WWE NXT

WWE NXT is a brand of World Wrestling Entertainment. It debuted on March 2, 2010 with a weekly television series. The NXT brand is one of WWE's three brands, the other two being RAW and SmackDown. It replaces ECW, therefore it is set on SyFy. The show's format was revealed in an article by Variety on February 16, with a press release from WWE made shortly later that day.

Season 1
The first season of NXT began airing on Syfy on February 23, 2010 and ended on June 1, 2010. The majority of the season 1 cast was revealed on the series finale of ECW. However before the season's premiere aired, Skip Sheffield's Pro was changed with William Regal replacing the announced Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP).

Near the end of the season, several changes were made to the original plan of the format. The season was originally planned to be 17 weeks long, but ended up cut down to 15 episodes. In the first elimination episode on May 11, both Michael Tarver and Daniel Bryan were eliminated by WWE Management and removed from that night's Pros' Poll after both made comments about wanting to be voted off. The show ended with three eliminations, with Sheffield ranked last in the Poll. Carlito was released on May 20 for refusing rehab after violating WWE's Wellness Program. Subsequent Pros' Polls were held without him for the rest of the season.

The winner of the season was Wade Barrett. Six days after the end of the first season, the Rookies interfered in the Raw main event match between John Cena and CM Punk, attacking both competitors as well as the announcing team before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment. During the segment, Bryan strangled ring announcer Justin Roberts with the announcer's own tie, which WWE reportedly felt was too violent for their TV-PG programming. As a consequence, WWE announced via their official website four days later that Bryan had been (legitimately) released from his contract. The following episode of Raw, the storyline continued with general manager Bret Hart (kayfabe) firing Barrett, revoking his contract and guaranteed title match, as a consequence to the previous week's incident. A week later, WWE chairman Vince McMahon fired Hart and changed the decision, hiring all seven rookies and reinstating Barrett's title shot. During an in-ring promo later that night, the rookies announced that they had formed an alliance called the Nexus.

Contestants

Rookie (Pro) (Status)
 * Wade Barrett (Chris Jericho) (Winner)
 * David Otunga (R-Truth) (Eliminated Week 15)
 * Justin Gabriel (Matt Hardy) (Eliminated Week 15)
 * Heath Slater (Christian) (Eliminated Week 14)
 * Darren Young (CM Punk) (Eliminated Week 13)
 * Skip Sheffield (William Regal) (Eliminated Week 12)
 * Daniel Bryan (The Miz) (Eliminated Week 12)
 * Michael Tarver (Carlito) (Eliminated Week 12)

Accomplishments
Season 1 winner - Wade Barrett

Poll results
- Winner of competition – Safe in competition – Eliminated from competition by Pros' Poll - Eliminated from competition by WWE management – Won immunity prior to that particular poll and is ineligible to be eliminated

NXT Challenges

 * Keg Carrying Challenge - winner gets main event match on NXT
 * Winner - Heath Slater


 * Talk the Talk Challenge - winner gets a personal entrance theme song
 * Winner - Wade Barrett


 * Rock'em Sock'em Rookies Challenge - winner gets an exclusive feature on WWE.com
 * Winner - Skip Sheffield


 * Seal the Deal Challenge - winner gets to face a WWE Pro of his choosing
 * Winner - David Otunga


 * Obstacle Course Challenge - winner gets an Immunity Pass and can't be eliminated next week
 * Winner - Justin Gabriel

Season 2
The second season of NXT started on June 8, 2010 and is set to end on August 24, 2010. The season 2 cast was revealed on the first season finale on June 1, 2010. In this season, the polls will be different as rankings will be based half on Pro votes and half on votes from fans via WWE's official website. The first poll was shown in Week 4 with weekly polls set to start three weeks later. Initially, the second poll was set to be the first elimination poll like season 1. However, the first poll was made a surprise elimination round on the night.

Contestants

Rookie (Pro(s)) (Status)
 * Kaval (Team Lay-Cool: Michelle McCool and Layla) (Winner)
 * Michael McGillicutty (Kofi Kingston) (Eliminated Week 13)
 * Alex Riley (The Miz) (Eliminated Week 13)
 * Husky Harris (Cody Rhodes) (Eliminated Week 11)
 * Percy Watson (Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP)) (Eliminated Week 11)
 * Lucky Cannon (Mark Henry) (Eliminated Week 10)
 * Eli Cottonwood (John Morrison) (Eliminated Week 8)
 * Titus O'Neil (Zack Ryder) (Eliminated Week 4)

Accomplishments
Season 2 winner - Kaval

Poll results
- Winner of competition – Safe in competition – Eliminated from competition by NXT Poll – Won immunity prior to that particular poll and is ineligible to be eliminated

NXT Challenges

 * Keg Carrying Challenge - Winner gets an immunity pass and can't get eliminated from that night's poll
 * Winner - Lucky Cannon


 * Talk the Talk Challenge - Winner gets his own one-night-only talk show on next week’s WWE NXT
 * Winner - Percy Watson


 * Obstacle Course Challenge - Winner gets an immunity pass and can't get eliminated from next week's poll
 * Winner - Micheal McGillicutty


 * Kissing Contest Challenge - No Prize
 * Winner - Lucky Cannon

Season 3 (Divas Edition)
The third season of NXT is set to start on September 7, 2010 and will be a Diva-exclusive season. This will be the second contest produced by WWE to find a new Diva, the first being the WWE Diva Search held between 2003 and 2007.

The majority of the season 3 cast was revealed on the second season finale on August 31, 2010. However, before the season's premiere aired, Vickie Guerrero fired her Rookie Diva, Aloisia, after an argument over Guerrero's influence over Aloisia. Guerrero will reveal her new Rookie Diva in the season 3 premiere.

Poll results
– Safe in competition – Eliminated from competition by NXT Poll – Won immunity prior to that particular poll and is ineligible to be eliminated

As the result of a tie break between A.J. and Kaitlyn before the poll, Kaitlyn won immunity through a crowd reaction vote.

Hosts

 * Matt Striker

Commentators

 * Michael Cole
 * Josh Matthews

Ring announcers

 * Savannah - (Season 1)
 * Jamie Keyes - (Season 2)
 * Tony Chimel - (Season 3)

External links and references


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