WWE NXT Report
January 18, 2012
Taped 1/17 in Las Vegas, Nev.
Report by Justin James, PWTorch contributor

This is the 100th episode of NXT, and the 46th episode of "NXT: Redemption." WWE has promised a wedding between Maxine and Johnny Curtis (that Derrick Bateman will definitely get involved in) as well as a blow-off to the Titus O'Neil-Darren Young feud. With any luck, this indicates that NXT: Redemption is wrapping up, too! Amazingly, WWE has the audacity to offer "The Top 10 Reasons to watch WWE NXT Redemption" on their website. Three of the items are related to the good looks of the Divas.

[Q1] The starts with a video package filling in viewers on the Maxine-Bateman-Curtis drama. But, they also have the newly-revised credits, so maybe NXT: Redemption has a lot of time left on the clock? The announce team is Josh Mathews and Michael Cole, and Lilian Garcia instead of Tony Chimel for the ring announcing. Cole actually gets an introduction from Garcia to a bit of heat.

1 - TITUS O'NEIL vs. DARREN YOUNG - No Disqualification Match

Young eludes O'Neil a few times, hits him once, and then runs out of the ring. Back in the ring, he begs off, then runs the ropes a few times, but walks into a big boot. O'Neil tries to cover for that, but only gets a short count. O'Neil with a backbreaker for two. Young gets in some brief offense, but O'Neil throws him out of the ring and Young sells a right wrist injury. Outside the ring, Young drops O'Neil face-first into the apron, but O'Neil comes back with a big powerslam. O'Neil tosses Young around some more than puts him back into the ring. Young runs away, but it's a ruse, as he kicks O'Neil's leg, then lands a neckbreaker on the apron.

[ c - WrestleMania 28 ad ]

O'Neil is trying to get some traction out of the break, but Young keeps him grounded. Cole and Mathews rip on Matt Striker for being the GM/host of NXT. After continued offense, Young lands his finisher mid-ring, but O'Neil kicks out at two. Young must be watching a lot of tape from the Triple H-Undertaker match at WrestleMania 27, because he backs into the ropes with a look of confusion, fear, and doubt, like Triple H did after Taker kicked out of the Tombstone. Young shakes it off and goes back to the attack. He tries his finisher again, but O'Neil slips out, sends Young into the ropes, and hits the Clash of the Titus for the win.

WINNER: Titus O'Neil in 9:00. They put together a decent match, but they really didn't take advantage of the No DQ stip. So, instead of this match feeling like the blow-off, it felt like just another match, unfortunately. The announcing was predictably awful, as Cole put himself into full-on heel mode, and Josh Mathews rolled with it, too.

After the match, O'Neil cuts a promo expressing gratitude for the end of the feud, but then starts to heel on the crowd, thanking them for "absolutely nothing," instead of the expected "support." He rips on the challenges, Redemption points, and selection of Hornswoggle as his Pro. He complains about Hornswoggle leaving him to go to Smackdown. O'Neil says that he's the star of every show WWE has to offer. Huh? He says he's not carrying the crowd anymore, and tells them, "Make it a win, you losers." Cole says, "After 46 weeks, you'd think he'd learn how to cut a promo." I really dislike the announcers using the same kind of language that a critic or reviewer would; it takes the audience right out of the moment. O'Neil boos at the crowd as they boo at him to close the segment.

[Q2] Backstage, Johnny Curtis is putting on one of those tuxedo t-shirts. Classy. This week's alumni match is Percy Watson against Heath Slater. Couldn't they get the Funkasauras? Or, perhaps Kaitlyn vs. Funkette Naomi?

[ c - Royal Rumble ad, "The Best PPV Matches of 2011" DVD ad ]

2 - PERCY WATSON vs. HEATH SLATER

Watson gets an early advantage with a dropkick and a suplex. Slater hides in the ropes, but kicks Watson's legs out and starts to stomp away on the mat. Mathews recaps the Redemption points idea, but acknowledges that it's gone by the wayside. Cole gets all over Mathews, too. Slater on continued offense, and lands a jumping neckbreaker for two. Slater argues with the ref, giving Watson time to recovery. Watson turns it around, by dodges a charge, then a leaping forearm, dropkick, and a corner splash. Watson follows up with a shoulder tackle and the leaping splash to cover for two. Slater gets boots up in the corner, but walks into Watson's suplex-like finisher for the win. (Editor's Note: 21 "televised" losses in a row for Slater.)

WINNER: Percy Watson in 5:00. Watson looked good, but they just didn't create much excitement here.

Bizarrely enough, Josh Mathews says that Percy Watson is considered a "Rookie" here on NXT, so this was a big win for him. What logic is that? Watson and Curtis are in some weird post-NXT limbo where they appear on the WWE website as roster members, they do not appear as members on the NXT page, and they have no role in the competition or challenges. This show just makes no sense sometimes, but they don't need to expose that with commentary from Mathews.

Backstage, Maxine is getting ready (they make her change in the middle of the storage area without even a room?) when the Usos bump into her. She yells at them. One of them accidentally sneezes on her dress and she goes off on them.

[ c - WWEShop.com ad ]

Backstage, Maxine is yelling at a seamstress working on her dress, but Curtis calms her down. She says that she's worried about the wedding, not Derrick Bateman. She runs out and almost knocks over Kaitlyn. Curtis tells Kaitlyn that he didn't have a chance for a proper bachelor party and asks her is she wants to "get weird" with him. Is he offering her sex, or a Wellness Policy violation? She looks disgusted and says he's creepy.

Michael Cole thanks Lilian for not making a mistake in the first three matches, and then makes fun of Chimel for being "demoted" to NXT. This is getting really bad. Good gracious, now Cole is justifying himself because he gets a bigger reaction than most of the Superstars. The only thing he could have done worse was use the word "heat."

3 - YOSHI TATSU & TRENT BARRETA vs. CURT HAWKINS & TYLER REKS - Tag Team Match

Barreta and Hawkins start off with a lock-up, but Barreta ends up in the heel corner pretty quickly. Reks comes in, but Tatsu blind tags in, and Barreta clears Hawkins from the ring as Tatsu saves Reks for one. Tatsu attacks Reks with chops and kicks in the corner, but Reks gets a thumb to an eye to turn it around. Cole then trashes Mathews and says that he's been in WWE for ten years and done nothing. Mathews doesn't even defend himself.

Hawkins tags in and puts Tatsu in a rear chinlock. Cole actually takes credit for Daniel Bryan's success. Hawkins with a bodyslam for two. Reks tags back in. Cole and Mathews don't even notice the match any more as Cole recounts past history. Reks with a bodyslam for two.

[Q3] Hawkins tags back in, then Reks comes right back. Tatsu with a spinning heel kick to draw a double tag out. Barreta knocks Hawkins off the apron and takes down Reks with a clothesline, then lands a step-up enziguri followed by a crossbody in the corner. Barreta gets the Gobstopper Knee for two. Reks sends him to the apron, but Barreta hangs on.

Barreta kicks Reks into the middle of the ring, then goes to the top and lands the corkscrew moonsault leg drop. Hawkins breaks up the pin, so Tatsu takes him out of the picture. The ref gets distracted trying to get Tatsu back out, allowing Hawkins to hit Barreta in the gut with his cane. Reks takes advantage with the Burning Hammer for the win.

WINNER: Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks in 7:00. Decent match, but the beat down on Tatsu felt a little longer. I like the matches to be a bit less one-sided. Interesting that the team of larger, more powerful heels still needed to cheat to win.

[ c - WWE Hall of Fame ad ]

Raw Rebound - Overwhelmingly focused on Punk feuding with Laurinaitis, not Punk having to face Ziggler.

[ c - Smackdown hype ]

Uh oh, as promised, there is indeed an Elvis impersonator. It's actually Matt Striker, of course. Cole asks Striker to "make like Elvis and sit in a toilet seat." Was that necessary? Striker tries to talk like Elvis to get the crowd psyched for a wedding. Curtis comes out first, with some random, dazed guy coming with him. Cole insinuates that Curtis found the guy in a hotel bar in the middle of the morning. Maxine comes out to "Here comes the bride," but Curtis comes down to his theme music?

True to character, Maxine comes out wearing a fishnet dress over a skimpy white dress. Cole calls this a "white trash wedding." Maxine blows up over the random guy, and Curtis says it's "Chad," who they met last night, as the best man. "Chad" says that he was promised he could meet Hillbilly Jim. Striker tries to do an Elvis impersonation through the ceremony, which draws some heat. They get right to the end and, just as he's about to wed them, he asks for the objections.

[Q4] When no one responds, he drops the accent and acts astounded that no one objects. He goes back to Elvis mode, but Derrick Bateman comes out dressed in a suit. He says he didn't send the email, but Derrick Bateman did. Curtis says that Bateman's an embarrassment. Bateman has evidence on the 'Tron of Johnny Curtis getting on Bateman's iPad to send an email. Funny, Curtis tapped the screen maybe three times. Even Cole calls it out.

Bateman says that he'd never try to sabotage her career. She challenges Curtis, who says he wants her to be with him. She pushes him away and slaps him. Bateman gets in Curtis's face and Curtis takes him down. Cole acts mock-shocked at the brawl. Maxine eventually pulls Curtis off Bateman and holds him for Bateman to kick him, then land his finisher. Bateman's clothes are half-ripped off at this point. Bateman walks away and Maxine asks him to come back. She slaps him, then kisses him as Curtis is knocked out mid-ring.

End show.

Final Reax: The "wedding" was awful, as expected. I am really disappointed in the Titus O'Neil heel turn - there is absolutely nothing in his character or his ability to portray a character to indicate that he will be a success as a heel. Then again, I doubted Lucky Cannon as a heel, and "Mr. Delish" ended up being one of the most memorable characters of last year. This week's show was absolutely destroyed by the announcing, though. Michael Cole is bad enough when he's on NXT because no one is looking, but when Josh Mathews joins in, it's absolutely intolerable.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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