‘The Voice’ Week Three Recap: The Battle Rounds Begin

With the blind auditions from the first two weeks of 'The Voice' in the rearview mirror, coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green were each forced to pit two of their selected singers against each other in the first series of "Battle Rounds."

That sounds kind of fun, right? Problem is, after each of the pairs performed their duets, their coach would be forced to send one home. To help out a little bit, they were all allowed to pick an assistant coach, typically a peer from their professional lives.

Aguilera was up first, and with the help of her singing buddy Sia she decided to match up two of the strongest singers on her team -- Tarralyn Ramsey and Frenchie Davis -- on a duet of Beyonce's 'Single Ladies.' Aguilera tried to stir up a little tension between the two, and after a high-spirited romp through the song, she ended up keeping Davis around for future weeks.

Next up was Shelton, who got help from the legendary Reba McEntire choosing between country boy Patrick Thomas and the more pop-leaning Tyler Robinson after they ripped through Elvis Presley's 'Burning Love.' Ultimately, despite the massive praise heaped on Tyler by his fellow judges, Shelton opted to keep Thomas around for future battles.

Levine pitted teenager Casey Weston (in a dress that nearly gave her father a heart attack) against hipster hat enthusiast Tim Mahoney, who he had previously mistaken as a female singer, on a version of the Don Henley/Stevie Nicks duet 'Leather and Lace.' With help from his band's "MD to the stars," Adam Blackstone, Levine chose youth over experience, and Weston lives to sing another day.

As exciting as all this was -- and it definitely beat watching the dramatic back-and-forth extra innings baseball game our favorite team was playing at that same time -- the best duet of the night came when Cee Lo Green turned Vicci Martinez and Niki Dawson loose on Pink's 'Perfect.' Shelton compared the duet to the Super Bowl, but in the end there could only be one winner. Green, with his diva friend Monica in tow, went with Vicci and our first round of battles was over.

Hopefully the coaches grew a little bit thicker skin after being forced to send one of their own singers home, because they're going to be facing the same hard decisions in the coming weeks of 'The Voice.'

Watch Vicci Martinez and Niki Dawson Perform 'Perfect' on 'The Voice'