NXT Retro Episode #3 Report: ‘OH NO’

Retro NXT Report Episode 3 (#124) – Air Date – July 4, 2012

Coheed and Cambria welcome us to the show. Jim Ross and Byron Saxton are on commentary.

Sofia Cortez vs. Paige

Sofia Cortez is now known by most as Ivelisse on Lucha Underground. Here she has blond hair and lipstick and doesn’t even look like the same person. It’s amazing. Paige doesn’t get an entrance here. You can sense the difference in eras just by Byron’s commentary, which is a little Lawler esque, although nowhere near that terrible. Still this is the first women’s match in NXT television history.

They lock up, and Paige shoves her off. Cortez tries a single leg, and Paige does the same thing. Cortez ducks under into a waist lock. Paige reverses it, then turns into a snapmare, then hits a headbutt. Paige goes for a hip toss, but Cortez blocks it and turns into a hurricanrana. Paige took a quick powder, and Cortez caught her with a kick to the face when she came in, then worked her over in the corner. The ref admonished her and when Paige got some space, she responded with a slap to the face that popped the crowd. Paige let loose with a series of forearms, but Cortez shoved her off and hit an enzugiri but hesitated on the cover and only got a two count. Cortez used a straight jacket, but Paige worked to her feet and arm dragged out. Paige let loose with a series of chops and went for a whip but Cortez cut her off with a hard leg kick, then a head kick. Cortez then hit a bodyscissors into a DDT for the three count.

Winner: Cortez via pinfall

They hype the debut of Kassius Ohno for tonight.

Camacho (with Hunico) vs. Seth Rollins

They lock up, and Camacho shrugs him off and says “I came to fight, holmes.” Rollins responds with some leg kicks and bodyshots, but Camacho catches him with a back elbow. Camacho worked him over in the corner and went for a whip, but Rollins reversed it and caught Camacho with a schoolboy for a one count, then caught a kick and hit a back heel trip for a one. JR compares Rollins to CM Punk for the first time.

Rollins lit into Camacho with a series of chops, then worked him over and went for a whip, but charged straight into a boot. Camacho put the Chuck Taylors to him, then covered him for a one count, then went back to work on him. Camacho hits a back suplex for a two count. Camacho went back to putting the Chucks to him and taunting him. Camacho tried to pull Rollins away from the ropes by his feet, but Rollins landed on his feet and staggered him with an enzugiri, then caught him with a flatliner into the turnbuckle and a one-legged dropkick. Hunico tried to grab Rollins, but he got nailed with a dropkick through the ropes. Camacho nailed Rollins from behind. He went for the Samoan Drop, but Rollins floated over, but Camacho caught him with an elbow and went for a reverse rollup, but Rollins ducked and he and hit Huncio hit heads, and Rollins caught Camacho with the Blackout (Curb Stomp) for the three count.

Winner: Rollins via pinfall

After the match, Huncio jumped Rollins and he and Camacho double teamed him until Bo Dallas made the save.

Corey Graves & Jake Carter vs. CJ Parker & Nick Rogers

This is Graves’ debut on NXT. He doesn’t have the neck tattoo yet, and he’s wearing a red leather duster and a beanie. He looks like such a badass. Carter is the son of Big Van Vader. JR comments that Carter is lucky to have taken after his mother in the looks department. He also has his Twitter handle across the back of his trunks. Rogers looks like a shrunken down Chris Masters.

Graves and Parker start the match. Graves applies a headlock, but Parker tossed him and does a leapfrog into a big reverse monkey flip. Graves caught Parker with a boot in the gut and forced him into his corner. Parker fought out and tried a sunset flip out of the corner, but Graves tagged Carter on the way down and Carter nailed Parker from behind. Carter works over Parker briefly, then hit a splash in the corner, before Graves tags in and nails Parker with a high knee. Saxton is bragging about hanging out with Graves and Carter, a far cry from the commentary you hear from the two of them today! Graves applied a neck vice to Parker. Parker got to his knee and fought out, but Graves cut him off only to meet a big back body drop. Tags both ways. Rogers misses wildly on a clothesline and Carter catches with a spinebuster and poses, before running and kicking Parker off the apron. Graves tags in and they hit a powerslam/running neckbreaker combo for the three count.

Winner: Graves and Carter win via pinfall

They then went to JR and Saxton, and JR asked if he liked knockout artists. He then hyped up Kassius Ohno, as a KO King. We then get a package with Ohno talking about how much he liked to inflict pain with footage of him owning guys. It ended with the line “My name is Kassius and I hurt people.”

We then get another Bray Wyatt promo. It begins with “Do you hurt? Well, you don’t have hurt anymore.” It’s classic Bray Wyatt and we get our first glimpse of Luke Harper in this promo and a girl sitting in a tree laughing that I’m almost certain is Bayley. He asks what they can do to something that they cannot hurt or destroy, and says they can do only one thing – Run. Wyatt will debut next week.

Kassius Ohno vs. Mike Dalton

Okay, not to be this guy, but Ohno is in incredible shape here. He’s maybe thirty pounds lighter than he is now. Dalton, is of course, Tyler Breeze. Ohno also had on one red boot and one white boot. They locked up to start the match, and Ohno grabs control with a wristlock. Dalton uses the ropes to flip out and takes down Ohno with a reversal. Ohno grabs a headlock, but Dalton tosses him off and gets a drop toe hold, then half nelsons him for a one count. Dalton goes for a reverse rollup, but Ohno drops down and Dalton runs throat first into the top rope. Ohno hit a sliding kick to the face, then yells “OH NO,” before hitting a flying forearm in the corner and an awesome flying clothesline. Ohno stomps him, then runs him into his boot in the corner, and catches him with a big boot in the corner. Ohno locks in a cobra clutch. Dalton fight out of the move, and steps through a single leg attempt and hit a spinning heel kick for a two count, and Ohno apparently rakes his eyes to kick out. So cool. Dalton comes holding his eyes, and Ohno shoves him into the ropes and catches with a vicious roaring elbow for the three count. Ohno then takes the mic. He says he will speak slowly to make sure everyone understood “Kassius Ohno knocks people out and when they see Kassius coming they are going to say “OH NO!”

Winner: Ohno via pinfall

Jinder Mahal vs. Derek Bateman

They lock up to start the match and Bateman grabs a waistlock. Mahal goes to the ropes, and sucks Bateman with a backelbow on the break and hits some knees to the gut. Mahal goes for a suplex, but Bateman counters into a Northern Lights suplex for a long one count, then hit him with a cross body block. Mahal tries to catch him with a boot, but Bateman sees it coming and clotheslines him over the top to the floor, then nails him a tope. Bateman is very slow to recover, and Mahal slips back out to catch his leg coming back in the ring, then gives him a neckbreaker across the top rope for a two count. Mahal chokes Bateman over the ropes, before dropping some knees to the chest. Mahal goes for a neckbreaker, but Bateman catches him a backslide for a two count. Mahal cuts him off with a boot and goes for a suplex, but Bateman rolls him up with a small package for a two count. Mahal cuts him off again with a boot and goes for a slam, but Bateman floats over and schoolboys him for a two count. Love that sequence.

Bateman flurries with a clothesline, a back elbow, and a flapjack, then hits a summersault swinging neckbreaker for a near fall. Bateman goes for the headlock driver, but Mahal slips out and gets friendly with the bottom rope, as JR says. Bateman gets him to his feet and goes for the headlock driver again, but Mahal shoves him and catches him with a high knee to the neck. Mahal then locks in the camel clutch. Bateman fights the hold for just a moment before tapping out. Mahal posed, but then went back and locked on the hold again, and the ref had to get him off.

Winner: Mahal via submission

Byron then announces that Dusty Rhodes has made a main event of Kidd, Rollins, and Dallas versus McGillicutty, Hunico, and Camacho for the main event based on what happened earlier.

Tyson Kidd, Seth Rollins & Bo Dallas vs. Michael McGillicutty, Hunico & Camacho

This is clearly from a different part of the taping. Summer Rae is back in the blue dress and Regal and Chris Russo are now on commentary with JR. The only thing I miss about McGillicutty is his dumb, but catchy entrance song. I will refer to him as Axel again here, because its easier. He and Bo are set to start, but he calls for Kidd. Of course, when Kidd tags in, Axel tags in Hunico. Hunico catches him with a boot when he goes to lock up, and works him over whips him in, but Kidd catches him with a boot and a swinging hurricanrana. Hunico comes right back with a boot to the gut, then locks in a Gory Guerrero Special, and then uses the move to drop Kidd on his shoulder for a pair of one counts, but then Kidd uses his core to flip over into a sunset flip for a two count. Love that spot. Kidd catches Hunico with a Sushi Roll for a two count, then hit an armdrag into an armbar. Kidd tagged Bo and he came off the top onto the arm, then tagged in Rollins, he worked him into the corner and pounded him with punches and kicks, then whipped him into the opposite corner. Rollins took a shot at Camacho, and Hunico used the distraction to club him in the back and throw him neck first into the corner. Camacho tags in and works him over and then nails him with a bodyslam. Commercial Break.

BFC, Camacho is covering Rollins for a two count. Hunico tags in and works him over, but Rollins catches him with a boot, then clubs both other guys and catches Huncio with a big monkey flip. Dallas and Camacho tag in. Dallas hit a clothesline and a backelbow, then a running knee hit. He kicks away a backdrop, but gets distracted by Hunico, and Camacho clubs him in the back, then slams him face first into the turnbuckle. Camacho worked him over, then tagged in Axel, who stomped him a little bit, then covered for a two count. Axel locked in a chinlock, but Bo fought to his feet and armdraged out, but Axel caught him a pair of quick clotheslines, one to the front and one to the back. Axel pulled him in and made then tag to Hunico, who hit a sweet double arm backbreaker for a two count. The fans chanted for Bo, as Regal told the Hunico and Camacho origin story. Bo got a sunset flip, but Hunico kicked out and went straight back to pounding him. Axel tagged in and hit a side backbreaker for a two count. Axel then to a rear chinlock and Regal brought up Bo’s past kidney injury. Bo fought up again, only to have Axel elbow him in the back of the neck. Axel caught Rollins with a cheap shot, but Kidd ducked his. Axel went back to Bo, but Bo crawled through his legs and tagged Kidd. Kidd caught him with an enzugiri, then a springboard dropkick. He dropkicked both other heels off the apron, then caught Axel with a spinning back kick and a running dropkick to the head, but Hunico broke up the pin. Bo came in and took out both the other heels. Rollins then hit a crossbody off the top onto the floor on all three men. Kidd was then setting up for a big dive, but Axel caught him with a chopblock, and then hit his sweet swinging neckbreaker for the three count, as the heels stopped the faces from breaking the pin.

Winner: McGillicutty, Hunico, and Camacho via pinfall

The heels celebrated and the faces sulked in the ring to end the show.

Fanatic Take: Another fun episode, one a little heavier on in ring action, which has been part of the appeal of NXT from the beginning. Just three episodes in, we are seeing who are top heels and babyfaces are going to be. But the highlight of this episode has got to be Kassius Ohno. He is in such great shape here, and was even better shape when he released a year later. Now that he’s back in NXT, he’s not in the same shape. But at the same time, he’s coming off his best year in wrestling ever…If he can get back into the shape he was in here, to me, the sky is the limit, no matter his name. Here, he looks like a young Barry Windham and it’s amazing to watch.