There is a rant at the end of this blog, but first for the positivity! Sort of.
4. Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins
Tonight, for seemingly no reason at ALL, Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins were scheduled to fight… The Great Khali and Ezekiel Jackson. Look, I try not to hate on someone too much, but Khali and Jackson don’t have it in the ring. They don’t have it on the mic. They. Don’t. Have it! Doesn’t mean they aren’t nice guys, but that doesn’t matter to me when I have to watch a match. So they put these two against Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins, who can wrestle circles around most people in the company and instead have to be champs and sell being beaten by Khali and Jackson. I guess I get to forgo any plot (that seems to be forgotten because our security staff is suddenly back in the ring and Regal has nothing to say about it) for this. Yay…?
3. Johnny Curtis vs. Percy Watson
I almost put this at number four, just for the fact that neither man seemed to want to be there. They did a good job, they wrestled a good match, but Reks and Hawkins put on more of a show while Curtis and Watson seemed to go through the motions. However, this was still a solid match between two talented men that flowed well and lasted about the amount of time it should have.
2. Kaitlyn vs. Maxine
We’ve seen it before. We’ll see it again. However, Maxine and Kaitlyn keep improving in the ring. Maxine comes out in a new outfit, 
which received mixed reviews. She’s hot, and bronzed, and just beautiful, but it’s not that sultry Maxine we’ve all come to love. I am wondering if this is her new gear for when she becomes a diva on Raw and Smackdown, which sadly would be a step down. Though after this episode…
1. DERRICK BATEMAN vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Michael McGillicutty
This match was incredible. I’m not just saying that because Bateman was in it, though watching him wrestle always helps my mood. Kidd, Bateman, and McGillicutty put on a spectacle that is again worthy of a pay-per-view match and instead is the match no one will see. Granted, Kidd’s matches are usually the best ones on NXT anyway, but Bateman and McGillicutty had a big reason for it this time. Kidd and Bateman team up, then turn against each other, and once Bateman is out of the ring he just can’t catch a break and get back into the ring for a good while. McGillicutty, Kidd, and Bateman tell a story in the ring, and someone needed to as it definitely was not the WWE this week. If you watch anything from NXT this week, let it be this show.
Now, for the ranting portion of Solace’s blog. Where the Hell was the plot? I keep getting told on twitter and face book and anywhere else I have complained that, “They’ll just pick it back up when they move. I heard it from such-and-such source.” Yeah, and those sites are always reliable, aren’t they? No, this is a big slap in the face from WWE. There are a few tapings left and we don’t get any form of plot. Reks and Hawkins’ storyline is forgotten. Bateman’s knee injury, forgotten. Everything is just a matter of good matches on this show. People do not watch NXT for just the wrestling. The reason NXT gained an audience again when all was lost for awhile was because there was suddenly a plot. Sure, it’s a soap opera-esque plot and has crazy storylines, but guess what, Raw does the same thing, or did once, and it’s what everyone kept claiming they once loved.
But I’m not the only one who complained. Here are some quotes from forums:
“What the fuck happend to NXT?”
“The person booking this week ought to be shot. Fuck this shit.”
“Seriously though, watching NXT yesterday made me a sad panda. All the wonderful storylines and character development, flushed down the drain for something likely to be less. It’s an upgrade for FCW, but a huge loss for current WWE low-card talent and NXT fans.”
“Khali and Zeke beat Hawkins and Reks? Is like Vince is saying Fuck You to the tag team division.”
“No backstage segments, Khali being horrible all over Hawkins and Reks… Let’s hope tommorow’s tapings for the new show are promising.”
“ Latest show was a huge disappointment. I know it was the ‘last NXT’ but wrapping up storylines? Nah. We’ll just have Hawkins and Reks job to Zeke and Khali, two people who are never on the show and we won’t have any angles, any segments, any mic time, any Striker.”
And a few more. And by a few I mean a lot. So what are your thoughts on this latest (and possibly last?) NXT?
HELLIONS TEAM 
I think that whomever made the decision to simply drop the ongoing stories happening on NXT (which were by far the best thing the WWE has done this year) and replace it with random matches needs to retire. I’m going to blame Vince, because frankly, the guy has a long history of arbitrarily ending things simply because he “doesn’t get it.”
The triple threat match WAS fantastic, but it could have still been great without ignoring everything that’s happened for the last six months. NXT had been killing Raw/Smackdown in the wrestling department anyway. That’s correct. NXT has been considerably better than Raw and Smackdown for six months now. This is not open to debate, nor is it close.
On another hostile note, while I hate to be “one of those guys” who clamors for people to be fired, Khali and Ezekiel Jackson might be the two worst in-ring performers on the planet. It’s a crime against humanity that they were not only shoveled onto NXT, but that Reks & Hawkins (the most rounded and talented team in the company) had the displeasure of “putting them over.”
Watch NXT for the triple threat, and possibly for the greatness that is Maxine, but don’t expect anything out of the rest of the show. It has the stench of McMahons all over it.
I love your rant piece on Reks/Hawkins match. It made absolutely no sense. You know how I reacted on twitter. It would have been better suited if they went against Watson and Kidd given what happened the week prior.
I LOVE Maxine’s new gear. She can FINALLY be taken more credible, she doesn’t look like she’s going out in her lingerie anymore. It’s a nice twist of what Rosa, and Jillian used to rock. Not a problem at all. So what if she’s wearing similar to other girls stuff? Not like she’s gonna blend in. Sad part is, they were giving her something besides just wrestling and backstage bit, the whole smiling stuff was great, and now what? I fear she’ll lose that.
It’s a pity how quickly this show went from being great to WTF. It all went down hill the second Regal got his position and while I like Regal, it seems to have hurt the show in some way.
Normally I find NXT to be a welcome break from the usual WWE programming; different, interesting talent and a focus on genuine storytelling. This week’s episode took a departure from storytelling and suffered because of it. The fact that Khali and Jackson are still employed is a joke, and the fact that Hawkins and Reks are putting them over makes it even worse. I thought Hawkins and Reks would be given a push, as the WWE’s tag team division is, quite frankly, a shambles. But no. They are there to job to the two biggest clowns the WWE has to offer. Asides from this disgrace, the triple threat match was something very special. Kidd, McGillicutty and Bateman are possibly the three most underrated singles wrestlers in the WWE, and this showed it. All three showed that they have varied and interesting movesets, and have tonnes more talent than the aforementioned morons, Khali and Jackson. To conclude, I WANT THE OLD NXT BACK.
Well that was pointless…NXT became Superstars. Why not use the show to hype a new beginning next week? People have become invested in storylines and then they are simply dropped. Why?
Three way was very good but what was the point in it? No title on the line or title shot. Unless it is a three way grudge there is no point in the match – TNA do that kind of garbage all the time.
Maxine looked hot though!
It’s sad if this is indeed the end of a quality-filled NXT with coherent storylines…not to mention they couldn’t even have a “blow-off” that at least concludes everything that was going on. It is indeed a slap in the face, both to the talent and to us fans who have been clamoring so much about how good NXT. Is it there way of “punishing” us for chastising their main product while the younger guys were holding our attention? I don’t think it was completely, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone that had to do with the change might have had that thought in mind, at least.
Still, this was a great episode of matches, and would have made an awesome Superstars…it’s too bad it was NXT.
I haven’t watched it yet… and right now don’t feel like I want to, sickened by Khali being on there, what a joke!! I’ll watch it anyway for Bateman/Kidd/Maxine and Reks but what a shame!