The eighth edition of WWE NXT came to you from the O2 Arena in London, England. With the first elimination in the NXT competition rapidly approaching, the NXT Rookies would be looking to impress the WWE Rookies and avoid being the unfortunate Rookie ranked at number eight.
Match Results
- WWE Pro Vs. NXT Rookie: Christian (with Heath Slater) def. Wade Barrett (with Chris Jericho) by pin following the Killswitch.
- WWE Pro Vs. NXT Rookie: William Regal def. Daniel Bryan by pin following the Regal Knee.
- Darren Young’s Hair On The Line: Darren Young def. Luke Gallows by roll-up.
Detailed Results
The show opens with NXT Host Matt Striker, who brings the eight NXT Rookies to the ring in order of their rank as Darren Young, Michael Tarver, Skip Sheffield, David “A-List” Otunga, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Wade Barrett, & Daniel Bryan line up in the ring! Striker questions Michael Tarver about his performance in his match and his keg challenge last week and asks Tarver if “the pressure” is getting to Tarver. Tarver responds by saying that he is the “pressure” and whether he “wins or loses, he will not lose”! The NXT Host then questions David Otunga about his match with WWE Champion John Cena on RAW and Otunga responds by saying that he is the only NXT Rookie to have wrestled the WWE Champion! Justin Gabriel was then questioned about facing the WWE Champion John Cena and Gabriel stepped up and said that he would face “The Champ” if he was given the opportunity! NXT Host Matt Striker then reveals that the Rookies will compete in another competition where the UK fans would determine the winner! Striker then announces that, whoever wins the competition will get their own entrance theme! The competition will see the eight Rookies speak on a given topic and, in their thirty second time limit, must express their “creativity”! While the Rookies struggled to discuss the oddball topics of cereal, sleep, toothpaste, and even rainbows, it came down to Skip Sheffield and England’s own Wade Barrett! With the voting too close to call, it came down to Skip discussing bubble gum to no success and England’s own Wade Barrett rocking the topic of wind by discussing the “winds of change” and proclaiming that he will be the first England native to be WWE Champion! The fans roared their approval for Wade Barrett as Barrett was declared the winner of the Talk The Talk Challenge and will get his very own entrance theme!
Backstage, CM Punk informs his NXT Rookie, Darren Young, that he will face “The Straightedge Disciple” Luke Gallows in a one-on-one match on NXT and, if Young wins, then his “transgressions” against The Straightedge Society on SmackDown will be “forgiven”, but if Gallows wins, then Young will have his head shaved! Can Darren Young prove his worth to his WWE Pro by defeating Luke Gallows or will Young have his wild hairstyle shaved?
With his WWE Pro, Chris Jericho, by his side, England’s own Wade Barrett was in action on NXT as the Rookie would go one-on-one with WWE Pro Christian, who brings his NXT Rookie Heath Slater to the ring with him! Chris Jericho tried to get involved to help Wade Barrett win the match, but Christian’s Rookie, Heath Slater, took advantage of Jericho distracting the referee to distract Barrett long enough to allow his Pro to hit the Killswitch to pick up the win!
Following a “pep talk” where his WWE Pro The Miz called him the “Susan Boyle of the WWE”, NXT Rookie Daniel Bryan went one-on-one with WWE Pro William Regal! Regal was able to make relatively quick work as Regal hit the running knee en route to picking up the win over Bryan in the eighth straight loss in Bryan’s NXT run! After the match, The Miz blind-sided William Regal to send Regal out of the ring before Miz laid out his NXT Rookie by planting Daniel Bryan with the Skull Crushing Finale! With an eight match losing streak, can Daniel Bryan avoid elimination in four weeks when the first NXT elimination takes place?
Then it was time for the main event as CM Punk’s NXT Rookie Darren Young would go one-on-one with the right-hand man of CM Punk, “The Straightedge Disciple” Luke Gallows with the stipulation that, if Young wins, his “transgressions” of last Friday’s SmackDown will be “forgotten”, but if Gallows wins, then Darren Young will have his head shaved! After catching his larger opponent off-guard, Darren Young was able to catch Gallows with a roll-up to win the match and keep his hair! After the match, in a shocking move, CM Punk actually raises the hand of his Rookie, much to the confusion of Luke Gallows, who gets left alone in the ring as Darren Young leaves with CM Punk & Serena! What does this mean for Luke Gallows’ role in The Straightedge Society?