[OFFICIAL] NXT Aftermath, Review, and Ratings Thread

I thought last nights episode was pretty good. The opening twenty minutes were...interesting. The kissing contest was funny, but really dumb and useless. I enjoyed watching it, but I feel like it was just a waste of time and the show probably would have been better without it.

I think my favorite part of the show was the exchange between Miz, McGillicutty, and Kofi. Miz was gold as usual, making fun of the rookies and Kofi. Kofi also did a good job retaliating and the whole thing was just really fun to watch.

As for the matches, I'm pretty sure there were only two. But if there were more, that should tell you how I feel about that match. The Husky/Kaval match was meh, but I thought the Miz/McGillicutty match was one of the better matches this season. All in all, I'll give this week a B.
 
come on, you forgot the awesome Watson/Riley match.....

god, that kissing thing was lame

Cannon/McGuilicutty was pretty good though, would have enjoyed the McGuilicutty/Miz if Michael Cole didn't go gay for Miz EVERY SECOND OF THE MATCH. i get the whole heel comentator thing. i do. Heenan did it awesome, Ventura did it awesome, Lawler was genius at it. But Cole is horrid. The other guys realized you need to chill with your lovefests with the heels for a few freaking minutes every show...... god is sending him to hell. Not to get tortured, though, he's going their to be Satan's punishment.
 
NXT
Date: August 3, 2010
Location: Laredo Energy Arena, Laredo, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

We open with a recap of the poll from last week and the elimination of Cottonwood, followed by the huge brawl. Here are the rookies and tonight there’s a kissing contest. We need Divas for this so here comes Laycool. I could go for Michelle in shorts like that. Same with Layla. Michael is clearly pissed about this but this is the biggest pop Laycool has ever gotten. Seriously, how awesome would it be to have Michelle as your biology teacher?

Harris is first and never mind as they bring in a Laredo chick who is of course fat and ugly. The looks on the rookies’ faces are hilarious. Kaval’s eyes almost bugged out. Harris does go first and dips her back, apparently getting points from the judge.

Michael licks her face. I think I just lost points for him.

Lucky does a slow one.

Percy is fourth and it’s nothing special.

Kaval is PISSED and looks scared almost. Layla kisses the hell out of him and he can barely stand. He does it and looks sick.

Riley does a decent one and it’s judging time.

Lucky wins and gets…..nothing? Laycool lists off a bunch of diseases and Riley kisses her again. Uh…yeah.

Kaval vs. Husky Harris

After the whole kiss thing, Kaval better be awesome here. There’s another elimination next week. This is a rematch from last week I think. Kaval does a great counter as he gets slingshotted into the corner but lands on the bottom rope and immediately jumps down in a double stomp. A Rock Bottom and the back splash end it.

Rating: N/A. They’re keeping these matches short which is likely the best idea. This wasn’t bad but Harris comes off as this fat guy with too many tattoos. He’s better than I thought he was, but still he just doesn’t do it for me at all. Kaval isn’t bad though and is also improving for me.

We recap Miz’s comments on McGillicutty and he says he wants Miz. Lucky wants Miz. Miz starts talking and says the winner might get a shot at him.

Lucky Cannon vs. Michael McGillicutty

This is maybe a minute long and the running neckbreaker (the McGillicutter) ends it.

We get the pros’ opinions on who the worst pros are. Kofi says Laycool because of the pink shirt. Laycool of course says Kofi.

Henry, drenched in sweat, says Ryder because his rookie was eliminated first.

Rhodes says Kofi because he’s going to lose the IC Title to Rhodes soon.

Ryder tries to talk but here’s Miz to say that the pros are all the worst. Miz and Morrison go at it with Miz saying Morrison has done nothing since they split up. That’s not exactly true but whatever.

Alex Riley vs. Percy Watson

Before we see a confessional from Watson where he says Riley is the hardest to get along with. This is a tame one and not in character which is something I want to see more of. This is a pretty good match actually with Watson’s glasses falling off. He’s got some charisma to say the least. A hot shot sets up the RKO for the pin. This was a lot better than it sounds. MVP looks bored out of his mind.

Rating: C+. Considering how short this was and that it’s just a throwaway match on NXT, this was a very entertaining little match. They were both working hard out there and moving quite well. They looked hungry. That’s the right term for it: they looked hungry. I was rather impressed here which is a rarity on this show.

Michael McGillicutty vs. The Miz

This is yet another change for Cole to worship Miz. Something tells me Miz loses here for some reason though. Miz dominates for the most part but Michael hangs in there very nicely. Miz is said to have a HHH like knee lift. That would be nice if HHH had EVER used a running knee lift. McGillicutty goes OFF with punches in the corner and has Miz in trouble.

Oh I’m going two sections here. Oh yeah. And never mind that as the Skull Crushing Finale ends it.

Rating: C. Pretty decent match here given the circumstances. People in the LD were actually complaining over this as they were saying that Michael shouldn’t have lost. He’s had 6 WWE matches and he’s fighting the US Champion. What more do you want? This was fine and there was no reason for Miz to lose here. It’s like last night when he lost to Orton. He has no business beating Orton yet and it wouldn’t have made sense for him to do so. This was fine.

Overall Rating: C. This was a good enough show here but the twenty minutes at the beginning, while funny, was completely pointless. We got three rookies in the ring tonight and not a ton of development for anyone. The matches were fairly good though and the last forty minutes were far better. I have no idea what the point of it was but it got Michelle and Layla into tank tops and shorts so it can’t be all bad. Decent show but again they need to drop someone, namely Lucky.
 
I actually thought the first segment from this past Tuesday's NXT was total garbage, absolute garbage. A challenge set up by Laycool where you have to kiss some fat homecoming queen from 1992 and who ever she felt was the best kisser wins... I was very disappointed in the prize of the challenge. Laycool said it would be a "Grand Prize". It turns out it was something very pointless, making the segment wasteful. We could've saw some decent matches at the very least. At least the matches that were on the show were fairly decent.
 
Awesome episode tonight. Very, very entertaining.

The challenge was simple, but it related to wrestling and only took up five minutes of our time, if that. Plus, we got to see Cole dressed up in a ridiculous outfit and get embarrassed by Josh Matthews, who is truly a future commentating legend. It didn't waste time, and that meant for longer matches, and it still served a useful purpose: Alex Riley's going to be on RAW next week! :D

The matches themselves were quite entertaining. I actually enjoyed the six-man tag team match more than Miz vs. Morrison. Kaval really impressed me tonight, though Percy's dropkick and Husky's throwing his weight around were also highlights. It was an exciting match that featured good performances from all the rookies.

The Miz/Morrison match was all right. It didn't really hold my attention very well, but it wasn't bad. I enjoy Morrison, but he didn't look good in that match at all.

Finally, the right guy got eliminated. I was surprised to see Riley so low in the poll, but it was nice to see Husky, Watson, and Kaval move on up. The only thing I'm worried about is the double elimination next week; I really don't want to see any of these guys go, but I'm most worried for Watson.

Overall a very satisfying episode of NXT.

A
 
WWE NXT - August 11, 2010

Opening Segment - NXT opened last night with a Rookie Challenge that was basically to see who could punch the hardest by using one of those punching machines you'd sometime see at arcades or in carnivals. It would've been utterly pointless, like many Rookie Challenges, had it not been for the prize. The winner gets to appear on Raw Monday night. Alex Riley came out the winner and the challenge in and of itself only took about 5 minutes. The challenge was short and it actually had something of a point, so it was alright. Thumbs Up

Percy Watson, Kaval & Lucky Cannon vs. Michael McGuillicutty, Alex Riley & Husky Harris - This was a good tv six man match that was a return for the match they had on Raw. All the guys gotta chance to show off what they could do and it was a quality match overall. The crowd was into it, especially when Kaval got into the ring. Kaval had a great showing last night and it was great to see him finally get a pinfall. He got the win over Michael McGuillicutty at about the 11 minute mark. Overall, a quality six man match. Thumbs Up

The Miz vs. John Morrison - During the commercial, Morrison challenged The Miz to a match as The Miz was bragging on how Cena & Bret Hart "begged" him to join Team WWE for SummerSlam and wanted to hear Morrison do the same. So, Morrison asked him to a match to prove that Team WWE didn't need him. The two worked a really good match together and looked strong throughout. John Morrison is looking more like the JoMo of old, there's actually some passion to him. I dunno, maybe it's the beard. :p Fun and entertaining match with The Miz scoring the win at about the 11 minute mark. Thumbs Up

NXT Pro's Poll & Rookie Elimination - The Pro's Poll started with Matt Striker asking the Rookies who they thought should be eliminated, which is always a nice touch to generate a little extra tension. McGuillicutty, Kaval & Husky Harris all voted for Lucky Cannon while Percy Watson voted for Alex Riley, Riley voted for McGuillicutty & Lucky said all of them should go but him. Kaval was ranked #1, McGuillicutty was #2, Percy Watson was #3, Husky Harris was #4, Alex Riley was #5 and Lucky Cannon was #6 meaning he was eliminated. Personally, I think Percy Watson & Riley should be switched around, but I was overall satisfied with the rankings and the right guy got eliminated. The eliminations for NXT this season have been spot on and the right guys are being sent. Lucky gave his farewell speech, which was lame because he's lame. I hate it when guys that show no passion or even attempt to stand out say that they want it more than anyone else. It closed out with Alex Riley giving a damn good heel promo. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - Last night was a quality episode of NXT. A few good spots on the mic from The Miz & Alex Riley, a couple of really good matches and the right NXT Rookie was eliminated. I could be picky and rag about the Rookie Challenge, but it wasn't a bad challenge, it had a point and didn't take up much time so I've really got no complaints about last night's show. Overall, I give last night's show an A-, just a really good hour's worth of programming.
 
I thought last nights episode was great. It was just really entertaining. I had a lot of fun watching it.

First we had Cole and Mathews doing the challenge, which had me laughing and made me love these two even more. Then we had the rookies doing the challenge. At first, I thought it would be bad. But it was really good. Short and sweet and now we get to see Riley on Raw. Win/Win.

The 6 man tag match was a repeat of the one on RAW, but this one was obviously a lot better. Each guy had their time. Everyone showed something good and it made for a really fun match to watch. Kaval really impressed me, especially with his assault on McGillicutty. A very impressive few seconds.

Miz/Morrison was really good. There was a lot of emotion and just back and forth action. Both guys looked great and worked well together. I kinda knew The Miz would win, but it was still and exciting match to watch.

After the match we had the eliminations, with each rookie getting a chance to say who should go home. Once again, Alex Riley shined with his joke on Striker. He even had Mathews laughing and I think he made himself laugh. I really started to panic when Riley was in the bottom two, but luckily (no pun intended), Lucky was the one going home. He did a good goodbye promo and shook hands with all of the other rookies. Husky had me rolling in laughter when Lucky went to shake his hand and instead he just did his hand sign.

They announce that next week we get a double elimination, so that should be really interesting. The 5 remaining guys are the ones that deserve it and next week, it looks like we are going to lose some one good. I give this episode an A. It was fun and entertaining the whole way through, with nothing bad at all.
 
NXT
Date: August 10, 2010
Location: HP Pavilion, San Jose, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

We open with Cole dressed in a combination of like 8 wrestlers’ apparel. Striker has a machine that tests how hard you throw a punch. Matthews beats Cole and he storms off. This was in front of an empty arena. What the hell did I just watch?

Theme song.

Here are the rookies and their pros. Henry isn’t here due to injuries. Such a shame but at least half the company gets to eat now. The finale is in three weeks. First I’ve heard of that but cool. We do a challenge with the boxing machine. The prize is a spotlight appearance, whatever that is, on Raw.

Michael gets a score of 863. This is going to go fast.

Kaval kicks it and gets 297. Laycool is in the shorts again which are NICE.

Percy gets less than Cole got. WOW he sucks.

This is designed for Husky to win by the way. Cannon gets 744 which I don’t think beats Matthews.

Harris messes up and doesn’t break 400. Hokey smoke.

Riley punches the hell out of it and wins it with something like 900. This whole thing MIGHT have taken 3 minutes which is nice for once. Riley cuts a short promo saying while Miz is a reality star, he’s a star in reality. Nice line.

Miz and Morrison argued during the break with Miz saying Morrison needed him on Team WWE (even though Nexus are WWE guys now) at the PPV. He wanted Morrison to say they needed him and Morrison won’t do it. Miz vs. Morrison tonight.

Kaval/Percy Watson/Alex Riley vs. Lucky Cannon/Husky Harris/Michael McGillicutty

This was on Raw last night. Watson hits a fireman’s carry from his knees (FU) and shows some decent mat work. Watson knocks Riley OUT for a bit but it doesn’t last long. I don’t think Kaval has been in yet so when he gets the tag expect him to come in. Bad hip toss by Watson. Riley’s team starts arguing so Cannon does a big dive over the top to take Riley out as we take a break.

Cannon used a big boot. The LD made jokes for me so I began to smile. There is zero flow to this match and it’s just a bunch of random stuff going on with each guy trying to get stuff in. Kaval finally comes in and hooks a Dragon Sleeper but Harris makes the save. Watson hits the one move he’s really good at, the dropkick, to take out Harris. McGillicutty misses the neckbreaker and the Warrior’s Way ends it clean.

Rating: C-. Not great at all but after the break the thing got WAY better. Kaval came in and ended the thing like I expected him to. It shows some nice thought by Kaval to avoid the neckbreaker which has been awesome for Michael the whole season. Michael missed it and didn’t know what to do. This worked pretty well though as it gets everyone on the show in one match which opens up room for other guys to do stuff. This wasn’t bad but the first half was pretty weak.

LONG recap of the Nexus vs. Cena’s Army match. Khali is likely out. Oh and there are other matches at Summerslam too apparently.

The Miz vs. John Morrison

Well we have about two minutes before the break and nothing of note happened in it. Literally I watched it and had nothing at all to write down. Apparently during the break Morrison hit a huge corkscrew plancha. Not like we saw it live or anything but whatever. LONG chinlock follows just to annoy me. Morrison makes his comeback and hits the Flash Kick for two. Shining Wizard misses and Miz hits a big boot. I give up. Starship Pain misses a few times and then the Skull Crushing Finale ends it. Morrison might have hurt his ankle which I’m 99% sure is kayfabe.

Rating: C-. Same as last match, this got a lot better after the break. It still wasn’t great or anything, but the Miz’s continued near dominance of Morrison is still fascinating. This was a decent enough match though and I thought it worked ok. These two have good chemistry like always so I’m happy.

It’s Poll Time and the rookies are asked who should go home. Michael and Kaval say Lucky. Percy doesn’t want to answer but picks Riley for talking too much, despite him having a talk show segment. Lucky says everyone other than him. Harris says Cannon due to his record. Riley says Striker because of his stupid questions which got a legitimate laugh out loud from me. He picks Michael too. Here’s the poll.

1. Kaval
2. Michael McGillicutty
3. Percy Watson
4. Husky Harris

I actually had Riley typed out. There is NO WAY Riley can lose here.

5. Alex Riley
6. Lucky Cannon

And it finally ends. I’m more surprised about Riley being in 5th. He did well tonight though. Lucky says he has nothing to say to Kaval which is odd. He says he isn’t going to flip out and that he enjoyed his time here. This was pretty well composed.

Riley says he doesn’t get why he’s hated so much. Two eliminations next week.

Overall Rating: B. I liked this show. It got everyone on there and it had a regular match as well. Also anytime I have less Lucky Cannon to deal with, life is good. This was a good show overall and it came off as rather entertaining. Now that we’re getting down towards the end you can really see things coming together. Finally it was nice having a contest that could actually mean something in a career and took like 3 minutes. This show worked and I rather liked it.
 
As much as I wanted to hate tonight, I really just couldn't. It was a DAMN good show.

First we had another promo challenge, featuring rookies picking their own topics. Every rookie did a good job, with special mention to Percy Watson's excellent "3 D's" motivational speech and Kaval's hilarious rap.

The matches were all of high quality and were very enjoyable. Husky and Kaval did a GREAT job that felt fresh considering they've worked together many times before. And I can;t believe Ryder actually won a match. I liked that.

I wish Percy and Husky hadn't gotten eliminated, but Percy's farewell speech was classy and well-done, and Cody Rhodes tearing shit up was AWESOME! I am a huge fan of Rhodes, and to see him actually be given the mic to rip on anything and everyone was fantastic. Then there was the brawl where Harris started tearing up everything and getting thrown around by Kaval and the pros...fantastic ending that was unpredictable and very exciting.

Great show.

A
 
NXT
Date: August 17, 2010
Location: Rabobank Arena, Bakersfield, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

Two eliminations tonight as the finals are two weeks away. Let’s get to it. Wow that was a short intro but what else do you want me to say here?

The Rookies come to the ring. They get a minute to talk about whatever they want.

Watson talks about 3D: Desire, determination, dedication. You know the basic idea here.

Riley’s topic is Alex Riley. He runs down the rookies, especially Cannon. He goes overboard as always.

McGillicutty talks about his competition. Watson is scared, Kaval has a funny voice and that a Chihuahua never wins a fight, Harris has nothing said about him and Riley talks too much. McGillicutty is the winner and a future champion. He times it perfectly too, ending a split second before the bell.

Kaval’s topic is NXT. He has two great women behind him instead of one. He raps actually and it’s rather bad. Ok saying Harris doesn’t break labels but rather buffet tables. Oh and he’s the reason for TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION. Hokey smoke.

Harris talks about cowboy boots. They happen to be Barry Windham’s cowboy boots. The Devil wears cowboy boots too. This was…yeah.

First elimination is RIGHT NOW. No poll, just a wheel thing like in the Draft. Watson is gone, which I think makes sense actually. He looks legit sad but thanks the fans and MVP. He’s going to continue to have fun and a good time. He does the catchphrase and comes off as very classy here. He shakes Kaval’s hand and no one else’s before leaving.

Michael McGillicutty vs. Zach Ryder

Well down goes the pro again. The announcers argue over who the best star from Long Island ever is: Ryder or Striker. Here lies Mick Foley’s memory I guess. Michael misses a baseball slide and Ryder takes over with a, say it with me, big boot. McGillicutty takes over again and is being very aggressive here which is different for him. And the Rough Ryder ends it perfectly clean? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?

Rating: D+. Very basic match here, but I don’t see why Ryder won. To tone down McGillicutty I guess, but he’s in the final four and has the best record by far. Why would you job him here? It just makes no sense at all but I guess they want him gone so that their favorites can take over or something. Don’t get that one. Match was nothing special at all.

Laycool pump up Kaval. Michelle asks Layla about liking Kaval and she seems to just a bit. Michelle doesn’t seem to mind though. She does mind Harris hitting on her though.

Husky Harris vs. Kaval

Harris gets caught in a choke but that doesn’t last long. Kaval hits his kicks but runs into a REALLY bad spinning Rock Bottom. This isn’t much at all. He goes for it again and gets caught in a DDT. Warrior’s Way hits PERFECTLY and it’s over.

Rating: N/A. This was pretty quick, but seeing Laycool in short dresses is never a problem. Kaval looked pretty good here with his kicks. I still want him to mix it up though. That Warrior’s Way was freaking PRETTY.

Alex Riley vs. Kofi Kingston

Riley dominates to start and still has that tape on his arm. Riley jumps into a boot and the Boom Drop and Trouble in Paradise end this rather quickly.

Rating: N/A. This was quick and really just a glorified squash. Not sure what the point of this was again. Kaval has easily been the star of this show.

We see the same Summerslam in LA package we’ve seen the last two nights.

LONG Raw recap as we try to fill time.

Cole says Alex Riley should win and Kaval should be gone. Matthews says the same actually.

They do the wheel thing again and it’s Harris gone. Well I didn’t see that coming. Rhodes FREAKS. He says Ryder should have good luck in their future endeavors. Even Harris tries to cool him off, saying it’s his time. Rhodes tells Riley to make an impact. McGillicutty wants to be Mr. Perfect Jr. but doesn’t deserve it. Kaval gets a double beatdown but MVP and Kofi come down for the save. Big brawl ends it. Kaval does a big dive to Husky which looked like it totally missed.

Overall Rating
: B. This show was very action packed and other than the WAY too long recaps, this was solid. We’re down to the last three guys and they’re pretty clearly the best three in there. This should be a good ending though as everything is more or less coming together just as it was supposed to. I still don’t get McGillicutty losing like that, but this should be solid for the next two weeks. Good show.
 
This episode was much like last week's episode. There were no great matches, but the show was just highly entertaining and very fun to watch.

We start off with another promo challenge. No complaints here. Everyone did a good job. The first one that stuck out was Kaval's rap. The jab at TNA was awesome, calling McGillicutty Joe was nice, and I was also laughing for a while at his Husky Harris/Buffet Table line. I also really enjoyed McGillicutty's promo. It wasnt spectacular, but just like the show, its was simply entertaining. After the promos, we get the first elimination and Percy get eliminated. We knew one of the 4 standouts were going home today and I guess you just need to except it. Oh well.

After the promo's, I thought the show would be bad and just filled with RAW rewinds and Summerslam flashbacks. It was, but they still managed to fit in some wrestling. None of the matches were significant, but I throughly enjoyed the bantering of Cole and Mathews. They made the middle 40 minutes enjoyable.

The end was great in my opinion. Husky gets eliminated and Cody cuts easily the best promo I have ever seen him cut. It was great. He ignites a little brawl and the show ends on that note. Like I said earlier, there was nothing spectacular, but it still managed to stay entertaining. I give this episode an A-.
 
This is my first REAL post, so uh... Yeah.

Anyway, tonight there will be two rookies that get eliminated, so let's get on with it!

1 Minute Talking Challenge
First we get ANOTHER 1 minute talking challenge where the rookies get to choose a topic and talk about it... For 1 minute. Duh.

Percy goes first and he talks about 3D. The three D's mean desire, dedication, and determination. I love listening to Percy talk, he's just so full of energy. Anyway, this is typical Percy stuff but that isn't a bad thing.

Riley is next, and he talks about Alex Riley. This guy is undoubtedly my favorite on the mic. He talks about the other rookies and how much better he is than them.

McGillicutty goes next and talks about the competition behind him. Apparently, Watson isn't smiling; He's just scared! He makes fun of Kaval, which made me chuckle. Riley runs his mouth too much, and Husky is nothing. He calls himself the winner and a future Heavyweight champ.

Kaval is next, his topic is NXT and he's rapping. Yeah, RAPPING. He starts off pretty bad, but it gets better, and it's kinda clever! He talks about Percy being too nice, Husky breaking buffet tables or something like that, and he calls Michael Joe! He also makes something of a TNA joke, saying he's the reason for Total Nonstop Action.

Husky is last and his topic is cowboy boots. I found him to be the worst tonight...

The first elimination is tonight, and there is no poll, just a wheel, kinda like that Draft was. Percy is going home. He looks genuinely(?) sad, and gives another nice speech, thanking the fans and MVP. He and Kaval shake hands, but he doesn't bother with anyone else.

Zack Ryder VS. Michael McGillicutty

First match is Ryder VS. McGillicutty, and it's nothing special. Ryder gets the clean pin when he hits the Rough Ryder. Ryder picks up a win in who knows how long, which I have no problem with. But it certainly didn't do McGillicutty any favors. This was a short, average match, which didn't really do much except put McGillicutty in a match. 2.5/5.

Laycool tries to pump up Kaval, and Michelle asks Layla if she likes Kaval. Layla kinda does, and then they do some thing where they close their eyes, Layla leaves, and Husky appears in front of Michelle. He makes a 'love at first sight' joke and Michelle rejects him. Kaval VS. Husky next.

Kaval VS. Husky Harris

At the start, Kaval gets some chokehold on Harris, but he gets to the ropes pretty quickly. Kaval gets some kicks in, and Husky throws him into the corner twice aggresively. Husky does a pretty terrible Rock Bottom-esque move, usually to set up for his running senton-thing. Kaval gets up, Husky goes for it again, but it's reversed into a DDT. Kaval get's the Warrior's Way shortly after, and it is absolutely beautiful! This was very short, but I was glad to see Kaval get what I think was his first singles match win. Husky didn't look very good, though. Kaval looked GREAT. I'd say a 3/5.

Alex Riley VS. Kofi Kingston

This is a REALLY fast match where Kofi actually picks up a win with the Boom Drop followed by Trouble in Paradise. It didn't showcase Riley at all, and e really could've used a win here, considering he was ranked 5th in the poll. This wasn't very good, and it was WAY too short for me to rate.

We get a RAW recap, and the Summerslam Access video.

Josh Matthews and Michael Cole are in the ring, and Matt Striker asks them who they think will win, and who should be eliminated tonight. They both say Riley should win, and Kaval should go home, which I wasn't expecting him to say. They high five, too!

Now it's elimination time! Husky is going home (to no one's surprise, I'm sure...). Husky is supposed to say his goodbyes here, but "Dashing" Cody Rhodes gets on the mic and starts berating everybody. He wishes Ryder luck in his future endeavors, and says Layla wants to make out with all the rookies. He goes down the ramp, and Husky tries to calm him down and fails. Cody says Miz is awesome, Riley is awful, McGillicutty doesn't deserve to be Mr. Perfect Jr., and just beats on Kaval with Husky. MVP and Kofi make a save, and Husky gets jumped on by Kaval.

Overview
Tonight was decent. We know that fans' votes don't matter, cause there's no way Percy would go home before Husky and Riley, as the typical fan hates them both. But I'm sure we knew that from the beginning. Anyway, the remaining 3 are the ones that I hoped would be there, and I have no idea who's gonna win. Unlike last season, where Wade was the clear-cut winner for half the season. I liked it, and I'm excited for the finale now.

I give tonight's NXT a 3.5/5

On a side note, the NXT announcer lady looks muscular and like she can actually fight. Just something I thought I'd point out.
 
I am now sold on Rhodes, that was just fucking awesome. He showed such heart and passion and fire in that promo and he fucking BURNED the pros and rookies. He really is superior to dibiase. I'm sad to see husky gone but i'm certain we'll see him on either roster soon enough. Also sad to see watson gone but he was arguably the weakest of the 5 remaining rookies.

the promos in the beginning with the rookies was an enjoyable segment. All of the rookies did a great job. Kaval gave a charismatic, funny promo, and it was the best of all the promos. mcgillicutty made me laugh with his rip on kaval (by the way, he has VERY good timing with his promos), husky was pretty good, and watson was just percy watson, nothing too special. overall a very enjoyable edition of NXT.
 
WWE NXT - August 17, 2010

Opening Segment - The show opened with the NXT Rookies being given an opportunity to cut a 1 minute promo. All of the Rookies did well, but Kaval was clearly the stand out. His little freestyle rap showed off some much needed personality and he even took a little jab at TNA to close it out with, which got a pretty good reaction from the crowd. The first elimination of the night took place immediately and it was Percy Watson. Percy was someone that'd kinda grown on me and he gave a classy farewell promo. He has a good look, lots of energy and is very athletic. There might still be a place for him on the roster. Overall, a strong segment. Thumbs Up

Zack Ryder vs. Michael McGuillicutty - Overall, a solid 4 minute match thought nothing particularly memorable. I was a little surprised to see Zack Ryder get the win, I figured McGuillicutty would have won and thus made his position stronger. McGuillicutty losing the match on an elimination night made the rest of the night intriguing because it really felt like anybody could go home. Thumbs Up

Kaval vs. Husky Harris - Another solid match from these two. Kaval did his thing with a lot of fast, high energy offense. Husky looked a little clumsy during the match when hitting his power moves on Kaval and it kept this match from being as good as it could have been. The fans were really into this, especially when Kaval hit his finisher and got the win. Kaval needed the win, he got a great reaction from the crowd and looked really crisp in the ring. Thumbs Up

Kofi Kingston vs. Alex Riley - This was the worst match of the night. There just really wasn't anything here. Mostly just some basic moves with a few of Kofi's signatures to end the match. Kofi gets the win about the 2 minute mark. Didn't go long enough to really be a factor. Thumbs Down

Michael Cole & Josh Matthews - Just before the other elimination of the night, Cole & Matthews were in the ring with Striker and were asked who they thought should be eliminated. Cole really shined here and came across as the supreme douche bag that the internet wants him to be. Cole has shown nothing but disdain for internet fans and internet sensations and it came across very well. Matthews, as the straight man of this little comedy duo, surprisingly agreed with Cole's choice of Kaval. That surprised me as I figured Matthews would defend Kaval. It was just an interesting little piece that wasn't expected and it was just good to hear what Cole & Matthews thought on the mic. Thumbs Up

Husky Harris Elimination & Cody Rhodes Promo - Personally, I thought McGuillicutty should've been eliminated but Husky Harris got the nod. To some degree, I do understand this as Harris' overall conditioning is in question. We saw him work a 10+ minute match against MVP this season and he was definitely struggling physically through the second half of it. He's also a little clumsy in the ring as well. Cody Rhodes gave an outstanding promo after Husky's elimination was revealed. Rhodes came alive and acted very much like the outraged pro and really just let it all out. Him starting a brawl with Kaval and other WWE Pros was a great way to close the show out. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - Last night's NXT was a very fun overall show in my opinion. None of the matches were spectacular, but two of them were pretty solid and passable overall. With Percy Watson, one of the most popular NXT Rookies overall, being eliminated along with Husky Harris, it really does feel like it's anybody's game right now. All the NXT Rookies did a good job on the mic, especially Kaval and it's nice to see that personality come out some. Overall, I give last night's NXT an A-.
 
Fantastic show tonight. Very, very entertaining.

First we had the great opening segment. Riley gave a great promo, and then Kaval and Rhodes had a fantastic back-and-forth where Kaval really impressed me. He said "WWE Universe" a lot, but his intensity when he got rolling was just awesome, and Cody was great as usual. MVP also stepped up and delivered a solid promo to join in the segment. It's a shame we got Rhodes/MVP instead of Rhodes/Kaval, but oh well, that's only a minor thing.

The challenge was bundles of fun. I love trivia, and I knew all the answers to the questions. Kaval won the prize to be in a big segment on WWE.com, and Cole's response to that was just hilarious. "Just what we need; more Kaval on the internet!". Entertaining challenge, and very well done.

The Rhodes/MVP match was the main event, and it was the only lower point of the show. I mean, one match, and it doesn't even involve the rookies? But really, who cares. It was slow-paced, but it wasn't bad, and aren't we always clamoring for long matches? We certainly got that tonight. I liked it. Rhodes looked impressive. That man is truly a future champion.

On top of that, Matthews and Cole were extremely entertaining on commentary as usual. Just a solid, entertaining-as-hell episode tonight. You can complain about the lack of wrestling, but when we get a mega-entertaining forty minutes and a nice long match, how can you really complain?

A
 
NXT
Date: August 24, 2010
Location: Save Mart Center, Fresno, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

We open with a recap of the double elimination from last week which got rid of Harris and Watson, getting us down to the final three of McGillicutty, Kaval and Riley.

The pros and rookies come out as always. There are a limited amount of pros here as a lot of them are in Asia for the tour. The rookies are asked how it feels to get this far.

McGillicutty says he loves his job and that it’s the greatest in the world. If that’s the case then he doesn’t want the promotion to being a full WWE star? He says that because he gets to perform in the same ring as his father makes it all worth it. He hasn’t touched on that before but it’s a big potential thing for him.

Riley says this is about finding the next STAR, and he’s the only total package. He talks about using his title shot on Sheamus before Miz can, which makes sense. It’s absurd, but it makes sense from a wrestler’s perspective I guess.

Kaval says a pro ruined his time to celebrate last week and it’s the fault of Cody Rhodes. Cody says something but gets cut off by Kaval, who says Cody got here because of his daddy. Basic gabfest here until Kaval says he earned his way here and calls Rhodes down to the ring.

Rhodes goes on to say Kaval isn’t worth it and here’s MVP to put us all to sleep. In my dream world I thought I heard MVP issue a challenge to Rhodes. This all took over ten minutes somehow.

There’s a trivia contest next. 100 points for first round questions, 200 for second round. They have to buzz in as well. The questions are all relatively basic, although it says a lot that the rookies know HHH”s theme song but are unsure as to what the main event of Mania 12 was.

I’m not going to list off all the questions as they’re flying by and are relatively easy. Kaval and Michael are tied up through most of this and Riley is being shut out. We do get a Demolition reference which is incredibly rare anymore. Apparently The Fink gave us these questions.

For you very old school fans we get a Dynamic Dudes question which no one gets but a kid in the audience gets it right. Riley still has no points but says he doesn’t care. He finally gets some points by knowing who won the most WWE Titles, which is HHH.

It’s the last question though and the final scores are Riley – 200, McGillicutty – 500 and Kaval – 700. He gets a feature on WWE.com. Can we just do trivia and look at Laycool jump up and down instead of watching Rhodes vs. MVP? The trivia thing was very fun for wrestling geeks like myself but most of the kids in the audience likely were lost during a lot of it. It went like 5 minutes though so it’s all fine and good.

We get a Raw recap, because that’s why I watch NXT. It’s of the Sheamus stuff and setting up the 6 Pack Challenge at NOC. Sheamus’ face is hilarious during the announcements of the 5 other guys.

Cody Rhodes vs. MVP

I like that song of Rhodes’. It sounds like Living on a Prayer in the chorus if nothing else so it’s hard not to like it. The camera angles on this show are different and I’m not sure if I like them or not. On commentary here we’re discussing Slammys and a Napoleon Complex. You can’t say it’s generic I suppose.

This is a really basic match as it doesn’t seem like either of them are incredibly interested. MVP controls with an armbar as he has been dominating for the most part. He hits a plancha over the top to take down Rhodes. We take a break with Cody’s shoulder in trouble.

As is the custom in WWE, the guy losing going into the break is dominating when we get back. Cole continues to badmouth Kaval the whole time and even blasts dirtsheets on the internet. This match is pretty worthless as you can tell by my lack of attention to the in ring stuff.

Since this is the only match on the show they have to go longer than they usually would. Rhodes goes into his very old school style which is a nice change of pace. The commentators seem rather uninterested here given their wide variety of topics.

There’s a decent dynamic of old school vs. new school here as MVP tries his usual stuff and Cody uses really basic and methodical ways to keep control. This match even gets the very rare double commercial as Cody has MVP in a kind of Crossface.

Back and it’s still Cody in control. These are not two guys that should get nearly twenty minutes. We hit the eleven o’clock hour and they’re still going at it. Cody gets a top rope superplex and then a surfboard, but not the kind with MVP over his head. Still looks incredibly painful though.

A big elbow like his daddy’s misses and we almost get a crisscross but the ending looked weird. Ballin hits but Rhodes pops up. Could it be because it’s an elbow drop? Play of the Day is countered into an Alabama Slam for two for Cody. A missed clothesline by MVP allows Cody to hit Crossroads to end this at about 25 minutes. Good grief that’s something I didn’t think I’d say.

Rating: C-. It’s not particularly interesting or good, but DAMN they just went 25 minutes on a TV show in this era. That’s more or less unheard of anymore and was definitely a throwback to the NWA days. By that I mean matches that went on far too long where a lot of stuff could be cut out (definitely not all matches follow this description mind you. Not at all implying otherwise). This was ok, but it does kind of defeat the purpose of having the rookies be the focus of the show when this was nearly half of the air time.

Overall Rating: B. The term old school really stands out in my mind over this show. We had about 40 minutes of segments and promos setting up the big long match which was the feature of the show. If that’s not straight out of the 80s I don’t know what is.

You do however have to keep in mind that they had very little to work with given the tour. The opening segment was good as it showcased Kaval, who is clearly the person the company is backing for this. The trivia game was VERY fun for fans like myself, although I question the choice on some of the questions, as a lot of the fans were likely lost.

The match….well it was what it was. It’s not terrible by any stretch, but I’m far from an MVP fan so that adds a bit of bias here for me. It was a good show, but if felt like there wasn’t enough emphasis on the rookies here. However, you certainly can’t fault them for not having a variety of content and I’d expect a triple threat on the finale next week. Good show, given the circumstances which have to be factored in on this show.
 
WWE NXT - August 24, 2010

Opening Segment - I thought the opening of last night's show was great overall with some good to downright great mic work from everyone involved. Alex Riley & Kaval shined during the segment, Riley is money on the mic and Kaval really seems to have started to come into his own over the past few weeks. I liked the interaction between Kaval & Cody Rhodes and Rhodes continues to improve. I know some don't like Cody Rhodes but fuck 'em, the guy is getting better and his whole metrosexual character is something he seems comfortable with. MVP stepping up and challenging Rhodes to a match was a nice way to close things out. Thumbs Up

Trivia Challenge - I thought I was going to hate this when that corny gameshow style music started to play. The first question about the Iron Man Match made me think the whole thing was going to be extremely lame with Striker asking questions that were so common that anyone should know them. However, I thought the segment was pretty fun overall as the questions weren't generally as easy as I thought they'd be. Some of the questions were downright obscure and/or you had to be a long time fan to really know the answers to them. I can understand if some weren't into this, but I thought it was pretty fun overall. As far as challenges go, this one wasn't that bad. Thumbs Up

Dashing Cody Rhodes vs. MVP - I thought this was a pretty good match overall, certainly one of the better matches I've seen out of MVP in a long while. The flow between them wasn't all that smooth at times, but they worked well together and put forth a really good effort for a really good tv match. What surprised me more than anything else was that the match lasted about 24 minutes with Cody Rhodes picking up a clean pinfall. To have a match last 20 minutes or more on tv is something of a rarity these days and it actually has me hoping that NXT will set up some sort of long triple threat match between the 3 remaining Rookies for the season finale next week. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - I enjoyed NXT a lot overall last night. Given the fact that there are so few Rookies remaining, I thought they did a good job of keeping people entertained for an hour. The opening promo segment was really well done and even the challenge itself was kinda fun. The long match between Rhodes & MVP was a high quality tv match that I enjoyed more than I thought I would. I could nitpick over the challenge if I wanted to, but it really wasn't bad and the rest of the show just kinda flew by. I give last night's episode of WWE NXT an A-.
 
That was MVP's best match in a long while, with Rhodes good as usual. The match didn't seem as long as it was to me, but the commentary was all over the place, although funny. I don't know if he and Rhodes just have good chemistry or if it was the amount of time, but if MVP keeps up that effort he could get back into the mid-card title picture.
 
I think the best part of the trivia challenge was Riley failing utterly. All in all, good show. I will concur MVP talked a bit much in a monotone, but other than that I liked it. 4/5 compared to other NXTs.
 
I actually watched the whole show this week, more or less. Tons o' fun. The show got off to a rousing start with like 4 pros there. Fantastic. Don't remember what McGillicutty said, but I do know that he looked like a member of the X-Men. Riley was awesome, as usual. Loads of boos. Pretty sure he should win. Kaval still was a little akward out there. Him and Cody would have a decent match. Of course MVP has to ruin everything though. Bitch.

The trivia contest was certainly pretty enjoyable. The questions were, uhh, odd. It worked well though. Better than most of the shit challenges they did last season. Cole screaming "An A-Bomb for A-Rye" made me chuckle. He was somewhat tolerable on Tuesday.

The main event was a match, nothing much else. Cody has progressed quite well though. He was able to keep me interested in a 25 minute match involving MVP. That's rather impressive. His theme music also kicks ass.
 
I was disappointed that there were no rookies matches, but I loved!! the dashing one cody rhodes vs mvp. it was an awesome match, no run ins, no dqs or countouts. in legacy, cody rhodes was the loser. after legacy, i thought he'd get fired. but now, he has gimmick of the year, in my opinion, and an awesome theme.

I, for one, love NXT. a lot of people hate it, but I love it! From NXT, we have the Nexus, a great stable that was the theme of the summer. And we have kaval and riley. i really want them both to win. kaval's rap really won me over, but i love riley's taling skills, and ring skills. mcguillicutyty's bland , no mic skills, husky harris was the michael tarver of season 2. percy watson was the skip sheffield, really focused on his gimmick. "Yep Yep Yep!" " Un Un Un O ya!" but you get fresh talent and more wrestling.
 
Alright, so apparently NXT just ended. But my question is why, why in God's name did Alex Riley beat the crap out've Percy Watson, then they worked together? Did they really not know what was going on at the end of the show? It seemed like it was poorly put together, like they're wanting to do yet another version of Nexus, obviously. Can anyone shed light to this, and give me some responses of if it made sense to you?
 
i was only able to watch the last 10 minutes or so of nxt 2 finale and i got something funny when the attack on kaval was going on i noticed after alex riley rushed the ring he started to attack percy watson i believe and he ended up throwing him out of the ring. and the a minute later percy is in the ring standing over kaval acting like nothing just happened im wondering wtf lol alex riley just kicked your butt and you just ignore that i know they were filming but that just screams confusion. cause when i was watching it a few of them were walking around looking for something to do and another thing i notcied its kinda looking like nexus 2. what do you guys think:wtf:?
 
Yea I noticed that too. No idea what that was about other than a botched part of the segment.

I hope it's not about having another version of Nexus because this one in no way could be as good as the current version of Nexus. I was hoping they'd put McGillicutty, Husky Harris, and Cody Rhodes together as a newer version of Legacy.
 
Alright, so apparently NXT just ended. But my question is why, why in God's name did Alex Riley beat the crap out've Percy Watson, then they worked together? Did they really not know what was going on at the end of the show? It seemed like it was poorly put together, like they're wanting to do yet another version of Nexus, obviously. Can anyone shed light to this, and give me some responses of if it made sense to you?

I was wondering the exact same thing man. Why the hell did Riley beat up on Watson and the next minute there working together. This new team called "Genesis" looks like there gonna be ran by Mcguilicutty, they will probably be on Smackdown, being that Mcgulitcutty wants the World Heavyweight Title which is on Smackdown, and Nexus is already on Raw. I just wish the Nexus came out so they could of merged into 1. That would of been dope. But them being on Smackdown can make the show more interesting again. Although the ending to this show was really sloppy lol.
 

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