryan taps immediately to end the match. Jericho gets the win but Bryan hit him with everything but the kitchen sink. In terms of the actual match, that was awesome. For damn near six minutes it was perfectly paced with Bryan pushing the action.

Time of match: 5:53

Winner: Jericho by submission

Post-match Miz gets in the ring and beats down Bryan. Jericho laughs and leaves with Barrett. Miz rams Bryan's head into the mat and screams at him that he disrespected him. We go to the replay and Matthews puts over Bryan while Cole uncharacteristically puts Miz over, what's that about? We're back with the seven "rookies" with Striker who says this is NXT before signing off. This was definitely the Daniel Bryan coming out party and the sad part was, this set the tone for the rest of the show's run. Bryan was clearly head and shoulders above everyone else and showcasing him first cast a shadow over everyone else. Still, there's still a long way to go and more matches to showcase the others. Even though this was glorified Tough Enough, the fact it was actual wrestlers will make the matches good at least. See you Thursday for Smackdown.

WWE Survivor Series 2002 (11/17/02)

WWE Survivor Series

Madison Square Garden

New York City, NY

November 17, 2002

Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, Tazz

Ring Announcers: Howard Finkel and Tony Chimel

We finally made it to Survivor Series and what a month it has been. We'll start with Smackdown. Jamie Noble finally ran into competition when Billy Kidman beat him two weeks in a row to earn a Cruiserweight title shot. Edge and Rey Mysterio Jr defeated Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit to become the new WWE Tag Team Champions but has to defend them against Angle & Benoit and Los Guerreros in a triple threat tag team match. Finally, Big Show jumped ship to Smackdown and immediately put Undertaker on the shelf by throwing him off the stage the night after No Mercy. He then smashed Brock Lesnar to the point Brock's agent Paul Heyman says Lesnar can't beat him. Big Show goes one on one with Lesnar for the WWE Championship. Now for the Raw side. Spike and Bubba Ray Dudley team with Jeff Hardy against 3 Minute Warning and Rico...kind of a waste of time but there was NOTHING going on Raw apart from the main event which I'll get to in a second. Secondly, we got a Women's Championship hardcore match where the demented Victoria faces Trish Stratus for the title. Finally, Eric Bischoff cooked up a new concept for Survivor Series, the elimination chamber. Triple H must defend his World Heavyweight Championship against five other guys. It was established early that four of the challengers were Kane, Rob Van Dam, Booker T and Chris Jericho. The sixth and final challenger turned out to be the returning Shawn Michaels. HBK is back to active duty and his mission is to keep HHH from winning the match. Let's get started with tonight's show. We start with a video montage before the pyro shoots off. We are shown the elimination chamber in the rafters before a camera crew show The World. On to our first match.

Match 1

The Dudley Boys (Spike and Bubba Ray) and Jeff Hardy vs 3 Minute Warning (Rosey and Jamal) with Rico in a 6 man elimination tables match

Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

3 Minute Warning had been Eric Bischoff's hit squad for months but after No Mercy, they put Spike out of a tag title match and then cost Bubba and Jeff their shot. So now both Dudleys and Jeff get their hands on the Samoans and Rico. The rules are all 3 guys must go through tables and they must leave after being put through one. A pier six brawl starts in the ring but the faces shitcan the heels. Bubba press slams Spike over the top rope but 3 Minute Warning catch him. Jeff hits poetry in motion with the heels just literally standing there. Bubba brings Rico in the ring the hard way and drops him with a back elbow smash. Rico gets an uppercut as the crowd chants for tables. Bubba corners Rico and open hand slaps him in the chest. Spike hits a hurracarana on Jamal and does the wazzuppp headbutt with Bubba. Bubba scoop slams Rico and Jeff does the legdrop off the top rope. Bubba tells Jeff and Spike to get the tables. Bubba sets one up in the corner but gets run over by Rosey with a clothesline. Spike gets dropped face first and Jeff Hardy is backdropped over the top rope to the floor. Rosey grabs Spike and throws him head first into the corner table. Spike moves and Rosey launches himself into the table, but JR points out that it doesn't count if you put yourself through a table. Rosey hits Spike with a broken table and drops Bubba with a spinebuster. Rosey fails to catch Jeff on a flying crossbody but makes up for it with a big splash. Rico kicks away at Bubba as Jamal throws another table in the ring. Rico sets up the table and goes to suplex Spike through a table but Spike blocks it. Rico gets him up but Spike rolls out of it and goes for the acid drop. Both Jamal and Rosey come from behind and catch them. Rosey and Jamal face plant SPIKE DUDLEY through a table so he's out of there. 

The other referees run out to get Spike out of there as Rico barks orders. Rosey and Jamal go upstairs and Rosey moonsaults nothing when Bubba gets up. Jeff shoves Jamal off the top and Bubba shitcans Rico. Jeff hits poetry in motion on Rosey in one corner but gets dropped by Jamal. Rosey throws Jeff over the railing into the crowd. Rico and Jamal double team Bubba inside the ring as Rosey and Jeff brawl to the old Exit sign. Rico kicks Bubba in the temple and Jamal goes for an avalanche, but Bubba pulls Rico in to take the blast. Bubba hits the Bubba Bomb on Jamal then runs out to help Jeff. Bubba sets up a table as Jeff climbs the exit way. Bubba puts ROSEY on the table and Jeff swanton bombs him through the table to even this up.

Jamal and Rico set up a table in the ring and Jamal puts Bubba on it. Rico looks like he's going for a moonsault but Hardy is nowhere to be found, causing Rico to shout loudly "Come on Jeff!" Finally Jeff shakes the top rope to crotch Rico....and there we have one of the staples of early Botchamania. Jamal knocks Jeff off the apron and Bubba hits  back suplex...but Jamal moved the table. Jeff hits whisper in the wind and a dropkick on Jamal then goes outside. Jeff grabs a table and hits Jamal with it. Jeff runs the barricade but Jamal shields himself with the table and Jeff crashes into it. Jim Ross asks if that counts as an elimination but the refs say no. Jamal sets up another table with Jeff on it and go up to the top rope. Inside the ring, Bubba sets up a table but gets knocked down by an elbow smash by Jamal. Jamal goes back up top and hits the big splash through a table to eliminate JEFF HARDY.

By himself, Bubba rallies with Dusty punches on Rico and puts him on a table. Bubba hops to the second rope but Jamal stops him. Jamal rolls Rico off the table and goes for the superplex, but Bubba blocks it. Bubba hits the Bubba Bomb through a table to eliminate JAMAL.

Down to Bubba and Rico, Rico stomps away at Bubba and goes to set up another table. All of a sudden Rosey gets in the ring as referee Jack Doan tells him to scram. Bubba rallies with right hands on Rosey but Rosey recovers with a belly to belly suplex. King tells JR to go down and tell him to leave. Jamal gets back in the ring as well and now its three against one. Jamal sets up for the samoan drop but from out of nowhere D'Von Dudley hits the ring in his old cammo gear. D'Von cleans house of Rosey and Jamal as the crowd goes nuts. D'Von heaves Rosey and Jamal over the top rope then sets up the table. The pop gets progressively louder as RICO walks right into the 3D through a table to end the match. JR "Oh testify!" D'Von revs up the crowd and hugs Bubba, guess the Dudleys are re-united. The match itself was a standard mess but the appearance of D'Von to help Bubba got a huge pop. Good booking.

Time of match: 11:22

Winners: Dudleys and Hardy (Bubba survives)

We cut to The World in Times Square where Stacy Keibler is there saying she's conducting a PR tour of testicles. Stacy then introduces Saliva to perform Alive live....thankfully they show WWE highlights throughout to at least remind us this is supposed to be a wrestling show. I like Saliva and its a good song, but this could have been another match. We cut to Rob Van Dam doing the JCVD split with Michael Cole and Tazz ready for the first Smackdown match.

Match 2

Billy Kidman vs Jamie Noble (with Nidia) for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

Commentators: Michael Cole and Tazz

Cole points out before the match Noble won the title at King of The Ring and has been virtually unbeatable since (against Cruiserweights anyway). Then two weeks in a row Billy Kidman got the better of him so he gets the title shot tonight. Kidman comes out to his Dollar Store DMX theme for the first time. Bell's gone and Kidman gets a quick schoolboy and a hurricarana. Noble bails to the outside but Kidman throws him inside. Noble kicks away at him first back in the ring then counters a clothesline with a neckbreaker. He covers for two and rams Kidman back first into the corner. Jamie "Get up boyyyy" and he locks in a surfboard. Kidman powers out of it but Noble throws him over the top rope. Tazz says Noble would have something up his sleeve but he's not wearing a shirt. Jamie suicide dives through the second rope onto Kidman then throws him inside. Noble comes off the top but Kidman counters with a dropkick. The camera spots blood on the mat and Tazz says Rico's arm got cut up during the tables match. Kidman hits a back elbow smash and a hiroshi goroshi before covering for a deuce. Noble does a suplex bomb and covers for two as Kidman executes a sit down faceplant. Kidman goes for the 7 Year Itch but Nidia pulls Jamie out of there. Kidman hits a crossbody on Jamie on the floor. Nidia yells at Jamie on the floor as Kidman throws him inside. Slingshot legdrop by Kidman gets 1..2....no. Noble goes for the tiger bomb but Kidman backdrops Jamie out of it. Nidia grabs Billy's leg and he drags her on the apron. She slaps him but that takes him out of the way of a charging Noble who knocks her off the apron. Kidman hits the sky high and covers for 1...2...no. Kidman counters the tiger bomb with a backslide but Noble rolls through it and hits the tiger bomb anyway. The cover gets 1....2.....NOOOO, Kidman kicks out and Jamie can't believe it. Jamie charges in the corner but eats boot and Billy goes to the top rope. Kidman hits an X-Factor from the top rope and covers for 1...2...nope. Noble hits a top rope DDT and covers for 1...2....noooooo. Jamie screams and stomps around only to walk into an enziguiri. Kidman pulls Noble into the corner and goes to the top rope but Nidia stops him. Kidman kicks her off but Jamie punches him. Kidman punches him down and hits the 7 Year Itch, covering for 1...2....3 to win the match. The 5 month reign of Noble is over as Billy Kidman is now the cruiserweight champion. The problem with this match is they didn't sell much so they could do as much shit as possible.....which would be come the standard for the indies over the next 20 years. Wasn't a bad match but not spectacular either.

Time of match: 7:10

Winner: Billy Kidman by pinfall (new Cruiserweight champion)

Backstage Kurt Angle has been watching the monitor and asks Chris Benoit if Kidman can win the Cruiserweight title, they can win the tag titles. Benoit "WHAT? WHAT?" Kurt says they're a team and amigos, busom buddies, friends to the end. Again, how Benoit isn't cracking up I'll never know. Benoit cracks a smile and goes for a handshake. Kurt "I'm not gonna shake your hand, tag team partners don't shake hands, tag team partners gotta hug." Kurt awkwardly hugs Benoit who looks totally confused. Now you see where Batista stole that bit years later. We cut to Chris Jericho preparing in the back before hidden camera footage shows Victoria in a closet getting ready. She asks the mirror who the prettiest diva is and goes crazy because the mirror apparently said Trish. She tears up a cardboard cutout of Trish and we cut to JR and King. JR asks what the hell is wrong with Victoria and King says she hasn't been the same since the house fell on her sister (hahahaha). The women's match is up next apparently. We get a recap of the feud where the storyline was Victoria and Trish Stratus were fitness models together but Trish blocked her from getting her WWE tryout. Victoria went nuts and waited for her chance to get revenge. Wouldn't this make her the babyface?

Match 3

Victoria vs Trish Stratus for the WWE Women's Championship in a hardcore match

Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Ross says its been two years since the last women's hardcore match and Victoria doesn't wait, she attacks right at the bell. She strangles Trish with her own trench coat then throws her down with it twice. Victoria grabs a broom as JR asks if she's going to ride it. Trish kicks Victoria and monkey flips her with it, but Victoria holds on and chokes her with it. The crowd chants "HLA" as Victoria chokes Trish with the broom on the second rope but Trish pulls her down with it. Trish grabs the trash can lid but Victoria whacks the lid into her face with the broom. Victoria throws Trish into the lid twice and they spill outside. Victoria throws Trish into the garbage can full of weapons then throws her down. Back inside Victoria does a slingshot legdrop and covers for 1..2...nope. Victoria sets up a trash can in the corner but the hole is facing the ring. Trish slingshots Victoria up into it but her head is nowhere near the can so she uses her hands to create the sound. Trish then sets up the trash can on Victoria's face and kicks it of....that shouldn't have hurt either. Trish covers for 1...2...nope. Trish grabs an ironing board and sets it up in the corner. Trish whips Victoria into it and hits a chick kick. She covers for 1...2....no. Trish grabs a singapore cane and waffles Victoria with it. Victoria grabs a trash can lid and SMASHES Trish in the face with it. Victoria heads to the second rope but Trish does Stratusphere only grabbing the lid first. Trish hits Victoria with the lid knocking her to the floor. Trish sends Victoria into the ring steps. Back inside a bloody nose'd Victoria hits a powerbomb then grabs a mirror outside. Back inside Trish ducks the shot and hits another chick kick. The cover gets 1....2...no. Trish gets a cookie sheet but Victoria whacks her with the singapore cane. Trish goes for a bulldog but totally botches it when Victoria's head hits her ribs. She covers anyway for 1...2...no. JR ties to save face by saying she didn't get all of it. Victoria drops Trish face first onto the cane and goes outside for the fire extinguisher. Victoria sprays Trish with it, hits a snap suplex and covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. King "You gotta be kidding me!" Yeah really, Victoria wins the title on a snap suplex? Non-finisher aside, Victoria gets her revenge by beating Trish like she said she would. Sloppy match but that's actually a good thing for a match like this designed to beat the hell out of each other. The demented Victoria is the new women's champion.

Time of match: 7:04

Winner: Victoria by pinfall (new Women's Champion)

We cut to the back where Booker T is getting ready then to Jonathan Coachman. Coach is with Eric Bischoff and asks what we can expect. Bischoff says we're gonna see history and the future and praises himself. Suddenly Big Show walks up and says "hi stranger". Show says it was a big mistake trading him and he's going to walk out of MSG as the new WWE Champion. We cut to Brock Lesnar preparing when Paul Heyman walks in looking sad. Heyman says he's been nervous since Big Show showed up and nothing's been the same since Hell In A Cell. Heyman says he has to put everything behind him and he'll make sure his client leaves as WWE Champion. We get a montage of Big Show and Brock's feud after No Mercy and I've said it a hundred times....this WOULD have been epic if Big Show hadn't been booked as an idiot for a year.

Match 4

Big Show vs Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) for the WWE Championship

Commentators: Michael Cole and Tazz

Cole says Lesnar is the underdog for the first time in his career. Although mid-card title matches are never a good thing for the champion. They go nose to nose right at the start and Show shoves him backwards. The crowd chants "Let's go Lesnar" and Show drives Brock in the corner before hiptossing him out. Show calls for the chokeslam early but Lesnar hits a double leg takedown and punches him. They spill outside and Brock gets rammed into the ring post. Show rolls Brock in and goes for another chokeslam but Brock hits a back suplex. Brock backs Show in the corner with shoulderblocks but is whipped into the corner. Show charges but misses and Brock german suplexes him. Brock goes for the F-5 but Show counters with forearms to the back. Lesnar goes for another takedown but Show moves, causing Lesnar to blast referee Mike Chioda through the ropes to the outside. Lesnar ducks under the big boot and hits the overhead belly to belly suplex. Heyman tosses a chair into the ring and Lesnar picks it up but Show punches the first swing away, only to be cracked in the head with it on the second attempt. Lesnar goes for the F-5 and hits it. He covers with referee Mike Sparks hitting the ring for 1...2....Paul Heyman pulls Sparks out, what the hell? Heyman decks Sparks and Lesnar looks at Heyman angrily. Lesnar chases Heyman into the ring but Brock walks into a steel chair shot to the ribs by Show, then across the back. Show chokeslams Lesnar on the chair as Chioda comes back in. Show covers for 1....2....3 to win the match. We got a new WWE Champion! Heyman celebrates with Big Show as Tazz calls Heyman a scumbag. Cole wants to know why Heyman would turn on Lesnar after being his manager since he came to WWE. Just goes to show you that anything can happen in WWE. Big Show was languishing on Raw while Lesnar was wiping out Hulk Hogan. The Rock and The Undertaker.....and all it took was one month to turn him into a monster again. Short and sweet and for the first time in 3 years, Big Show is WWE Champion.

Time of match: 4:23

Winner: Big Show by pinfall (new WWE Champion)

Show and Heyman hightail it out of there into a limousine in the back as Tazz tells Heyman to watch his back. Cole and Tazz go over what we just saw. A lot of people felt the turn made no sense after Lesnar manhandled Big Show, thus proving to Heyman Brock COULD beat him. The real logic is Heyman is a heel and will always be one, Lesnar turning face pretty much negates Heyman's heat. Brock didn't need him anymore and now Paul can get heat for others. Cole says we've had 3 straight title changes, will their be a fourth? Up next is the triple threat elimination tag match. The storyline is Edge and Rey are the champs but when they're not killing each other, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit are arguably the most dominant tag team. Then you have Los Guerreros lurking in the shadows. After a video montage, let's get to the match....after we see Al Wilson and Dawn Marie at ring side for god knows what reason.

Match 5

Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo Jr) vs Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit vs Edge and Rey Mysterio Jr in a triple threat elimination tag match for the WWE Tag Team Championships

Commentators: Michael Cole & Tazz

Originally this was just a triple threat match but they added in the elimination portion out of nowhere it seems. The Smackdown Six are on full display here and we start with everyone in the ring. Kurt and Eddie jaw at each other with Benoit trash talking Rey Mysterio. Benoit and Rey start it out and Chris chops Rey in the chest twice. Rey hits a hurracarana and a flapjack on Benoit and punches Angle on the apron. Rey hits a drop toe hold in the corner and Edge tags in. Edge and Rey hit a double hiptoss as Edge drops an elbow. Chris chops him in the chest and tags in Angle. Edge cuts him off with a backdrop. Edge hits a flying forearm and Chavo tags himself in when Angle goes flying out of the ring. Edge hits a droptoe hold on Chavo and drops him with a shoulderblock. Edge hits a dropkick and a scoop slam before tagging Rey in. Rey hits a top rope splash and covers for 1...2...nope. Rey hits an armdrag as Cole starts babbling on about Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman....that's gotta be Vince in his ear telling him to do it randomly in the middle of a tag team title match. You do that shit in the middle of chinlocks, not high flying moves like Chavo hitting a huge face plant on Rey. Eddie tags in with forearms and stomps before taunting the irate crowd. Rey hits an armdrag and monkey flip on Eddie who tags Kurt in. Kurt rallies with right hands on Rey as the crowd chants "Let's go Angle", gotta love MSG. Kurt goes shoulder first into the ring post and Rey goes for a springboard but completely falls on his head. Kurt takes a second to make sure Rey's not dead before stomping away at him. Kurt chokes Rey with his boot as Tazz says the Guerreros are smart for staying on the apron. Kurt hits a suplex and covers for a deuce before hitting a clothesline. Benoit tags in and hits a spinning neckbreaker followed by a back suplex. Benoit covers for a two count as Cole calls the 28 year old Mysterio a "kid"....yeah. Angle tags in and hits a back suplex of his own before covering for a dos. Kurt stomps on Rey before knocking Edge off the apron. Rey counters an Angle Slam with an arm drag but Kurt clotheslines him. Kurt covers for two then tags in Benoit. Benoit hits a running knee to the ribs as Cole blows the ending by saying the Guerreros are gonna wait until one team eliminates the other then pounce on the survivor. Benoit hits a suplex for two then tags in Angle. Angle goes for the front headlock as Eddie taunts from the apron. Rey fights out of it and rolls out of a suplex. They counter each other several times then hits the heel kick. Kurt goes to tag one of the Guerreros but they both drop down. Kurt tags Benoit but Edge gets the hot tag. Edge wipes out both Kurt and Benoit then Eddie and Chavo off the apron. Angle runs into a belly to belly suplex and Chavo gets thrown over the top. Rey hits a hurracarana over the top rope on Eddie leaving Edge in the ring. Edge goes to spear Benoit but Kurt hits a droptoe hold and Benoit locks in the crossface. Kurt has the anklelock on as well but Rey hits the West Coast Pop on Angle then a dropkick to Benoit's back. Chavo pulls Angle out and Rey hits a corkscrew plancha on both of them. Benoit hits a german suplex on Edge but Eddie sunset flips off the top rope onto Edge for the double pin 1...2...nope, everyone kicks out. Benoit rolls over Eddie and heaves him over the top to the floor. Benoit hits three german suplexes on Edge then calls for the top rope headbutt. Benoit goes upstairs but Eddie beats him to the punch by hitting the frog splash on Edge. Eddie covers but Benoit hits the headbutt on Eddie to break up the count....why? Should have just let him finish off Edge THEN hit the headbutt. Kurt hits the Angle Slam on Eddie then pulls the straps down. Benoit slaps the crossface on Edge as Angle has the ankle lock on Eddie. Chavo waffles Benoit with the title belt and throws it to Angle before sliding out of the ring. Benoit gets up and sees Angle holding the belt.....and you thought Eddie came up with that spot? Benoit shoves Angle and Kurt pushes him back then Rey comes off the top with a dropkick to send both guys into each other. Mysterio baseball slides into Chavo then hits a hurracarana. Edge hits a spear on Benoit and covers for 1..2...3 to eliminate Kurt and Benoit.

Kurt hits a german suplex on Edge and Chris hits one on Rey. Benoit hits a back suplex on Chavo and Angle hits an angle slam on Edge. Benoit and Angle yell at each other and still bicker as they leave while Eddie covers Edge in the ring for 1...2...no. Eddie hits a suplex on Edge as Cole's prediction came true, the Guerreros are pouncing on Edge & Rey. Chavo goes to town on Edge before tagging out to Eddie. Eddie locks in a sleeper hold. Chavo tags in who hits a dropkick on Edge before covering for a deuce. Chavo stomps away in the corner then distracts the ref allowing Eddie to choke Edge with the tag rope. Chavo tags in Eddie who hits a back suplex and goes to the front facelock. Eddie tags out to Chavo who continues the onslaught before Eddie tags back in, only for Edge to hit a double flapjack. Rey gets the hot tag and he hits a crossbody followed by a hurracarana on Chavo. He hits the tilt-awhirl backbreaker on Eddie and then sends Chavo into Eddie. Edge spears both men in the corner and Chavo falls out. Rey hits a dropkick on Eddie on the ground then gets launched by Edge onto the top rope for a hurracarana on Eddie from the top. Edge shitcans Chavo again but Edge throws Eddie onto the second rope. Rey hits 619 on Eddie but Chavo hits Rey in the back with the title belt. Edge baseball slides Chavo outside but Eddie locks in El Paso Lasso in the ring. Rey taps and Los Guerreros are the new tag team champions! Two belt shots lead to the new champs being crowned. Damn good match and a good conclusion to "The Smackdown Six" as we know it. There was no way they were keeping Angle & Benoit as a team plus Rey & Edge were better off on their own. The Guerreros just need teams to go against.

Time of match: 19:18

Winners: Los Guerreros by submission (new Tag Team Champions)

Kane is preparing in the back as we've had four title changes tonight, will there be a 5th? Before we get to our main event, here comes Christopher Nowinski for a conference. Nowinski says he's the only Harvard grad in the arena (are you sure?) and New York's street smarts are not the same as real intelligence. Nowinski says the New York Yankees bought their world series titles and the fans aren't intelligent. Nowinski goes on to say they're number 1 in stupidty as Matt Hardy's music hits. Mattitude fact is he keeps the room temperature at a toasty 75 degrees and he drinks low fat chocolate milk. Why is he here? Matt grabs a mic and asks who the hell Chris thinks he is. Matt says New Yorkers aren't stupid, they're classified as losers. Matt "There's a huge difference". He goes on to say he expected to see Mattitude in the building and they're sucking the Mattitude out of him. He's choking worse than the Knicks...hahahaha. He used to think New York was cool but now its full of losers. JR "Where is this going, King?" King "I don't know but can we hurry up and get there." Chris "These people aren't losers, they're too stupid to know any better." Chris "Are you losers or are you stupid?" Matt says New Yorkers are losers and stupid...lupid. Chris and Matt shake hands and raise their arms when Scott Steiner's music hits....THERE'S your payoff. They're going to debut Steiner as a babyface apparently as he walks out in his wrestling gear. Steiner takes his chain mail and sunglasses off as Matt shoves Nowinski forward. Steiner hits the Steiner Line and overhead belly to belly suplexes Matt. He hits a tbone Taz plex on Nowinski and a standard belly to belly suplex. The crowd loudly chants for Steiner as he throws Nowinski over the top to the floor. Steiner overhead press slams Hardy onto Nowinski on the floor. The heels retreat with Steiner standing tall to a loud ovation. Steiner gets on the mic and says to all the freaks in New York City, holla if ya hear him. They do, in fact, holler. Here's the problem, if they cut out the Saliva performance and some of the elimination chamber vignettes they could have had time for a standard match where Steiner beats either of these guys.

JR sends us to Terri Runnells for an interview with Shawn Michaels...or just her ass anyway (nice camera work Dunn). Terri asks if he can win the World Heavyweight Championship and before Shawn can answer we cut to RNN Breaking News. Ha! Nice one. Randy Orton in a Survivor Series t-shirt says he's here at Survivor Series and an extra pillow on his flight caused no further damage to his elbow. Orton says he'll be back in no time. Can we get to the chamber now? Nope, another damn recap vignette set to Always again. We cut to Jonathan Coachman and Triple H (with Ric Flair) and Coach asks what he's thinking. He says in September he was deemed World Heavyweight Champion and in the past 3 months he's beaten everyone. Tonight he will beat all five other guys because he's still the game, still the best, and that damn good. But right now....he's got a first class ticket to hell, and he just wants to know who's coming with him. Here comes Eric Bischoff in the ring to put himself over and go over the rules....again, we already know them. They could have added another match with all this wasted time. Bischoff goes over the chamber dynamics while inside it. Since this was the first time we've seen the chamber, it does look impressive. Its like a combination of Hell in A Cell and Wargames with the chain link fence top and surrounding the ring. Not only that, there's steel areas around the chamber outside of the ropes. Eric finally leaves and FINALLY we get to our main event.

Match 6

Chris Jericho vs Rob Van Dam vs Kane vs Booker T vs Shawn Michaels vs Triple H (with Ric Flair) in an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

Saliva performs Jericho's entrance song at The World as he makes his entrance. Shawn Michaels, Kane and Booker T are the other men locked in the individual chambers with Y2J. It's going to be Triple H and Rob Van Dam to start things off. HHH backs him in the corner but Rob reverses it and rallies with right forearms. Rob ducks the line and hits a heel kick then a reverse enziguiri. rob runs into a knee to the face as King asks if Rob pins HHH right here and now. JR explains HHH would have to leave and Rob would wait for the next guy to come out. HHH goes for the pedigree but Rob backdrops him onto the steel ramp. Rob rams HHH into the side of the cage four times. Rob does his RVD taunt as HHH blades already. RVD does a monkey flip to send HHH into the steel ramp and does rolling thunder over the top rope onto HHH on the ramp. The good thing is the cage door is locked and there's no way to get under the ring so Flair can't theoretically interfere. Van Dam flips off Jericho and climbs to the top of Jericho's chamber. Jericho reaches over head to grab his leg. Rob manages to kick Jericho off and somersaults on top of HHH, landing heavily on his left hip. Shawn Michaels from inside his chamber asks if Rob is okay. Rob sends HHH face first into the chamber and Hunter falls into the ring. RVD stomps away at HHH on the corner as the countdown starts.

Chris Jericho is next in the ring but RVD cuts him off with a heel kick. RVD hits a moonsaults and covers for 1...2..no. RVD hits the second rope dropkick on Jericho and clotheslines him over the top rope to the steel. Rob jumps off the top rope but Jericho ducks, causing RVD to catch himself in the cage like Spiderman. He hits a crossbody on Jericho but HHH clotheslines him down. Jericho stomps on Van Dam and hits a back suplex. Jericho slaps Rob who starts to rally with right hands on both men. RVD runs right into a high knee and Jericho hits a standing senton. Jericho covers for 1....2..no. Jericho holds Rob and tells HHH to give him a shot. Hunter punches Rob down and Jericho does a crotch chop to Shawn Michaels. HHH throws Rob over the top rope to the steel. Hunter and Jericho launch Rob back first into the steel. Jericho shouts he's the king of the world and throws Rob to HHH. They throw Rob into the cage three times in a row. JR says Jericho and HHH despise each other but King says they'll do anything to be world champion. Van Dam rolls over Jericho, clotheslines HHH and hits a heel kick to Jericho. HHH hits a DDT on RVD as the countdown starts again.

Booker T hits the ring and cleans out both HHH and Jericho. Book clotheslines Jericho and HHH over the top rope and does a spinaroonie. He and Rob Van Dam slug it out in the center of the ring as JR says the stakes are too high for them to co-exist. Booker drops Rob with the axe kick and covers for 1..2....no. Rob hits the stepover heel kick and covers for 1...2...no. King says Kane and Shawn have the advantage since everyone else is beating each other down. Booker hits another kick and covers for a deuce. HHH punches Book but he counters with a scissors kick. Jericho clotheslines Booker and Van Dam hits a dropkick on Y2J. RVD heads up to the top rope then climbs to the top of an empty chamber. He hits a big splash on HHH but couldn't get the five star due to the cage in the way. Booker from off the top hits a missile dropkick on Rob Van Dam and covers for 1..2.....3 to eliminate ROB VAN DAM Oooh the crowd did NOT like that. Booker covers HHH but the ref was busy was Rob. Earl Hebner counts 1....2..no, HHH got the foot on the trope. Jericho chokes Book on the second rope and chops him. Jericho hits the facebuster but runs into a spinebuster by Booker T. Booker covers Jericho for 1...2...no. The countdown begins again.....

Here comes Kane to drop Booker T with right hands then backdrops Jericho. Kane pounds away on Booker and clotheslines him in the corner. Kane heaves Jericho over the top rope and launches him face first into the cage. Kane then sends Jericho through the glass of an empty chamber. Kane turns his attention to HHH and uppercuts him in the corner. HHH flops down and he's moving very slowly. Apparently Rob's splash caught him right in the throat and he's legit not breathing right. Booker goes for the axe kick on Kane but Jericho low blows him. Booker staggers into the chokeslam by Kane. Kane slugs HHH and Jericho hits the lionsault on Booker. He covers for 1...2.....3 and Jericho eliminates BOOKER T. Crowd didn't like THAT either. Jericho is busted wide open from the glass shot and Kane punches him. Kane heaves Jericho into the ring then punches HHH down again. Kane hits a suplex on Jericho and covers for a deuce. Kane misses an elbow drop as JR wonders if Shawn Michaels thinks he can win. He's the last one in, two guys are already gone and both heels are bleeding. If there's ever a time for him to win, its now. HHH is slammed off the top rope by Kane into the ring and he continues to grab his throat. Yeah Rob hurt him for real. Jericho hits a missile dropkick as the final countdown begins.

Shawn Michaels enters his second match in four years and goes to town on Jericho and then Kane. Shawn backdrops Jericho but gets clotheslined down by Kane. Kane sends Shawn off but Shawn hits a flying forearm. Michaels gets whipped into the tree of woe before he falls. Kane choke bombs Jericho and chokeslams Shawn. Kane chokeslams HHH and Jericho in succession. Rather than cover, Kane signals for a tombstone. Kane grabs HHH but Hunter rolls out of it. Kane walks right into Sweet Chin Music but sits right up. HHH then hits the pedigree on Kane and Jericho hits the lionsault. He covers for 1...2...3 and KANE is gone. We're down to the only 3 guys who had half a chance going into this match. Jericho clotheslines Michaels over the top onto the steel. Jericho sends Shawn into the cage as King says this is Shawn's first Survivor Series since 1997. HHH punches Shawn down as he and Jericho are both bloody messes. Shawn is also bleeding from the forehead as both Jericho and HHH punch the open cut to draw more blood. Jericho jumps on Shawn on the second rope and does the Ali shuffle. HHH sends Shawn over the top rope onto the steel. HHH grates Shawn into the cage like parmesan cheese. Jericho and HHH punch away at Shawn then Jericho taunts him inside the ring. Jericho squeezes Shawn's head and punches it then sends takes him outside. Shawn sends Jericho into the cage and punches HHH down. Shawn clotheslines HHH into the ring then goes for a piledriver on the steel ramp. Jericho backdrops him instead. Back in the ring Shawn ducks the line and drops Hunter with a big forearm. Shawn nips up but hits a bulldog on Shawn. Jericho hits the lionsault and covers for 1.....2...nooooo. Jericho tries again but only gets a two count. Jericho shouts to stay down but a charge in the corner eats boot. Shawn hits a moonsault and covers Jericho for 1.....2....noooo, at the last second Jericho kicked out. Shawn of all people locks in the Walls of Jericho but HHH counters with a ddt. Jericho covers for 1...2...no, HHH pulls Jericho off. Why? Apparently Hunter wanted to do it himself. Jericho and HHH slug it out and Hunter hits Jericho with a hard clothesline. Jericho gets knee lifted and Hunter covers for 1...2...no. King says Shawn can rest with these two beating each other. Jericho jumps off the second rope into a kick. HHH goes for the pedigree but Jericho counters with the Walls of Jericho. Suddenly from out of nowhere Shawn buries Jericho with Sweet Chin Music. Shawn covers Jericho for 1...2....3 and CHRIS JERICHO is history.

We're down to one on one, HHH vs Shawn, just like everyone thought for weeks going in. Shawn and Hunter are bloody messes and they tee off on each other. HHH then lands a spinebuster and covers for 1...2....no. Shawn kicks Triple H in the head but Hunter backdrops Shawn over the top rope onto the steel. Shawn throws HHH into the cage and goes for the pedigree out there. HHH counters with a slingshot through the glass of an empty chamber. HHH pulls Shawn in the ring and covers for 1...2....no. Hunter punches down Shawn and yells to get up. Shawn gets to his feet to slug it out again but Shawn eats a facebuster. HHH clotheslines Shawn over the top rope onto the steel. HHH goes for a pedigree on the steel but Shawn counters with a slingshot into the cage. Shawn clotheslines HHH over the top rope back into the ring. He goes up to the top rope then to the top of an empty chamber. Shawn hits the elbow drop but doesn't cover. He tunes up the band in the corner but HHH kicks him in the ribs. HHH hits the pedigree but takes a long time to cover. Hebner counts 1....2....nooooo, Shawn kicks out. HHH screams at Earl Hebner then turns around to go for another pedigree. Shawn backdrops Hunter and WHAM, hits Sweet Chin Music. Shawn covers for 1...2....3 to win the match and the World Heavyweight Championship. JR shrieks Shawn has won as MSG actually cheers for Shawn six years after booing him out of there. Confetti shoots into the air as Ross screams "Do you believe in miracles? MICHAELS BELIEVED IN HIMSELF AND HE HAS SURVIVED IT!" Future chamber matches would be a little bit more fast paced but this one was the first and can't be compared to what hadn't happened yet. The bottom line was this was all about Shawn vs HHH with four extras and Shawn walked out the champion. Ironically this would be Shawn's last major world championship with eight more years of service to go.

Time of match: 39:12

Winner: Shawn Michaels by pinfall (New World Heavyweight Champion)

This night was one big reset button. D'Von Dudley saving Bubba pretty much reunited the Dudleys on Raw to give them a legit tag team. All five titles that were on the line changed hands and some more shocking than others. Kidman and Victoria winning were mostly for a change of pace but the Guerreros coming out on top pretty much sent Rey, Edge, Benoit and Angle back to singles competition. The big one, no pun intended, was Big Show winning his first WWE title in three years after being booked as an idiot for the last year. Literally during the spring he was a lackey for the nWo then in the summer he was just background fodder on Raw. Now he's the man who ended Brock Lesnar's undefeated streak albeit with help from Paul Heyman. Like I mentioned earlier, Heyman was a heel manager and having Brock as a face wouldn't have worked with him. Finally the elimination chamber was telegraphed from day one this was going to come down to Shawn and Hunter. The only drama was if Jericho would sneak in and steal it like he did the year before at Vengeance beating Austin & The Rock. Then add in the debut of Scott Steiner and we got some new feuds and matches coming up. It'll be interesting to see how Brock Lesnar and Triple H respond to losing. Tomorrow night Raw comes to Bridgeport, CT at the old Harbor Yard Arena. I'll see you there.