I have to say, Kaval grew on me like "good" bacteria. At first I thought he was pretty bland, but awesome in the ring. His first match, versus Riley, was pretty epic and made me have high hopes for both of them. Everyone groaned about pairing Kaval with LayCool, but I think that they worked wonders for him, getting him to come out of his shell and developing a personality. His mic work at the beginning of the show was abysmal, but in the final promo segment, he kicked Hennig's ass. As weeks went on, he was obviously more comfortable with himself and what he was doing. It really showed, and I'm happy for him.
With the fan vote (which I still question), I always thought Kaval was pretty much guaranteed to win, which is why I voted for Riley every week. Being a heel, a character people could easily hate and having an extremely over heel pro, I thought, hurt his chances a bit. I loved his mic work. When Striker asked him who should be eliminated and he said Striker should because of his "stupid questions", I laughed my ass off, and Cole and Matthews couldn't help themselves, either. His ring work does need improvement, but he's not Otunga. Casual fans are much more interested in characters than ring workers (except in the case of someone like Morrison), so I can easily see him getting over and having a great career, high school jock schtick be damned. I'd have liked to have seen him win, because he has main event potential, which I don't think Kaval does, but I think that Kaval benefits more from the push than Riley, who will succeed on his own. Curt Hennig is arguably my second favorite worker of all time, so I would like to see Joe do something, which I think he's capable of, but he's missing something and he needs to find out what that is and work on it. Oh, and lose the stupid name.
In terms of what's next for Kaval, I don't see him advancing past the mid-card. Smackdown is ideal for him, and his flashy style can draw in viewers during the move to cable. In terms of storyline, I see Melina beating Layla at NOC for the unification match, LayCool having a fallout, resulting in Layla turning face and having some sort of involvement with Kaval. There was the whole kiss thing, and also the LayCool promo where Michelle asked Layla what was up with her, and she confessed to having a thing for Kaval. I'm assuming that will come into play and allow for an amusing angle, which would also help get Kaval over and give him a mouthpiece as he continues to work on his mic skills.