5/31/11 NXT

Ratings:

Vladimit Kozlov & Conor O'Brian win the gauntlet: **1/4

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Statistics:

Here are the official NXT rookie's records as of 5/31/11:

Titus O'Neil: 7-3
Lucky Cannon: 6-4

Conor O'Brian: 5-4

Darren Young: 4-8

Jacob Novak: 2-5 (eliminated)

Byron Saxton: 2-8

WWE Redemption Points:

Titus O'Neil: 19 (Talk the Talk; Keg Carry; Arm Wrestling, Power of the Punch, King of the Hill)

Darren Young: 7 (Obstacle Course; Battle of the Mic)

Jacob Novak: 6 (Pull Through; Know Your Pro)

Byron Saxton: 4 (Trivia)

Conor O'Brian: 3 (Tag Team Turmoil)

Lucky Cannon: 0

This Week's Challenge: Tag Team Turmoil (3 points)

Wow, could this be wrestling for Redemption Points? Now this is more like it. Thoughts are below.

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Reviews/Thoughts:

Oh great, Michael Cole is on NXT again? Didn't he walk off NXT a few seasons ago? Yeah, great job, WWE.

So the winner of this season gets to return next season on the same damn show. At least he gets to pick his own pro, but man, the prize for winning just sucks now. Oh, Redemption Points are back! Good grief. Maryse, could you get through the standings any slower? Damn.

Tag Team Turmoil sounds good, but first, rookies tell us why they should not be eliminated tonight. And hey, Lucky Cannon didn't say "It's all about...me!" this time! I liked Darren Young's promo...yeah, Black John Cena cue from the announce team! But really, Hornswoggle as the greatest pro in NXT history?! That honor should go to Chris Jericho! At least all of the rookies did a pretty respectable job on their promos.

Kidd/Cannon vs. Hornswoggle/O'Neil: Botched spot with O'Neil and Kidd early on. Less than average here.

Kidd/Cannon vs. Tatsu/Saxton: Good job to have Saxton try to do it himself. Love the "We want Yoshi!" chants. Good finish.

Kozlov/O'Brian vs. Kidd/Cannon: Of course, JTG has to come out during the match because his rookie (Novak) is gone. Cole backing JTG? Never thought I'd hear that one.

Kozlov/O'Brian vs. Guerrero/Young: At least they got the most time here. Good match, and I liked the rookies finishing the match off. Conor gets three Redemption points!

Byron Saxton has been eliminated. Cuts the heel in-character promo. Yoshi has a poker face during all of this. I get that Saxton had the worst record for actual wrestling matches, but how the hell is Lucky Cannon still around? He really must be lucky -- the guy is the last one remaining with no Redemption points.