Darren Young (#8) defeated Daniel Bryan (#1) with a roll up. Daniel Bryan is now 0-7.
Justin Gabriel (#3) defeated Michael Tarver (#7) with the 450 Splash. (Tarver is now 0-5 - "entering Daniel Bryan territory!" said Michael Cole)
Wade Barrett (#2) defeated David Otunga (#5) with his fireman's carry front slam.
Kane defeated Heath Slater (#3) with the chokeslam. (I could swear Cole called the win as "Kane with a win over a very gay Heath Slater!" but no, he said "very game".)
Not a Pro in sight this week, which turned into a positive as the NXT Rookies got a ton of mic time. I think everyone got to at least say something to the live audience if not cut a promo.
Skip Sheffield turned heel during his promo (later, Josh Mathews mocked his Twitter, pointing out all of his Tweets are about what he's eating. He also inferred Sheffield is the least intelligent Rookie after Cole rightly praised the intelligence of Wade Barrett's blogs.)
Another new wrinkle in the ever-being-figured-out-as-they-go-along nature of NXT is that now, each week, there will be a physical competition.
This week, there was a full beer keg that the Rookies had to haul around the ring and back up the entrance ramp. Fast time wins, which turned out to be 12 seconds set by Heath Slater. His prize was a main event match with Kane, who took on and trounced all eight Rookies on Smackdown last week.
Striker claimed that each week's physical competition would test the physical and mental toughness of each Rookie. So this week's Keg Challenge tested the Rookies to see who had the physical and mental toughness to set up a Stone Cold Steve Austin beer sketch from 1998.
A big plus is that the live audience responded to the Rookies quite a bit this week. The crowd was into the competition, especially when Tarver acted like a total heel after he dropped the keg and was DQ'd. The crowd rained a "You suck!" chant on him. Otunga also got heel heat from his abandoning Cena on RAW, and Gabriel and Bryan got their usual positive responses.
Still, the new competition aspect is WWE Creative reaching into an old bag of tricks. NXT has now turned into the Diva Search. When will the Rookies have to eat pie and tickle Kamala?
Finally, Michael Cole was absolutely phenomenal this week. Seriously, he was all over Daniel Bryan, calling him every petty name in the book, mocking his Twitter, his blogs, his size, everything. He was actually totally hilarious.
Not since Jerry Lawler absolutely despised Bret Hart in the early 90's and murdered him on commentary each week has an announcer totally had it out for a wrestler like this. I find it really, really funny. Cole is the most entertaining thing on NXT.
Right now, Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole is my Feud of the Year.
I like that they're trying various things and getting it all sorted out weekly instead of just establishing set rules with no room for flexibility.. the whole idea was obviously poorly planned out, so at least they're admitting that and trying to get a system that will work. Season 2 will be far better off for it, if they have one at this rate.
Also, "(I could swear Cole called the win as "Kane with a win over a very gay Heath Slater!" but no, he said "very game".)" cracked me up big time. Kudos, sir.
You know, I was REALLY scratching my head trying to figure out what is the logic behind 0-7 Daniel Bryan being ranked #1 and why all of the Pros would vote for a guy with zero wins, and then I realized that our current world champion was nearly on Job duty for the last 6 months or so before winning at WM and becoming World Champion (and still jobbing clean twice since WM!).
Even with that thought posted above, I'll go ahead and throw out a crazy speculative theory on what's happening with Daniel Bryan:
-He is throwing all of his matches, and has some set of the Pros voting him as #1 every week for whatever reason (which would indicate a heel turn).
-He is throwing all of his matches to try to get kicked off the show because he already has an offer from Smackdown.
-He is losing all of his matches in an effort to sell the story that Miz is a crappy mentor.
-He is throwing all of his matches to throw Miz off his game, and then completely destroy him for the US title.
Last but not least (inspired by above): Daniel Bryan snaps and stretches Cole into oblithicary, to a huge pop (you know it would happen), Cole starts respecting him, Bryan begins wrestling with a killer instinct and becomes super over with the fans.
-He is throwing all of his matches to throw Miz off his game, and then completely destroy him for the US title.
Last but not least (inspired by above): Daniel Bryan snaps and stretches Cole into oblithicary, to a huge pop (you know it would happen), Cole starts respecting him, Bryan begins wrestling with a killer instinct and becomes super over with the fans.
(edited by Shadowhendrix on 7.4.10 0027)
I like these two the best. I respect your fantasy booking on the second one the most.
*With face in palm*......a keg carrying competition? NXT is getting worse by the week.
My favorite and perhaps only highlight I liked of NXT is when Daniel Bryan flew off the ring-apron and knee'd Darren Young into the protected barricade.
Decent show, a step down from last week, that proves to me that the pros are needed to at least get people ready to see these rookies. I can't believe that they had Otunga lose this week though, especially after the stuff they had him do on Raw. At the very least, he could have lost to a "face" rookie so that there would be a bigger pop. He lost to the second biggest heel besides himself. Ugh.
The Keg part was not fun, except of course for the Cole-Bryan dynamic which is single-handedly going to get me to watch NXT through to completion. I am thinking that later competitions will be more entertaining, so ultimately I am happy they are going the reality TV competition staple.
(edited by Torchslasher on 7.4.10 0721) "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)
So has anyone actually been eliminated yet? For some reason I thought somebody was getting cut last night.
On a more practical note - since these guys are all signed to developmental deals (and most/all were working FCW) will WWE "reward" the audience by only allowing the winner to have an immediate contract? Suppose after the season that Gabriel, Bryan, and Barrett are all ready to go to WWE - how will creative work the other two into rosters in storyline terms? Then suppose that 2 months later that Slater and Otunga are ready - how do they bring them in without sending the message "don't bother watching NXT"?
I may be alone in this, but while fun at first, the Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole feud has gotten to the point of being too intrusive and distracting. They've kicked it into high gear, and Michael Cole is taking every chance he can get to berate Bryan. My problem with it is that subtlety goes a long way, and now they're cramming it down our throats. There were also multiple times throughout the night where Cole verbally threw down on Bryan in the middle of someone else's match. First of all, I think it detracts from the actual in-ring action, even when Bryan is the one wrestling. And secondly, it's not fair to the other rookies that Cole is spending time he could be devoting to putting them over in order to put over himself as a heel announcer.
Everyone got to wrestle this week with the exception of Sheffield, and I think that's a step in the right direction. I was mildly impressed by everyone but Otunga.
So was this the plan with Sheffield all along, or did they realize his "dumb hick" routine was a misstep? Either way, I'm liking it. He has the potential to be a monster heel, and with his build, I think that's the only way he's gonna get over in the WWE.
I think Young could really play a great reluctant heel if they pull the trigger on the SES stuff. He showed some signs of life this week, and having a character that's more than just buffooning around and smiling would do wonders.
I still can't help but like Tarver, despite the lack of attention he's gotten. Something about him reminds me of Booker T, and he showed some character after he got disqualified from the keg contest. I think there's a lot of personality there that's been left untapped so far, and if he keeps reacting the way he did last night, the fans will love to hate him.
Barrett minus Jericho equals a whole lot less fun. It came across like he's been relying on Jericho's antics to get him over the past month or so, and without him he's lost on how to sell himself. He's physically intimidating, but he needs to develop a strong persona of his own if he wants to stand out from the pack.
No Pros this week at all, which was great because it threw more of the focus on the rookies, but not-so-great because it made it seem like they don't matter in the grand scheme of things. If they're going to borrow from other reality shows, then why not borrow the video packages from Idol & DWTS? If the Pros aren't going to be on, then show a vignette before the rookies wrestle that features them training or being with their Pros over the last week. Just an idea.
A great show this week, though. Lots of in-ring time, and the crowd was hot for the beer keg competition so even that came off smelling like roses when it could have been so much worse.
Heath Slater cheated for the keg challenge, he had his hand on the keg grip before the start, when the rules were clearly stated you weren't allowed to touch it until they said go. That probably saved him a second or two. Daniel Bryan's method was amusing.
Not to meander to fantasy booking, but when Cole was downing Bryan last night he mentioned that Bryan had never had alcohol in his life. In a theoretical kayfabe world Punk could embrace that aspect of Bryan and could then rail into Cole's indy bashing by stating that he too was an Internet darling and was once "King of the Indys" and a trade of Young for Bryan would seem to be logical.
Originally posted by GameCrazyI may be alone in this, but while fun at first, the Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole feud has gotten to the point of being too intrusive and distracting. They've kicked it into high gear, and Michael Cole is taking every chance he can get to berate Bryan. My problem with it is that subtlety goes a long way, and now they're cramming it down our throats. There were also multiple times throughout the night where Cole verbally threw down on Bryan in the middle of someone else's match. First of all, I think it detracts from the actual in-ring action, even when Bryan is the one wrestling. And secondly, it's not fair to the other rookies that Cole is spending time he could be devoting to putting them over in order to put over himself as a heel announcer. ____________________________________________________________
I will agree with you on this one; it be different if it were 2 wrestlers with a rivalry of words but it is between commentator and wrestler. At first I liked heel Michael Cole on NXT but now it is as much fun as hearing a broken record as he has berated Daniel Bryan from the get-go and primarily just Daniel Bryan. Even his occasional war of words with Josh Matthews is becoming absurd and redundant.
Was anyone else waiting for someone to trip on the devil tail after it fell off the ropes and hung under them on the apron? Usually when something like that happens someone ringside swiftly removes debris. I cringed during that whole Irish whip sequence....
Thread rated: 4.70
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