William Regal has brought Hunico to NXT. He is taking on Derrick Bateman in our opening match. He carries Kaitlyn to the ring on his back. Regal says he booked this match to see what sort of talent Bateman has against a Smackdown talent like Hunico. They wrestle back and forth for about nine minutes and then Bateman knocks down Camacho on the outside. He goes back in the ring and gets an angle slam from Hunico. Hunico gets the three count.
^Decent match here, but nothing special. Hunico should definitely be used more on Smackdown. Bateman continues to work on his in ring ability and work his way towards the main roster. I don’t know what purpose Kaitlyn serves being in Bateman’s corner during his matches if she’s not going to be involved. I never understood the point of a face manager.
Maxine is on the phone with someone, trying to get dirt on William Regal. Johnny Curtis comes up and tells her that WWE is keeping Striker’s whereabouts a secret. They go for a walk and run into Percy Watson and Alex Riley. Watson complains that Maxine stole the attention last week from William Regal during his match. She accuses both him and Riley of knowing something(implying that they took Striker from the bin last week). They act confused. Her and Curtis keep walking.They run into Natalya and Tyson Kidd. She asks them what they’re talking about. Natalya says they’re talking about the economy and how ugly her hair color is. They keep walking and run into Justin Gabriel. Curtis says he is way too soft and keeps walking. They spy Titus O’Neill talking to Darren Young. Young has a coconut tree inside a pot for Tamina. O’Neill scolds him and tells Young that he needs to learn how to “wine ’em and dine ’em, by taking them to McDonalds or something.” O’Neill says he also needs to learn how to lie to women. They argue and Maxine comes up to them. Maxine accuses O’Neill of the Striker mystery.O’Neill tries to kiss her and she gets pissed off. Curtis holds her back as O’Neill and Young walk off. Maxine got a text that said after WrestleMania, she will give them(the “kidnappers”) what they want and they will get Striker back. She storms away.
^I love these sorts of long promos. Maxine is going to be a top Diva someday.
Darren Young and Jimmy Uso are on commentary for the main event of Jey Uso taking on Titus O’Neill. Regal says he told Reks and Hawkins not to come to work this week because nobody wanted to use them. He says they need to learn their lesson by taking a week off and not getting paid. O’Neill goes to the outside a few minutes into the match to refocus. Jey Uso appears to be getting the best of him. Jey hits a flying crossbody after the break for a two count. Titus mounts an offense and takes Jey to the mat for a two count. O’Neill stomps on Jey and throws a running elbow to his upper back and gets another two count. O’Neill runs into a back body drop and then two clotheslines and a kick from Jey. Jey hits the running hip to the face in the lower corner on O’Neill. Jey hits the samoan drop on O’Neill and goes up top. He goes for the splash but O’Neill puts his knees up and nails him in the stomach. Titus picks him up and delivers the sky high for the three count. O’Neill and Young celebrate in the ring after the match. Tamina comes down the ramp and checks on Jey. She looks at Young and O’Neill and shakes her head as the show goes off the air.
^Titus O’Neill was actually very impressive in this match. His technical skills looked really sound and he didn’t seem to move as slow as he has in the past couple of matches that I’ve seen him in. He and Jey Uso really seemed to complement each other well in the ring. Honestly this was just a well worked main event.
The focus of the show was a bit warped because of all the plugs for WrestleMania with the rundown of the card throughout. We only got to see two matches, but they delivered pretty nicely. The backstage promo clued us in on where the Striker storyline is headed and it reminded us of all the guys not competing on the show this week. Overall, the show was put together pretty well and had my attention throughout. I’ll have my WrestleMania predictions for my next column. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!
