NXT Thoughts- 2/15/11

a.k.a. "I stopped playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for THIS?"

Read on for my thoughts on this week's edition of NXT.

NXT dollars? Seriously now? And a piñata contest that doesn't disqualify you for taking off the blindfold, but does for you pulling it down instead of hitting it with a bat. WHY!? This is just bad, for a wrestling show, or for anything.

It looked like something was going on at the top of the stage during the Clay/R-Truth match. A lot of people were up there for sure. Decent match, but this show seems on life support at times. It's definitely an afterthought.

Why did we need to add the bucket stuff to the Jeopardy?

And why did we have questions about DX and Smackdown in the '80s category?

I knew the Smackdown one... but that was it. I thought of Randy Orton in the Cage Match question, but I'm thinking he actually lost the title in that match, then won it back shortly thereafter.

Nickelodeon-style slime. This show will be in some kind of history book somewhere at some point.

No shock at all to see them feature The Rock here. I'm thinking he'll be the referee or something in John Cena vs. The Miz for the WWE Title at WrestleMania. The promos between those three could be epic.

The Facebook and Twitter integration with The Rock angle is a great move. WrestleMania has a chance to be big this year.

Where's Chris Masters?

Kind of weird hearing a commentator explaining who the Chargers are. It makes sense; I'm just not used to it.

I don't really like having immunity when there are only 3 people left. Though I guess some of that might be due to it going to Brodus Clay.

Not a bad match to end the show. It's just that once again this show had more goofiness and recaps than focus on the rookies.

Here are my thoughts on the rookies after this week's show:

Top Tier:
Derrick Bateman (last week: 1) - While I don't think that Bateman has this "in the bag" per se, I do think that he should be considered for a call-up to one of the main shows. Maybe not immediately, but starting him off in a tag team with Daniel Bryan or Johnny Curtis would be my idea, and we see can see where he goes from there. He has good ring skills and a natural ability on the mic. He's not fantastic, but there's definitely something workable here.

Johnny Curtis (last week: 2) - Curtis was hurt by not wrestling this week. He's kind of questionable as the winner at this point. He has skills, but needs a little more refining before being given serious consideration. This is one of the reasons I suggested teaming him with Bateman.

Mid Tier:
Brodus Clay (last week: 3) - I'm not AS sour on Clay this week. He's stepped his game up some. No nerve holds, or "gggyyyeeeaahh" this week thank goodness. I don't see me preferring him to Bateman or Curtis next week, but at the same time I don't think he's a "lost cause".

Kind of brief thoughts this time. I'll have more thoughts for Superstars and Impact on Thursday.