NXT Retro Review Episode 11: An inaugural NXT Champion is crowned

Retro NXT Episode 11 – Original air date – August 29, 2012

Coheed and Cambria welcome us to the show. Byron Saxton and William Regal are on commentary. Saxton hypes up tonight as the first NXT Champion will finally be crowned!

Hunico and Camacho vs. Jason Jordan and Mike Dalton

They showed footage from four weeks ago, when in their first time together, Dalton and Jordan beat the Smackdown team when Dalton caught Camacho in a hurricanrana. Regal talked about how he was sure Hunico and Camacho got made fun of in the barrio for that loss. Oh man. Little touches like that are what makes Regal such a great commentator.

Camacho and Dalton start the match off. Camacho throws some punches, but Dalton ducks them and catches him with a wristlock. He comes over and makes the tag to Jordan, who comes off the top with a double axhandle on the arm, then applies his own wristlock. Camacho nails him with a few forearms to break it, then tosses him into the ropes, but Jordan nails him with a pair of shoulder blocks and a dropkick. Jordan goes for a big right hand, but Camacho ducks, and catches Jordan on the rebound with a spinebuster. Camacho choked him over the second rope and hit him with some rights, then distracted the ref so Hunico could nail him from the apron. Camacho nailed him a nice back suplex, then bodyslammed him and tagged in Hunico so he could hit a slingshot senton bomb. Hunico nailed him a quick kick to the back, then covered him for a two count. Jordan tried to fight back with some bodyshots, but Hunico grabbed him by the hair and hit some knees to the gut. He went for a whip, but Jordan reverses it, but Hunico sidestepped his charge and caught him with a schoolboy, but then turned into an awesome one arm powerbomb but Jordan kicked out.

Hunico pounded Jordan in one corner, then brought him into his own corner and tagged Camacho, who continued pounding Kurt Angle’s son. Camacho then hit a double arm suplex, followed by a high legdrop for a two count. Camacho then went for another back suplex, but Jordan flipped out and caught him with a dropkick. Tags both ways! Prince Pret-er-I mean Mike Dalton came in and a pair of flying forearms on Hunico, then a big spinning heel kick followed by a nip up. Hunico tried to catch Dalton charging with a pop up powerbomb, but Dalton countered Billy Kidman style into a hurricanrana, but Hunico kicked out this time. The announcers did good to remind us that was the move Dalton won with last time.

Dalton went for a whip, but Hunico reversed it, but Dalton floated over the top, caught Camacho with a boot to the gut, then hit Hunico with a shoulder to the gut, then came off the top with a missile dropkick, but Camacho broke up the pin with a hard blow to the back of the head. Jordan came in and decked him with a right, and the ref then made a big show of getting him out of the ring. Camacho took the opportunity to snap Dalton’s neck across the top rope and Hunico caught him with an Angle Slam (Irony!) for the three count, as Camacho grabs Jordan’s leg to stop him from making the save.

Winner: Hunico and Camacho via pinfall

They announce, finally, that Seth Rollins will face Jinder Mahal in the Finals of the Gold Rush Tournament to determine the first NXT Champion!

BFC, The Usos came out. No Haka, Jimmy grabbed the mic and talked about the last time they were at Full Sail, they met the Ascension, but it became clear that they were not interested in a match, that they wanted a fight, and now they had unfinished business. He then called the Ascension out for a fight. The lights went out and the Ascension music and video began to play, but no one came out. Instead, Cameron and O’Brien came from behind. O’Brien throw Jey onto the top turnbuckle and he fell to the floor. They then isolated Jimmy, and threw him shoulder first into the post. They went to the floor and laid out Jey with their Total Elimination move. They then went back in the ring and O’Brien held who so he could take the move next. The Usos were laid out, as Saxton speculated that this rivalry was far from over.

Then we get the Raw Rebound, a staple of the show in these days. They showed a confrontation where CM Punk, in the midst, of his record breaking WWE Title reign, and Jerry Lawler, who said that Punk had turned his back on the WWE Universe when he attacked The Rock at Raw 1000. Then we got the famous Punk kicking Lawler in the head that inspired a Gif that is popular to this day. We then see Punk cut a scathing promo criticizing Lawler and saying Lawler was jealous that he had never been champion and wanted to fight him. Lawler then challenged to him a fight, which then was voted by fans to be a Steel Cage Match. This is the last cage match in WWE, with blood (Punk bladed) and was shown entirely in black and white. Punk ended up tapping Lawler with the Anaconda Vice to win the bout. Raw GM AJ Lee (damn, that was a thing) then announced that Punk would be facing John Cena at Night of Champions for the WWE Championship. Punk responded by locking the cage and demanding Lawler call him the Best in The World. Lawler refused, so Punk hammered until John Cena came out and ordered the cage lifted so he could make the save…

Big E Langston vs. Chase Donovan

Regal puts over Langston’s strength and viciousness, as Saxton lists his weightlifting credentials. They lock up to start the match, and Langston powers him to the mat. Donovan, who’s maybe 6’2, 230, tries to recover but Langston gets some speed and nails him with a bodyblock. Langston then pulls down the straps and hypes himself. He hits the Big Ending and that’s all she wrote.

Winner: Langston via pinfall

For whatever reason, Big E stays on the pin for much longer than necessary before finally getting up.

BFC, the NXT Roster began to pour out on the stage in anticipation of the title match.

Then Briley Pierce, well, tried to interview Big E. Pierce said that he had been pure devastation and if he felt his winning streak would continue. E just breathed hard and stared a whole in Pierce, who quickly got the message and walked away.

We go back to the arena and the stage is now full of the men and women of NXT. (Right behind the belt is a much more different looking Emma, and you can see Charlotte hiding in the background a little bit. Then Dusty Rhodes, the commissioner of NXT, comes out and grabs the belt and walks to the ring.

Then we are shown Jim Ross joining Saxton and Regal on commentary and they even have Howard Finkel doing the ring announcing. Mahal comes out first, and then Rollins.

Seth Rollins vs. Jinder Mahal (Gold Rush Tournament for the Inaugural NXT Championship)

Finkel does introductions for both men. Dusty holds up the title before handing it to the ref. He shakes Seth’s hand and goes to shake Jinder’s, but Jinder refuses. What a good heat getter! The crowd stats chanting for Dusty, and Seth briefly joins in. In short, they are doing everything here to make us believe this is a big match.

They go to lock up, but Seth ducks under and grabs a waistlock. He takes Jinder down and gets about a second of riding time before Jinder gets up to his feet, but Rollins takes him down again. Jinder gets back to his feet and goes to the ropes to break the hold, and then catches Seth with a backelbow on the break. Jinder works him over a little on the mat, then slams his head into the turnbuckles and hits some kicks in the corner. Mahal whips him to the other side, but Seth kips over him, rolls over a dropdown, and catches Jinder with a pair of dropkicks, then slams his head into the opposite corner.

Seth grabs him and slams his head in on the other side before nailing him with a chop, followed by a spinning back kick to the ribs. Seth goes for the Blackout, but Jinder avoids it and tries to toss Seth over the top, but Seth lands on the apron and catches him with a forearm, then low bridges Jinder over the top to the floor. Seth faints with a pescado and goes for a running kick from the apron, but Jinder catches it and slams him chest first into the apron, then gathers him up and gorilla press slams him over the apron and onto the ramp! Jinder gets him back and the ring and covers, but gets only the first two count of the match. Commercial Break.

BFC, Mahal has Seth bent back in a modified surfboard, but Seth refuses to tap, so Jinder rakes the eyes from that position. Seth tries to get back to his feet, but Mahal takes him over with a little judo trip and hits a kneedrop. Seth tries to fight out from underneath with some bodyshots and he goes for a suplex, but can’t get Mahal and comes up selling his lower back. Mahal clubs him in the back and taunts the crowd, which is into this match. Not Takeover into it, but into it. Jinder whips him into a side backbreaker for a two count, whips hard back first into the turnbuckles. Jinder dropped a knee to Seth’s back and chokes him using the bottom rope, as the fans chant “Let’s Go Rollins.”

Jinder hit a double arm suplex for a two count, then bodyslammed him and hit a vertical suplex for a two count. Jinder applied a kneeling abdominal stretch, but Seth managed to get to his feet and fight out with some rights, but charged right a flying knee from Jinder. Jinder hesitated just a bit before covering for a two count. Jinder then went for the camel clutch, but Seth managed to get to the ropes before the hold was applied.

Jinder responded by dropping knees to the injured back of Rollins. Jinder tried to pull Seth away from the ropes by both legs, but Seth managed to land on his feet and catch Jinder with an enziguri! Both men came up slowly and Jinder went for a right, but Seth blocked and fired back with series of rights, but Jinder cut him off with a knee to the gut. Jinder went for a backdrop, but Seth kicked it away and hit a spinning back kick to the ribs. Seth dropped Jinder twice with right hands, then caught him with the running one leg dropkick. Seth pounded the mat to hype the crowd and went for a flying forearm in the corner, but Jinder ducked and tried to backdrop him out, but Seth landed on his feet. Jinder went for a high knee in the corner, but Seth ducked and Jinder went over the top to the floor. Seth then went up and hit an awesome plauncha to the floor. The fans exploded and started chanting for “Rollins.” Seth then threw Mahal in the ring and went up top, but Jinder crotched him, then went up and hit a big top rope superplex. The fans are chanting “This is awesome” was we got to a second commercial break.

BFC, both are struggling to their feet in the center of the ring. They nail each other with a right hand at the same time, then come up trading strikes. Seth gets the better of it and hits a spinning back kick to the ribs, but Jinder catches him in the ribs with a boot to the gut. Jinder charges, but Seth catches him with a body kick. Seth charges, but Jinder catches him with a modified Michinoku Driver for a great false finish. Jinder goes for the Full Nelson, but Seth blocks it, so Jinder softens him up with some shots to the brain stem and goes for the Full Nelson Slam, but Seth counters into an armdrag. Seth charges, but Jinder backdrops him to the apron. Jinder misses a shoulder to the ribs and avoids a kick, but Seth catches him on the rebound with an enziguri, then hits the springboard knee to the head! Seth scrambled for the cover, but Mahal kicked out. Seth stomped the mat to build the momentum for a flying forearm in the corner, then hit a Flatliner into the turnbuckles. Seth then hit the Avada Kedavara superkick for a great false finish. That’s really what they called it in ROH and FCW, by the way.

Seth then went up for a Phoenix Splash, but Jinder cleared the way! Jinder then hit the Full Nelson Slam, but Seth kicked out! Jinder went for the camel clutch again, but Seth grabbed the ropes before he could get it on again. Jinder pulled him to the center and went for it again, but Seth escaped out the back door and rolled him up for a two count. Jinder went for a right, but Seth rolled with it and lifted him up for a powerbomb, spinning and holding him before hitting the running powerbomb into the turnbuckles. Seth then got sky-high for the Blackout for the three count! Seth Rollins is your first NXT Champion!

Winner: Rollins via pinfall

After the match, Dusty Rhodes was the first one there to hug Rollins after his victory. Rollins did his mosh pit belt waving celebration, the same he did after his win at Wrestlemania 31, and the babyfaces hit the ring to celebrate and lift him on his shoulders as the show ended.

Frank’s Take: As good as it goes. This was an excellent episode of the show. Not just because of the twenty-minute main event between future World Champions, but just the whole show was great. It had one thing that last week’s show lacked-continuity. The opening match was a rematch of a previous angle, a first for the show. The Ascension and The Usos advanced their rivalry. Big E Langston had another quick squash, and this tournament, which ended with the top babyface meeting the top heel over the last ten weeks, you really can’t ask for more. It is even more fun when you realize these two guys had a rematch on a house show in Vancouver a few months ago. Gotta love it.

But enjoy it while it lasts, because if I’m remembering right, things are about to go off the rails.