7/26 Shore's NXT Live Coverage: Derrick Bateman vs. Titus O'Neal, Hornswoggle finds his crush, and Yoshi Tatsu battles Tyson Kidd for his own leg

By Chris Shore

WWE NXT on WWE.com
Taped earlier in Philadelphia, PA.

A video recapped the Yoshi Tatsu vs. Tyson Kidd feud. The opening video aired and Todd Grisham and William Regal hyped a necklace on a pole match between those two, and a video recap of the John Cena vs. Rey Mysterio match…

1. Derrick Bateman defeated Titus O'Neal at 8:30. Bateman wore Apollo Creed shorts to the ring but didn't wrestle in them. Titus attacked at the bell and clubbed Bateman all over the ring. He whipped Bateman to the floor and Bateman started to leave. Young came out and told Bateman to do his work and take Titus out…[C]

Back from commercial, Bateman reversed a whip into a clothesline and took control. Later in the match, he hit an elbow drop on the apron in a cool spot, but missed a flying cross body to allow Titus to do his comeback. Young grabbed O'Neil's foot to distract him. Bateman hit a drop kick in the back to the corner and then followed with a running version of his finisher for the win…The announce team hyped the Raw replay…[C]

Shore's Slant: Talk about a dead crowd, the 150 people at the Evo show Saturday night made more noise than that. I know some of you are tired of me crapping on this show, but even the Fink is doing it on the live chat. If you saw this match, you know why. It could not get any more boring.

Backstage, Hornswoggle followed a trail of candy to a curtain with a note on it that told him to close his eyes and pucker up. He did, and AJ stepped out and kissed him. Maryse came up and made fun of them. AJ hit her with the flowers she had in her hand and Maryse called her crazy and stormed off. AJ gave Horny the flowers and they gave each other the lover's eyes…

Shore's Slant: Oh my. I used to love AJ, but that just ruined her for me. Anybody who loves the Hornswoggle character has to die in my eyes.

In another part of backstage, Vladimir Kozlov was planking on a vending machine and JTG walked up. JTG said the bet was who was the best gangster, not plankster. He said Kozlov had one more week. Kozlov took JTG's hat and said, "OK homie." JTG left him with his hat…

Shore's Slant: Um…….OK.

2. Yoshi Tatsu defeated Tyson Kid in a necklace on a pole match at 10:17. Both men went to the pole quickly and both got slammed to the mat. They both went for the necklace and ended up knocking each other to the floor where they both recovered…[C]

Back from commercial, Tyson Kidd hooked a Boston crab through the ropes on Yoshi in a cool looking hold. Yoshi reversed the next whip and hit a roundhouse kick. He climbed up for the necklace but got caught. Kidd tied Yoshi to the tree of woe and then tried to climb over him. Tatsu fought back and grabbed the necklace. Kidd hit a super back suplex, but Tatsu held on to the necklace for the win.

Post-match, Kidd attacked Yoshi and wrecked his leg all over the ring side area. He hooked a figure four around the post until another ref came out and finally convinced him to let go….The Raw replay is next…[C]

Shore's Slant: A good match, but I'm kind of dead on this feud. It's not overdone or anything, at least not yet. But it just doesn't thrill me like I had hoped. They always seem held back. I realize NXT is first in the tapings and you don't want to burn your crowd out, but this is like Jessica Alba coming out every week and doing a strip tease to her bra and panties. It's still worth watching, but after a while you realize that even though there is the promise of more, you will never get to see it. And that kind of spoils the whole act.

The last five minutes (roughly) of the John Cena vs. Rey Mysterio match from Raw was shown, including C.M. Punk coming out…

Shore's Slant: I hate ending the show this way…but it's probably better than the garbage they would give us from NXT. Another meaningless show that served as a vehicle to show Raw replays instead of actually creating the next WWE Superstar.

Questions? Comments? Anyone, anyone? Let me hear from you. Email me at css3238@gmail.com with whatever is on your mind.