[OFFICIAL] NXT Aftermath, Review, and Ratings Thread

[Bobby B]

The show was solid. I especially liked Kaval being ranked #1 and his refusal to go through with the Keg Contest.
I would say it was a B- show.

I wanna say something about timing, because I just watched the video and I know for a fact that the Keg challenge was totally rigged. I mean that might not be news since WWE is all storylines anyway but if you go back and watch the Keg part on youtube, it is so clearly obvious that Percy Watson won the challenge at the 12.5 mark when the bell sounded off, only to have the time speed up and even noticeably skip 12.7 on the timer to go straight to 12.8, 12.9 and then finally 13.0

Thats such a big fail on WWE's part.

Oh live with it! The WWE has never been that good with a stop watch, just look at the elimination chambers - when they do the timings, they're usually way off!

Actually like the rankings alot, the top 4 is my final 4 - although not necessarily in that order. A Henning/Riley final would be quite nice. Two future world champions right there.

 

[The Crock]

Kaval looked really good and I was very happy about him being number one. Kaval already has main-roster skills so, to me, he looks a lot better than any of the other rookies. I didn't like the elimination though, I like Titus and I thought Husky should have gotten eliminated but that is just my opinion.

 

[The Doctor]

Fun little episode this week. I like that management has seemingly fixed up the challenges this season, to make them more interesting. Each topic fit the wrestler that received it in some way for the most part. Best talkers were Watson and Hennig. Eli's gets special mention for being funny for all the wrong reasons. I'm glad Percy won; his talk show next week should be entertaining.

The Watson/Hennig match was quite good. Hennig is impressive, and you already know I love Watson. The Miz/Kaval match was fun, too. The other matches were decent enough, but none were that interesting.

Solid show I thought. Good challenge and promos, fun in-ring action, and good vignettes...even if they did bury Titus

B+

 

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: July 6, 2010
Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georiga
Announcers: Josh Matthews, Michael Cole

We go over last week's show of which there isn’t much to see other than O’Neil is gone.

We introduce the pros and I think Cole has a crush on Miz. Michelle needs to wear leather pants forever. Ryder doesn’t get why the poll came out like it did. Morrison says he would have voted off Miz instead of O’Neil. Here are the rookies. Harris intimidates Striker again. Riley questions being #4 and I can’t blame him. He bashes Kaval because of his height. Kaval says listen to the fans.

And now it’s time for a promo contest. 10 seconds to think and 30 to speak. The crowd will judge somehow.

Watson’s topic is….not revealed yet as the winner gets to host a talk show on NXT. Works well enough. His topic is glasses. He talks about his own glasses because you need to have a vision. This actually worked. He finished with OH YEAH. It worked in a weird way.

Kaval’s topic is chicken. He isn’t a chicken because he has heart and can succeed with the fans. Cheap way out but he did what he could with a bad topic.

Cottonwood is third and this could set wrestling back a dozen years. His topic is mustache. He says no one has a mustache but a man should have one. This was BAD. Then again the topic was stupid as hell.

McGillicutty gets breath. He is clearly very poised on the mic and says that by the end of this he’s going to take your breath away. I’m a mark for this guy but this was GREAT.

Harris gets doorknob. He says nothing of note and says the fans aren’t worth much in essence.

Cannon gets deodorant. That sounds like a bad birthday gift. He rambles and says he’s like deodorant and says he and the WWE need each other. He saved it to an extent I guess.

Riley gets pigeon. He gets around to saying it’s one Riley and 6 pigeons. Not horrible.

The fans vote and Watson gets a nice reaction. Kaval gets a slightly weaker one. Cottonwood gets a decent booing. McGillicutty gets booed worse. What the hell? Harris is booed. Cannon and Riley are mixed. It goes to Watson. Cole tries to name the show and Matthews, with his hands folded, looks straight at him and says in a deadpan voice, “you are absolutely terrible.” I knew I liked this guy!

Percy Watson vs. Michael McGillicutty
Watson – 1-1
McGillicutty – 3-0

MVP and Kofi are in the corner like partners but this is one on one. This is only like 2 minutes long and McGillicutty gets a sunset flip for the pin. The crowd is DEAD for some reason.

Rating: N/A. Nothing special here but McGillicutty pads his stats even more which is good. Watson hits a sweet dropkick if nothing else. This was nothing too bad but it was just too short to really think anything of it.

We recap the keg carry again and then talk about O’Neil. They kind of bury him even though he wasn’t that bad at all.

The Miz vs. Kaval

Oh come on I have to get some points in the fantasy wrestling thing here don’t I? Kaval is varying up his offense a bit here which is a great thing for him. Riley an Laycool are both up on the apron. We take a break and Kaval is in control when we get back.

He hits a double stomp to the chest off a sunset flip for two. That looked good. Warrior’s Way is blocked twice and there’s the Skull Crushing Finale for the pin.

Rating: B-. Kaval looked good here. This was like a light version of Bryan vs. Jericho and while it was nowhere near that good, this worked quite well for what it was supposed to do. Kaval hung with one of the two most accomplished pros. That’s the idea here and it worked very well.

The pros aren’t that big on Cottonwood.

Rhodes/Harris vs. Henry/Cannon later on, even though it’s 10:45 at the moment.

We have a LONG recap of the Cena/Barrett thing last night and now we run down the MITB card. It’s 10:56 and we haven’t done the intros for the main event. Oh wait we need to get a profile on Harris first.

They like him. Why?

Cody Rhodes/Husky Harris vs. Lucky Cannon/Mark Henry

At least it’ll be quick. We go to commercial at 10:58. Are you kidding me??? Nexus is on NXT next week. It’s 11:03 and here are the intros of Cannon and Henry. Cannon vs. Rhodes to start. This is kind of a mess and after Henry dominates, Cross Roads ends Cannon.

Rating: N/A. Again too short to mean anything here. Harris finally won a match which was the main idea of this. I don’t get why they had this go on so late though but hey, we recapped Raw again. This was quick and easy though so I can let it slide.

Overall Rating: B-. This wasn’t great but it could have been far worse. They’re doing a great job this season of getting everyone on TV, if nothing else just for a quick profile thing. We don’t have a lot of experience with these guys so the exposure helps a lot. The wrestling wasn’t great but it’s relatively early yet so that’s ok. This wasn’t horrible though and I think it worked fine. Decent enough show.

 

[Vincent Michaels]

NXT
The Miz vs. Kaval

Oh come on I have to get some points in the fantasy wrestling thing here don’t I? Kaval is varying up his offense a bit here which is a great thing for him. Riley an Laycool are both up on the apron. We take a break and Kaval is in control when we get back.

He hits a double stomp to the chest off a sunset flip for two. That looked good. Warrior’s Way is blocked twice and there’s the Skull Crushing Finale for the pin.

Rating: B-. Kaval looked good here. This was like a light version of Bryan vs. Jericho and while it was nowhere near that good, this worked quite well for what it was supposed to do. Kaval hung with one of the two most accomplished pros. That’s the idea here and it worked very well.

Just like you said with the Warrior's Way last week, it'll be botched one day and it'll hurt someone badly. Not sure if you saw, but Miz checked his mouth for blood as soon as it hit and I saw some after the match, just wondering if you noticed?

 

[Ferbian]

Last nights NXT was pretty decent.

We start off with Matt Striker talking about how NXT functions. We see the pro's coming out.

Zack talking about how Titus was robbed. Kinda agree, Titus was much better than Husky or Eli Cottonwood.

The NXT rookies makes it to the ring.

It seems that we're gonna get another challenge. The talking challenge. This might be incredibly awful. Hopefully I'm proved wrong. Some are good on the microphone but not all.

Alex Riley talking about how he should have been ranked higher. Only to get his microphone taken away by Matt. I hate it when he does that. Kaval saying that he needs to listen to the WWE Universe if he's in doubt.

Percy Watson starting with the challenge. But not before Matt talks about the winner getting to host a talk-show next week. Interesting.

Percy's topic is glasses. That might be rather easy for him. He's entertaining as hell. Great promo from him. If only he weren't so over the top.

Kaval gets to talk about chicken. Talking about him not being a chicken. Kinda mediocre promo really. But at least he made it work.

Eli gets to talk about mustache. What an odd topic. He's awful. Even Morrison is embarrassed.

Joe Hennig gets to talk about breath. Talking about his legacy more than the actual topic. Why am I not surprised. But ending on the topic at least.

Harris gets to talk about a doorknob. I hate the topics. Talking about how he used a doorknob to get in here. He keeps being the cocky guy which is good.

Lucky gets to talk about deodorant. He's good on the microphone. But it's an odd promo nonetheless. But he makes it work.

Alex Riley gets to talk about pigeon. Need I say what I'm thinking about that? He's talking about animals. Pretty good promo. He is by far the best on the microphone.

I'm surprised that the majority of people booing this time. Last time we had this challenge the reactions were completely dead. Percy taking it home pretty obviously.

Percy Watson vs Joe Hennig in a pretty good match that ends with a sunset flip pin.

We see a promo video of Titus. All talking down on him. That's not really needed. At least he was better than some of the people. But some might have a point.

The Miz vs Kaval. Pretty decent match. His finisher really looks stiff. Not impressive neither really. Ending with a pin after thhe Skullcrushing Finale. Miz looks a little pissed.

Eli Cottonwood gets a promo. I agree with the majority of things that people say with the in-ring abilities.

Husky Harris gets a promo now. Couldn't agree more with the majority of what people say. He's athletic for his size. And he has personality.

Husky Harris & Cody Rhodes vs Lucky Cannon and Mark Henry. The match was pretty decent. Husky actually dominating Mark Henry a bit. Ends with a Crossrhodes (At least I think that's the way you spell it? Crossroads?) and a pin.

Not the best of episodes. But it was decent. The challenge went surprisingly well compared to last season.

Score: B

 

[TheOneBigWill]

I am simply not understanding the love people are giving Urkel. (Watson, for those un-educated) While I can say that through a fan-favorite stand point, he's the best speaker. Thus, he won the challenge.

However, in my opinion he isn't even a fraction of the greatest on the mic. This is probably personal opinion speaking through more than anything, but I'll be damned if I just don't want to punch him in the face everytime he does anything. I'm also not even remotely looking forward to next week's talk show segment.. unless it has Husky Harris.

Alex Riley was decent on the mic tonight, but in my opinion the guy who should have won - was Michael McGillicutty. He took his "word" and turned it into pure gold. He tied in what people want to accept him for the most, and added his own unique style to end with. Was it corny? Sure.. but come on, they were using stupid words that half of them seemed scared to explore.

And that, brings me to the Giant. I can clearly see Morrison has been teaching Cottonwood on how to talk on the mic. First he doesn't have a mustache.. then he does?! Maybe he's one of those guys who grows facial hair at an extremely rapid rate, who am I to judge?

As always, my favorite rookie right now is still Husky Harris. The guy just screams "Future Dusty Rhodes". Whether anyone sees it or not, he has the most heat of any NXT rookie. He's clearly getting a reaction. He has the look, and a unique style to format his size.

On a final note: Weren't we suppose to have another elimination tonight? I thought we were in the stage to where we were now doing one elimination, per week? Apparently we get a break? Or maybe they'll begin next week, with eliminating someone to begin the show? Still not clear on why we didn't get an elimination tonight, to be honest.

Oh, and NXT Season 1 (NeXuS) returns next week. I'm over-joyed with excitement that they remember their roots. Can I please have Matt Striker v. Husky Harris, yet?!

 

[Aversion]

So this week's was the second episode of NXT season 2 with a challenge.

The challenge this week was the Talk the Talk challenge, which was my favorite from last season, even though it was kind of silly.

The show started with the challenge.

Percy Watson's topic was glasses. GLASSES. They gave him the easiest topic, since, obviously, he wears glasses in the ring. Besides that, even though I'm not a fan of his, he did decent, talking mostly about visions and the future. Rating: B.

Kaval's topic was chicken. This was another easy topic, as it could be interpreted many different ways. Kaval talked about how you can't be a chicken in the WWE, and then got a cheap reaction by mentioning the WWE universe 2 times. Decent. Rating: B-.

Eli Cottonwood's topic was mustache. He started out by saying something along the lines of, "I don't have a mustache, and the guys with me here don't either." Not 10 seconds later, he says something like, " I have the best mustache out of any of these people." John Morrison used his clipboard to cover his face in shame. Rating: F(+).

Michael McGillicutty's subject was breath. He talked about Larry "the Axe" Hennig and Curt Hennig, and how he has wrestling royalty in his blood. He ended with "... I'm going to take your breath away." Very good, I can see him being the next face-Orton. Rating: B+.

Husky Harris' had to talk about doorknob. He said he used a doorknob to get here. He also said that we don't deserve to hear him talk. Rating: C.

Lucky Cannon talked about deodorant. He said he was the deodorant, and WWE has the smelly person. Nice analogy there. Rating: B.

Alex Riley's topic was pigeon. He called himself the rooster to the 6 hens behind him. He referred to the 6 as dorks. Very good. Rating: B+.

The wrong person won, and this might be a bit biased, as I don't like Percy, but he was way too over the top and wild.

Michael McGillicutty def. Percy Watson. It ends with a sunset flip. He should have used his swinging neckbreaker finisher. Rating: C+

Miz def. Kaval. Best Pro vs. Rookie so far this season. Ended with a crappy-looking SCF.
Rating: B+
Cody Rhodes and Husky Harris def. Mark Henry and Lucky Cannon. It seems like every time Cody is with Husky, Husky wins, and every time Mark is with Lucky, Lucky loses. Decent while it lasted, Cody really made Lucky look weak though. Rating: B-.

Overall: B-.

 

[Kayoh]

If you ask me, this is a very close season. Titus O'Neill, Eli Cottonwood, and Lucky Cannon do absolutely nothing for me, BUT, Lucky seems to be over somewhat and might surprise some. Titus is gone. Eli has GOT to be next to go.

The other 5 guys, though...all of them could win imo. You have Husky Harris, an athletic freak for a guy as big as him, a very good in-ring technical wrestler with a fucking SENTON for a finisher, AND a good mic worker who knows how to draw heat very well.

Then, you've got Joe Hennigillicuty. He's also very good on the mic, in the ring, and already has an over character and the crowd seems to like him. Plus, he's 4-0, so the E obviously has some decent plans for the guy.

Third, there is Percy Watson. Hands down the most over babyface of either season by FAR. Great charisma, very energetic, doesn't get tongue tied on the mic, knows how to get cheap pops, and isn't too terrible in the ring. He doesn't have the best W-L record but his charisma makes up for it.

Then there is Kaval...I mean, come on. The guy made The Miz look good in the ring. Not to take anything away from Mizzy boy, but let's be honest with ourselves here, he isn't exactly a master technician in between the ropes. Kaval put on a good match with him. Kaval made it seem like he could have realistically beaten Eli Cottonwood, which is good because that means he's a credible future WHC. His biggest con right now is that he doesn't have much of a character. He isn't terrible on the mic, either, though.

And finally, the guy who I seriously think deserves to win the whole shabang, Alex fucking Riley. Good in the ring, GREAT on the mic, already gets a lot of heat from marks and pops from smarks, and above all else, has a defined character. He is the varsity villain. He has a great life, he gets lots of girls, you should envy him, and he knows it. And he wants you to know it.

There isn't really an odds on favorite anymore. Eli Cottonwood gets eliminated next, then *hopefully* Lucky Cannon gets eliminated but I almost have to believe Husky Harris will get the boot first, which sucks. Regardless, this is a much more competitive season than last, and that helps a lot.

 

[The Vintage One]

This was another solid episode of NXT this week.

We start off with Striker talking to the pros of the eliminations and Zack Ryder is fairly dissapointed as he should be as Titus has a ton of potential and they didn't give him enough time on the show to prove himself.

John Morrison comes on the mic, and god is he awful on the mic. What everybody say in him including me, I don't know, but boy has he fallen down back to the Earth.

Then we bring out the rookies and we have our talk the talk challenge. The winner gets his own talk show next week, which is interesting idea, as it lets us see the creativeness of the winner, as well as see if he can hang with it on the mic for a certain length of time.

This was made for Watson to win from the get go, as his topic was glasses and talked about his vision of making the WWE. Eli Cottonwood is a perfect match for Morrison, neither one can talk. Lucky Cannon is still boring, Husky as a heel is getting better each week. Kaval was average, and the only one in comparison to Watson on the mic is none other then the Varsity Villain, Alex Riley.

Riley was phenomenal on the mic once again, and I wish he could've won but since he is a heel, and he is already over which is awesome for him, but he had no chance of beating Percy since the crowd decides the winner.

Percy next week should be interesting and I hope they give him a good name for his show, and make his gimmick really shine next week.

Our first match of the night is none other then Showtime Percy Watson vs Michael Hennig, I mean McGillicutty. This was a decent match, but was pretty short. McGillicutty who has the package just like Riley, good in the ring and good on the mic, beat Watson via sunset flip. McGillicutty heads to 4-0, and continues his roll to "perfection" and Watson is 1-2. Watson did decent in the ring, but McGillicutty is clearly better then him and it showed in the match.

Miz vs Kaval. This was the best match of the night to no surprise, as Kaval is good in the ring and the Miz is much improved. Obvious winner here, but this was a very good match that I would like to see again in the future, as Miz wins via skullcrushing finale.

Our final match of the night is the horrible team of Lucky Cannon and Mark Henry vs Husky Harris and Cody Rhodes. I love what they are doing with Husky Harris, as in week 1 he was horrible and just plain boring, but now with him being cocky, he is doing much better. God Lucky and Henry are horrible, at least Rhodes and Husky are decent. Husky is much more athletic then I thought he is, and I love when he slides on his fat across the ring. Average match, Rhodes win with Cross Rhodes, and Husky gets his first win of the season.

Good show, nothing special, but good enough. Next week Nexus and I am excited to see what happens there.

Overall: B -

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE NXT - July 13, 2010

Thumbs Up

Mark Henry & Lucky Cannon vs. The Miz & Alex Riley - This was a pretty good tag match and is one of the longest matches we've seen on NXT in a little while. It was about 12 minutes and it gave The Rookies more time to showcase some of what they've got. I'm not impressed at all with Lucky Cannon, even though he does seem to be over decently well with the crowd. Riley & The Miz worked well together and Mark Henry's uncharacteristic aggression towards The Miz added some nice tension between the two. The commentators put over The Miz as being more of a ruthless strategist now that picks his spots. Henry didn't get hold of The Miz and The Miz left Riley high and dry to be pinned by Henry. Overall, a solid tag team match.

The Percy Watson Show - I'm still not sure whether I like this guy or not, but I do have to admit that the energetic aspect of his character is kind of infectious. He hosts a talk show segment as he won the Talk the Talk Challenge last week and has MVP out to the ring. They make small talk for a few moments and Watson says he's going to take some of MVP's advice. All the Season II Rookies come down to the ring and look as though they're about to pull a Nexus type stunt. The other pros come down with MVP and there's about to be a face off. I liked this because it was completely unexpected. I also liked it because we didn't see it go down quite the way it looked as if it was going to. Matt Striker comes out and suggests that they have a battle royal between The WWE Pros, the NXT Rookies and Nexus. The segment worked as it gave Watson a chance to show off a bit, the Rookies made a bold and unexpected move and it set up a battle royal.

Battle Royal - Wade Barrett said that he was going to win the battle royal and I was worried that this might be the first indication of dissention within the group. After everyone gets into the ring, the match starts and Nexus climbs between the ropes and watches as the Pros and Rookies go at it. I thought it was a great move and a logical one personally that continued to show Nexus as a unified group. Whenever a Pro or Rookie was eliminated, Nexus would beat the guy down on the outside and leave him laying. After the field had been whittled down some, Nexus climbs in the ring and work over both Pros and Rookies. All the Season II Rookies are eventually eliminated and Morrison tries to organize the remaning Pros to unite against Nexus but it doesn't work. Nexus ultimately comes out with the victory after beating down Cody Rhodes & Morrison. I loved how it ended with Nexus being declared the winners instead of them fighing amongst each other. Barrett was really good on the mic and I liked the line he used "You're either Nexus, or against us". It was a good battle royal, but what I liked most about the overall match was the fact that it contained some clear, simple and easy to understand logic. It's amazing how often logic gets tossed out the window in wrestling sometimes. The WWE used a simple formula here that shows only how a small faction can work and gain victories against the company. The Nexus are a cohesive unit whereas the WWE wrestlers have difficulty putting egos and personal grudges against one another aside. As I said, I was worried the WWE was going to screw with things here and bring about dissention among Nexus, but it worked out fine.

Thumbs Down

Nothing

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - I really enjoyed last night's episode of NXT. Some of the Challenges do serve something of a purpose and some of them are lame and I liked that there were none last night. The Rookies made a statement to the Pros, a good tag team match, a good battle royal and Nexus showing themselves as a solidified group and pulling off a win. Overall, it was just a good show last night and an hour that went by quickly. I'm giving last night's episode of NXT a 9 out of 10.

 

[FightOwensFight]

I agree with you on the unity they are showing within Nexus. It fits in perfectly with how the wrestlers are viewed. These up an comers are united in some "larger plan" and are remaining loyal to each other. The Superstars however have a lot more history with each other so it would be more difficult to unite, even against a common enemy like Nexus. I like that the faces unite and that the heels help out to some extent but then ultimately revert to their heel ways (the Raw heels attacking and letting Nexus get away, The Miz throwing Ryder over the top rope and then jumping ship, Cody Rhodes not helping out). It is just more realistic.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The ratings for the show are in and Nexus helped out to some degree. Last night's show pulled a 1.11 Nielsen Rating and a total of 1,446,000 viewers. While it's not exactly record breaking or anything like that, it's almost exactly even with last week's episode of TNA iMPACT!. I think iMPACT! drew only 4,000 viewers more.

If the WWE is somehow able to give fans a reason to tune in each week, I'd say 1.5 million viewers would be a very common occurrance for NXT.

 

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: July 13, 2010
Location: Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

The opening video is about the Nexus and how they’re returning home.

I put the theme song on the Ipod. Too good to leave it off.

The pros are brought out first which of course takes time. I could have gone but passed after Raw last night. The Nexus is here tonight too so expect something insane. No Laycool for no apparent reason. Speaking of them here they are complete with their own music and chairs now. Young is still out with his injuries.

Barrett says they’re glad to be back on their own home ground and warns the pros to stay out of their way.

The Miz/Alex Riley vs. Mark Henry/Lucky Cannon

The talented rookie and the untalented pro start us off. Henry beats him up as nothing much is expected from this match. They’re continuing the angles from Raw which is a nice touch that they need to use more often on the third show like this. It’s a great way for guys like Ryder to get an angle going which isn’t something you have time to do on Raw.

Miz keeps running from Henry and won’t come in. They’re letting Cannon look decent here and then in a SICK bump, Cannon dives over the top with a plancha and slams his head square into the steps. That looked absolutely awful and he must be at least in a ton of pain. We go to a break to make sure he still has a nose.

Matthews gets on Cole which is funny. I like him more and more every time I hear him. We get some cold rookie on rookie action and Miz finally comes in. Cole uses his second Louisville coach reference of the night for Miz. The next elimination is in two weeks. It’s pro vs. pro and Miz gets pounded. World’s Strongest Slam ends Riley with ease as Miz hides. Henry pours garbage over Riley like he had done to him last night.

Rating: C+. Not bad at all here. It’s no classic or anything, but for an opener on the C show, this worked quite well I thought. Considering who was in the match here, this was much better than expected. See what happens when you have an angle to go with a match?

The pros talk about Riley and all seem to like his confidence. They don’t like the high school thing though. Mark Henry and MVP talking about him needing to be more impressive in the ring is absolutely hysterical. They make a great point: getting a reaction is better than them just sitting on their hands.

We talk about MITB for a long time. Now we recap Raw last night.

Percy Watson Show

Again, the guy can be entertaining. The guest is MVP, which at least makes sense. Watson asks for twenty dollars or something like that. He says that MVP has been telling him to seize the moment so that’s what he’s doing. Here come the rookies but MVP says he never parties alone so here come the Pros. Striker calms them down and says let’s get rid of the couches and have a battle royal.

The Nexus wants in on this too and Barrett promises there will be one winner, that being himself.

Battle Royal

Nexus immediately hits the floor and everyone gets rid of Henry. Nexus jumps him, as in another MITB guy. Scratch that as they go for Cottonwood. MVP goes out but some guys hit the floor to get some shots at the Nexus. This is less about the match and more about the gang war thing. Everyone has a standoff and we take another break.

We’re back and Nexus is in there now. After a few eliminations, everyone kind of goes to different corners. They beat up Harris and now I want a Nexus shirt because they’re awesome. Riley busts his head open again and it’s BAD. It’s five pros, no rookies and Nexus left. Kofi, Morrison, Rhodes, Ryder and Miz vs. Nexus. Miz throws out Ryder and they’re all pissed at him for it.

Miz eliminates himself and it’s 6-3. And here we go. Cody hides on the top rope and looks for a spot. Morrison and Kofi try to do all the work and it just isn’t going to happen. Cody gets a word from the referee and then does nothing. Morrison gets caught and eliminated. Rhodes has been out of the action for a long time.

There goes Kofi so it’s just the Dashing one. I got a funny image of Dusty going insane over his name in his comedy voice. Not bad. He tries to make friends and Gabriel gets a word from the referee again and the gang beatdown begins. Well that didn’t last long and Nexus wins it all. They beat down a bunch of pros and then Striker goes in to talk to Barrett. The booing is insane as he can barely talk. Barrett eventually says you’re with us or against us.

Rating: B-. It’s hard to grade battle royals but this one was fine for the purpose it served. We got the Nexus on the show and that’s what counted. They beat up both rookies and pros as you would want them to so you can’t complain there. This was pretty good for a main event battle royal on the C show.

Overall Rating: B+. Solid show all around. They’re managing to get people on the roster and prevent the idiotic challenges from taking over the show. With two weeks before the next elimination there could be a maximum of three challenges before that. I’d be fine with that and now there’s an angle on the show. This season is far more organized and it’s working fine. Good show tonight and a good sign for the show overall.

 

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: July 20, 2010
Location: Verizon Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Michael Cole

We open up with the VIP Lounge where MVP is serious and the guest is Watson of course. He apologizes and MVP says it’s water under the bridge. Matt Striker comes out (complete with theme music) and says that we should hear about why he should be the #1 rookie next week. He doesn’t get to finish as Striker cuts him off before the catchphrase.

Harris and Rhodes come out and says that Harris may not look like a traditional wrestler but he’s awesome. It’s better than it sounds, but Harris stumbles over his lines. Tag match next I’m guessing. Somehow this took ten minutes.

Back and we look at Lucky Cannon. He’s 6’5? Never would have guessed that. I still can’t stand this guy but whatever.

Percy Watson/MVP vs. Husky Harris/Cody Rhodes

The rookies start us off and Watson is a bit more subdued here. There’s an obstacle course later and the winner gets immunity. Watson has his glasses off here and it helps him a lot. Rhodes’ shoes are kind of weird looking here but he’s not in long enough for them to mean much. Watson has a SWEET dropkick. We get a short pull apart brawl on the floor and go to a break.

After a long break, this match is still pretty bland. The pros come in and we wake up a bit. Cole is a heel here. Ballin to Rhodes. Harris hits his back splash on MVP for the pin. This just wasn’t interesting at all really.

Rating: D. This is likely too low but I was bored out of my mind with this match. It just wasn’t very good and never got interesting. I like Rhodes and I like Watson to an extent but MVP is just a wrestler and Harris I still fail to see the appeal of. MVP and Harris had one of the most boring matches I’ve seen in forever and when you throw in a guy like Rhodes that uses a very slow style and a guy like Watson who is subdued here, it just didn’t work at all.

We profile Michael McGillicutty who I’m a total mark for. This guy is just awesome on all levels despite looking a bit too much like Jamie Noble. They say he’s not charismatic and isn’t ruthless.

Cannon vs. Riley next and Cole is ELATED over Miz being out here for it too.

Alex Riley vs. Lucky Cannon

Cannon says he should stay because he’s having fun. Riley says that it’s not about whether you like him or not but rather about who is the best, and that’s why you should vote for Alex Riley. Damn good little promo. Miz says vote for Riley because the future WWE Champion told you to. Cole explains the case in case people don’t know. I get the idea of welcoming new viewers but DAMN give the fans a little credit dude. Riley hits his TKO (LOVE that move and always have) and ends this in maybe 45 seconds. Miz beats up Cannon after the match.

We hear from Cottonwood about why he should be #1. Morrison talks about being in an airport and a kid asking his mom who Cottonwood was. People want to see him and with more time and effort he could be the long term investment. He intimidates Striker into saying he would vote for Eli.

Laycool say that Kaval has everything he needs, including Laycool. Kaval says he has the confidence to go up against the greats in WWE including Orton, Rey and Bourne and if you want to see that, vote for him. Cole instantly declares this horrible.

Back from a break, Kofi says McGillicutty is the hungriest and was born to do this. He dubs them the McGillibuddies. I suddenly hate Kofi. Michael says he’s the perfect choice and the most talented.

We start the obstacle course with Michael. If you mess up on anything you have to go back and do it again. This is FAR shorter than last time. Michael gets 26.7.

Riley goes second and has to redo the balance beam, giving him a time of over 40 seconds. He argues with a referee afterwards. Damn his look is perfect.

Eli is third and this could be great. HE FREAKING JUMPS OVER ONE OF THE HURDLES. That looked GREAT. He keeps missing stuff and gets disqualified. I still don’t get what’s so bad about him but he really would have been better suited as a guy debuting rather than on NXT.

The crowd loudly boos Cannon and he doesn’t break the time, missing by about a second and a half.

Kaval is 5th and is FLYING. He does knuckle pushups too and freaking CRUSHES that dumpster at the end but is slower than Cannon actually.

Showtime is the penultimate and is pretty slow. He’s not bad but he’s taking his time which isn’t working. Nope he doesn’t win either.

Harris is last and I smell shenanigans. He has to knock over the last hurdle which is really big which is great. McGillicutty wins.

Overall Rating: D+. I wasn’t that impressed with this. The tag match was pretty weak and while we got to see Cannon squash which is always a good thing, not a lot happened here. This was about the promos to get the guys over but at the same time that’s all this was about mainly. I just couldn’t get into it, but it wasn’t completely terrible I guess. The eliminations need to start happening though and that’s next week so there we are.

 

[The Vintage One]

I wasn't too happy with this week's NXT, as it was pretty boring throughout. So let's get started with it.

MVP and Percy Watson make up, woo hoo!!!! But seriously, last season had much more storylines to it with the pros and the rookies and this season has simply been extremely boring in that regard, where is the heel rookie who hates his face pro or vice versa. There truly is no exciting angles as there was last season, and it is a reason why I feel this season has fell in comparsion towards season 1 of NXT.

Percy Watson/MVP vs Husky Harris/"Dashing"Cody Rhodes: This was a pretty boring match, really nobody interesting in this match other then Rhodes, and with his style being very slow paced as KB said, this was just plain meh. Nothing really exciting happening, and it was not fun to watch. Glad Husky won over Watson, as Husky is gaining on me over previous weeks, I am not completely sold on him, but he needed this win more then Watson does.

Grade: C

Michael McGillicutty promo, this man impresses me. He has the total package, and I see him going far here and in the WWE.

Alex Riley vs Lucky Cannon: Another boring match, thank god for the Miz/Riley promo before the match as they are both excellent on the mic, and good god is Lucky Cannon absolutely awful on the mic. Please let him go next week WWE!!! This match was a squash as it should be, and Riley gets a needed win and gain some momentum heading towards elimination.

Grade: B, just for Cannon being squashed.

The obstacle course was pretty stupid, as these guys didn't do real pushups and was pointless. McGillicutty wins, Kaval was impressive as was Husky with his breaking to barricade. Eli is a joke, and hopefully after Lucky goes next week he can follow suit.

Pretty boring NXT and not very impressed with this season.

Overall: C

 

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: July 27, 2010
Location: American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

The main thing tonight is that we have an elimination. I really hope it’s Cannon, but I can’t help but think that’s going to be one of the final guys. It’ll likely be Cottonwood, even though I like him. He just isn’t suited for NXT at all. A Diesel-like role would be perfect for him but whatever. McGillicutty has immunity. Let’s get to is since the theme song is playing.

The pros are on stage as always and here come the rookies. Cottonwood has a shirt that says mustache on it which is a reference to the promo contest I think. They get a minute to talk about whatever they want, other than why they should be staying.

Lucky talks about friends and is already getting booed out of the building. His only friend growing up was nobody. Oh great he’s getting Homeric on us. This was pretty bad but was somewhat creative I guess.

Cottonwood talks about eyes. He says he can do stuff that no one in the WW Universe can do (yes minus the E). He also says he can look in the eyes of Undertaker. More or less he says he’s tall.

Harris talks about husky. He says everyone else looks like Tarzan but fights like Jane. Oh and Ferrari engine.

Kaval talks about dreams and we get a Low Ki reference. There’s a siren or something going off in the background and it gets some people’s attention.

McGillicutty says he’ll get to his topic. He talks about how he did last week and then calls out Miz for calling him mediocre.

Riley talks about Starbucks. He’s incredibly smooth on the mic and runs down Kaval and Watson and says he won’t change. If this is the WWE Universe he might as well be the sun. There are no stars and only Starbucks employees. He ran long.

Watson is last and talks about having a good time. He says you have to have fun and work hard. His reaction is limited but he bleeds energy so he’s definitely got that going for him.

We get the video on Watson and they say he’s a good athlete and has a ton of energy. He catches your attention which is a huge perk for him.

Percy Watson vs. Zack Ryder

Watson takes the glasses off for matches now which is bad for him methinks. Watson dances around and gets caught, causing MVP to yell. It’s weird being able to hear a pro shouting instructions but also kind of cool. MVP has the glasses on now which makes me think of Rikishi, therefore dropping this match’s value down. Watson can throw a dropkick very well. He hits that jumping DDT and rotating splash that he’s used before for the pin.

Rating: C-. Not bad here as it had a small but decent story in it. Watson was trying to dance too much and when he did he got in trouble. When he toned it down he took over and things went better for him. This wasn’t terrible but it was a good way of showing Percy being in trouble and then coming back. Not bad and it did its job.

Morrison and Eli look at video of the obstacle course last week. He has McGillicutty tonight. I’ve said this more than once: Cottonwood is not someone that fits on NXT, but he could be effective in other roles. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen for him I wouldn’t think.

We recap the obstacle course where McGillicutty got immunity.

Eli Cottonwood vs. Michael McGillicutty

I like both of these guys here so I’m not sure who to cheer for. Eli works on the ankle which is kind of a strange thing to see from a giant. Cottonwood gets a REALLY bad rest hold on him and of course it doesn’t work. He has a weird moveset and I’m not sure if I like it or not. Michael works on the knee which is far more logical. The spinning neckbreaker ends it.

Rating: D. This was supposed to be Cottonwood’s showcase match I guess and it just didn’t work at all. McGillicutty continues to impress now has he’s 5-0. He also has a finisher now that’s beginning to have a reputation which is the most important thing. This was a boring match but at least it was short.

The video package on Kaval airs and the main thing is be less serious. Rhodes likes him too apparently. Laycool is just awesome at this. In the back Harris runs into him and says he isn’t noticeable.

Kaval vs. Husky Harris

This should go short as it’s getting close to 10:45 and we have a poll to do. Kaval was at a Lady Gaga concert apparently with Laycool. We talk about the Cowboys for a bit regarding the Dez Bryan/Roy Williams incident which was overblown. Kaval uses stuff other than kicks here which is a nice perk for him. Laycool gets knocked to the floor and Kaval checks on them. A reverse suplex and the back splash end it.

Rating: C-. Kaval uses stuff other than just kicks here which is a big step up for him. That’s his main issue: he needs to vary up his offense which is what he did. Harris is still not someone I can get into but I can tolerate him more now than I could before. This was fine for what it was and Kaval showing concern for his pros was cool.

We talk about Raw and the Nexus match at Summerslam for something to do.

It’s Poll Time. McGillicutty has immunity so he’s safe.

1. Michael McGillicutty
2. Kaval
3. Alex Riley
4. Percy Watson
5. Lucky Cannon
6. Husky Harris
7. Eli Cottonwood

No real shock there. Eli freaking destroys Harris and the rest of the pros have to take him down. Ok maybe they don’t take him down. This is kind of awesome. He shoves Morrison as he leaves. I loved that. Harris says he’s great. Riley says he’ll be #1. McGillicutty says he’s going to stay undefeated. He and Riley go at it and here’s Cottonwood again! There’s a big brawl and we end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. The wrestling wasn’t great but the ending was pretty solid I thought. Eli was pretty clearly going home and that’s all that was ever going to happen. This was a decent enough show though as we start getting the guys gone. Like last season, once we get some of the dead weight out the show gets a lot better. Decent show this week and it accomplished its main goals so this is a passing grade.

 

[nitefightr69]

I really do not understand how Michael McGillicutty came out on top and Alex Riley in 3rd. This is clearly the WWE over-ruling what the fans are voting for. Kaval and Percy should be the top two. McGillicutty is, and I can't believe I am agreeing with the Miz on anything, mediocre. I am sure I will get flamed for this, but his dad, may he R.I.P., was the same.They both have/had cookie-cutter movesets and have/had little charisma.
Alex Riley does have more charisma then McGillicutty, but his wrestling not so much.
Its been reported that McGillicutty or Riley are the favorites to win NXT, with Husky Harris as a favorite too.
WHEN THE F are they going to listen to what we, the fans and the one's that give them their ratings, want?

 

[Remix]

I really do not understand how Michael McGillicutty came out on top and Alex Riley in 3rd. This is clearly the WWE over-ruling what the fans are voting for. Kaval and Percy should be the top two. McGillicutty is, and I can't believe I am agreeing with the Miz on anything, mediocre. I am sure I will get flamed for this, but his dad, may he R.I.P., was the same.They both have/had cookie-cutter movesets and have/had little charisma.
Alex Riley does have more charisma then McGillicutty, but his wrestling not so much.
Its been reported that McGillicutty or Riley are the favorites to win NXT, with Husky Harris as a favorite too.
WHEN THE F are they going to listen to what we, the fans and the one's that give them their ratings, want?

Riley's a heel, that gives him a disadvantage straight away with the fan vote. Funilly enough, the common or garden mark buys what WWE says about superstars, and Hennig is being built up as awesome and he gets toe votes to prove it. Plus he's unbeaten, which helps with the Kayfabe section.

As for the rankings, I see no problem with them. Lucky is probably making the final 4, on the grounds that he's competant. Hennig and Riley will both walk to the F4, as will Kaval. Watson, while he's the standout in the personality and talking sections of the course isn't quite there with the ring work and will be fighting Cannon for the final spot (and knowing Lucky, he'll somehow squeeze in). Harris will be lucky to survive another cull imo, despite how high management is on him.

WWE's prediction of Hennigillicutty or Riley winning is about right. Kaval is probably better than both in the ring, albeit with a less entertaining (to me) style, but the whole 'He's fucking tiny' is a problem, as is him not being the greatest of talkers. None of the others have a hope of winning.

 

[nitefightr69]

Kaval's style is most CERTAINLY the most entertaining out of all the NXT rookies, IMO. He is a high-flyer with a devastating LOOKING finishing maneuver. He is not BAD on the mic, its just he sounds so dry and serious. Atleast he doesn't stutter or have a lisp.
From what has been reported, WWE is starting to see that the smaller guys are also great wrestlers and can be big stars. I give credit to this mostly to Daniel Bryan and Evan Bourne, but we also see it from Tyson Kidd and occasionally from Rey Mysterio (when he isn't whining).

 

[The Doctor]

Very, very good episode tonight. The challenge was extremely entertaining (mostly because of LayCool, though Watson and Riley's performances were brilliant), every match was a ton of fun, Kofi and Miz both showed some awesome personality and chemistry on the mic tonight, and it was really just a good show from top to bottom.

NXT isn't supposed to be a totally serious show like RAW. It's supposed to be an entertaining hour of wrestling that gets some new faces on TV. And it accomplished its purpose excellently tonight.

A

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Pretty good episode, awesome segment to start the show. LayCool should just own every segment on WWE television, really. I figured something much funnier would happen when Riley got up there, but he went through with it. I marked out when Layla kissed Kaval, good times.

People will probably looks at me strange for this, but Husky Harris reminds me a lot of....Umaga. Good agility, bumping and smooth manuevers for a guy that size, and simular unique look. There is just something about that dude. He isnt quite as athletic as Umaga, but recall, Umaga was on steroids. So yea.

The matches outside of the Harris-Kaval match were unimpressive and drab, but thats the same ol same ol for NXT. The Miz-Mcguilicutty match wasnt bad, I suppose.

Good segments, shit that was Kofi Kingstons best showing of character maybe ever, lulz. Good show tonight

B

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Decent show last night. Kissing segment was hilarious and Kaval was a lucky devil. Riley/Watson was decent as was Harris/Kaval and McGillicutty/Miz. Loved Kofi on the mic and with that and what happened on Smackdown last Friday, he's showing personality which he needs if he wants to go further. Next week is elimination and I think Cannon and Watson will be the last two because I love Harris and I think the pros do too.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE NXT - August 3, 2010

NXT Kissing Challenge - I know that some people might've been entertained by this, but I just could not get into this. I just couldn't. It bored the snot out of me and it ate up roughly 20 minutes of the show in and of itself. If they insisted on doing this, it should've been half the time it'd been given. I will admit that LayCool looked pretty hot running around in their Daisy Dukes. I just saw no real point to this challenge at all and it just drained a lot of excitement I had built up for the show. Thumbs Down

Husky Harris vs. Kaval - I suppose 3 minute matches can have a purpose and a point. The match wasn't long, but the action during the 3 minutes was pretty good. I would have been happier with Kaval winning this match, but Husky Harris probably did need it more to be honest. I think these two work well together and I'd be interested in seeing a much longer match out of them. Nothing overly spectacular here, but decent. Thumbs Up

Michael McGuillicutty vs. Lucky Cannon - Not really much to say here. The match lasted 1 minute with McGuillicutty getting the win. Over the course of this season of NXT, Lucky Cannon I think has shown to be the overall weakest guy on the show and I'm hoping that being beaten so decisively is the prelude to him going home next week. Because of that possibility, I liked this so Thumbs Up.

The Miz - I thought The Miz was really good on the mic last night and the moment with John Morrison was priceless. The Miz coming out and saying that Morrison had done nothing since their team split up held a lot of truth to it I think. Thumbs Up

Percy Watson vs. Alex Riley - Decent match between these two, but too short to be anything memorable or spectacular. I liked the DDT spot on the apron, it just looked really good. Riley got the victory aroung the 3.5 minute mark. I'll be surprised if he doesn't go up in the poll next week. I give this a minor Thumbs Up

The Miz vs. Michael McGuillicutty - This was a pretty fun match. McGuillicutty looked strong and I have to admit that I was dreading the prospect of him winning here. He's undefeated on NXT and losing to a Rookie would hurt The Miz, so I'm glad it didn't happen. Good effort by both men, so I give it a Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - The first 20 minutes of NXT last night was awful and it came pretty close to just ruining the entire show for me. The rest of the show was pretty decent, nothing overly memorable and I wish the matches had been longer. But, as I said, the Kissing Challenge ate up a big chunk of the show. If I had to assign a letter grade to last night's episode, I'd probably have to go with a C-.

 

[MisterRob]

The Miz - I thought The Miz was really good on the mic last night and the moment with John Morrison was priceless. The Miz coming out and saying that Morrison had done nothing since their team split up held a lot of truth to it I think. Thumbs Up

I think it was more so Miz playing his heel character then really having a lot of truth to it. I mean, after all, since their tag team split up John Morrison has competed for the World Heavyweight title against Jeff Hardy, competed again for the World Heavyweight title in an Elimination chamber, held the Intercontinental championship again. It's only since he was drafted to RAW that he's really been 'overlooked', and RAW's stacked right now so it was probably a bad decision to even move him to RAW unless they were going to do something with him.




As for NXT lastnight...

I really enjoyed the show. I think the kissing competition wasn't all that bad and it entertained me enough. It's the 'entertainment' aspect to the 'sport' part of WWE and it's purpose should be pretty clear; it gives the rookies a chance to display some character and try to entertain the crowd. It's their chance to show the pros and more so the WWE what they can do outside the ring and I thought a lot of them had a good showing with it. Did it run too long? I really don't think those kind of segments are nearly as scripted as some seem to believe.

I enjoyed the matches lastnight. Husky and Kaval put on a very good showing, Riley and Watson had a good match, and I thought McGillicutty showed a great deal with his two matches, but most certainly against the Miz. I was impressed with him even with his first loss, after all, when he holds his own against the US champion whose also got Money in the Bank and one of the main rising stars that's definitely impressive.

Overall I'd give the show a B+, for an hour it didn't really disappoint in any way for me.