WWE NXT TV Results
August 30, 2011 - Season 5, Week 26
Taped in Wichita, Ks.
Aired on WWE's website
By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

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

-- Darren Young (Chavo Guerrero (released))
-- Titus O'Neil (Hornswoggle)
-- Derrick Bateman (Daniel Bryan)
-- Jacob Novak (JTG) - eliminated Week 11
-- Byron Saxton (Yoshi Tatsu) - eliminated Week 13
-- Lucky Cannon (Tyson Kidd) - eliminated Week 15
-- Conor O'Brian (Kozlov (released)) - eliminated Week 17

Immediately after the conclusion of the live Super Smackdown on Syfy, this week's WWE NXT episode opened with a video package focusing on the Graduates from NXT. Matt Striker was in the WWE Studio to set the stage for tonight's highlight show.

-- Striker introduced Wade Barrett as the first "graduate" they focused on.

[Break]

-- A music video-style video package on Brodus Clay brought them back from break for Striker to hype Clay.

-- Striker recapped Season 3 of NXT focusing on the Divas. It was all about chaos, including a wedding between Aksana and Goldust. Striker then introduced a video on A.J., who is now part of the Smackdown roster.

[Break]

-- Back from break, they focused on Justin Gabriel returning to South Africa on the recent South African tour. In the studio, Matt Striker shared a story about his sister being into Gabriel. Striker fed to match action from Gabriel vs. Kidd on Smackdown two weeks ago.

[Break. Next Monday: Raw Supershow featuring every WWE Superstar every Monday night. Plus, the latest on Punk pushing Hunter's buttons too far. Now, Punk must play The Game. For the first time since WrestleMania, Hunter returns to action at Night of Champions. How will Punk deal with Hunter? WWE Raw Supershow is officially the working title.]

-- Next, Striker plugged Alex Riley breaking loose of Miz. Speaking of which, Daniel Bryan had to break free of Miz. Cue up video from Season 1 of NXT. Next, Bryan became Mr. Money in the Bank, something Miz knows about. They went to full-length match footage from Smackdown's MITB ladder match at the MITB PPV in July. [Break] NXT returned from break for the finish of Smackdown's MITB ladder match. This took care of about 15-20 minutes of NXT. Back in the studio, Striker hyped Bryan's victory and noted Bryan plans to cash in at Money in the Bank.

[Break]

-- Back in the studio, Striker plugged Triple H's new movie and said Hunter's character is similar to the Rookies of Season 5 seeking redemption. Striker said each Rookie has stepped up his game on the current season. Cue up a video package focusing on the success and failure of the NXT5 Rookies. Lots of footage of the now-departed Pros and Rookies from earlier in the five-month-long season. The video went through the eliminations thus far before focusing on the Final Three of O'Neil, Bateman, and Young. And that's how the show closed.

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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