Tonight we get the Obstacle Course challenge! It's streamlined considerably from last season -- the soda drinking has been eliminated, for instance. Matt Striker demonstrates it in 41.5 seconds.
MVP is in the ring and calls out Percy Watson. MVP tells him that what he did last week took initiative, and that Watson reminds him of himself when he first joined WWE. Watson tells MVP that he really, really respects him. And that's that -- last week is swept unter the rug and it's not mentioned again for the rest of the show.
Striker is out and he wants MVP and then Watson to explain why they should be voted number one by the WWE Universe. It's late and I'm not going to recap these too much unless it's particularly interesting. Watson's a go-getter, heavy hitter, not a quitter, oh yeah.
Husky Harris and Cody Rhodes are out and get time to state their case as well. Rhodes says that Harris is fat and ugly, sure, but that makes him a great representative for us fans, even if we can't match Husky's athletic ability. Harris says he's "real."
Percy Watson & MVP vs. Husky Harris & Cody Rhodes: Watson gets beat on for most of the match, sneaking in a dropkick here or there but not to much effect. MVP tags in and gets the Ballin' Elbow on Rhodes, but Rhodes takes him out with a middle-rope-springboard kick to MVP's face. Harris tags in (very generous of Rhodes!) and squashes MVP with the big-ass running senton for the pin. Watson watched all this unfold yet somehow couldn't make it in for the save.
Video package on Michael McGillicutty. Pros seem mostly positive, although the Miz calls him "mediocre" and Rhodes says he's not showing the "ruthless aggression" he promised.
"Lucky" Cannon (sans Mark Henry) and Alex Riley (with the Miz) state their cases. Cannon says he's having a great time and doesn't want the dream to end; Riley says he knows we don't like him, but voting for him is the right thing to do.
"Lucky" Cannon vs. Alex Riley: Practically a squash here; Cannon hits a few clotheslines, then misses a crossbody and Riley nails him with the "You’re Dismissed" TKO.
After the match, Miz figures, "aw, what the heck" and gives Cannon a Skull-Crushing Finale onto the Money in the Bank briefcase.
John Morrison, Eli Cottonwood, LayCool, and Kaval tell us why we should vote for them. Morrison says Cottonwood has the look; Cottonwood threatens Striker into saying he'll vote for Cottonwood; LayCool say that Kaval has the talent, heart, smarts, and -- most importantly -- them; and Kaval says, basically, "think of the great matches I'll have if you vote for me."
Michael McGillicutty and Kofi make their pleas. Kingston says that all Michael's supporters are now known as the "McGillibuddies." Cole: "Oh my lord." McGillicutty says "PERFECT" a few times.
Obstacle course time! There's a tire run down the ramp, three hurdles of increasing height on the far side of the ring, then a push-up station, a balance beam on the hard camera side of the ring, and then an equipment cart to push back up the ramp.
McGillicutty's first. 26.7 seconds, very good.
Alex Riley is next. He blows the balance beam and has to go back. 40.3. He goes back to yell at Jack Doan for making him do the beam twice.
Eli Cottonwood doesn't do enough pushups, but shoves the refs away and keeps going. 37.2 -- not good, Cottonwood's a klutz -- but he's disqualified in any case. Morrison makes a sheepish "that's my boy!" face.
"Lucky" Cannon touches his head gingerly to sell the Skull-Crushing Finale but seems otherwise unharmed -- really? He does very well but not good enough at 28.2 seconds.
Kaval does great until he has to push the crate up the ramp -- 29.1 seconds.
Percy Watson is next. Cole wonders how he can see the course without his glasses. Josh Mathews: "The glasses don't have any lenses in them. Am I the only one who sees that?" Watson is...deliberate, let's say, and finishes in 31.5 seconds.
The crowd is loud and derisive when Husky Harris comes out. He decides to go into a three-point stance and simply knocks over the last barricade. Cole think this is AWESOME. Harris ambles casually through the rest to finish at 50.3 seconds.
McGillicutty wins and is IMMUNE to elimination on next week's show. For the rest -- voting starts TODAY at NOON EST. Vote!
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Here's my list:
1. Percy Watson 2. Kaval 3. Michael McGillicutty 4. Alex Riley 5. Husky Harris 6. "Lucky" Cannon 7. Eli Cottonwood
Some people think Watson's a one-note joke, but I think he could shed that easily -- he could whip off the glasses and instantly turn into serious contender (down the road a few years).
Cannon was last for me until the end of the show -- Cottonwood, weirdly, just isn't intimidating, especially on the mic, and he's a clumsy goofball in action.
What's your ranking?
--K
(edited by Karlos the Jackal on 21.7.10 0323) Last 5 movies seen: The Runaways ** - Terribly Happy **** - Los Olvidados ***1/2 - Greenberg *** - Toy Story 3 ****
1. Percy Watson 2. Kaval 3. "Lucky" Cannon 4. Michael McGillicutty 5. Alex Riley 6. Husky Harris 7. Eli Cottonwood
Basically the same list as Karlos the Jackal, except slotting "Lucky" Cannon in at #3 and bumping everyone else down. Seems high, but I like him better than Michael McGillicutty currently.
I'm amazed at the low rankings Husky Harris gets. not from the 'E itself, but from us lot in the IWC. For years people have bemoaned Vince's obsession with muscles and "the look", and here's a guy who can work pretty well, has personality, and has the pedigree, but who is always near the bottom of everyone's list. Guy is at LEAST number four on the depth chart.
We get yet another week of all heel winners, basically done, IMO, because they want at least some people to vote for the heels in this contest. But the members of the WWE Universe are largely going to vote for the face NXTers because they like them. So we get a stalemate here, and the people that suffer are the fans in these arenas that are told to get behind Watson and Lucky and others and then get punished for it week after week.
I think that the 50% WWE Universe idea is hurting NXT this year, and if they ever try this again, they have to do away with the fan voting aspect.
My rankings:
1. Kaval 2. Husky Harris 3. McGillibuddy 4. Percy Watson 5. Alex Riley 6. Lucky Cannon 7. Eli Cottonwood
"Put on your helmets, we'll be reaching speeds of 3!" "It was nice of you to give that dead woman another chance." "All right, look alive everybody...oh sorry Susan."- MST3K: Space Mutiny Click Here (myspace.com)
1. Percy Watson (Oh Yeah!) 2. Kaval 3. Lucky Cannon 4. Husky Harris 5. Michael McGillicutty 6. Alex Riley 7. Eli Cottonwood
Eli just doesn't seem salvageable. If his gimmick was supposed to something along the lines of "Festus and Khali had a child out of wedlock", putting him on a show like NXT where he has to move and talk like a normal guy just ruins it, and leaves him with nothing.
I just plain don't like Alex Riley. We've seen his type of character over and over and over and over again. Send the long lost 6th member of the Spirit Squad back to FCW for a gimmick overhaul.
1. Kaval (Oh yeah!) 2. Percy Watson (He isn't flawless!) 3. Michael Mc G......whatever! I like his showing during the rookie challenge this week. At least he has the athletisism of his father. 4. Husky Harris 5. Alex Riley 6 and 7. Eli Cottonwood and Lucky (I don't care, who of the both goes first)
I'll give Lucky Cannon credit, when he missed that crossbody off the top, he landed 3/4 of the way across the ring. He might have some high flying abilities he hasn't be allowed to showcase.
I think Eli Cottonwood might simply need extended mic time in order to get over his gimmick, though of what I've read about him, his FCW gimmick is pretty much impossible to utilize in NXT. Imagine how much Kane would suck if he was only allowed 30 seconds on the mic and stuck in an environment where he was forced to jump through hoops.
Alex Riley would be the absolute perfect person to stooge around with Jack Swagger and take all of his beatings for him.
Percy Watson seems closest to being the complete package but it's a package I'd get pissed off upon opening at Christmas and take back to the store for an exchange as quickly as possible. For the first time, I truly understand how people felt about X-Pac.
The pros that were talking about how Lucky Cannon was forgettable might as well have been talking about McGillicutty. The only thing I can think to say about him is that I'd really like to see him and Jamie Noble face off/tag just one.
As far as personal rankings, I'd go:
1. Husky Harris 2. Kaval 3. Michael McGillicutty 4. Lucky Cannon 5. Eli Cottonwood 6. Percy Watson 7. Alex Riley
However, if I was ranking them in the order that I'd want their action figures, I'd go:
1. Kaval 2. Husky Harris 3. Percy Watson (gotta have a jobber!) 4. Eli Cottonwood 5. Eh, whichever is most discounted after that.
I wonder if there's any chance that they'd consider doing a season of nothing but multi-generational wrestlers if they find a home for a third season? That could add a whole new dimension to it. By my count, there are 7 second (or third) generation wrestlers currently on the FCW roster who haven't appeared on WWE programming. (That's counting Orlando Colon & Yuvraj Dhesi who aren't technically second generation but are close enough.)
All of their fathers (or uncles) are still alive and all of them wrestled at least briefly for the WWE at some point in time. If they did go this route, I'm sure they could find an 8th participant easily enough. (I'd throw in Mike Dibiase to have some sibling rivalry.)
I have no idea where this stream of thought came from, however, so I'll shut up now.
Originally posted by InVerseI wonder if there's any chance that they'd consider doing a season of nothing but multi-generational wrestlers if they find a home for a third season?
At this rate that will be a season of Raw by 2014.
SHAPRO'S POLL
Percy Watson has been so awesome that I almost want to move him to #1 -- if only he'd danced through the obstacle course.
H^2 seems to have a lot of fans in management and among the wrestlers so he'll be okay even though he'll probably eliminated in the next couple rounds. (There's a hilarious story of Steve Austin telling Jim Ross and Dave Meltzer how much he likes Husky Harris ... while they were UFC 106. What a great man.)
McGillicutty is more solid than most of the guys in either season; hopefully he'll have more room to shine as more people get eliminated.
Lucky Cannon does seem like a nice guy.
I miss Titus.
1. Kaval 2. Percy Watson 3. Husky Harris 4. Alex Riley 5. Michael McGillicutty 6. Lucky Cannon 7. Eli Cottonwood
Naturally, I'm not in the same ballpark as anybody else. :-)
--- potential to get somewhere significant --- 1. Kaval 2. Lucky Cannon
--- mid-card to jobber, potential for eventual future endeavourment --- 3. Alex Riley 4. Michael McGillicutty 5. Percy Watson 6. Husky Harris
--- gimmick not working at all so far --- 7. Eli Cottonwood
Meanwhile ...
Anybody (everybody?) else think that McGillacutty was booked to win, which is why he had to go first? Way for Harris to demonstrate that Ferrari engine. Clearly they needed "contact zones" on the balance beam like they use for doggie agility: border collies > NXT rookies. McGillacutty's excitement at winning the immunity was ... scintillating?
Since I'm not at all on the Percy Watson bandwagon, my ratings might look a little different:
1. Kaval Because in the ring, he's just so much better than all the others. 2. Alex Riley He can become Miz/Edge/Ryder/Swagger's lackey. 3. Husky Harris 4. Michael McGillicuddy 5. Lucky Cannon 6. Percy Watson Only because he's not as useless as Eli Cottonwood. 7. Eli Cottonwood The White Khali - and he's not big enough to look outright threatening. Something about him is just too awkward.
Forfeit the game, before somebody else takes you outta the game, and puts your name to shame Cover up your face, you can't run the race The pace is too fast, you just won't last - "Points Of Authority" - Linkin Park
Here are my rankings. The top four are very close for me.
1. Kaval 2. Michael McGuillicutty 3. Percy Watson 4. Husky Harris 5. Alex Riley 6. Lucky Cannon 7. Eli Cottonwood.
I like all of the top 4 for various reasons, but Kaval just seems more polished than the other three. I loved Michael busting out the fact that he has a PERFECT record. Percy Watson continues to impress me as does Husky Harris. I'm kind of 'meh' on Alex Riley, and I agree with a lot of the pros on Lucky Cannon, he's very generic. Eli is just odd and I think it's time he goes, can he not hold his head straight?
Sing this special song. It's just for you. Did anyone else crack up at the audience member screaming "Slip and fall! Oh no!" in a pretty good Percy impersonation while Showtime was on the beam?
Personally, I've always liked hearing it referred to as "The Heavyweight Championship Of The World" much like Ventura and Monsoon used to do at 'Manias past.
Thread rated: 4.97
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