| abstract | - 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)
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