[OFFICIAL] NXT Aftermath, Review, and Ratings Thread

[VinnieSunshine]

I have to admit when I saw that beatdown I thought about a new Nexus team, however, I agree with everyone and dont want to see it. I wouldn't mind however if Nexus picked up Eli Cottonwood or Husky Harris just to have a powerhouse player on the team...but I digress.

As far as whats next, here is how I see it...

Kaval - Smackdown. I can see him in Mysterio together as a tag or in matches, I think he could have a long run and I was happy he won.

Michael McGuillicutty - Instant heel after last night, but if he was to go with Ted he would have to go to RAW. McGuillicutty is better suited on his own and can even change is name now, seeing as how he was a face on Smackdown.

Alex Riley - He will move to RAW and align with Miz or continue fueding with Daniel Bryan after he wins the US title.

Percy Watson - Get rid of him before he becomes aligned with Santino.

Husky Harris - Smackdown for sure, he's not ready for the top show yet. HE needs to go with Dibiase more than McGuillicutty do to the family ties and the "uncle Irwin" comment back in June with the A-Team show. You could make a team based on them being "cousins"

Titus O'Neil and Eli Cottonwood...well they have the size but thw wrestling ability (from what I've seen) is not there. Send them back down or team them with veteran wrestlers until they are ready.

 

[MWRedskins]

Kaval - Smackdown. I can see him in Mysterio together as a tag or in matches, I think he could have a long run and I was happy he won.
i say Smackdown, but i fear he will go to RAW, but i hope he goes to Smackdown, TRIES to win the World title, loses then goes after the IC title.

Michael McGuillicutty - Instant heel after last night, but if he was to go with Ted he would have to go to RAW. McGuillicutty is better suited on his own and can even change is name now, seeing as how he was a face on Smackdown.
i dont mind him as a singles guy, but i think McGuillicutty can change his name and bring up Ted Dibiase.

Alex Riley - He will move to RAW and align with Miz or continue fueding with Daniel Bryan after he wins the US title.
that's what i dont want to happen!!! i like Riley and think he has HUGE potential, which is why i say Smackdown. he can go there, beat up on guys like Hardy and other mid carders, then sometime after the Undertaker and Kane feud ends, Riley gets pushed to the World title.

Percy Watson - Get rid of him before he becomes aligned with Santino.
like i said, team him with Darren Young, that's the only way i will WANT to see him.

Husky Harris - Smackdown for sure, he's not ready for the top show yet. HE needs to go with Dibiase more than McGuillicutty do to the family ties and the "uncle Irwin" comment back in June with the A-Team show. You could make a team based on them being "cousins"
my issue with teaming up Harris and Dibiase is that Harris doesnt act or look too much like IRS. i agree, you could have them being cousins, BUT i think his brother should do that, from what i heard, Harris' brother looks more like IRS.

Titus O'Neil and Eli Cottonwood...well they have the size but thw wrestling ability (from what I've seen) is not there. Send them back down or team them with veteran wrestlers until they are ready.
i dont mind O'Neil, i dont like Cottenwood, reminds me too much of the Great Khali.

 

[Triple X]

I finally saw the NXT finale this morning on Youtube. Any idea what the hell Riley was doing attacking Percy? I read about this last night, and after seeing it, I'm still confused.

Is it as simple as him messing up?

(And the no sell of MVP's boot to the face in the corner - on Titus, I believe - was pretty funny.)

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I had to rewind my DVR in regards to Riley attacking Watson. I noticed it the first time around and figured it was just cuz Watson was a face, but then saw him beating on Kaval and had to rewind to double check. Wonder if they're going to explain that one.

Another note...anyone else notice the announcers say it was 7 on 1, when A) only 4 NXT guys were in the ring beating on Kaval at the time and B) Cottonwood wasn't really ever involved? Where did he go? Either way, it was only 6 of them beating on Kaval.

 

[The Calgary Kid]

People, I really don't think that you should be making such a big deal about Watson/Riley, because the two of them had a feud pretty much all season, cutting interviews about each other and getting dirty in the ring. The attack on Kaval looked like a melee, rather than an organized Nexus type thing (and I'm hoping that will be the last time we have to make the comparison), built entirely around jealousy. With tempers flared, I could see there being a redirection of focus because they "bumped" each other or something. Riley is a smart guy. I highly doubt he'd fuck up the entire angle by attacking the wrong person. I write the whole thing off to kayfabe.

 

[MWRedskins]

The attack on Kaval looked like a melee, rather than an organized Nexus type thing (and I'm hoping that will be the last time we have to make the comparison), built entirely around jealousy.

that's what i am thinking and hoping because i HATED the idea of having a 7 man group and i still do. Nexus is best with 5 or 6 guys, not 7 or 8. Second, i want all of these guys to go their seperate ways with Riley being the heel star power that Smackdown NEEDS and with McGuillicutty and Dibiase helping the Tag Team division.

 

[Brsibane_Brocko]

Did anyone else see when they took a closeup of the pros at the top of the stage discussing. That JoMo was talking and pointing to his clip board, showing MVP something, but he had flipped all the pages up and was just showing him the clipboard? And MVP was standing there shaking his head as if he agreed.

I found it funny anyways.. haha

My hopes for the NXT2'rs.

Kaval - IC title on SD!/ Tag Partner for Mysterio
Riley - SD! version of The Miz
McGuillicutty - Don't really care, tag team somewhere i guess.
Harris - Anything on SD! that doesn't involve him and Rhodes pairing up.
Percy Watson - Tag with Darren Young on SD!
Lucky Cannon - Wow, Worst.Finisher.Ever. Don't care if i never see him again.
Oneil - Decent finishing move, maybe go to SD!/ Leave for good.
CottonWood - We dont need another Khali.

 

[MWRedskins]

My hopes for the NXT2'rs.

Kaval - IC title on SD!/ Tag Partner for Mysterio
Riley - SD! version of The Miz
McGuillicutty - Don't really care, tag team somewhere i guess.
Harris - Anything on SD! that doesn't involve him and Rhodes pairing up.
Percy Watson - Tag with Darren Young on SD!
Lucky Cannon - Wow, Worst.Finisher.Ever. Don't care if i never see him again.
Oneil - Decent finishing move, maybe go to SD!/ Leave for good.
CottonWood - We dont need another Khali.

ok, i agree with Kaval and i REALLY agree with Riley. do NOT agree with McGuillicutty, i think we SHOULD care about him. Think about it, team him with Dibiase, maybe that wakes Dibiase up from his downhill going career, have him win the tag titles at NOC, then when Brett Dibiase comes to RAW, have Brett take over Ted's role as Tag Champ and then have Ted's brother and Hennig help push Ted to a bigger role. As for Harris, i dont care what show he's on, put him on a show and let him do somthing. I agree 100% with Watson, a team with Young would fix both of them. i agree with you on Lucky, Cottonwood and O'Neil.

 

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: September 7, 2010
Location: 1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

This is the third season premiere and we have all Divas this time. The main draw was Aliosia who was the 6’9 girl but she was released because before she wrestled she had porn pics taken of her.

This is different than Tiffany and Maryse doing the same thing because…..uh…..Aliosia is tall. Yeah it’s more double standards but whatever. This is probably going to be something close to a train wreck, but I’ve been wrong before. Let’s get to it.

Different color scheme in the intro and a different theme song as well. Aliosia is missing in the intro and Vickie, her pro, has a silhouette next to her with question marks inside. Aliosia’s face was in the intro though so what do I know?

Striker brings out the Pros and Rookies: Kelly Kelly and Naomi (I still don’t get the appeal of girls smacking their hips together), the Bellas and Jamie (she loves Twilight apparently. Josh is listing off facts like it’s a beauty pageant), Primo and AJ, Alicia Fox and Maxine, Goldust and Aksana (looks a lot like Maryse) and finally we have Vickie.

Vickie talks about firing her rookie and brings out Kaitlyn, who is rather attractive but nothing special at all. She’s rather large in the chest area though so that’s a perk. We get to hear from all of the girls.

Kaitlyn says she’s no just the girl next door but rather the girl from two doors down. Couldn’t we make it 3 Doors Down? At least they’re entertaining. She was class clown and homecoming queen, which is exactly what Cole told us. Vickie yells at her and she has to do it again. She kisses Vickie’s ass and it’s accepted.

Aksana has a thick accent and is from Lithuania. She talks about her self and slips into I guess Lithuanian. Apparently she likes to go to the gym and the colors black and gold. She wants to entertainment (not a typo) us.

Maxine has three sense: business, street and common. She’s above average because most people have one, and she’s a triple threat…..IN A SKIRT. The only position for her is on the top.

AJ is very perky and says no one is going to work harder than she will. Generic face promo but energetic.

Jamie says she gives 100% in everything she does. She’s the announcer from last season if you remember her.

Naomi is very loud and has purple highlights in her hair. She’s a fighter and her actions will speak louder than her words.

We’re back from our first break with our first challenge. The first elimination is in four weeks with the winner of the most challenges getting immunity the first time. The first challenge is a dance off. Naomi is first but Striker thinks she needs a partner. He picks Michael Cole. Oh dear.

Cole is in leg warmers and an old school Big Bully Bushwick (complete with reference) hat. Apparently he’s an accomplished ballroom dancer but this is nowhere near that. Naomi used to be a professional dancer so of course she’s awesome.

Jamie is really rather bad at this, looking a bit like Mark Madsen of the Lakers from about 9 years ago.

Striker picks Tony Chimmel to be the next partner, meaning he gets the awesome hat. AJ goes third and steals the hat. A lot of what she does involves his tie and is pretty sweet. Chimmel outmoves her though.

Maxine is next and it’s nothing special at all. This is getting really repetitive.

Josh is the third partner who gets the Aksana first. They do something close to ballroom dancing which I prefer to the other kinds, but Aksana is more or less just dancing by herself at the end.

Kaitlyn does the Robot and the Running Man and another dance that I don’t know. Naomi wins by a landslide. What a shock: a pro dancer wins a dance off.

Alicia Fox/Maxine vs. Kelly Kelly/Naomi

The faces get another entrance, which makes sense as they changed clothes. The Pros start us off with Kelly getting a very long spinning headscissors. It’s not a bad match once the rookies come in but it’s standard Divas stuff. Out of nowhere Naomi gets a rollup on Maxine for the pin. It’s that short of a match. They botch the ending somehow though so Naomi does a suplex and covers even though her team’s music is playing.

Rating: N/A. Too short to really be anything and like I said there’s nothing going on here. The ending was almost embarrassing with no one having any kind of idea what was going on. If this is what’s to come, I have a bad feeling about this season.

We get another challenge: Capture the Flag. There are five stations around the arena, each one having one less flag each time, starting with five. Three of the girls jump the gun. At the first one Jamie gets no flag and is out.

The second one is in the audience and they have to jump the barricade. AJ is out this time. They stop them after each elimination so it’s a bunch of sprints. Aksana is out now. Naomi, Maxine and Kaitlyn left and Kaitlyn goes out. I’m sorry for just listing things off but there’s nothing else to say. Naomi wins again.

Package on Legendary that aired on Raw last night.

Bio on Jamie who is into fitness. She wants to be like Trish.

Goldust/Aksana vs. Primo/AJ

Primo and AJ don’t come through the curtain until two minutes after eleven PM. The announcers mention Aloisa so I’m not sure how long she’s gone for. Aksana is stiff to put it mildly. The girls botch something very badly and then AJ hits what was supposed to be a bulldog but she slips off. Who cares about the move looking good as AJ gets the pin anyway.

Rating: N/A. This was a minute long at best. How much can I grade something like that?

Vickie brings out Kaitlyn to make her introduction speech one more time. Primo gets mad and Vickie doesn’t care. AJ gets in Vickie’s face so she sends Kaitlyn after AJ. Vickie goes down and Vickie literally screams at Kaitlyn to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. Let me start this by saying that this was NOT as bad as I expected. It was bad for sure, but I was expecting an absolute trainwreck and got something watchable. I’ve definitely seen worse and there were definitely some decent moments here.

That being said, this was still pretty bad. It’s some kind of weird cross between Double Dare and GLOW, which is just weird no matter how hard you think about it. The girls are standard Divas, but six weeks of nothing but this is going to be very long. The appeal is likely going to fall away soon and this will just be one big mess. Somewhat ok debut, but this is going to be a long six weeks.

 

[M-Eklipse]

"First" Impressions

Kaitlyn - Ok, first impression She is fine, but with all her talk over wedgies an shit, she sucked up the mic pretty bad.

Aksana - I've been able to get a preview of Aksana through FCW, and I wasn't expecting much out of her tonight...I was right. Her accient is waaaay to thick, and it was hard understanding what the hell she was talking about. She also loses points for her match with AJ later in the night, I know AJ can go a lot better then that, and I think she really had to tone it down for someone as green as Aksana.

Maxine - Well, she was better on the mic then the last two. Her in ring skills...could use some work. She's hot, but nothing really stood out to me with her. I've also seen her work before in FCW, she was 'meh'. Also, I had to laugh when she ate shit during the Flag Capture contest haha.

AJ Lee - Oh AJ, that things she does to me <3 Ok, I'm gonna put it out here plain and simple, I'm a mark for AJ Lee. Chick is crazy hot, and pretty much the most interesting thing in NXT imo. Anyways, I have to admit that her opening speech was kinda stale, and her match wasn't all that great. However, I've seen what she can really do from watching FCW when I can, and I know she can do a lot better then that. Like I said before, I think she had to really slow it down for Aksana...damn it. And as a side note, her dance not only melted my brain, but it was the most interesting thing the whole night for me. I mean seriously, who else saw that shit?

Jamie Keys - I don't really have much to say about'er. She was ok on the mic...she has muscles...yeah.

Naomi - Ok, I have to say that Naomi was a pleasant surprise tonight. Now I'm not saying any of the shit she did was spectacular, but I thought she was going to bad, and she actually managed to get pretty over tonight. Although, from the view point of a fellow African-American, I have to say that putting her in anything that involves running against other divas just isn't fair lol. Her match was alright, but I also think this was a case where someone had to slow down to accommodate for the greener diva, and of course that was Maxine. Besides AJ (and Kaitlyn who I have no knowledge of) I think she is the next best in the ring from what I've seen if FCW. I also have to say that I like her a lot better as a face (rare occurrence). Oh yeah, and she did a Butt Bump, how great was that?

Ok, so overall NXT Season 3 wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. They had some alright matches (with the expected botches), and you could tell where some of the girls got lost on the mic, but still pretty decent overall. As an AJ fan, she's naturally my favorite in the competition, and from there is goes Naomi, then Maxine, Kaitlyn, Jamie, and Aksana is my least favorite. After Maxine it became a hottness contest, cause I really didn't care for those last three

 

[The Doctor]

Definitely with the others in that the top two divas are AJ and Naomi. AJ is adorable, and a pretty good wrestler. She's also not terrible on the mic. Naomi is pretty good on the mic, pretty good in the ring, and has a good personality. Maxine was pretty OK, but the rest wren't that great. However, there's always room for improvement.

Overall I actually enjoyed the show. I wasn't expecting a classic, and just wanted to see something entertaining and fun. I was amused and entertained through the whole hour. I am looking forward to seeing these divas grow, and hopefully they will. This season isn't going to be excellent or anything, but it's no trainwreck and with the adjusted scale for divas wrestling, I'll have to give this a decent grade.

C

 

[Kenny Powers]

Well it was a train wreck for the most part, but I do agree that it wasn't as bad as we thought it could be. Naomi is really the only person in the group that stands with personality and she can actually wrestle a different style then we are used to seeing the divas use. Maxine could be a decent heel character, but she still has some room to improve. I love AJ but she is a little too sweet to be considered an actual contender.
Its too bad she has a loser as a pro.

Her match with Aksana was pretty bad and didn't do anyone any favors. Speaking of which, Aksana is a poor man's Maryse. She has a really thick accent and is sloppy in the ring. She looks pretty rough as well. The only saving grace she has is Goldust as her pro. Jamie and Kaitlyn are just too bland for me. At least Jamie can land a job as an announcer if her wrestling career doesn't work out. Not really a fan of girls with muscular arms. Kaitlyn has a heat seeking missile as a Pro with Vickie. No matter how bad Kaitlyn does Vickie is there to take the heat off of her.

I think the original pairing of Vickie with Aloisia would have been much better. Kaitlyn is pretty but too bland. The competitions were pretty lame. I did enjoy AJ's PG striptease. Cole and Matthews tried to make the dance contest interesting, but not too many people in the audience seemed to care. It is still 4 weeks until there is an elimination and the season lasts 3 months. I don't know where it will air after October 1st, but I won't be in hurry to watch it.

Tonight's show could have been a lot worse for a diva's show, but it wasn't that memorable. There really isn't anyone that stands out as a real superstar in the group.

 

[MisterRob]

I think most are being a bit hard on this debut episode of the Diva NXT. I watched the show and I actually didn't find it that bad at all and I had far, far more positives in watching it then I did negatives.

The show opened with all of the Rookies introducing themselves and they did a pretty good job. I didn't find any of them TERRIBLE on the mic, although clearly the worst was Aksana but I suppose that's understandable. I thought the others were pretty good though overall, and I especially thought Maxine has some talent on the mic. Her promo was the best of any of them and I like the character she's playing as a heel (she's also attractive!).

The matches left a lot to be desired I'll admit, but they were rather short and it's hard to really get a good impression of anyone's abilities after one short match. It'll take a few weeks, when they've had more matches and more time in the ring to really prove whose good and whose lacking.

To be honest I enjoyed the show for what it was and I like most of the rookie Divas so far. I enjoyed AJ and she showed a lot of promise both as a character and in the ring, Noami clearly has a lot of athleticism and promise and she's obviously the favorite in the competition so far, but I'm also a fan of Maxine and I'd love to see more of her.

It's clear the two who have the least experience and need the most work are the two rookies that were teamed up with Goldust and Vickie Guerrero, obviously so they could overshadow the weaknesses of their rookies as much as possible. Aksana seems the weakest of all the rookie Divas in all areas, really, so I have a feeling she may be one of the first to be eliminated. Kaitlynn though, despite seeming somewhat inexperienced, is absolutely hot. And I mean smoking hot. I hope we see a lot more of her!

I'm most looking forward, personally, to seeing Maxine, AJ and Kaitlynn in the coming weeks. Naomi may be the favorite so far by all accounts, but I think AJ could be competition for her as things progress and we see more from all the rookies. I also think Maxine can compete with them both, but as she's a heel it's not likely she'll go to the end based on votes, but she's my favorite so far!

 

[Version4]

I actually don't think this all diva NXT is half bad. I was kid of expecting to see a soft porn clusterfuck when I tuned in, but the show exceeded my expectations. It wasn't WWE Classics material, but I'm actually interested in the direction they are taking this.

First things first... I am IN LOVE with Naomi! Now, for all my black brothers out there, such as myself... ya girl booty got swag! 5 star dime piece, never needs a nickel! [translation for the caucasian persuasion: That Naomi has a very sexy body, especially her rear end! She's built very well... top of the line, i must say!]. I mean, GOD... I'm so glad they got a "black girl" right after that Alicia Fox debacle....no shape at all on that woman!

Seriously, though... I was somewhat impressed with Naomi's in-ring persona, although she does still seem a little green. I also think that there are some future roster spots for Maxine and AJ. The weirdest one to me was Kaitlyn. I mean, she's definitely smoking hot... but doesn't she remind you a little of Maria earlier in her WWE career? Maybe its because of the gimmick with Vicki... not sure.

Interested in seing the inevitable Maxine vs. AJ match... might be better than half of the diva matches we usually see! I also would love to see Naomi get some of the nerves out and have a 1 on 1 with one of those girls, as well.

 

[Remix]

I've seen the show so I'm going to write a review of it.

I really enjoyed this show. It was entertaining from the start

The introductory/promo segment was fun. Apparently NXT will be on for 3 months (have they found another network?). The promos, while not special weren't bad. Certainly better than some of the male rookies' promos, which is a plus.

The danceoff was epic win. Naomi was awesome (huge shock there, considering her background), AJ was hot and the rest were shades of mediocre. Entertaining mediocrity, but mediocrity none the less. AJ and Naomi got pops, and Naomi was rightfully given the win.

Match number 1 was short and as good as the standard diva fare, a good sign for them. This match ended with a small package by Naomi Night. The finish was botched on all parts, with the match continuing after the bell rang and the music hit. It seemed Fox was supposed to break it up, but didn't give enough of an impact to persuade Night to release and Maxine, expecting to be released didn't kick out. The ref was forced to count to three whilst chaos insued until the tallent were told to stop wrestling and hit the back.

Night won the capture the flag contest. Nothing to add.

Primo and AJ Lee vs Goldust and Aksana wasn't good. Mostly because of one person. Aksana. Primo and Goldust started, had a brief scuffle and tagged out. Aksana proceeded to dominate, before botching Lee's wheelbarrow bulldog twise, the first time by blocking her leg the first time and dropping her; the second by throwing her off as Lee made her decent making her land on her back. Aformentioned bulldog ended the match. After which Vickie came down to steal the spotlight and give AJ someone to get pops for arguing against. Primo also stuck up for her, for what it's worth. Kaitlin got shoved into Vickie pissing her off to end the show.

Show rating B

Remix Rookie Rankings

1) Naomi Night: Winning three things in one night. Nuff said. IMO she's one of the top 2 divas, and one who's ready for the main roster.
2) AJ Lee: Despite a bad match, she is good. SHe won her match, but not a lot else putting her in number 2 position. I am unsure how well she'll be able to work with poor divas though, based on her match.
3) Maxine: she was on the losing end of the better tag match hence her positioning.
4) Aksana: I hate her. She botched AJ's move and was shit in her match. But since she wrestled (barely) she gets ranked at number 4.
5) Jamie Lee: Did nothing, but got the rookie highlight video of the week putting her higher than Kaitlin on the rankings.
6) Kaitlin: Hot but irrelevent sums her up this week. Did nothing so she gets ranked last.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

So there was no Aliosia last night, and of course Vickie Guerrero had to get a new rookie. Kaitlyn replaced Aliosia, and it looks like Vickie is going to torture her during her time on NXT.

I thought the both of the challenges were okay. The dance challenge made laugh, and the capture the flag challenge was cool. Pretty much every rookie diva was terrible on the mic. A.J is pretty decent on the mic, so is Nomi, and Maxine was passable. Naomi looked really good in her match, and although A.J. won her match, it was really short. I wish I could've seen more of her and Aksana.

Last night's show was solid. I thought it was going to be terrible, but it wasn't. Naomi and A.J were the highlights of last night's show, and I look forward to seeing how the the other rookie divas will progress.

 

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: September 14, 2010
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

It&#8217;s week #2 here and this should be an interesting rating. Last week&#8217;s show was more or less even with the final NXT Season Two ratings. I wonder how much focus on the wrestling they&#8217;re going to have as last week&#8217;s was kind of a disaster so hopefully it&#8217;s better tonight. Let&#8217;s get to it.

No recap or anything as we open with the theme song. The first elimination is in three weeks.

Vickie opens the show as Cole cheers her on. It&#8217;s fine when Lawler or a sidekick does it but when the lead commentator does it then it&#8217;s a bit annoying. She brings out Dolph Ziggler so at least we get some solid music. There are tires in the aisle so it&#8217;s obstacle course night.

We get clips from last week where Vickie sent Kaitlyn after AJ to end the show. I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s the HD feed but the ring looks much smaller.

Primo/AJ vs. Kaitlyn/Dolph Ziggler

The boys start us off which lasts about 20 seconds. AJ used to be homeless and according to Cole she&#8217;ll be homeless again in about three weeks. Cross body by AJ for one before Kaitlyn takes her head off and tags out. Men vs. women is illegal here but we get it for a second anyway. AJ can&#8217;t get by Dolph so she slaps him in the face.

Again I would often advise that as a solution to a problem: when all else fails just HIT THEM IN THE FACE. Primo comes in and has about 20 seconds of offense, cementing his jobber status before the Zig Zag ends it. Kaitlyn and Dolph celebrate, making Vickie jealous.

Rating: D+. Really more about storyline tension between Kaitlyn and Vickie rather than the wrestling. Given the short amount of time in the season this time they needed to get things moving and this is probably the highlight of the angles. It&#8217;s not much but it&#8217;s probably the best they&#8217;re going to get and if it gets Ziggler on his own I couldn&#8217;t be happier. Ok I could but you get the idea.

Maxine gets profiled and we hear about how she&#8217;s been around a camera all the time. She likes her eyes apparently. She looks much better with curled hair than with straight like it was last week.

Next up is a joke off. Oh dear.

We get a new trailer for Legendary. If this had been four weeks ago I might actually care but that annoying woman shouting about wanting her son back but not knowing how has driven me away. Quick question: what does she not know how to do? I get that they&#8217;re implying get her son back but it&#8217;s really oddly worded. Does she not know how to get him back? Not know how to make Baked Alaska? Not know how to tie her shoes?

Kaitlyn and AJ are in the ring and we bring down the other four. Aksana looks FAR better this week than last time. Jamie needs to eat a sandwich. Maxine has the straight hair again which doesn&#8217;t work at all for her. Naomi is in blue which works better than the purple and black for her.

It&#8217;s time for the joke off and the audience is the judge. Could they make this any more obvious? AJ makes a dumb blonde joke which gets booed badly. The punch line wasn&#8217;t any good and she talked too fast.

Aksana says her joke in I&#8217;m assuming Lithuanian. She makes a really bad marriage joke than I didn&#8217;t get at all.

Jamie asks for crowd help and does a knock knock joke about AJ. She makes them do it again but with Aksana. The crowd says who. Jamie: EXACTLY. Ok that was good.

Naomi asks what you call a dog with no legs. It doesn&#8217;t matter because they&#8217;re not coming.

Maxine says she has five jokes with her in the ring and picks AJ and calls her a girl scout before giving her $20. A fight breaks out of course and Striker gets in the middle of it.

Kaitlyn makes another joke with AJ and says something about KGB before slapping her.

This was horrible and of course Jamie wins with the only funny line.

Michael Cole pops up and slams a random GONG at ringside and says everyone that bought a ticket should be gone as should the whole show. Only he and Matthews should stay. What the hell??? Cole basically just said this whole show sucks and only he and Josh, who he constantly bashes, are worth anything. The only question I have of course is WHY IS THERE A GONG AT RINGSIDE?

(And before everyone jumps on me, yes I&#8217;ve heard of the Gong Show)

The Bellas and Goldust come out to support their rookies.

Jamie vs. Aksana

Chimmel will be an obstacle in the obstacle course later. That&#8217;s just odd. Cole is all of a sudden fine again after telling 10,000+ people they wasted their time buying tickets to the show tonight. Cole and Matthews want their own teams and rookies next season. Absolutely nothing of note happens here until Jamie gets a rollup off a missed charge into the corner by Aksana. No rating for a minute match of course.

We profile Naomi and hear that she&#8217;s athletic and likes to dance, both of which we already knew. Very generic profile here which tells us nothing new about her at all.

Recap of Taker vs. Kane and while we&#8217;re waiting, here are a few quick stats for people that claim this pairing is stale:

Taker vs. Kane has not been a televised match since April of 2008. Their most recent match prior to that one: 2004 at Wrestlemania 20. Night of Champions will be their third match on television/PPV in nearly six and a half years. As a tag team: their most recent tag match together was in November 2009. Prior to that the most recent was April of 08, then January of 08, once in 07, 3 times in 06 and they were a regular team in 2001, for a grand total of 7 televised matches as the Brothers of Destruction since the company became known as WWE, or less than once a year on average.

Joey Styles will be doing an online chat tomorrow at 7pm for an online replay of tonight&#8217;s show. That could be very interesting.

We recap Kaitlyn and Dolph earlier with the highlight of Vickie&#8217;s jealousy. Dolph and Kaitlyn are in the back and here&#8217;s Vickie. She sends the younger woman away and threatens to leave Dolph if that happens again. This involves her putting her hands slightly in front of her body and shimmying back and forth a bit and saying &#8220;all of this.&#8221; I&#8217;ll be having nightmares for a week now.

Obstacle course up next. The course is the same as it was in Season 2.

Kaitlyn goes first but here&#8217;s Vickie to continue being the star of the show. She&#8217;s in a different outfit here for no apparent reason. She&#8217;s going to run the course as this is turning into the Vickie Guerrero Show. After a lot of stretching she does ok on the tires but can&#8217;t do the hurdles that well. Actually this isn&#8217;t bad all things considered. The balance beam screws her over to an extent and she falls after it. The clock breaks a minute and she screams and cries, crossing in like a minute and twenty seven seconds, sending us to ANOTHER break.

At 10:59 Kaitlyn starts and does pretty well, getting 36.5 seconds and diving onto the anvil case in a nice little flash finish.

Aksana looks like a hybrid of Maryse and Trish. Shane she doesn&#8217;t have half their talent or so it seems. She just barely misses the time by less than a second.

AJ goes third and gets a fairly solid reaction. She&#8217;s pretty slow going over the hurdles. A mistake on the pushups and she&#8217;s done before she gets to the balance beam.

Maxine is fourth and is flying through this. She has it won but slips on the balance beam, costing her the win otherwise.

Jamie is the penultimate runner and should be good at this. The tires mess her up though as do the hurdles. She flies through the pushups though and loses by .3 seconds.

Naomi goes last and for no apparent reason has to redo the tires and the pushups, costing her an otherwise great time. Instead of doing one more she has to do all ten again. And the balance beam again. I don&#8217;t get it but of course she gets destroyed, giving Kaitlyn the win. Vickie comes out AGAIN to get face time.

Cole rings the gong one more time and declares this whole thing ridiculous. He talks about being a war correspondent and QUITS THE SHOW.

Overall Rating: D+. This is a very subjective grade. From a wrestling standpoint, this was garbage. From an entertainment and near camp standpoint, this was rather entertaining. This is pretty clearly a show that you cannot take as a serious wrestling show and I&#8217;m not going to do so. This was far more about Vickie and Cole, which is bearable to a degree as they&#8217;re far more important and to a degree more interesting than the girls. I could definitely see people saying this was atrocious and I wouldn&#8217;t put up much of an argument against that. This hasn&#8217;t been a wrestling show since it debuted, so why treat it like one? It&#8217;s certainly not good, but it&#8217;s not bad either. It&#8217;s entertaining, which is the main point I think, so I&#8217;ll let it slide.

 

[Kenny Powers]

I got to hand it to anyone that can watch this show without blowing their brains out. I will admit that Michael Cole was in rare form tonight. He was hilarious pointing out how awful the show was. The wrestling wasn't bad on the show. The mind numbing jokes were bad. Knock knock jokes and dumb blond jokes. Isn't there any writer in creative that knows a funny joke for any of these girls to make them mildly entertaining?

Vickie Guerrero howling and screaming didn't make matters better. I definitely won't be watching this show anymore. Good luck to everyone else.

 

[MWRedskins]

This show was pretty bad. I liked the wrestling, but the sad fact is that the women dont get much time in the ring and instead are more of promo cutters in WWE which was all they were used for again tonight, cutting promos and of course a obstacle course. As bad as AJ Lee's joke was, i still like her the best, she's the best looking in my book and at least she doesnt bore me when she wrestles, BUT the fact is the show isnt based on wrestling and with Vickie on the show being a pain in the butt, it doesnt help. Michael Cole was good at his job (except with he was loving on Vickie Guerrero). I did NOT like the Gong, why have it!!?? BUT what Cole said was true, the show isnt that great and it made him seem like a jerk who didnt care about working for this show which i enjoyed. the only downfalls were Vickie Guerrero, the Joke contest and the lack of wrestling, when in the ring, these girls didnt look as bad as their pros (like the Bellas).

 

[The Calgary Kid]

Wasn't able to see it on Tuesday, but watched the DVR last night. No idea why the gong was there, but Cole was extremely entertaining. The line about hoping Naomi won all four challenges so that the show would end sooner was completely unexpected and very funny. For the record, he said people should be "gonged" not "gone". Him quitting the show was an interesting angle, but I'll definitely be sad to see him go. Say what you will about him, his work on NXT has been great. In the ring, I thought that Aksana showed great improvement over last week. It was good to see AJ actually do some work in the ring this time against Kaitlyn, who was better than I expected. I found Jamie boring. The joke contest was awful, and I felt as though the obstacle course was fixed. The way they had Naomi, who was my pick to win, do half of the course over, was pretty ridiculous. I also don't like how the whole show seems to be focused on Vicki. In all, I was entertained, despite the lack of wrestling and the AWFUL joke contest. Would I have liked more wrestling and less "entertainment"? Totally. I didn't feel like I wasted my time, though. I was surprised by the amount of filler, PPV promos and number of commercials, and it really seems like they have nothing planned for the show. It's a shame for the girls involved that the show is supposedly being canceled before it actually ends. No idea what they'll do in terms of replacing Cole, but it's clear that the show is on the back burner, and again, for the people putting the work into it, that's quite unfortunate.

 

[donutman]

I have enjoyed this season (hot chics in wrestling gear is never bad to me) so far but that joke contest was just horrible. I think the put that in there for it to flop on purpose. So it could sell the whole Cole angle where he was bashing the show and left at the end. I'm thinking they're going for a "we deserve respect" type angle with the ladies. Good move in my opinion. It fits in with the whole "reality" theme this show carries.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

So we start of this week’s episode of NXT with Vickie still pissed about the embarrassment she had to endure because of her rookie Kaitlyn. Vickie introduces Dolph, and a mixed tag team match is up next.

Kaitlyn & Dolph Ziggler VS Primo & A.J

This was pretty decent. The best stuff came from Primo and Dolph in this one. This match was really quick, but it was a nice way to kick off the show. After the match, Dolph and Kaitlyn shared a celebration hug, and of course, this didn’t sit to well with Vickie. I wonder if this will lead to Dolph cheating on Vickie or could this just be a one time thing?

Joke Off

For the most part, this was terrible. Jamie won this one with a knock, knock joke about Aksana, but I thought Maxine’s girl scout shot at A.J. was much funnier. After this was over, Michael Cole banged on the gong, and he decided to rip NXT and the Detroit crowd. Now this was funny. I was laughing very hard during Cole’s rant. He can be much more entertaining as a heel announcer.

Jamie VS Aksana

Jamie won this one with a roll up. This wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t that good either. The match was really short, but Aksana did look good here. So far, this has been Jamie’s night, and she has a chance to be the star of this episode of NXT.

Vickie confronts Dolph backstage about the victory hug with Kaitlyn earlier. She warns him about getting too close to her rookie. It’ll be interesting to see where all of this goes in the coming weeks.

The Obstacle Course

Kaitlyn wins the obstacle course, and Vickie congratulated her with hug. This whole thing was fun to watch. Vickie’s fall and the tantrum she threw after her failed attempt to show everyone how it’s done was hilarious.

Cole “quit” NXT after the obstacle course was over. He went on another one of his rants and continued to bash the show. Cole’s rant managed to get a good reaction out of the live crowd, as they cheered his departure. I hope Cole doesn’t leave NXT, because he can be the best part of the show at times. I’m very anxious to see how this storyline will develop.

This episode of NXT was okay. Both matches were quick, and the mixed tag match was easily the better match of the night. I really couldn’t get into the joke off, but I did enjoy Maxine here. She’s showing signs of a being a good heel. Michael Cole’s live resignation was a good way to end the show. The bickering between Cole and Mathews is always a treat to listen to, so I hope Cole will stay as a commentator on season 3 of NXT.

 

[The Doctor]

Once again, NXT continues to be a shit WRESTLING show, but a fun ENTERTAINMENT show. The whole episode was full of lulz, with CM Punk joining commentary, Cole coming back with a great promo, Aksana not knowing what a llama is, and every commentator's ridiculous, over-the-top sarcastic attitude.

Yes, the matches were terrible, though AJ and Naomi are good. But who cares? I don't watch women's matches for wrestling content. I watch this show to be entertained by hot women, and that's exactly what happened. AJ had the best promo of the Talk the Talk contest, though no one was really that great. She also won the (quite frankly hilarious) musical chairs contest. Great work by AJ there. Kaitlyn describing people in their underwear and saying she was turned on by one guy in the audience was both awkward and a riot. And with Punk and Cole ripping on the show and forgetting the girls' names and totally overselling EVERYTHING to the dismay of poor Josh Matthews, this could have been the best episode in NXT history from a pure lulz standpoint.

Screw serious wrestling. They're divas. Give me some entertaining comedy and I am more than happy. Jokes, hot girls, inside references, and a total lack of professionalism makes this show a major guilty pleasure and just pure hilarity from start to finish.

B

 

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: September 21, 2010
Location: U.S. Cellular Coliseum, Bloomington, Indiana
Commentators: Josh Matthews, C.M. Punk

This is week #3 and surprisingly enough the rating went up a bit last week. The show is rather entertaining although not exactly in the way they&#8217;re shooting for I don&#8217;t think. Let&#8217;s get to it.

We open with a recap of the obstacle course last week. Correction: we open with talking about Vickie from last week. The other rookies get a montage but not as much time as Vickie got. The video finishes with Cole and the gong (still the most awesome part of the season so far) and him quitting. Just to be clear: Cole and Vickie got more time in this package than the rookies.

Josh welcomes us to the show and points out that Cole isn&#8217;t here. C.M. Punk of all people comes out and apparently he is the newest commentator! He&#8217;s my favorite wrestler so I can&#8217;t complain at all. I also like this for him actually as it lets him save a bit of face after getting destroyed by Show on Sunday. His mic work is his greatest attribute so I don&#8217;t see a downside here.

The girls come out and Punk doesn&#8217;t seem to like Kaitlyn because she used to be a bartender. Punk&#8217;s sport coat is rather dapper to say the least. Striker says his usual stuff and is interrupted by Vickie. Kaitlyn vs. Jamie later tonight and Vickie has brought Laycool to be Kaitlyn&#8217;s coaches for tonight. No entrance sequence though which takes away their appeal a bit.

They make fun of Jamie, or at least they think that&#8217;s what her name is. Layla says Jamie&#8217;s pros wouldn&#8217;t make a difference if they were here, because they&#8217;re the Bella Twins. She bashes the rest of the rookies in comments that are probably shoot lines but aren&#8217;t supposed to be.

Kelly comes down and yells at them, deciding it&#8217;s going to be Laycool and Kaitlyn vs. Kelly, Jamie and Naomi. How is this supposed to be good for Kelly&#8217;s team?

After a break we come back for musical chairs. No way this tops Eugene&#8217;s game of it from 2004. Kaitlyn is out first as Punk makes funny little jokes here about how he did this in the Steel Domain Training School. Jamie is out second. Maxine is out but goes after Aksana. Punk shouts that this isn&#8217;t how you play musical chairs! The winner of this gets immunity apparently. Aksana is out. AJ wins it and we actually have a controversial finish. They hug it out anyway.

We profile Aksana who is at least fun to look at. She says you need to be smart to be sexy and powerful. She&#8217;s with Goldie in the back and he says the video was awesome. Apparently she has a problem with her work visa and she might be deported. There&#8217;s a bad case of that going around in the company in the last few months. His pep talk is cut off for some reason.

Punk says he never had a conversation like that with his NXT rookie, who isn&#8217;t named here. We recap last night&#8217;s main event angle which made sense: Barrett didn&#8217;t want to fight Cena without something being on the line and with the match being in 13 days he wanted Nexus to wear him down a little bit. The emphasis on the dropkick from Cena is hilarious.

Maxine vs. AJ

Punk makes Girl Scout Cookie references which oddly fits here. Josh: what did you tell your NXT rookie? Punk: I told him to win. We&#8217;re told that AJ has a lucha libra style which even Punk doesn&#8217;t agree with. A Jersey Shore reference gets almost no reaction from Punk, who of course is the most entertaining aspect of this match. He makes Vintage jokes as for the first time in this season I have some chuckles from the commentary.

Punk says this is the greatest television show on Earth and slightly cracks up at the end. AJ gets a brainbuster for the pin in like a minute and a half with a suplex that is called a brainbuster and a floatover.

Post match Cole comes out, making me wonder why in the world he&#8217;s in the building tonight since he would have nothing to do with this show or Smackdown. He talks about how everyone wants him back and makes a fairly tasteless drunk driving joke about New York Jets receiver Braylon Edwards who was arrested earlier today for DWI. Cole announces that he is returning to NXT, making me want to change the channel. Was there a point in him quitting at all? At least Punk is sticking around.

We do the Talk the Talk Challenge where they get a topic and have a minute to talk.

Jamie gets teeth. She says the Universe doesn&#8217;t want to hear her talk about teeth but rather about how she&#8217;s going to rock their world. This is ok but the lack of staying on topic doesn&#8217;t help at all.

Naomi get toupee and repeats the word for about 10 seconds. She&#8217;s booed right from the start and says she has nothing at all to say about a toupee. Naomi says we&#8217;re here to wrestle. I like the spirit of it but I can&#8217;t imagine any of them working a good match. Both she and Jamie are disqualified.

AJ gets caffeine and says she doesn&#8217;t need that to get herself up because she has this business. That was decent actually as she tried if nothing else.

Aksana gets llama. Oh this isn&#8217;t going to go well. She looks good in blue and hits on Striker for some reason. She doesn&#8217;t know what a llama is so she wants Striker to show her what a llama is. This is funnier than it sounds.

Maxine gets foot and is called Mad Maxine which I believe is a reference to some chick from the 80s. She runs down AJ and says she can use her foot to squash her.

Kaitlyn goes last and her topic is ignition. Somehow this turns into a discussion of everyone in their underwear and how it gets her ignition going in some case. Punk isn&#8217;t wearing pants which is the best line of this promo. AJ wins by a mile of course.

At 10:57 we take a break before the last match. Cutting it a bit close no?

Kelly Kelly/Naomi/Jamie vs. Laycool/Kaitlyn

We get some jokes about Solie, Adamle and some Facebook guy named BoomerSooner32. The Rookies are in soon enough and Layla steals Jamie&#8217;s flower. She makes fun of Jamie&#8217;s fitness stuff before getting beaten up. Layla: I&#8217;ve had enough of this! That was greatness indeed.

Kaitlyn spears Jamie and the announcers continue to make fun of Ross. Uh oh he might blog about you! Naomi comes in and beats on Michelle with some rather athletic looking stuff. Michelle hits a belly to belly suplex but heel miscommunication keeps Kaitlyn from coming in for the pin. When she finally does Naomi rolls her over and pins her. Laycool kicks her ass afterwards.

Rating: D+. Kelly was in there for all of 4 seconds but Naomi was impressive here. With Laycool out there to carry it with Layla being great at being annoying and stuck up and Michelle being the best worker, this was definitely the best match of the season so far. Naomi looked rather good out there all things considered so I&#8217;d call this above a surprise and just under a miracle.

Most importantly, Punk says he&#8217;s coming back next week. He does the sendoff and tells Josh to shut up as we go off the air. Nice to have a laugh to close the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This was the AJ show and the wrestling was bad to say the least, but to say Punk saved this show is the understatement of the year as he was absolutely hysterical. This was a great smark show as it seems they have more or less given up on it being a wrestling show, which is the best thing they could do. With an hour of inside jokes and obscure references that only a bunch of hardcore fans will get the outcome is perfect because for the most part only really hardcore fans are going to watch this show. Bad show from a wrestling standpoint of course, but still very entertaining in just above a guilty please level for me.

 

[Joe's Gonna Kill You]

Obviously the wrestling sucked but it doesn't matter this was VERY Entertaining and I have no problem with the bad wrestling this show is not supposed to be taking serious its suppose to be entertaining and it definitely was today PUNK and Cole were Hilarious.

RATING- B