We start off with Michael Cole claiming this is the most important show of season two so far, due to the double elimination. He then throws it to Jamie Keyes to introduce the five remaining rookies.
Husky Harris is out first, followed by Kaval. "I talked to Kaval earlier tonight. Kaval confident that he's safe from tonight's double elimination."
"Did he talk to you like this in that low voice when you talked to him?" mocks Cole. Josh replies matter-of-factly with "That's his voice, so of course he did."
Michael McGillicutty is third out. Cole says he can't put his finger on it but that McGillicutty is missing something. Josh couldn't agree more.
Next out is Alex Riley, whom Cole proclaims is the future of the WWE, followed by Showtime Percy Watson in a t-shirt with sunglasses and OH YEAH on the front and HAVE PERCY! on the back.
Striker announces that each rookie will have one minute to talk about anything they choose except why they shouldn't be eliminated.
Watson says his topic is 3D. He didn't say Double D because that would take more than a minute, know what he's sayin'? The 3 Ds are Desire, Determination and Dedication and that's how Watson lives his life. Belee dat.
Riley's topic is himself. He knows his behavior hasn't "come correct" with the WWE Universe and maybe he made a mistake, which is why he's ranked dead last. Maybe he shouldn't have "picked on poor little Kaval. Isn't he cute? And barely able to defend himself in real life." Maybe he shouldn't have thrown a rabbit's foot at a guy named Lucky Cannon. "Lucky, if you're watching, don't worry about not having a job. The world needs plenty of bartenders." He doesn't regret calling Striker a nerd on national television, though, because that was pretty funny. But if he didn't do all of those things, he wouldn't be Alex Riley.
McGillicuty's topic is his competition. Is Watson smiling or scared? He thinks he's scared. He mocks Kaval's saying about it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog, asking if anyone has ever seen a chihuahua in a fight. He calls Alex Riley "the David Otunga of NXT2", citing that he talks a lot but can't wrestle a lick. He has nothing negative to say about Harris, only that he's not going to win.
Kaval is up next and.... he.... raps.
behind every great man is a great great woman the problem for them is, I got two of 'em you supposed to be chosen, huh? the pick of the litter except I'ma be the hottest trending topic running Twitter go getter, your boy is sick, I'm gonna go far because what I do is leavin' people standin' in awe
Showtime, you're too kind Riley, you just whine Joe, I mean Michael, you'll be a star in your time but Husky's breakin' molds and breakin' all labels but what he breaks best are called buffet tables
so go 'head, call me rookie, find out what I'm packin' 'cuz I'm the only reason for some total nonstop action
Striker clearly wants to blurt out a "Holy Shit" at this point but goes with "Wooooah." Cole calls Kaval an idiot and his rap stupid, while Josh disagrees. Kaval's delivery was far from great but at least his lyrics were decent.
Husky's topic is cowboy boots. Growing up in the south, he learned if you don't have a pair of cowboy boots, you just ain't tough. He tells the camera man to zoom in close on his cowboy boots and informs us that they were Barry Windham's championship cowboy boots. "The devil wears cowboy boots. What a coincidence. So do I."
Harris is probably the first and only NXT rookie that I would actually like to see have five minutes to cut a promo. He wasn't flawless but there were moments where he was just completely on.
Striker announces that it's time for the first elimination. No rankings, just a draft-style roll of images. Oh yeah! Percy Watson is eliminated!
Watson repeats Cannon's speech from last week and says now he'll take some time to evaluate what went wrong and try to do better.
Michael McGillicutty vs Zach Ryder Josh points out that the E in WWE stands for Entertainment and that's what McGillicutty is missing. He also comments that Zach Ryder is the greatest superstar to ever hail from Long Island. "Are you forgetting that Matt Striker is from Long Island?" "Nope, I remember where Matt is from."
Basic back & forth match with nothing special. Ryder wins when he catches McGillicutty with a hangman, followed by the Ruff Ryder leg lariat.
Backstage, LayCool are cheering for Kaval to get fired up. Kaval heads to the ring while Michelle McCool asks Layla if there was something going on between her and Kaval after the kiss last week. Layla denies it but says that Kaval is cute. She walks off and Husky Harris walks by Michelle but then stops. "Do you believe in love at first sight or do I need to walk by again?" "You need to walk by again," McCool informs him before walking off herself.
Husky Harris vs Kaval I believe this is the 37th meeting of these two this season. Harris quickly takes down Kaval and lays in forearms. He goes for a suplex but Kaval knees him in the head, ala Evan Bourne, which Josh acknowledges. Kaval manages to transition from the suplex position to the Bite of the Dragon without touching the ground, which says a lot about Kaval's dexterity and Husky's strength.
Husky makes the ropes quickly, Kaval lands a kick and a double chop to the neck before Husky launches him into the corner with a double palm thrust. Corner splash from the 3pt position and then Harris chucks Kaval to the mat and gets a one count. Kick to the back by Harris and then he locks in a reverse bear hug. Kaval elbows out but catches a kick to the gut.
Husky whips Kaval toward the ropes but then pulls him back as if for a short arm clothesline, only to receive a rolling "Liger-like kick" instead. Flurry of open hand slaps from Kaval before Harris lands another knee to the gut.
Harris whips Kaval into the ropes but Kaval comes back with a flying forearm and then follows it up with a second one, as well as a couple of kicks and the Tidal Wave. Kaval is noticeably bleeding from the mouth at this point.
Kaval misses the Warrior's Way and Harris hits him with a ura-nage so ugly that even David Otunga is embarrassed for him. (It almost looked like Harris was planning one move, Kaval was expecting another, halfway through they realized what the other was going for and simultaneously tried to switch it.) Kaval kicks out on two.
Harris with a running kick to the back that convinced both announcers that he was going for his Senton finisher. He goes for another ura-nage, which again doesn't go well, but this time is reversed into a float-over DDT by Kaval. This time Kaval nails his best Warrior's Way of the season and gets the win.
Alex Riley vs Kofi Kingston The announcers talk about how Riley spent Summerslam weekend at The Miz's house. The Miz is announced as being from Cleveland. Did Riley stay there and watch Summerslam on PPV or does Miz own a second home in LA? The match itself was perfectly suitable for a Sunday Morning WWF Superstars main event, with Kofi picking up the win after the Trouble in Paradise kick. (Cole claims that perhaps the loss will help Riley and that he would have won if The Miz wasn't on tour in Asia.)
We go to commercial and come back with Matt Striker standing in the ring, between Michael Cole and Josh Matthews. Striker asks them who they think should win, who they think should be eliminated and why. Cole goes first and says that NXT is about making an impact and that nobody had made a bigger impact than Alex Riley. Conversely, he says that the person who has made the least impact and, before tonight, had a worse record than all of the rookies who have already been eliminated, is Kaval. He calls Kaval an Internet creation, the Susan Boyle of NXT and says that once he's eliminated he can take his [makes weird face into camera] non-impactful stare with him. Josh... completely agrees with Cole. WTF? Then they high five as we go back to commercial...
We come back with the four remaining rookies at ringside. Another roulette style spin down and Harris is the recipient of the biggest screwjob in sports entertainment history.
Cody Rhodes is livid. He can't believe it. "What?? How dare you." He turns to the pros. "How dare all of you? Pros? Zach Ryder. Yeah. You're a pro. Good luck on your future endeavors. Layla? You're too busy trying to make out with all of the rookies." He says the fan's don't deserve to have a say in the voting. "You people stand outside the fire, you have no idea what it's like to be a pro." Cody sounds legitimately pissed off and this is probably the best promo he's ever done. Husky tries to interrupt him, insisting that it's supposed to be his time but Cody cuts him off. "I've got this. Hold up. Your time is coming and I'm telling this people why."
Cody gets in Riley's face. "Make an impact. I dare you. Miz? Yeah, he's awesome. You're awful."
Then he steps up to McGillicutty. "You want to be Mr. Perfect Junior so bad that you can taste it. You wanna know why you don't go by Mr. Perfect? Because you don't deserve it."
"And Kaval. Kaval." Cody kicks Kaval in the guts and he and Harris commence to beat down the littlest rookie. MVP and Kofi jump in to help Kaval. It ends up taking both MVP and Kofi to stop Harris, eventually double-whipping back first into the barricade. Then Kaval comes off the top as if going for the Warrior's Way except Harris is back on his feat and it's basically a frog-headbutt.
Michelle McCool and Layla crowd around Kaval, yelling "That's what you get, Husky! You don't mess with Kaval!" Husky regains his feet and stares down MVP and Kofi before stalking off up the stage.
Really good ending segment, much better than Eli Cottonwood's farewell attack a few weeks ago. I think we just found out who's going to be taking Darren Young's place in Nexus next week. It would make sense. Nexus came together out of frustration of being screwed over by WWE management and Harris has been openly fighting against the same thing since day one. Phenomenal mic work by Cody Rhodes as well, absolutely the best mic work he's ever done.
All in all, it was a worthwhile show. Two of the matches were boring but I could watch Kaval vs Harris every week. In fact, I think I've been doing just that. Decent promos to start off the show and a great ending segment. I give it three thumbs up.
A relatively noteworthy show, between "total nonstop action," Cole's great promo, Dashing Cody Rhodes' great promo, and Josh and Cole's amazing high five.
I had it all planned out, Percy would get cut, and then Riley would get cut but just go be with Miz, and then Nexus would recruit the elite final three to give them better depth and better workers. But that is not quite how it will go.
Josh playing psychic saying Ryder would soon be the #1 contender to the world title thanks to this win was pretty awesome. I think he just may be right.
Originally posted by InVerse Alex Riley vs Kofi Kingston The announcers talk about how Riley spent Summerslam weekend at The Miz's house. The Miz is announced as being from Cleveland. Did Riley stay there and watch Summerslam on PPV or does Miz own a second home in LA?
Alex was house sitting! Maybe Queen Latifah dropped by and hilarity ensued.
Originally posted by JustinShapiroOH NO. :(
A relatively noteworthy show, between "total nonstop action," Cole's great promo, Dashing Cody Rhodes' great promo, and Josh and Cole's amazing high five.
That was the whitest high five in the history of the universe.
This is the first NXT I've caught. I liked Percy's Devon Dudley glasses and I was really digging Husky Harris as well. I'm not sure what the other rookies were like, but this bunch seems to have a lot more charisma than the NXT guys that are on Raw now.
I always kind of liked Cody Rhodes, that promo made me a fan. I don't know if that was a one shot deal for emotional promos, but that was quality stuff.
Tyler Diddums, the promos weren't all that bad, turn that frown upside down.
Josh's decision to side with Cole was very confusing, but the high five made it more than worth it.
Zack Ryder's blouse thing is more horrible to look at than his half-trouser-tights. I'm undecided as to whether this makes me like him more as an excellent douchebag.
I've been out of the loop for a while (my appendix exploded) and wow. Lucky and Percy I expected, but I thought Riley would go before Harris. Is next week the finale?
--K
Last 5 movies seen: Date Night **1/2 - A Prophet ***1/2 - Kick-Ass *** - Clash of the Titans (2010) **1/2 - The Runaways **
Ok, I see. Maybe I wasn't clear enough. Therefore I clarify: I meant the promos that were cut by the rookies, like Kaval's "rap" or when Mr Perfect Jr. tried to be funny and indeed wasn't.
Even Husky Harris' promo wasn't any good this week. He said "cowboy boots" like ten times and - I don't know why - all that came into my mind during his promo was MUSTACHE. (I know it wasn't THAT bad, but that's what came into my mind)
This whole episode was just weird to watch ... Kaval name-dropping the competition (he HAD to have gotten permission beforehand, or else he's being EXTREMELY ballsy in his confidence that management wants him to "win" this thing), Cody using the term "future endeavor'd" on the air.
I dunno, the whole thing had a real "shoot-y" vibe that you just don't see in today's PG-rated WWE anymore.
(edited by Alessandro on 20.8.10 0850) "All RAW is these days is a cheap version of Saturday Night Live, so if you wanna tune in to watch the amazing star power of Al Sharpton and Nancy O'Dell, go ahead! Who's gonna host next week, Big Bird? Wow, that's must-see TV!" - John Morrison (10/16/09 Smackdown!)
Originally posted by Tyler DurdenI meant the promos that were cut by the rookies, like Kaval's "rap" or when Mr Perfect Jr. tried to be funny and indeed wasn't. Even Husky Harris' promo wasn't any good this week. He said "cowboy boots" like ten times and - I don't know why - all that came into my mind during his promo was MUSTACHE.
I liked Husky's promo this week. It could have used a bit of tightening up but the basis and the tone were both excellent.
I thought McGillicutty's promo started off a bit shaky but was fine after he was finished with Watson, getting in a particularly good dig on Riley. Riley was a bit long winded but got his character over well. I'm not a fan of Watson's character but at least he managed to combine his glasses and his work ethic into a passable promo.
While I wouldn't necessarily qualify McGillicutty, Riley or Watson as good, I certainly don't think they were bad. They didn't make me want to change the channel, at least, which is more than I could say for Michael Cole's segment in the ring.
Originally posted by Karlos the JackalIs next week the finale?
Apparently not. The finale is the week after next.
The best promo on NXT was Layla's interview about her crush on Kaval. A Laycool/Kaval/Husky double date vignette would've been so much better than any guitarded NXT competition.
Yikes. I'll second whomever said Arn Anderson jobbing to the Renegade. I was a young 'un back then, but I was still smart enough to know that wasn't right. Now, as far as jobs go ...
Thread rated: 5.13
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