WWE NXT TV Report
April 5, 2010 - Season 1, Episode 7
Taped in Chicago, Ill.
By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

The seventh week of WWE's NXT show started with Michael Cole and Josh Mathews introducing the show and reminding viewers the first wrestler eliminated from NXT will be in five weeks.

On-stage: Matt Striker brought out the entire Rookie roster according to lowest-ranked to first place. Bryan Danielson and Justin Gabriel received the best pops out of the group. Striker then addressed David Otunga, which drew boos from the crowd. He asked Otunga about walking away from an opportunity to win the Unified tag titles last night. Otunga removed his hoodie and said he could whatever he wanted last night on Raw. Otunga said he doesn't share the spotlight with anyone, so he did a smart thing by saving The Miz from losing the tag titles.

Striker then turned to Daniel Bryan to ask him whether he deserves to be in first place. A bit of a mixed crowd reaction. Bryan said he's not sure if The Miz deserves to be a Pro, whether David Otunga deserves to be guest-host of Raw, does Michael Cole deserve to take Jim Ross's place as a commentator. "The answer is no," Daniel said. Striker told Miz not to be so modest while Cole interjected his little comments on commentary. Striker then went down to Michael Tarver to ask him if Bryan deserves to first place. Tarver said absolutely not because everyone is a target for him. He told Bryan to get out of his way and now he's tired of waiting for his opportunity. Tarver said he is the most dangerous man in NXT. Period.

Striker started walking downt he ramp and talked about the first NXT wrestler eliminated in five weeks. He then talked about mental and physical tests and pointed to a keg on the entranceramp. He said it's filled with "liquid" and weighs over 160 pounds. And now for the physical challenge. Double Dare reference! Striker said each wrestler will have to carry the keg around the ring, then cross a yellow line. Striker said they're going to start with Daniel Bryan and Cole sarcastically clapped. Daniel did a mock Strongman pose walking down to the ramp to approach the keg.

Bryan picked up the keg and smiled as he hustled around the ringside area shuffling his feet including a little mock sticking-out-the-tongue toward Cole. Bryan picked up the yellow line at 24.9. Wade Barrett then scooped up the keg and hustled it around ringside at 14.7. Cole said the "Internet fans will probably still think Bryan won the thing." Oh, Mikey. Justin Gabriel was up next and he hustled around the ring with a victory at 13.6 seconds to beat Barrett. Heath Slater then took it around the ring at 12.0. He seemed to be moving slower than Gabriel.

Now for the second group. David Otunga took his sweet time removing his ring jacket before approaching the keg. He was still sporting his shades before picking up the keg. "I don't think Otunga has 'it' right now," Mathews said. And 14.1 for Otunga. Skip Sheffield then took his mark and took his time getting the keg up on his shoulder before sprinting around the ring and finishing at 12.4. Ah, just short of the 12.0 time to beat.

[Q2] Michael Tarver was up next and he dropped the keg twice and he was DQ'ed. Tarver threw a fit ringside after dropping the...ah...ball here. Cole found the humor in this: "At least Daniel Bryan won't finish last." Darren Young was the last man to approach the keg. He scooped it up and hustled around the ringside area and finished at 13.6. And Heath Slater wins. Striker asked Slater how he feels about the win. Slater said he's going to blow people's minds in NXT. Striker said not only did Slater win, but he now has an opportunity to main event tonight. And his opponent? Cue up the red pyro. It's Kane. See, Daniel Bryan outsmarted everyone. Kane then walked out and stared down Heath Slater before shooting off pyro in the ring. Slater did a good bug-eye look of concern before they cut to break. That was a full, uninterrupted 19-minute opening segment. Long, but good opening segment.

[Commercial Break]

Raw Rebound: A-Lister David Otunga guest-hosted and bailed on John Cena to make sure Miz & Big Show retained the Unified tag titles. They obviously see a lot in Otunga to spotlight him here. They closed with the footage of Batista KO'ing Cena and getting his Extreme Rules title match.

Backstage: Striker brought in Skip Sheffield to ask him why he screwed up the keg carry contest. Skip said he should have won because he's bigger, stronger, and faster than anyone else out there. He said the people simply isn't ready for Skip Sheffield. Skip said nice guys finish last and he's done being a nice guy. Striker then plugged #1 Bryan Daniel vs. #8 Darren Young...right now. Well, maybe not right now right now.

[Commercial Break]

[Q3]

1 -- DANIEL BRYAN vs. DARREN YOUNG

Bryan and Young were already in the ring coming out of the break. Bryan knocked Young to the floor early on before nailing baseball slide dropkick. Daniel followed with a running knee strike to the face as Cole plugged Bryan being in the "minor leagues" for ten years. Back in the ring, Bryan worked over Young with a variety of holds. Cole called Bryan a tool because he was reading a vegan cookbook earlier this week. Bryan and Young had a nice pin exchange before Bryan slapped Young hard across the face. Young then suddenly rolled up Bryan and trapped him for a surprise pin and the win. Cole of course went nuts for the "Internet darling" losing. After a replay of the finish, they showed Young smiling with the victory and Bryan gritting his teeth on the entranceramp with another loss.

WINNER: Young in 2:00. Quick match that really could have gone longer with some nice early-match pacing. Bryan has only shown about 1.5 percent of what he's capable of in the ring thus far and let's hope this 0-7 match record to begin the NXT season leads to him turning it around in the classic "overcoming the obstacles" wrestling storyline. (*)

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: Matt Hardy's music hit to bring out #3 Justin Gabriel, who had an inset promo. Carlito's music hit to bring out #8 Michael Tarver, who had an inset promo talking about the pitbull within him being unleashed.

2 -- MICHAEL TARVER vs. JUSTIN GABRIEL

The bell sounded and Tarver shot Gabriel across the ring with a hard Irish whip. Gabriel then ducked a clothesline and landed a series of kick strikes. They battled up top and Gabriel yanked Tarver across the top rope. Gabriel followed with a standing kick strike to the head and ran up top to nail the 450 Splash on Tarver. Three count and the win. Tarver drops to 0-5 and he's having a rough NXT season.

WINNER: Gabriel in 3:00. Tarver is being presented as the whining NXT Rookie who complains on the Net and doesn't get it done in the ring. Daniel Bryan is being presented as the NXT Rookie whose Internet fans complain about his push and he isn't getting it done in the ring yet. The difference is that Bryan will likely be featured in Smackdown main events later this year after this NXT non-sense. (*)

Main event to come: Kane vs. Slater.

[Commercial Break]

[Q4]

WWE Draft Plug: April 26, it's the three-hour Raw Draft special. No guest host has been named yet, of note.

In-ring: R-Truth's music hit to bring out David Otunga sans Truth. Otunga did his tear-away pants routine before strutting to the ring. They're packing in a bunch of matches in the second-half of the show. They cut to an inset promo on Otunga saying the Pros are clearly threatened by him by voting him fifth place. Cue up Chris Jericho's music to bring out Wade Barrett sans Jericho. No explanation given on this show why the Pros are MIA this week. Cue up an inset promo from Wade Barrett saying he's here to win this and make money.

3 -- WADE BARRETT vs. DAVID OTUNGA

Mathews put over Otunga looking like he belonged on Raw last night. Barrett worked over Otunga and landed repeated forearms to the back. Otunga made a comeback and the audience booed. Barrett then chucked Otunga to the floor and the crowd sighed. Barrett then whipped Otunga back into the ring and worked him over before missing with a knee drop. Otunga landed a series of right hands before Barrett kicked him in the gut. Otunga came back with an atomic drop before hitting a shoulder tackle and clothesline. Otunga fixed his wedgie, which the crowd mildly popped for. Cole interjected that he's forced to read WWE Universe blogs every day to do his job. Back to the action, Barrett hit a rolling drop out of the fireman's carry position and scored the pin for the win.

WINNER: Barrett in 4:00. Gabriel over Tarver made sense, but the other two matches seemed to have winners based on someone drawing a name out of a hat. Okay match, but Otunga is best kept to limited in-ring action before he's polished. (*)

Backstage: Heath Slater was shown warming up before his match-up against Kane.

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: Kane came out for the TV main event and they replayed the eight-on-one handicap match on Smackdown leading to WrestleMania where the NXT roster ganged up on Kane. Cue up Christian's music to bring out Heath Slater.

[Q5 -- over-run]

4 -- HEATH SLATER vs. KANE

The bell sounded and Slater played duck-and-dodge before coming off the top with a dropkick that staggered Kane. Slater then followed with a big cross-body splash that took Kane off his feet. Impressive. Kane shook it off, though, and nailed a big boot to the face before knocking Slater to the floor. Kane followed with an uppercut before taking Slater back into the ring for a "vintage" sidewalk slam that resulted in a two count. Kane then choked Slater across the middle rope before landing a double-foot dropkick off the ropes for a two count. Slater started to fight back from his knees, but Kane blasted him with a hard clothesline. Kane then went up top and landed a big flying clothesline. Kane got that look in his eyes and landed an uppercut before Kane shook his head and landed another clothesline. Kane then teased the chokeslam and gave Slater a ride to the mat. Kane then made a cover for the win.

Post-match: The announcers tried to cover for Slater taking the loss by drawing attention to him putting up a good fight and winning the keg contest earlier on the show. After a replay of the finish, they showed Kane standing tall on the entranceramp and Slater recovering in the ring.

WINNER: Kane in 5:00. Fine match. Kane, like Goldust recently, had this vibe of having a fresh set of legs and added agility in the ring. It could be just the fact that he was a veteran working with an NXT Rookie here, but he might be worth a look in the main event scene on Raw or Smackdown post-Draft. I haven't been high on Kane's in-ring work in a while, but he would be a fresh face in the title picture after being on the mid-card for so long the last five years. (*1/2)

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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