By Rich Twilling

WWE NXT on WWE.com
Live from Dayton, Ohio

[Q1] The opening video aired and fireworks lit up the stage. Todd Grisham (yes, Todd Grisham) introduced the show. Matt Striker introduced the pros from the ring. Each pro introduced his rookie. R-Truth and Johnny Curtis, Ted DiBiase and Brodus Clay, Chris Masters and Byron Saxton were the first three pairs.

Dolph Ziggler and Jacob Novak, Daniel Bryan and Derrick Bateman, and Alberto Del Rio and Conor O'Brian rounded out the NXT twelve of season four. Nobody did an overwhelming job of announcing their rookie, but Ricardo Rodriguez did the honors for O'Brian, Bryan said his rookie was very manly, and R-Truth said his guy was "the hottest thing since grits."

Twill's Two Cents: Mathews did mention that Saxton was a former ECW announcer. Clay has a noticeable look. First up is a thirty second introduction for each guy.

Johnny Curtis threw a shout out to his fourth grade gym teacher. Brodus Clay said he is the next breakout star and if you aren't cool with that, you can do nothing and like it. Byron Saxton did what can only be described as a Howard Finkel impression.

Jacob Novak talked about board games and said he would own the entire board, or something like that. Derrick Bateman is from Ohio, so he received a nice pop for that. He said he was "man-tastic." Conor O'Brian said he looked like a rat, but they are survivors...

Twill's Two Cents: Conor sounds like a rat too. Early nod goes to Brodus Clay.

Alberto Del Rio told Conor O'Brian he needed to do a better job if he was going to be his rookie. Daniel Bryan told O'Brian he did a fine job, even though he did look like a rat. He said Del Rio was jealous because he has not won a championship in WWE.

Del Rio and Bryan nearly got physical and Striker booked a tag team main event of Del Rio and O'Brian vs. Bryan and Bateman...

[Q2] A Byron Saxton hype video aired. These videos are a little longer than they were in the past. Nice job introducing the new guys to the viewers... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Could be no Michael Cole, what they would have done anyway, or both, but they are definitely taking things more seriously in season four.

1. Johnny Curtis (with R-Truth) defeated Jacob Novak (with Dolph Ziggler) in 3:23. Novak is taller; picture a Wade Barrett body type. Curtis is similar to Randy Orton. Curtis hit a nice powerslam for a two count.

Both men missed moves to the corner and Curtis hit a jumping kick to Novak's head. Curtis then went to the top and hit a leg drop for the win...

Twill's Two Cents: Passable and entertaining in spots. Curtis just needs time to perfect what he does. Novak has that look that either you will like or you won't. Don't see a lot of middle ground there. Jury is still out, of course. It's early. Excited though that they are taking this seriously.

The Brodus Clay video aired. The man is an impressive specimen, but he can talk too. Very intelligent guy... [C]

[Q3] The first rookie competition is "Capture the Flag." From the stage, the rookie runs to ringside, puts a ladder in the ring, climbs it, grabs the flag, and runs back up the stage. Curtis set the pace at nearly 29 seconds. O'Brian barely beat the time.

Big Brodus, who has his name on his chest (smart), was impressive, but could not beat the time. Saxton said he was "going to be himself." He took his sweet ass time and earned a shitty time. Novak coasted by the finish line and still set the pace at 26.9 seconds.

Bateman was (unintentionally?) funny in saying he could beat the time. Del Rio made fun of him and Bryan rooted him on. He even started a "Bateman" chant. Bateman beat the time, but the clock guy had his head up his ass. Novak "won" the contest... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: This clock guy has sucked throughout every season of NXT. Novak gets the first "immunity point." At least this contest replicated some of the athleticism needed to get to the next level.

The Raw Rebound featured the Michael Cole/Randy Orton/The Miz situation. The announcers ran down the current card for the TLC pay-per-view...

Backstage, Ted DiBiase and Maryse argued. Brodus Clay stood by and listened. DiBiase told him he would win the competition if he listened to him. Brodus said he had some questions and the two of them took off, leaving Maryse behind...

Byron Saxton was rubbing cream on himself or something. Chris Masters came in and they compared physiques. Byron said he would catch Masters later because he was off to a WWE.com photo shoot...

Twill's Two Cents: Having a good pro is huge in this competition, so it doesn't look good for Saxton. However, he does have a look WWE likes, so if he just keeps working on being a douche, which he can do well, he might be just fine.

Daniel Bryan and Derrick Bateman made their entrance... [C]

2. Alberto Del Rio and Conor O'Brian defeated Daniel Bryan and Derrick Bateman in 10:56. O'Brian worked a very physical style and hit a nice suplex before tagging in Del Rio. Bateman survived the onslaught and hit an airplane spin on O'Brian.

Bryan tagged in and did the move himself. He did it forever and ever. He then hit a running drop kick. He followed that up by knocking Del Rio to the floor as well. Bateman tagged in and hit suicide dive onto both men... [C]

Back from commercial, the heels teamed up with frequent tags and offense in their corner. Bateman received a lukewarm tag and hit a very impressive flipping neckbreaker on Del Rio. Bryan took out O'Brian on the floor. Del Rio recovered and applied the cross arm breaker for the win...

After the match, Bryan gave Bateman encouragement as they headed up the ramp...

Twill's Two Cents: Nice showing by the rookies here, but despite the matches and competitions tonight, Clay made the biggest impression during week one. They are definitely taking this one more seriously and it could lead to a positive season. Having Del Rio as a pro should help O'Brian. Having Bryan as a pro will definitely help Bateman, since Bryan will cheerlead for him every week. Thank you for following along with me tonight.

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