WWE NXT
Date Aired: July 18th, 2012
Location: Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, USA
Commentators: Byron Saxton & William Regal/Jim Ross
OPENING PACKAGE
DIVAS MATCH
Tamina Snuka defeated Kaitlyn – Tamina pinned Kaitlyn after hitting a Top Rope Superfly Splash.
RAW 1000 – MONDAY NIGHT’S MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS: Chris Jericho‘s WWE debut, August 9th, 1999. Presented by Chris Jericho.
VIDEO PACKAGE: Big E Langston
SINGLES MATCH
Jinder Mahal defeated Percy Watson – Mahal made Watson tap out to the Camel Clutch.
SINGLES MATCH
Leo Kruger defeated Richie Steamboat – Kruger pinned Steamboat with a roll up and putting his feet on the ropes for leverage.
VIDEO PACKAGE: Raquel Diaz, debuting in the next match.
DIVAS MATCH
Raquel Diaz defeated Paige– Diaz pinned Paige after hitting a Gory Bomb.
BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
Alex Riley & Aksana + Antonio Cesaro – Cesaro accused Riley of hitting on Aksana. They set up a match for next week.
MAIN EVENT – SINGLES MATCH
Justin Gabriel defeated Heath Slater – Gabriel pinned Slater after hitting a Reverse DDT.
Jim Ross joined Saxton and Regal at commentary for this match.
WWE NXT is a sports entertainment television program produced by WWE that debuted on February 23, 2010. NXT was originally presented as a hybrid between reality television and WWE’s scripted live event shows, the premise of the show followed select talent contracted to WWE’s developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in a competition to become WWE’s next breakout star with the help of mentors from WWE’s Raw and SmackDown brands. The first four seasons saw Wade Barrett, Kaval, Kaitlyn, and Johnny Curtis winning NXT. In the later stages of season five, the all-rookie competition was abandoned with no winner being officially named, although Derrick Bateman was the final remaining rookie on NXT Redemption after both Titus O’Neil and Darren Young were signed to the SmackDown brand.
The show originally made its debut on Syfy in February 2010, replacing ECW, which concluded the previous week. Less than a month after its premiere, it was announced that WWE SmackDown would move from MyNetworkTV to Syfy in October. NXT aired its final episode on Syfy on September 28, 2010 to make way for SmackDown, and began airing as a webcast at WWE.com for visitors from the United States from October 5, 2010 to June 13, 2012. Outside of the United States, the show is still televised.
WWE NXT isn’t being broadcast on TV in the United States because of lower values.