Wow, after last night's RAW, no one has anything to say yet? Well, okay -- here's a quick recap to get the ball rolling.
We start off with a quick, wordless recap surveying the wreckage from last night, and then we meet our Rookies. The Pros are out one by one to make the introduction -- they all seem pretty positive except for Cody Rhodes, who just mutters "...Husky Harris" and scowls and that's it. Lay-Cool rub Kaval's head and make him carry their belts, ha.
Matt Striker says that, unlike last season, only 50% of the Rookies' evaluations will be determined by the Pros -- the rest will be by us, the WWE Universe. This season is 12 weeks -- first elimination is in six.
The Rookies get into a shoutin-n-shovin match as we go to break.
Zack Ryder & Titus O'Neill vs. John Morrison & Eli Cottonwood: Cottonwood -- at seven foot plus -- has taken a few pages from the Kevin Nash playbook, including "how to get into the ring," "how to hit a big boot," and "how to wear pants." O'Neill looks like a star, physically, but neither of the rookies have a chance to show us much. Morrison pins O'Neill with Starship Pain.
After the match, Matt Striker asks John Morrison what he thinks of Eli. John queries the crowd, who seem mostly positive. The Miz, on the other hand, thinks Cottonwood is awful.
Michael Cole declares the Miz to be awesome, and says he should be in the Hall of Fame for Coaches. He and Josh Matthews discuss the events of RAW -- Cole says that he escaped through the crowd.
Video package on Alex Riley. This guy has a full Silver Spoon thing going on -- beauty queen mother, football star/announcer dad (Kevin Kiley) -- and he is 100% full-on douche. He and his pro, Miz, should get along like gangbusters.
Husky Harris & Cody Rhodes vs. Percy Watson & MVP: Husky looks more like Dusty's son than Cody does -- he just doesn't look good, I'm sorry, and his habit of sticking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth isn't doing him any favors. But -- speaking of oral tics -- it's not quite as disturbing as Watson constantly showing his firmly clenched front teeth.
Percy wrestles in his glasses -- Cole suggests he can't see without them, although they seem to be lens-less. Cole also drops an Urkel reference ("1986, Cole!" says Matthews). Watson looks pretty good; Harris less so, save for a HUGE running senton on Watson.
Watson, face in peril, finally tags out and MVP takes out Harris. Rhodes tries to interfere, but Watson warns MVP in time; MVP then tags Watson back in and Watson hits a Rock-style floatover DDT on Harris for the win.
After the match, Rhodes says, basically, that MVP has an advantage starting out with a great athlete like Watson, while Rhodes is stuck with a guy who looks like, well, a wrestling fan -- but Rhodes will mold him into a winner.
Video package for Mike McGillicutty, son of Mr. Perfect. He's claiming himself as "wrestling royalty" so he's pretty cocky as well. His FCW footage shows him hitting both a Perfectplex and the rolling neck snap.
Last segment sees all the Rookies and Pros in the ring, on opposite sides. They replay the entire RAW angle -- stretcher job and all -- for the benefit of everyone, and then ask the Rookies what they think about that.
Kaval says that's how you make an impact. Lucky Cannon agrees, even though they're cowards. Harris doesn't agree with it, but doesn't care. (He tries to put his arm around Striker, who shrugs him off with a hilarious look of disdain.) Riley sneezes twice, then has to run after a retreating Striker to get in his "I'm allergic to you" punchline.
Watson is totally against it -- fight a guy one-on-one -- the crowd is behind him. The crowd instantly turns and boos Cottonwood when he says that Cena deserved everything he got. O'Neill says that the season 1 Rookies should come out here and try that with one of the Season 2ers, and that if "you want a fight, make it a fight. If you want a win, make it a win." Furthermore -- grabbing a visibly annoyed Striker's mic hand -- he threatens Zach Ryder for pushing him earlier. Finally, Mike McGillicutty points out that "if you want a win, make it a win" makes no sense.
Matt Striker tells the Rookies that, on behalf of all of the Pros, wrestlers in the back, and all of the refs and announcers, he's like to welcome the Rookies to the WWE -- and then the Pros ATTACK -- starting with Lay-Cool slapping Kaval silly!
The Pros totally beat down the Rookies (their own and others'), tossing them out of the ring, and finishing with the World's Strongest Slam on Titus O'Neill (coincidence? Or because he threatened a Pro?).
Cole sells this as quelling any possibility of a rebellion, but it seems to me like this is the quickest way to make the NXT Rebel Gang into a 16-man stable.
So far, I like Watson best. You?
--K
(edited by Karlos the Jackal on 9.6.10 0219)
(edited by Karlos the Jackal on 9.6.10 0221) Last 5 movies seen: Shutter Island ***1/2 - From Paris With Love **1/2 - The Petrified Forest *** - Alice in Wonderland (2010) ** - The Road ***1/2
I thought the show sucked and the ending was ridiculous.
First the ending: "Everyone get in the ring! Now watch five minutes of video of the previous NXT class doing the coolest thing this company has done in forever. Except our official position is that it isn't cool, it's terrible. DON'T YOU DO THAT! And now... because you had nothing to do with it, we're gonna beat you up. EXCITING TELEVISION!"
These new Pros suck, by the way. For the most part, it's scraping the bottom of the WWE midcard barrel. No one has the credentials of Chris Jericho. Who's the best Pro in the ring? John Morrison by default?
There was nothing to come close to equaling the six minute match between Daniel Bryan and Chris Jericho that kicked off season one. I was hoping we'd get to see what Michael McGillucutty or Kaval can do. Either one of those guys against Morrison would at least give us a good match instead of a couple of lousy tags.
On the plus side, Percy Watson is hilarious. Not just because he wrestles with his glasses on, but because he was so clearly in pain at the end of his match he couldn't even talk and just grimaced the whole time.
I'm not sure WWE learned anything from the mistakes they made in season one. And frankly, I feel now that every second Matt Striker isn't being punched in the face is a waste of air time.
Originally posted by John Orquiola And frankly, I feel now that every second Matt Striker isn't being punched in the face is a waste of air time.
I only caught the last five minutes, and KtJ forgot to mention Striker cutting off ANOTHER rookie, when McGilliHennig was just about to finish, Striker just p[ulled the mic away mid-sentence and said something along the lines of: "Well, anyways....." and JoeMike looked PISSED. Matt will rue the day he crossed 'lilPerfect.
I think where they want to go with this angle and who they are having write or decide where it needs to go are two different things. Raw after watching the youtube reminded me of NWA Horsemen style beating where there is no announcer and just the heels destroying the hero face and anyone who gets in their way. Last night reminded me of WWE Invasion style booking where if something was good one night we have to rehash it again with a different outcome even though it makes no sense. It is somewhat logical the pros would do that to the new stars, maybe. It sends a message to the new and old NXT members, but what is the message? We are pros so being the crap out of newbies is our birth right even newbies who have absolutely nothing to do with the attack. Is the message, you guys just happen to be here to take our frustration out on. I have no idea.
I am also a little sickened Striker used the word "Fallen" members of WWE. Ok, people in Iraqi and Afghanistan are fallen. You guys just got your ass beat that is all. It wasn't that terrible of a beating since most of you were back the next night. WWE needs to watch using those buzz words especially Striker who likes to use words that try to make a moment feel special, but falls flat.
Like I said in the Raw thread, its wait and see time with this angle before people call it the GREATEST ANGLE IN WRESTLING. It was one beatdown and now the follow-up is a more confusing beatdown. It was a cool moment, but I fear that is all it wil end up being. A nice moment where the company could have done something really great then shot themselves in the foot the next go around. The story of the WWE since 2003.
I think Harris legitimately crushed Percy. He didn't know which way to roll and got flattened. Also, his brief mic time seemed to get him over pretty quickly with the younger contingent.
Striker sold his disgust at the rookies very well. I think he was sincerely unhappy with Lucky's schitck.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
No excitement at all to kick off season 2. Percy Watson already annoys the hell out of me (more than Heath Slater) and he got beat except the float-over DDT which got the win.
Husky Harris for a big man can move pretty well and for the few minutes that the match was, he showed some pretty good in-ring ability. But as mentioned, the match was brief so there is no definitive opinion in just the first match.
Kaval has the most experience as he as been wrestling longer than any rookie on the show but will probably be held back by his pros (LayCool).
I thought I was watching NXT in slow-motion but it was just Eli Cottonwood wrestling.
As for the very end, I was hoping to hear Alex Riley on his opinions from Raw but sneezed and said he was allergic to Matt Striker? Based on his segment, it seems Alex Riley can do a lot better.
I honestly didn't mind the pros going after the rookies as it was to obviously show what can happen or supposed to happen if the rookies were to pull the same stunt as the season 1 rookies did on Raw.
Vince McMahon better think of something quick because if NXT doesn't improve, there will be no season 3 in another few months.
It would've been a waste to do a followup of the big angle on the show that draws a 1.1. This sucked though. Except for Layla's shirt and Ryder. I hope Striker fucking dies.
Kaval has the most experience as he as been wrestling longer than any rookie on the show but will probably be held back by his pros (LayCool).
Howwwwww. They're not real coaches. The #3 guy on NXT was pro'd by a company pariah. One of the pros was fired with a month left in the competition and it didn't affect anything.
Originally posted by JustinShapiro Howwwwww. They're not real coaches. The #3 guy on NXT was pro'd by a company pariah. One of the pros was fired with a month left in the competition and it didn't affect anything.
T'is true. They're not real coaches the way the show presents them to be. But some pros do affect the Rookies in other ways. I think Barrett did sit under Jericho's learning tree in real life and picked up some golden apples of wisdom. And that company pariah certainly did teach his Rookie how to make the teenage girls go wild on Twitter, just as CM Punk predicted he would.
Originally posted by JustinShapiro I hope Striker fucking dies.
Soon please.
(edited by John Orquiola on 9.6.10 0858) @BackoftheHead
Originally posted by JustinShapiro I hope Striker fucking dies.
Soon please.
(edited by John Orquiola on 9.6.10 0858)
Agreed. Man, he really looked legit annoyed and genuinely pissed. But he also came across as incredibly pompous.
I actually liked the ending, because it shows how on edge everyone is right now. Therefore we got the E essentially telling the Rookies, "We're going to kick your asses right now to show that we can. And if you even THINK about doing what the Season 1 guys did, we'll kick them again and HARDER!"
But it's still a thumbs down for me, overall. Striker just killed this show for me.
At least it's comforting to know that Joe Hennig has at least an ounce of his father's charisma. His ending promo ruled it before Striker yanked the mic from him like a jackass.
Man, I sure liked Kaval more the first time he was on NXT. (youtube)
Re: Matt Striker. Forget that nobody from the back came out to help John Cena. Nobody came from the back to help Striker, Mr. King or Justin Roberts either. You'd think that Matt would be a little more indignant toward Miz, Ryder, Morrison, and Mark Henry than people he met an hour ago. Still, I laughed when Husky tried to buddy up and was rejected.
Speaking of Ryder, when did Cole start hating him? Didn't he win a match with his BFF Miz two nights ago?
Originally posted by Super Shane SpearMan, I sure liked Kaval more the first time he was on NXT. (youtube)
If Kaval is going to wear "World Warrior" on his tights as part of his look, I take it as a sign that he ought to score quite high on NXT's barrel challenge and also on crushing the car.
-LS "ahhh...vague, mandatory knee-jerk cynicism. God Bless Internet Forums.."
The beatdown of the new rookies strikes me as one of those things that Vince McMahon's twisted head probably interprets as tough love, but in reality is a really dickish thing to do. Even in the wake of the NXT attack on Raw, faces like Kofi, Morrison, MVP and Henry look like real asses for just beating down these rookies for no reason. These guys are supposed to be the 'good' trainers, not like Bob Holly or JBL. But, then again, Vince loved those guys and probably sees nothing wrong with rookies made to pay their dues on camera.
Thread ahead: RAW Viewer's Choice #889 6/7/10 Next thread: Fan unmasking La Parka? Nope, but here's a punch in the face for your trouble (VIDEO) Previous thread: Survivor Series is back!
Wow, it just blows me away every time somebody says that they've never seen Shawn Michaels wrestle. I'm only 23, but I've been an avid fan for about 20 years... Sometimes I forget that a lot of new fans came aboard with the latest boom.
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