WWE NXT TV Results
March 22, 2011 - Season 5, Week 3
Taped in Columbus, Ohio
Aired on WWE's website
By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

The cast of Season Five of WWE NXT (Pros):

-- Darren Young (Chavo Guerrero)
-- Jacob Novak (JTG)
-- Byron Saxton (Yoshi Tatsu)
-- Conor O'Brian (Kozlov)
-- Lucky Cannon (Tyson Kidd)
-- Titus O'Neil (Hornswoggle)

This week's NXT episode opened with the Rookies trash-talking each other. Saxton and Novak trash-talked each other, with Novak easily being eliminated. O'Brian and Titus exchanged awful material and both should have been eliminated. Next were Darren Young and Lucky Cannon with 20 seconds to trash talk each other. Lucky went for the cheap heat saying Young as much chance of winning NXT as the Buckeyes do of winning a National Title. He then turned his attention to the object of his affection, Maryse. Obviously, the fans voted to have Lucky eliminated. William Regal said Lucky should consider it a win because the fans actually reacted to him. Sure thing.

So, now it's Titus vs. Saxton vs. Young in a trash talk competition. Saxton offered a few dog-related jokes toward Titus. He was cut off before he could address Young's NXT background. Titus then did a Yoshi accent to trash-talk Saxton. After that uncomfortable bit, Young noted Titus is the oldest NXT Rookie in history. Awful. Maryse tried to find a winner from the crowd votes. Saxton was booed. Titus was given a sympathy applause. Young was cheered, but they cut to a shot of a kid with two thumbs down. Maryse polled the crowd again trying to find any applause. She determined Young is the winner. Todd Grisham noted Young is the new leader in Redemption Points now. Regal said that was...sorry.

[Break]

1 -- TITUS O'NEIL (w/Hornswoggle) vs. DARREN YOUNG (w/Chavo Guerrero)

Hornswoggle barked at Titus to give him some encouragement early on as the more experienced Young took down the larger Titus. Regal and Grisham debated "microphone skills," and Regal said he believes it's the most important aspect of a wrestler's abilities. Titus delivered a backbreaker for a nearfall, then walked into a boot to the head and a took a hard whip in the corner. Chavo then tried to get involved, so Hornswoggle ran around to DY's corner and nipped at Chavo's heels. In the confusion, Young took his eye off the ball and Titus delivered his "Clash of the Titus" finisher for the pin.

WINNER: Titus at 3:05. It was what it was - an FCW quality three-minute match.

Still to come: Byron Saxton vs. Lucky Cannon.

[Break]

Video package: Triple H vs. The Undertaker with Legends and Stars weighing in on the match, which aired last night on Raw.

Announcers: Grisham allowed the video to breathe, then asked Regal who wins. Regal said the loser will have to live the

Backstage: Yoshi told Lucky that Maryse is his friend and he should be more respectful. Lucky threw down his ring jacket to get in Yoshi's face, but Maryse walked in. She acted apologetic for slapping Lucky last week. He tried to play it cool with her, but she slapped him. Yoshi giggled off to the side and Maryse asked if he was laughing at her. "No, no, no!" Yoshi pleaded. Slap to the face. Cannon laughed at Yoshi, who then slapped him. It was like a Three Stooges skit.

Up next: JTG & Novak vs. Kozlov & O'Brian.

[Break]

NXT video: Lucky Cannon, who said everything is different this season because he's playing by a different set of rules. "Did you see who won my season?!" he asked as video of Kaval played on the screen. "Exactly," he said. Lucky said, "It's all...about...me." And he's the V-I-P of N-X-T. "Winning," he concluded.

2 -- JTG & JACOB NOVAK vs. VLADIMIR KOZLOV & CONOR O'BRIAN

Before the match could start, Matt Striker walked out on-stage to say it's WWE and anything can happen. He said they're going to change it up a little bit. Striker said it's going to be a dance-off and the judges will be the live crowd in Columbus. Cheap pop for the house show bit. JTG and Novak were up first. Fist pump attempt, then JTG pulled out a Norman Smiley spanking the ropes. Novak was dumbfounded. Kozlov and Conor were next. Russian Robot by Kozlov, with Conor following his lead. Striker polled the audience, which selected Kozlov and Conor as the winners.

WINNERS: No one.

Next Monday on Raw: Taker and Triple H will stand face-to-face. Plus, The Rock is live.

[Break]

Raw Rebound: They rolled real-time footage from Raw with The Miz introducing an upside-down "W" as his new WWE Title belt. Then, John Cena's interruption leading to Alex Riley taking the STF over and over as Miz avoided Cena's wrath. The announcers then promoted Miz vs. Cena for the WWE Title at WrestleMania. In the same breath, Grisham noted The Rock as special guest host.

[Break]

3 -- BYRON SAXTON (w/Yoshi Tatsu) vs. LUCKY CANNON (w/Tyson Kidd)

Cannon and his self-labeled "associate" (rather than Pro), Tyson Kidd, slowly made their way to the ring for the default main event of the show. Cannon took control and slowly worked over Saxton with basic offense. They cut to a shot of the Pros on-stage where JTG helped Hornswoggle put pen to paper. Regal noted Horny appeared to be scribbling or drawing pictures. Saxton made a comeback at 2:30 and Yoshi excitedly cheered him on. Cannon then blocked a corner attack and nailed sort of a rolling slam from the fireman's carry position. It was good for the pin and a win for Lucky. Grisham and Regal then wrapped things up and the show signed off with Lucky and Kidd celebrating the victory.

WINNER: Cannon at 3:21. Another basic FCW-quality match. Lucky continues to show improvement, if only because WWE is positioning him to look halfway decent.

***

PWTorch Specialist Benjamin Tucker's Instant Reaction

Overall Score: 2.0

Wow, this show is bad. Really, really bad. Even watching it live, it's really bad. First, the good. William Regal's awesome, Maryse makes the show watchable, and Lucky Cannon has a personality. That's it. No one cares about this show, either. Live in the arena, none of the Rookies even got a slight reaction. And that dance-off... why?

This entire show is just terrible. The matches are bad, but at least there weren't two challenges this week! I miss ECW from 2009. It wasn't the best, but at least there were decent storylines and good wrestling. Now look where WWE is with this show.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for an "NXT TV Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. To contribute your thoughts on NXT, email to pwtorch@gmail.com using our Feedback form.

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