I, too, noticed that Cole was conspicuously absent from the beatdown, because I figured Daniel Bryan would want to go to town on him. Nor did I see where he went-- presumably, he jumped the guard rail just as Lawler was being attacked.
I don't think the voting could have "jumped the track", simply because I think the voting for these kinds of things is always rigged. CM Punk was a logical choice; being a bad guy himself, it showed that the nXt didn't care who got in their way.
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Originally posted by ekedolphinI don't think the voting could have "jumped the track", simply because I think the voting for these kinds of things is always rigged. CM Punk was a logical choice; being a bad guy himself, it showed that the nXt didn't care who got in their way.
It felt like the voting was all over the map, between the legit vote (Hornswoggle & Khali winning over the Usos), the rigged vote (Punk winning over Mysterio), and the vote that simply could only go in one direction (the dance-off).
You know what's a huge shame? (Well...not really...) The nXt Rookies pretty much stole the thunder from Kozlov. Up until the last ten minutes of the show, this thread would have been all about Kozlov's amazing dance skills.
Loved the ending, completely made me forget about the rest of the show. I thought Cole was the one being attacked by both Daniel Bryan and Barrett, but apparently I'm mistaken. Justin Roberts took that beating like a champ...good for him.
Bradley Cooper is too big of a star to stick around hosting Raw--he popped in, made his appearance and was gone, disappointing really.
I really did hope the one who had hired DiBiase was Mr. T. When Piper came out, my first thought was he does realize it wasn't the same Baracus..right?
It never ceases to amaze that when Raw does a shit show like last night that only one segment somehow saves it. I think not. I have zero faith in them doing anything with these rookies then being jobbers for Cena if Wade wins the belt next Sunday which I can see happening. The real question is can they carry this momentum into the PPV and past it. Also, I missed the Main Event and beatdown, I didn't read Bryan Danielson being part of it, wonder what that means.
Originally posted by lotjxIt never ceases to amaze that when Raw does a shit show like last night that only one segment somehow saves it. I think not.
Yes. The part of the Scott Hall debut Nitro everyone should've been talking about was the Brad Armstrong vs. Bobby Walker match.
Show was horrible WWE Universe bullshit. That's why the end was so shocking and out of nowhere and welcome.
Also, I missed the Main Event and beatdown,
It never ceases to amaze that ...
I didn't read Bryan Danielson being part of it, wonder what that means.
He was there but Cole ran away before he could face his wrath. Might be for the better since destroying Cole would've been a babyface move (not that killing Striker wasn't), plus Cole is the only survivor left to tell the tale.
Every member of NXT season 1 was in on the beatdown of everything. I saw Cole jump up and out of the way just as they overturned the announce table and never saw him again, because I sooooo wanted the beatdown on him by Danielson. My first thought when they started tearing the ring cover off was: "What? No dark match for the crowd?" Also, no love for Mean Gene and his "Back off, loser~!" to Matthews?
"Gene. I'm right here."
Beauty.
Now, let's see what the ratings for NXT tonight will be.
The NXT attacking RAW angle was probably the best angle WWE has done in a decade.
Now, unfortunately, I have little doubt WWE can and will fuck up "nXt" in the long run. Much like the entire NXT season one, I'll bet they didn't think it through and made it up as they went along. Regardless, last night was one of the best angles WWE ever did. Where it goes, well, that's another story.
But for 15 minutes WWE created 8 stars as a single anarchic entity and injected an air of danger and unpredictability - Attitude - that has been missing from their programming for most of the last decade. Will it end up like the Invasion and the Alliance? Probably. Hope not, but probably. But it was still one of the most incredible angles WWE has ever done.
For that angle to have worked the way it did, two things have to be implicitly accepted:
One, that by having the season one NXT Rookies band together in this fashion and attack the company that they all wanted to be employed by - and Wade Barrett actually is by winning NXT, right? - WWE is acknowledging that season one of NXT was bullshit. For the Rookies, who throughout the season didn't seem to like each other very much, to stand by each other against WWE in this fashion, it acknowledges they felt like they were fucked over by WWE. Which they were in a ridiculous, ill-conceived debacle of a "competition". Selling programs. Carrying beer kegs around. Obstacle courses. Random eliminations. No reasonable structure or format to their "competition". They were treated like clowns and goofs, and judged by the company and by their Pros to be lacking, when they themselves were earnest and serious about trying to be WWE Superstars.
Two, that some time in the last 7 days, the Rookies got together, even Wade Barrett who won NXT and has a free ride to join either brand and face either World Champion at a PPV, and put aside any differences they had out of dissatisfaction and anger at WWE. They were all angry enough that they formed a pact to stand alongside each other to attack and destroy the flagship program of the company, RAW, and the number one guy in the company, John Cena. Cena never did anything to them, but he's the symbol of the company. Cena is WWE today. And they beat him to a pulp and stretchered him out. They beat up CM Punk because he was there and he was one of the Pros who thought he was so much better than and above them. The NXT Rookies have every right to hate WWE. Even Barrett, who got along with Chris Jericho, has beef with the way the Pros treated the Rookies and the way the company treated NXT as a whole. (Hey, did Barrett ever get his entrance music?)
Wade Barrett has always said The Winds Of Change are coming. I would think a logical master plan for NXT would be for all of them to do whatever it takes together to have Wade Barrett beat John Cena in his guaranteed title shot and win the WWE Title. I would also hope that they don't do "infighting" and "mistrust" within NXT for a while, that they all stand united as one asskicking unit until they accomplish whatever they're trying to accomplish. If WWE has thought this through that far. If.
Worst case (and unfortunately the likely) scenario going forward, given WWE's track record at something like this, would be what happened in the Invasion, where WWE injects their own guys to "lead" NXT, and book each individual Rookie as worthless nothings who can't win a match against "real" WWE Superstars without help. The Rookies will look like ineffectual pussies in the long run, proving WWE's point that they were never good enough. But for right now, that hasn't happened yet. And Lord willing, who's to say WWE Creative did not learn from the Royal, Epic Fuck Up that was the Invasion?
I love the yellow and black NXT "N" armband instead of T-shirts like the nWo had. It's a subtle identifier that keeps each Rookie distinctive. And it sure is hilarious that Vince Russo has been trying for a decade to recreate the nWo in WCW and in TNA (Main Event Mafia, The Band) and NXT did it in fifteen minutes.
(edited by John Orquiola on 8.6.10 0626) @BackoftheHead
I just realized how they kept saying that Barret has his championship match tonight on NXT, but they never said who it was against. Anyone guess who that might be, now????
Oh, and the little kid at the end crying: "MISTER KING!" left me in tears.
Originally posted by John Orqby having the season one NXT Rookies band together in this fashion and attack the company that they all wanted to be employed by - and Wade Barrett actually is by winning NXT, right? - WWE is acknowledging that season one of NXT was bullshit.
Yessss. It fits in with a long tradition in wrestling of company concepts' utter failures being salvaged into great heels, from the Honky Tonk Man to Hollywood Hogan to Rocky Maivia to Shane McMahon Presents WCW (for the first two weeks after the turn) to Money Mayweather, friend of Rey Mysterio.
Could JR be the guiding hand? Danielson did name-drop him a few times during the season and JR has been public (on his blog and twitter) about his new role as talent scout and not an on-air personality.
On the last NXT Barrett said he needed to sit down with Jericho and plan his next move...could Jericho, always at the bad end of the WWE's conspiracy theory finally snapped and taken things into his own hands?
Do the first batch of guys go on tonight and try and forcefully recruit some of the new guys? "Your last name is HENNING! Dont let them take away your name! Youre better than that!"
Wow, I havent been this intrigued by an angle in a loooong time.
Never has a show that sucked this much had such an amazing ending. Did it save the show? Not really, but it took the taste of shit sandwich out of my mouth.
So will this angle be a part of Raw or NXT? Or both? I admit I did not watch a lot of NXT, but I am familiar with most of the guys. While it was a little bit NWO, it reminded me more of the Natural Born Thrillers. Take that however you want to.
The final segment showed us what the company can do if they try, but usually we get crap like the A-Team skits.
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Originally posted by Captaincuba Do the first batch of guys go on tonight and try and forcefully recruit some of the new guys? "Your last name is HENNING! Dont let them take away your name! Youre better than that!" CC
I had thought of this, too.
"Husky Harrison? Seriously?!?!??!!? WHAT'S YOUR REAL NAME, BITCH~!"
Yes, that ending was some truly epic shit. Something I hope they come back to; as soon as somebody decked Lawler, Cole up and ran away as fast as he could. But when they started roughing up Justin Roberts, Howard Finkel of all people came out to try and help him. Didn't work, but he at least made the effort. Everybody else tried to make some sort of stand, but Cole was the coward of the group. I want to see the other crew and announcers get on his case about it. And of course, Cole has the perfect rebuttal. What was him staying going to accomplish, other than him also getting his ass kicked?
I finally figured it out - all those times that Michael Tarver wore the "nWo" style NXT shirt he was foreshadowing this entire event! ;D
I admit that most of this Raw was just on in the background while I was doing other things (since it didn't really hold my attention) except for the dance-off, which was just awesome, and the final segment which was just one of those things I never would have expected.. ever. It definitely had the same feeling as the ECW invasion did (before Stephanie came out and created the Alliance, at least).
Steph coming out once the Alliance was created killed whatever Paul Heyman and ECW saved that night. Steph is the real walking KOD. I just hope they don't decided to throw a McMahon or "star" into this group if they do its pretty much curtains. I am not going to get worked up over the NXT invasion til I see some more. They have screwed these time of angles up way too many times for me to think otherwise. It started good which is a plus, but can they continue it?
Originally posted by lotjxSteph coming out once the Alliance was created killed whatever Paul Heyman and ECW saved that night. Steph is the real walking KOD. I just hope they don't decided to throw a McMahon or "star" into this group if they do its pretty much curtains. I am not going to get worked up over the NXT invasion til I see some more. They have screwed these time of angles up way too many times for me to think otherwise. It started good which is a plus, but can they continue it?
Maybe they should hire Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff to book it.
Well, they do have one successful invasion angle to their name, which is one more than Vince does. I guess what was keeping him all this time was that until now the invaders from another company were always from another company.
I haven't watched or cared about wrestling for almost 4 years now. A friend who still loosely follows WWE told me to check out the last 10 minutes of last night show on Youtube this morning. It was pretty great, though I have no idea who anybody was except for Cena. I'll probably follow this NXT thing through the videos on wwe.com until it peters out or becomes awful, so I guess the angle's working at bringing back old fans.
Lloyd: When I met Mary, I got that old fashioned romantic feeling, where I'd do anything to bone her. Harry: That's a special feeling.
Originally posted by lotjxSteph coming out once the Alliance was created killed whatever Paul Heyman and ECW saved that night. Steph is the real walking KOD.
I completely disagree. When Steph walked down the ramp and past Vince to join Paul and Shane, the place went bonkers. The eventual development of the story may have not been stellar, but the defection of the Million-Dollar Princess was the kicker.
I'm not comparing that show and last night's RAW. I saw the ending online, and the shock was lost. I do think an established star to lead them is inevitable, and I worry about losing someone already in a great angle (Punk, for instance) to be the new anchor of the NXT. But someone who's been treading water lately, like Jericho? Yeah, that would work for me. Would they let Danielson lead the charge? I'd vote for THAT.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by dMpHave yet to see it but I hope it is as cool as all of you guys make it out to be. All 8 suddenly being heels and working together sounds..lame? But I'll take everyone's word for it and believe it's awesome.
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http://www.jaymohr.com/mohr-stories.php Go to episode 103 It came out a few weeks ago, but it's a really good and honest take on what it's like to be a pro wrestler.