Lowering the bar with the new Pros

[XgringolocoX]

I just had a peek at the pros for the new season and it just seems like there's no marque players on it. By that I mean main event, or veterans.
In season one we had Regal, CM Punk, Christian, Matt Hardy, AND Jericho who was WHC for a portion of NXT season1. Rounding it out were R-Truth and The Miz who are both on the rise.
Season 2 will have Cody Rhodes, Morrison, MVP, Mark Henry, Zack Rider, McCool & Layla, Kofi, and The Miz. Now, I'm not dicounting any one, or pair, of wrestlers in this group, just the group as a whole. There's no one that's I'd consider a true veteran, execpt for maybe Henry. Sure you could argue that Morrison and MVP have been around for a good while, but neither have found THIER own nitche. How are they going to teach it to thier student.
So what do you think? Should their be a few guys higher on the toteem pole as Pros? Also, who would you have liked to been a pro for season 2?

I think Mysterio would be a good pro. His whole character is about heart and beating the odds which goes hand in hand with someone in a competition. Plus having one of your biggest cash cows couldn't hurt the show neither.

 

[Adam08]

To be honest the pro's are fine I don't see a problem with any of them imo. But I sorta agree that other then Mark Henrey there should be a someone with a large amount of expreince. I would replace Morrsion with either Big show or Mark Henrey they both could of been a good pro and taught Eli how to be a great big man even if they aren't great thereself.

 

[Ferbian]

I think WWE wanted to make an impact on the first season, try the waters so to say, they realized it wasn't drawing as well as the other shows, or better than ECW, and I would guess they simply gave up the fight in trying to draw the bigger crowds, but not completely discontinue the actual concept of the show because no matter how you turn it, WWE can always use future stars.

I'm not really sure who I would've liked to see be on the pro side of it all, I had hoped we would've seen just some kind of veteran, any veteran could really do that has had a time in the WWE / business for more than 8 years in my opinion, and the only one that can brag about having more than 8 years in WWE / the business is Mark Henry, and that's not really a feature for him to brag about cause he hasn't accomplished anything.

 

[ian_d]

in all honesty i felt that they would have been at a stretch to get 8 good pros the second time around. i mean what has zack ryder ever done to be considered a wrestler let alone a "pro". anyway looking at the guys on roster, goldust is an obvious choice and would probably suit the flamboyant one, percy watson??

 

[IrishCanadian25]

The season 2 pros suck. In general.

But I have a theory as to why.

The only guy on NXT Season 1 who truly "put over" a rookie was Chris Jericho. Jericho has been putting over EVERYONE this year as he takes the role as company guy and works to set up the WWE for the future. Other guys like CM Punk, Christian, and R-Truth were either mid-push or pre-push, and putting a rookie over them would have killed that.

The pros next year are mid- to low-level enough to where a rookie going over them wouldn't be the end of the world. Is anyone going to weep for Zack Ryder when his rookie school boys him for an "upset" pinfall? Nope, not me.

 

[D-Man]

I have a strange theory on this...

Season 1 of NXT's purpose was to take a group of young wrestlers with questionable gimmicks, put them in front of the WWE Universe, and try to get them over with the crowds. For some rookies, it worked. For some, it didn't. But the funniest thing about this experiment was that it also helped some of the PROS get over with some exposure. I firmly believe that it helped elevate guys like R-Truth, Christian, and it even elevated the Miz some more. Maybe you all see what I'm getting at...

What if the WWE is using NXT as a catalyst to not only get some new rookies over, but some of their pros as well? After all, there really wasn't a TON of star power put into season one. Guys like Regal, Truth, Hardy, and Carlito were basically in WWE limbo at the time. But once the show got rolling, Hardy, Truth, and Carlito all became involved in a few exposed storylines on Raw and Smackdown. Maybe season two of NXT might do the same for the struggling new faces of the WWE that have been chosen to mentor the rookies.

Anyway, it makes perfect sense to me. NXT is a developmental show. Who says that it's only supposed to be meant to develop the rookies? Sure, they want to build new stars without mixing them in with the Raw and Smackdown stars right away. But NXT is still an opportunity for all parties involved to be exposed on national television. Who's to say that the WWE didn't have their pros in mind, as well?

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

I don't think it's going to matter as much as you think it will, OP. Simply because in season 1, we didn't see a lot of the pros in action, and if we did, they weren't the focus. The focus has always been on the rookies, with the pros in the background, so having a main-event pro isn't going to matter too much. Every rookie in season 1 made their own name for themselves, with the occasional pro putting over a rookie on one of the main shows, like Kane putting over Heath Slater, or Jericho having a match with... Heath Slater.

I think it's going to work the same way in season 2. We're going to get a lot of rookie air time, and they're going to work hard to put themselves over with the crowd, and not relying on their pro to do it for them.

Though I will give you this -- what the fuck is LayCool doing with Kaval? Like, seriously, what the fuck is that?

 

[jccool420]

Honestly, it doesn't seem like they put much effort in creating this season... Some websites were reporting, just a few days ago, that WWE insiders were not sure on the future of NXT and if there would even be a season two...

Now, when you see pairings like Kaval and LayCool and names like Husky Harris and Mike McGilicuty... It looks like they got the green light at the last minute and rushed everything together...

Just to name a few guys who I think would've been good pros...

Chavo
Rey Rey
Big Show
Kane

All those guys have ten plus years of experience and would've had a lot to teach the green boys...

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Personally, I really don't see much of a problem. Comparatively speaking, there were more than a couple of WWE Pros for the first season of NXT that were duds. R-Truth had absolutely nothing going on for most of the show, William Regal hasn't been a significant force in the WWE for a long time and, in the grand scheme of things, neither has Christian. I like Christian, I think he's woefully underrated in the WWE right now but, for whatever reason, he just hasn't been elevated.

I think that D-Man might be onto something with the idea of using this season of NXT to develop not only the NXT Rookies but some of the WWE Pros as well. John Morrison hasn't gotten all that much exposure on Raw yet, due primarily to an angle injury, so having him on NXT can keep him in the public eye and keep him built up. Kofi Kingston just won the IC title and has started to get back on track over on Smackdown, so using NXT to further him along could work. Cody Rhodes is a very young guy that's looking to establish himself as a character and NXT is further exposure for him. MVP is certainly doing nothing all that epic right now and maybe NXT could be a shot in the arm that his flagging career needs.

Overall, I'm not too worried. I think as long as the WWE doesn't make the same mistakes that they did during the first season, it'll be fine.

 

[gd]

What D-Man said. Most of the pros aren't really doing anything at the moment, so why not put them on NXT? It's simply a way to give them air time and have them do something meanininful. It's about gaining interest in everyone involved, including the pros.

I would've like to see 1 or 2 big names at least. Maybe one Mr. Cena. Would've done wonders for whoever he was teamed up with, and I would've been quite interested. Sheamus would've been entertaining as well, cause he's a badass Irish motherfucker. Also, Santino or Hornswoggle would've been acceptable. Not a terrible crop we have, although it'll be difficult to stay awake for a show that includes MVP and Cody Rhodes.

 

[XgringolocoX]

I like D-Man's idea as well. I wasn't implying that the whole pro list had to be ligit long time vets, but a few should IMO. jccool's list was spot on, and I'd include Golddust. He'd be an amazing pro and is not really used or needed on the main shows.

Please remember to add who you WOULD HAVE liked to see as a pro and why. Thanks.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

I couldn't wait to see who the pros for Season 2 would be, and I have to be honest... I'm quite surprised. Cody Rhodes? Zack Ryder? They could have easily been replaced, but I can't put them down too much until I see them in action as a pro. I guess WWE had to get more key players as pros in Season 1 as it was a new concept and they needed the buzz. I don't think the 'weak-ness' of the pros will really affect the quality of NXT's 2nd season. You have Kaval... who is an amazing wrestler. Alex Riley and is no slouch either. So, I'm looking forward to seeing Season 2 of NXT... hopefully with Michael McGillicutty winning.

 

[CustardCreamer]

I dont really see the problem with the pros. The only duds in there are Ryder and Cody Rhodes. Zak is a jobber and Cody is SUPERSTARS level at the min. Maybe thy could have got rid off those two and put Triple H or Batista in der. I know it is strange but both in storylines are injured (ignoring batistas quitting thing) so adding a main eventer in there could be good.

 

[Andy 2 Randy]

Lowering the bar is the nicest thing you could say. Kaval, Great talent, loved in TNA and yeah would have to go to FCW to perfect himself. But when he get teamed with LayCool as his pro/s. this is taking the biscuit. He deserves better than being paired with Divas (not being sexist) but their is many more pro's that could of been acceptable than Laycool. Golddust, JTG even Santino would of been acceptable. Its downgrading for him...I'm Just Sayin...