WWE News: The NXT Report (3.1.11) Season 4 Finale!

Ready to be Wild & Young one last time?! If so, you’ve come to the right place, as I’m here to call the action from the big finale of NXT Season Four!

It’s been a nice few months, right? We’ve had some laughs, shed some tears (admittedly me when Bateman was eliminated last week) but most of all, NXT has kept me entertained since the very first episode; I will be sad to see this season (maybe even the whole show) go.

We’ve whittled down Jacob Novak, Conor O’Brian, Byron Saxton and Derrick Bateman. Tonight, either Johnny Curtis or Brodus Clay be crowned WWE’s newest breakout star and will be given at shot at the Tag Team Championships in the near future.

Without any further delay, let’s get to it!

First up is a nifty little video package recapping the entire season. Wow, we’ve had some great rookies this time around. Clay, Curtis, Saxton and Bateman should all make it onto the main roster. The four of them have the potential to be stars—if the WWE does it right. Jacob Novak is uninteresting and O’Brian has an awful gimmick. But who knows what the future holds?

The pros here tonight are Daniel Bryan, Chris Masters, Maryse, R Truth and Ricardo Rodriguez. Where the hell is Ted DiBiase? Maryse has been here in his place for weeks now. What on earth is going on?

And I think Maryse got a face pop; I think she even waved back to the crowd. Is she going to be turning now? Is she still with Ted? Why am I putting more thought into the Divas and the mid-carders than the WWE does?

R Truth introduces the rookie that is “going to win NXT Season Four”—Johnny Curtis! Who I believe got a haircut.

Ricardo Rodriguez comes out to some heat and introduces Brodus Clay in Spanish.

The two rookies and their pros are now standing in the ring with Matt Striker, who goes through the usual NXT business.

He asks Curtis to tell the audience how much it means to him to be in the final. He cuts a very good promo on Clay, showing a more serious side for once.

Clay also recaps on the mini-rivalry the two men have had and gets some great heat by calling the Cleveland crowd “lousy” and calling himself a winner like LeBron James.

Striker then tells the two men to cool it for a while, as they will be facing each other one-on-one in the first match of the night.

First Match: Johnny Curtis vs. Brodus Clay

The match starts off with some good back-and-forth action. Curtis and Clay have grown some strong chemistry in the ring over the past few weeks and it really shows. They seem to flow naturally together.

Clay quickly tries to go for his finisher but Curtis counters.

Aaaaaand we cut to commercial. Who wants to volunteer to buy me the new Wrestlemania DVD?

When we come back, Clay has Curtis in his vice grip and is working the neck/shoulder area as usual. Curtis works his way out of it but ends up getting clotheslined back onto the mat.

Clay hits his beautiful German Suplex and goes for the pin. Curtis kicks out at two. Clay gets the vice grip locked in again. Curtis counters it again and whacks Clay in the mouth but gets cornered again. Clay chops him sharply in the chest. He then goes for the big corner attack but Curtis gets out of dodge and goes for the offense. As soon as Clay is on the ground, Curtis goes to the top rope but Clay throws him off.

Clay hits his running splash and picks up the win.

Winner: Brodus Clay

Short, but good match. As I already mentioned, the two men have some good chemistry and work very well together.

We cut backstage where the number one rookie/pro pairing ever are in the locker room. Bateman talks up Cleveland to his pro, Daniel Bryan, and he doesn’t seem one bit upset about being sent home last week. However, Bryan remembers his promise that if Bateman got eliminated, he would punch him in the face.

“You wouldn’t punch your friend, would you?”

“You wouldn’t punch your friend while he’s wearing glasses, would you?”

Oh, but he did!

Bateman is sent flying and Bryan tells his rookie that he needs to go out there and win the NXT reunion tag match tonight.

Not for Bryan, but for himself, Chicks and America!

God, I love these two.

Second Match: Derrick Bateman and Conor O’Brian vs. Jacob Novak and Byron Saxton

All four eliminated rookies are here tonight for a tag match and we start off with Bateman and Novak.

Bateman takes the lead and dropkicks Novak to start off. He has the crowd solidly behind him, since this IS his home town.

He tags O’Brian in and he immediately goes to work on the arm of Jacob Novak. Novak then gets himself into the corner and tags in Saxton and his nice purple tights.

He starts off aggressive but Conor ends up getting the upper hand. He gets Saxton’s head between his legs and swings his own body around in a maneuver I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

Saxton counters a move and ends up getting his opponent into the corner, tagging in Jacob Novak. Novak controls O’Brian from the get-go and tags Saxton back in quickly.

Saxton continues working Conor’s leg but he crawls his way back to the corner and tags Bateman in. Bateman gets a big pop—and not even a cheap one!

He brings energy to the match and throws clothesline after clothesline at Byron Saxton.

Bateman continues on in this fashion until Saxton counters a clothesline and hits a jawbreaker on him. He goes to his corner to get a tag but for some reason, Novak jumps off of the apron and leaves, smiling.

As Saxton looks up in disbelief, Bateman waits in the opposite corner and hits a huge dropkick as Saxton turns around.

He gets him up and hits a running neckbreaker (which Saxton didn’t sell too well). Bateman then gets Saxton in a headlock and hits another impressive neckbreaker-like move, picking up the win.

Winners: Derrick Bateman and Conor O’Brian

A decent match; nothing too memorable. Derrick Bateman is a great talent and O’Brian deserves a better gimmick because he’s a very good wrestler who cannot be taken seriously, as he is a “rat.” Byron was also good in this match and Novak was okay.

Am I the only one who misses Dolph Ziggler’s little comments from the stage?

Anyway, next up: The winner of NXT Season 4 shall be announced!

Well, on commentary Matthews and Grisham say that there will indeed be a Season Five of NXT and it will be like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Maybe it WILL be that legend/legend’s son season?

Enough of that; let’s get back to the present.

And the winner is…

JOHNNY CURTIS!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!

Johnny is filled with emotion and breaks down. Truth gets into the ring and supports his rookie, telling the audience that that is real emotion and those are real tears. Aw!

Curtis shakes his rival’s hand, which gets a huge reaction from the audience. He cuts a heartfelt promo and gets the crowd behind him even more.

Clay then gets the chance to speak and berates the audience for taking his dream away. He says he won every competition he was in and did everything he had to do. But he gets it. He doesn’t look like Johnny, or anyone there—a very fair point, I have to say. He continues talking down the crowd and lets them know he will take their heroes away. He gets some heat while he’s talking and walks away, agitated.

“CLEVELAND, WHAT’S UP!” is all R Truth has to say about the big win.

Well folks, there you have it. All the contests, all the matches, all the Chicks, America and SUBMISSION WRESTLING boiled down to Johnny Curtis taking home the crown of NXT’s Breakout Star. This means he and R Truth can go on to challenge the Tag Team Champions, Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater, at any time they please.

I honestly enjoyed this season and I feel we got a lot of talent out of it. Johnny Curtis has been in development for almost four years now and I can understand his emotion. This guy needs to get onto the main roster more than anyone right now and if it’s through NXT, then great. He’s a talented dude and I wish him all the best in the future. He will be a great singles star one day—but for now, I guess being in a tag team with R Truth is good enough.

Brodus Clay is also very good and I know he will get his shot in the future. Same with the other guys, some more than others though. We will just have to wait and see.

I can’t wait to see what they have in store for Season Five, so join me next week to find out!

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-Leva Lies