WWE NXT (Season 5)

NXT Redemption, the fifth season of NXT, started on March 8, 2011. The season consists of six rookies chosen from all previous non-Diva seasons returning to compete for a spot in the sixth season of NXT alongside a WWE Superstar of their choice as their pro for that season. Immunity and the immunity points system have been replaced in this season with a "redemption point" system, where, in the result of a tie at the bottom place between the pros' poll and the fan vote, the person with the most redemption points avoids elimination. On June 25, 2011, Chavo Guerrero was granted a release from the WWE, leaving Darren Young without a pro, unlike Carlito of season one where he was released after his rookie, Michael Tarver, was already eliminated.
On June 28, after Conor O'Brian was eliminated, Derrick Bateman was brought back. Daniel Bryan also returned as Bateman's pro, but weeks after not appearing with Bateman after he turned heel, Bryan said he was disowning Bateman due to the rookie's actions. On August 5, Vladimir Kozlov was also released from the WWE but, similar to Carlito, his rookie was already eliminated. While no divas from season three were part of the competition, since the end of regular eliminations June 28 both AJ Lee & Maxine have returned as the girlfriends of Hornswoggle and Bateman respectively.
In later episodes, NXT Redemption was devoid of the typical challenges and eliminations while pros have feuded with each other, Young (later joined by JTG) with host Matt Striker and announcer William Regal, Yoshi Tatsu with Tyson Kidd and Bateman/Maxine with O'Neil/Hornswoggle/AJ. On September 27, Hornswoggle delivered a letter to AJ and O'Neil claiming he was being anchored to the dead NXT ship and needing to set sail to Smackdown, leaving Titus (the last rookie being mentored) without a pro. On October 5, NXT moved to its new day and time, Wednesday at 4 p.m. EST. NXT Redemption also featured lower card superstars signed to the RAW or Smackdown brands, competing not as pros or rookies, like Yoshi Tatsu, Trent Baretta, The Usos, Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins, as well as former NXT contestants Percy Watson, season 3 winner Kaitlyn, and season 4 winner Johnny Curtis.
It was announced on October 6 that Darren Young was suspended by WWE for 30 days for violating of the company's wellness policy. On the October 12 edition of NXT, O'Neil and Bateman were referred to as the final two rookies in the competition with no mention whatsoever of Young, implying that he was eliminated from the competition due to his suspension. Young's suspension ended on November 5, and Young returned on the November 16th edition of NXT. The following week, in his return match Young teamed with Tyler Reks to defeat the team of Titus O'Neil and Percy Watson. On January 11, 2012, NXT debuted a new intro which replaced the intro containing only the remaining finalists. The new intro features all the talent from NXT Redemption, including WWE Superstars from Raw and Smackdown currently on the show, confirming the end of the rookie competition format.
In the weeks leading up to the show's 100th episode, stars from Raw and Smackdown who got their start on NXT, including Justin Gabriel, Michael McGillicutty, Alex Riley and Heath Slater, made special appearances. NXT celebrated its 100th episode special on January 18 in Las Vegas with O'Neil decisively defeating Young in a No Disqualification Match, before going on an anger-fueled tirade in which he insulted his former pro Hornswoggle and berated the fans in attendance, turning heel in the process. Derrick Bateman interrupted the wedding between Maxine and Johnny Curtis with footage of Curtis hacking Bateman's iPad to send an email to Smackdown General Manager Teddy Long. The email, sent through Bateman's address, contained disparaging remarks about Maxine and ultimately drove her into Curtis' arms. Upon this revelation Maxine slapped Curtis in the face and kissed Bateman. The following week O'Neil furthered his heel turn by assaulting his former friend and tag team partner, Percy Watson after O'Neil defeated Watson. On the February 1 edition of NXT, O'Neil even further solidified his transformation by aligning himself with his former rival Darren Young as they competed in a tag team match against Percy Watson and Alex Riley.
On February 29, on the "one year anniversary" of season five (actually over a full week prior to its March 8 anniversary), Matt Striker announced that William Regal would take over as the authority figure and match coordinator, with Striker being retained as the show's host. On March 14, William Regal put together a special episode featuring "the lost art" of tag teaming, as the Usos defeated Young and O'Neil, Hawkins and Reks defeated Riley and Watson and Bateman and Kaitlyn defeated Curtis and Maxine in a mixed tag team match.
On April 18, it was announced that Darren Young and Titus O'Neil would also compete on the SmackDown brand under orders of the show's General Manager, John Laurinaitis. On April 25, it was announced by Matt Striker that new wrestlers will appear on NXT due to Titus O'Neil and Darren Young leaving the show to go compete on SmackDown. This made Derrick Bateman the unofficial winner of NXT Redemption.
Season five is by far the longest to date. The first season was a distant second at 15 episodes. This is due to the fact that all rookie competition was abandoned during late 2011 and it became a regular television season rather than a shorter competition.
On May 17, NXT began taping episodes from its new home, Full Sail University in Florida. Four episodes of NXT were taped on this night. The new direction of NXT is intended to grant national exposure to stars from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling, as a way to refine their skills on a grander stage, while being provided the opportunity to compete against or alongside current WWE Superstars before being called up to the main roster. The episodes taped on May 17 are part of a new season with the air date or networks uncertain. Despite the May 17 tapings NXT Redemption continued to be taped on Tuesdays, along with Smackdown for another four weeks. The final episode of NXT Redemption streamed on June 13, where it was announced that the new season would begin airing the following week.
NXT Redemption was by far the longest season in the show's history, exceeding the total number of episodes for all previous seasons, not just individually but combined.
====Contestants====
Rookie	Pro	Past season	Wins	Losses	Status
 	 	Season 4 	12 	14 	
 	 	Season 1 	18 	21 	
 	 	Season 2 	25 	18 	
 	 	Season 4 	6 	6 	
 	 	Season 2 	6 	6 	
 	 	Season 4 	2 	8 	
 	JTG	Season 4 	2 	5 	
====Poll results====
Rookie	Week 11(May 16)	Week 13(May 31)	Week 15(June 14)	Week 17(June 28)	Week 29(October 5)	Week 35(November 16)	Week 59(April 18)
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==NXT broadcast staff changes==
Play-by-play Announcer Todd Grisham left WWE after the August 25 episode, while Maryse had been removed due to injury and eventually she was released by the WWE. Jack Korpela, who serves as the play-by-play commentator for the Smackdown portion of WWE Superstars officially replaced Todd Grisham as NXT commentator beginning on September 6, 2011 and his NXT run as announcer ended on September 2, 2011 where he would be replaced with Josh Mathews and Matt Striker alternating with William Regal on commentary as Korpela's contract with WWE expire and opted to not re-sign. NXT also had a change in ring announcers as Tony Chimel would no longer work the NXT/Smackdown tapings as a ring announcer, As of December 6, 2011 at the NXT/Smackdown taping he would be replaced on NXT by Eden Stiles and on Smackdown by Lillian Garcia. Eden Stiles would later announce on December 20, 2011 that she asked for her release from WWE. Eden worked her final WWE appearances for the NXT and Superstars tapings airing December 21 and December 22 respectively. Tony Chimel has seen been named NXT ring announcer and Superstars will no longer use a dual-branded ring announcer.
==Redemption Challenges==
* Boot Camp Obstacle Course Challenge
:* Winner - Darren Young (3)
* Talk the Talk Challenge
:* Winner - Titus O'Neil (2)
* St. Patrick's Day Keg Carry Challenge
:* Winner - Titus O'Neil (5)
* Battle of the Mic Challenge
:* Winner - Darren Young (7)
* Arm Wrestling Challenge
:* Winner - Titus O'Neil (9)
* Hot Seat Trivia Challenge
:* Winner - Byron Saxton (4)
* Power Punch Challenge
:* Titus O'Neil (13)
* Pull Through Challenge
:* Jacob Novak (2)
* How Well Do You Know Your WWE Pro?
:* Jacob Novak (6)
* King of the Hill Challenge
:* Titus O'Neil (19)
* Tag Team Turmoil Challenge
:* Conor O’Brian (3)
* Talk the Talk Challenge
:* Titus O'Neil (22)
* Talk the Talk Challenge
:* Winner - Titus O'Neil (25)
==On-air personalities==
===Authority Figures===
Authority Figure	Dates 	Role
Matt Striker 	February 23, 2010–present 	Host
Ashley Valence 	June 22, 2010– August 31, 2010 	Co-Host
Maryse* 	March 8, 2011– October 28, 2011	Co-Host
William Regal 	February 29, 2012–present 	Match Coordinator
(*) On August 24, Maryse underwent surgery for an abdominal hernia and was on medical leave from WWE, therefore Maryse's role as co-host ended. She would later be released from WWE on October 28, 2011 and would not return to NXT. As of November 2011, there is no official co-host.
===Commentators===
Commentators 	Dates
Michael Cole and Josh Mathews 	February 23, 2010 – September 14, 2010September 28, 2010 – November 30, 2010January 18, 2012
Michael Cole, Josh Mathews and CM Punk	September 21, 2010
Todd Grisham and Josh Mathews 	December 7, 2010 – March 1, 2011
Todd Grisham and William Regal 	March 8, 2011 – April 12, 2011April 26, 2011May 17, 2011 – May 24, 2011June 7, 2011 – August 23, 2011
Josh Mathews and William Regal 	April 19, 2011, November 16, 2011January 25, 2012 – present
Todd Grisham and Matt Striker** 	May 3, 2011, May 10, 2011
Todd Grisham and Michael Cole*** 	May 31, 2011
Jack Korpela and Michael Cole*** 	September 13, 2011
Jack Korpela and William Regal 	September 6, 2011 – November 2, 2011
Josh Mathews and Matt Striker**** 	November 9, 2011 – December 28, 2011
Matt Striker and William Regal***** 	November 23, 2011January 4, 2012–January 11, 2012
(*) – Friday Night SmackDown play-by-play commentator and former NXT color commentator, Josh Mathews, was substituting for an absent Todd Grisham. This repeated on the November 16, 2011 edition of NXT, but this time, he was substituting for an absent Jack Korpela, who would later be released from his WWE contract.
(**) – Matt Striker became the alternate color commentator on NXT beginning May 3, 2011 due to Regal's increased in-ring schedule (Regal would continue as commentator when he wasn't wrestling). This ended on the May 17, 2011 edition of NXT when Regal would return to the announce table as normal.
(***) – Michael Cole served as special guest color commentator on NXT for the May 31, 2011 broadcast substituting for an absent William Regal. Cole would also substitute for Regal again on commentary on the September 13, 2011 broadcast due to Regal and Striker competing in a match that night.
(****) – Matt Striker and Josh Mathews were guest commentators on NXT for the November 9, 2011 broadcast substituting for the absent William Regal and Jack Korpela. Striker and Mathews returned to commentary the following 2 weeks and have since become the official NXT announce team. This is because Jack Korpela's contract with the WWE had expired and he opted not to renew.
(*****) – Matt Striker and William Regal commentated the November 23, 2011 edition of NXT, due to Mathews being absent.
===Ring announcers===
Ring announcer	Dates
Savannah 	February 23, 2010 – June 1, 2010
Jamie Keyes 	June 8, 2010 – August 24, 2010
Justin Roberts	December 7, 2010March 8, 2011September 13, 2011
Tony Chimel* 	August 31, 2010 – November 30, 2010December 14, 2010 – March 1, 2011March 15, 2011 – November 30, 2011December 28, 2011 – January 11, 2012January 26, 2012 – present
Eden Stiles 	July 12, 2011November 9, 2011December 7, 2011 - December 21, 2011
Lilian Garcia 	January 18, 2012
(*) If Chimel was absent from the NXT/Smackdown tapings, he would have been substituted as ring announcer by RAW's Justin Roberts or WWE Superstars' Eden Stiles, who would also serve as Smackdown's ring announcer for that week's episode. Effective December 8, 2011, Chimel has been replaced by Lilian Garcia on SmackDown and Eden Stiles has picked up Chimel's NXT announcing duties until December 13, 2011. On December 21, prior to NXT to be uploaded on WWE.com, Stiles would announce that she asked for her release from WWE a day after her final Superstars and NXT appearances have been recorded.
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Category:World Wrestling Entertainment