author’s note; Apologies for the lateness of this Redux. I was asked to work at 8am yesterday morning and usually I do these things in the morning. But I ended up staying at work until close (8pm) and was just far to tired to function when all was said and done!
Previously on NXT…
The second rookie elimination of the season took place with bad girl Maxine getting the boot. The highly anticipated nuptials of Aksana and Goldust had a few glitches but in the end the couple managed to tie the knot. Too bad Aksana slapped the taste out of her new husband’s mouth when he went to kiss her. Cody Rhodes invaded the show and ended up being the kissee in a most amusing kissing contest. AJ may or may not have hinted towards feelings for her NXT mentor, Primo Colon. Kaitlyn and Dolph Ziggler were finally caught kissing, and Vickie Guerrero ended up with wedding cake all over her face.
Oh boy.
What kind of drama will enfold tonight? Grab a beer, pop some popcorn, and get your ear plugs ready. NXT is about to begin!
When NXT opens, the handsome Matt Striker is standing in the ring. He lifts the microphone to his lips to welcome the remaining four rookie girls to the show but instead, Goldust’s theme music hits and the Bizarre One walks out to the ring. No painted on tears tonight from what I can see. Goldust has the microphone and he calls out Aksana. He says that all week long, his “wife” hasn’t picked up her phone or anything, and he deserves an explanation. Goldust says it’s in Aksana’s best interest that she gets out to the ring right now. Aksana does indeed walk out and she’s got the Million Dollar Championship draped across her shoulder. She mocks Goldust by asking him if his heart is broken or something. She reveals that she used her pro to solve her immigration issues and now she has her green card and can stay in the country. Everything is all about Aksana and now she has the title. Aksana says that when she and Goldust get divorced she will own half of everything he has, including the belt and she plans on cashing in her half. That’s the American way.
I was right about Aksana. Imagine that.
Goldust calls Aksana a conniving little Lithuanian witch. He also says she is clueless and that tonight she’s not in America. She may be able to stay in the U.S.A., but he thinks it’s time to kick her butt right out of Britain. Aksana is not amused. To her surprise, Naomi walks out next. She has a microphone and she says that she doesn’t want Aksana kicked out of the country. When Goldust goes to protest, Naomi explains herself. She says she felt like Aksana was fake the entire time and she never bought the immigration story for one minute. She accuses Aksana of hatching the plan just to become the center of attention. Aksana protests the accusation and claims that she really would have gotten beat with a shovel if she would have had to return home. Naomi just doesn’t care. She says Aksana is fake and phony, and she wants to face her in a match tonight. Aksana looks at Goldust and asks him what she should do since he is her pro and all. Goldust finds that hilarious and tells Aksana to go and get her butt kicked by Naomi tonight.
Looks like we have our main event.
After a few promos, we finally get to see Striker welcome the girls to the show tonight. Bless him. He mentions how Maxine was eliminated last week and we only have four girls left. Striker also reveals that starting tomorrow at noon eastern time, the WWE Universe can start casting their votes on who they want to stay. With four weeks of competition left, there will be an elimination next week. With that said, he explains that immunity will start over tonight. Tonight’s first competition is an arm wrestling match. AJ will take on Aksana in the first match, while Kaitlyn and Naomi will square off in the second match. The winners of the respective matches will face each other. AJ and Aksana are up first and Aksana wins this pretty easily. Kaitlyn and Naomi go and surprisingly, Kaitlyn wins without much of a challenge. It’s down to Aksana and Kaitlyn for immunity. Kaitlyn has the upper-hand but Aksana hangs strong and tries to cheat. She grabs Kaitlyn by the hair which breaks their hold and the referee disqualifies her. Kaitlyn has won this contest.
AJ versus Nikki Bella is up next.
Nikki and her sister, Brie Bella, come to the ring first and shocker of shocks, they look happy to be together. Highlights of “Twin Magic” from Raw last night are shown and Josh Matthews points out that there seems to be no animosity between the girls on Raw. Primo’s awful music hits and he walks to the ring with AJ.
Nikki starts off the match by kicking AJ and tossing her into the corner. A take-down follows along with a Nikki Bella suplex. Pretty. AJ comes firing back with some feisty forearms, but Nikki is able to whip her into the ropes. AJ does get the reversal so I suppose Nikki didn’t really manage that whip to well, but nonetheless AJ has control of the match. She takes Nikki’s head and begins beating it into the turnbuckle. Nikki shows her resiliency and bounces back, and she even gets the first pinfall attempt. AJ kicks out after a two. Nikki goes for wear down tactics and slams AJ into the mat. The smaller competitor gets thrown into the corner and suplexed down. Nikki takes aj’s arm and wrenches them back while pressing her knee in the lower back of her opponent. Nikki continues to kick around AJ and throws her into the corner. AJ ducks a clothesline attempt but it matters nada because Nikki remains the dominant one in this match. Brie, meanwhile, is on the outside and she just looks annoyed by Nikki’s attitude.
AJ tries to fight back with some kicks, but Nikki just ends up destroying her. She goes for a cover but AJ manages to kick out. AJ still keeps up the fight but Nikki is just on fire tonight. She continues to wear down AJ. AJ eventually gets Nikki down on the mat but after a few seconds, Nikki comes back with a back breaker across the knee. AJ finally gets tossed from the ring and Nikki follows her out. Brie backs off from getting involved and Nikki takes her shoulder and uses it to drive AJ kidney first into the ring apron. Nikki, who has been favoring her knee, tries to throw Brie into the match but Brie isn’t having it. Primo runs to their side and gets involved in their business, as does the referee. Brie will not get in the ring and Nikki just resigns herself to winning the match. Primo continues to get involved and that causes Nikki to gripe at him. With her distracted, AJ is able to recover enough to roll up Nikki and she picks up the win. AJ and Primo celebrate while the Bellas appear very frustrated inside the ring. Nikki kicks the ring rope in disgust and NXT fades out.
The show returns with the second rookie competition of the night. It’s another guessing competition with stupid air horns. This time the girls have to guess high school yearbook photos. The competition comes down to AJ and Kaitlyn. John Morrison’s photo is the tiebreaker. After some friendly fighting, AJ manages to get the answer out and she wins the challenge. She’s tied with Kaitlyn for most immunity wins now.
Later on in the show, highlights of the Vickie/Dolph/Kaitlyn are shown. They include but are not limited to the big kiss from last week and the “match” between Vickie and Kaitlyn on SmackDown. Once that finishes, Vickie and Kaitlyn are seen backstage. Vickie takes the time to brag about her big victory and then she runs down Kaitlyn’s looks, smarts, and tells her that Dolph wants nothing to do with her because she’s not the woman Vickie is. Kaitlyn laughs it off and says that’s hilarious because Dolph told her the same thing. She’s not the woman Vickie is because she’s nowhere near as large as Vickie. A fight breaks out and this is insane. Kaitlyn and Vickie are hitting pretty hard. The segment ends with Vickie decisively slamming Kaitlyn into the catering table.
The main event is next and Naomi walks to the ring with Kelly Kelly. Aksana walks to the ring after a brief break and she’s going at it solo tonight it seems. However, Goldust gets the last entrance of the night. Is he going to support Aksana?
NO!
Goldust joins Kelly on Naomi’s side of the ring and the match officially begins. Naomi begins by drop kicking Aksana and the blond rolls to the outside of the ring. Naomi brings her back and after one offensive move from Aksana, Naomi begins to show off. Aksana sells the better wrestler’s move-set like a champ and Naomi gets Aksana in position for a cover. She only gets a two count. The momentum of the match changes and Aksana is able to go on offense. She hits Naomi square in the back with a beautiful drop kick and follows it up with a fierce elbow. She throws Naomi into the corner and knocks her head into the turnbuckle. Aksana continues to use the corner to her advantage and eventually she goes for a cover. Naomi is able to get out after a two. Lots of near falls tonight. Aksana puts Naomi in a camel clutch like submission but the savvy Naomi fights her way back into the match.
Aksana refuses to lose her advantage and she nails Naomi with a cutesy little slam, then locks in a half Boston crab. Wow! Naomi wiggles free and fights her way back into the match. She gets to the ropes but Aksana nearly destroys her with a clothesline. Aksana starts stomping away on Naomi and she goes for another half crab. She’s clearly trying to wear her down. Naomi makes it to the ropes again and Aksana has no choice but to break the hold. She does manage to throw Naomi into the corner and clothesline her. Aksana also throws some forearms and punches. Aksana attempts another cover, but Naomi is able to counter. Both women are down and they struggle back up to their feet. Naomi ducks a wild clothesline and turns around to hit Aksana with a spinning heel kick. Naomi begins to throw herself around and after that, Aksana basically has no chance. She gets in one vintage Goldust move and a neckbreaker. Naomi still can’t be stopped. After shaking off a big boot to the face, Naomi nails Aksana with a sick superkick and she gets the victory.
Goldust, Naomi, and Kelly celebrate while they stand over Aksana’s fallen body. Goldust is so disappointed in his rookie and we actually see the Billion Dollar Baby from Lithuanian looking pretty remorseful as this episode of NXT comes to a close.
Tonight’s show was interesting, but blah from a storyline aspect. I’m not going to run down the top five things because I find it hard pressed to find highlights from tonight’s offering. I will say that the actual in-ring action was promising. Naomi just seems to be able to drag a good match out of anyone. She’s probably the only girl who is truly main roster ready in all aspects of WWE programming but she’s probably the one who is least likely to get there and that truly depresses me. My Matt Striker bias made me hate the beginning of the show but looking beyond that, it was nice to kick things off with a great opening promo between Aksana, Goldust, and then Naomi.
The backstage brawl between Vickie and Kaitlyn was solid. They should just fight every week. No need for them to try and “wrestle” inside the ring. I found it disappointing Dolph wasn’t around to see the fight or break it up. Seems pointless to fight over a man when said man is not even around. AJ versus Nikki was MOTN. How good is Nikki Bella in the ring? I want more Bella twin matches and I give credit to Primo. He was right there to stop the cheating ways of the evil twin. He’s one of the best pros NXT has had on all three seasons to be honest.
They announced that next week there will be an elimination. I have a feeling Naomi is going home but for once, I truly hope I’m wrong. Until nxt week, Cryssi… out!
