ThunderStruck: NXT Redemption Analysis 05/02/12

Striker and Regal open the show. Regal is back from scouting talent that he says will debut over the next few weeks. Josh Mathews is also back from “injury” courtesy of Brock Lesnar. Johnny Curtis and Maxine interrupt them. JTG interrupts as soon as they get into the ring. Regal tells Curtis and JTG that they were thorn’s in Hornswoggle’s side last week and that they will team together right now against whoever wants to face them. Tyson Kidd and Alex Riley come to the ring.

Tyson Kidd and Alex Riley defeat JTG and Johnny Curtis in around fourteen minutes. Tyson uses his new submission hold called the dungeon lock(perfected with Bret Hart in the Hart family dungeon) on JTG to get him to tap out.

^Three solid performers and one incredible standout made this a solid tag team match to open the show. Tyson Kidd still continues to amaze me every time I watch him wrestle. It’s funny, because he’s really nothing like Bret Hart when it comes to style, but they both have that same ability to keep me glued to the screen during their entire matches. Curtis, Riley, and JTG all held their own and made this a decent opening contest.

Backstage segment with Percy Watson and Michael McGillicutty. Watson accuses McGillicutty of clipping his knee last week and says that Regal booked them in the main event tonight. McGillicutty denies the attack on Watson but says tonight he will get the last laugh.

^You can hear the Hennig in McGillicutty’s voice, but you don’t hear the Curt Hennig passion in what he says the way Mr. Perfect once spoke. Percy Watson cuts a great promo and is definitely going to be something special in the future.

Reks and Hawkins show up in the crowd with tickets. Regal has security drag them out.

^I’m glad Reks and Hawkins aren’t really gone, but I’d like to see them in the ring as much as we’ve seen them in segments over the past few months.

Backstage segment with Alicia Fox and JTG. She offers to help repackage him next week to help him be more confident and successful. He says no at first, but then accepts.

^Here I thought JTG was getting the boot, and now he’s being repackaged? Maybe this could lead to big things for the guy from Brooklyn!

Another backstage segment with Derrick Bateman and Kailyn. They are talking about Bateman being on Smackdown and they hear someone yelling. Alex Riley has been clipped just like Percy Watson was last week. Bateman assumes it was McGillicutty, and is holding a piece of tassle that he picked up

^Another clever whodunit angle on NXT! I love the actual thought put into these backstage mystery segments!

Percy Watson goes one on one with Michael McGillicutty. McGillicutty wins around the twelve minute mark when he hits the running neckbreaker on Watson.

^Great match from these two, and you could really see just how tired they were as the match finished up. McGillicutty was pretty sloppy when he executed the neckbreaker compared to normal just because of how tired he appeared to be after working such a high level match. Great action from these two!

Matt Striker comes out after the match and shows Regal something. Regal stands up and shows Percy the missing tassle from his boot and says security needs to talk to him. Striker walks to the back with Watson as McGillicutty taunts him from the ring.

^So Percy is the guilty party? It will probably be revealed that Percy was setup by “whoever” clipped him last week, and that person probably took the tassle off his boot when they attacked him. Still, I love the mystery angles that these NXT writers use for the show. It actually has some decent thought behind it.

Once again, even with just two matches, NXT was a really good show this week. I’ve watched maybe nine or ten episodes in 2012, and I think there was only one show that completely disappointed me(not too bad for an internet only show). That’s all for this edition. Be sure to check out my Smackdown and ROH columns that are going up today as well. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!

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