Credit: Geoff Clark of PWInsider
Josh Matthews comes out while the arena crew set up some type of structure on the ramp. Matt Striker comes out with all the NXT rookies.
I noticed Tarver is wearing a shirt with nWo-like artwork on the front of it.
Savannah gets the crowd ready for NXT opening.
NXT:
NXT intro played. The only rookies that got a pop were Daniel Bryan, David Otunga, and Heath Slater (who got a huge pop).
Striker tells the rookies that there will be an elimination next week. Otunga is given props for his NXT challenge win last week. Striker reminds everyone Otunga vs. Truth tonight. Striker announces an obstacle course challenge. No pop from crowd – “what the heck?” from a lot of people around me.
The challenge has monkey bars, stairs, and a bunch of other ridiculousness. Looks like a playground on the ramp.
Striker reminds everyone that Bryan faced Batista Monday and because of that he will be first. Bryan struggles, selling his ribs. I must say the crowd completely hates this segment. At one point the participants have to drink water from the concessions. Nothing screams out sports entertainment like an arena watching Bryan drink water for 60 seconds. Bryan completed in 2:45.5. Crowd boos him. “Awesome!”. Crowd pops as Miz comes out and berated Bryan and the crowd pops. Miz tells Bryan he will be facing Tarver (winless v winless). And it’s now!
DANIEL BRYAN VS. MICHAEL TARVER
TitanTron shows review of Bryan/Batista from Raw. Tarver comes out with Carlito. Tarver’s shirt says nXt in nWo font. Story of the match is Tarver dominated with Bryan selling the ribs. Bryan got his wind back and hit several stiff kicks to the back and chest of Tarver. Tarver took back control afterwards and got the clean pin after about 6 minutes. Miz got in the ring looking disappointed. He watched as Tarver pulled Bryan up and Carlito hit the Backstabber. Miz tainted Bryan afterwards.
Darren Young and SES backstage. Punk wants to know if Young is serious about his match vs. him. Young just wants to make an impact. Punk tells him that he need to learn the obstacle course or Punk will make a decision for him.
Slater is next on the obstacle course. He’s flying through it. Crowd is really behind him. He completes on 1:36.9
Young is up next. I’m serious you guys are really going to hate these segments. The crowd is really booing Young. Young is doing horrible. He finished in 2:07.8. Bryan had bad ribs and performed better than him in my opinion.
Gabriel is up next. He is flying through the course. Crowd likes him. 1:29.0. He is in the lead now.
Otunga is next. He did okay. 1:35.0. Otunga was disappointed. Striker tells David that his match with R-Truth is now!
DAVID OTUNGA VS. R-TRUTH
The crowd popped huge for Truth. This dude is insanely over! He is from the Carolinas but the whole crowd is really into the What’s Up theme. Truth asked Charleston “What’s Up”. Very strong “R-Truth” chants. Decent match. About 3 minutes. Truth wins with a sidekick followed by his twisting forearm. Truth does some dance moves for the crowd and then works the crowd before leaving to a huge pop.
They are setting the course back up. The crowd is booing the stage hands! LOL. That is funny. Barrett is next. Awesome! Barrett fell from the monkey bars, argued with the ref, and then just left. Striker announced he was DQ’d.
Striker reminds everyone this challenge is for immunity next week. Skip is next. He did well. He almost beat Gabriel at 1:31.2.
Wrestlemania DVD commercial.
Rookies are all in the ring… And Striker told them to get out. Looks likes it was a miscue. Raw commercial hyping Flavor Flav and Edge/Orton confrontation.
Tarver is next. Tarver fell off the monkey bars twice. Got mad but continued. Tarver struggled at the water drinking. He looked like he was going to throw up. Charles Robinson DQ’d Tarver because he was going to throw up.
Gabriel is the winner, gets immunity. Gabriel takes a shot at Otunga. Otunga says Nielsen ratings prove he’s the star. Striker asks Tarver who should go home. Tarver says himself and then says if he is gone everyone else is safe. He snatches the mic and shows personality. Skip says Tarver should go. Otunga takes a shot at Gay-Briel and gets in his face. Barrett says he will not be eliminated. Bryan humbly says he should go home. Young gets in everyones face until he gets to Barrett and the two of them brawl to end the show.
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