Titus O'Neil. Darren Young. Conor O'Brian. One of these men is going home after tonight while the other two will move on to the finals for a chance to return for Season 6. Who's staying and who's going? Find out tonight. Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
They kept Chavo in the opening? I'm a bit surprised. I figured they'd put a question mark graphic there or something (assuming Darren will get a new pro or something tonight).
That promo worked fine for writing Chavo off, at least from NXT. It wouldn't surprise me if that's the last they mention him.
Conor's a weird looking dude with that facial hair.
They're jumping right into the first match. No introduction to the show from Striker or anything.
I think the biggest detriment to this show is that we see the same couple of wrestlers every single week, so it gets somewhat monotonous. You have to be really good to keep someone interested every week for months, especially on a show that's pretty much designed to show the progression of the performers in question, bringing extra focus to them.
Nice taking of his ex-Pro's moveset.
Not a bad match.
So, no Chavo and no Kozlov. That doesn't leave many people to put in matches.
Cool look for Darren.
This is either a reference to someone taking the head off of Yoshi Tatsu's action figure backstage (which was chronicled on Twitter not too long ago) or some movie someone mentioned that I don't remember the name of. Or both.
That video package really helped Mark Henry's credibility as a monster.
Tyson looks noticeably different with that hairstyle. Supposedly the old hairstyle was because he was "the crown prince of wrestling".
This has been a pretty good little match.
I don't even mind that we're getting pros facing off because in addition to being a good match, there's a good deal of time to fill with only 3 rookies and possibly no competitions.
It's a shame that hardly anyone's watching this.
That was a solid match. Maybe they should just make this show a 2nd hour of Superstars.
JTG's heel persona is finally growing on me. He pretty much had to face Titus unless they brought in another cameo or Hornswoggle wrestled.
They're not even having the other pros watch the matches this week.
Hornswoggle, JTG, Yoshi, and Tyson count for a combined 50% of the vote against the WWE Universe.
There's a reason Maryse doesn't cut many promos.
The notepassing thing is actually funny in its own stupid "we've got time to fill so we're going with whatever we come up with" way.
Good thing I'm 6 feet tall.
The first episode of NXT had Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan. Now we have Hornswoggle posing with a man who barks like a dog.
I don't even know who to send home this week. We didn't see much from Titus this week to give a good judgment.
I think I'd have to go with Conor. Oh good, I get more time to decide.
Hopefully they don't air much of Punk's promo here. Then again, I guess they could argue that they're "playing it off as part of the story".
Yep. "He wasn't supposed to say that, but here's a recap of it". I'm disappointed. They could have shown more of Del Rio, Henry, and Show instead.
I don't think I've cared this little about an elimination in the history of NXT. This season's gone on too long.
That was an interesting promo by Conor.
Wait, what? Really? That was a pretty weird decision. I guess they had more time to fill than I thought they did. I enjoyed Bateman for the most part last season, so I suppose I'm ok with this. If anything he adds some flavor to the show.
My guess for why they did that was because they're doing another NXT/Smackdown taping tomorrow. They presumably didn't want to do the finals without giving people a week to legitimately vote for who they wanted, so we're getting another week of the show. There's hardly anything to do for next week's show without an elimination (they've got JTG, Tyson, Hornswoggle, Yoshi, Titus, and Darren to do matches with for 2 weeks worth of matches). Another pro and rookie adds just enough to the show to give them something to fill that time with.
I'm just going to rank the three rookies who were announced going into this show, since Bateman hasn't done anything this season.
Middle Tier:
1. Titus O'Neil (Last time-1): This week really shook things up, since Darren and Conor got a good deal of time in the ring and on the mic, whereas Titus' match mostly revolved around Hornswoggle and Maryse. I think the field was more level after the 3 men's performances, and the addition of Bateman really changes things around as far as my potential pick. Anyway, what I did see of Titus in the ring and on the mic this week wasn't bad by any stretch. His monotonous voice has been a problem, and he could use a boost in personality, especially with the charismatic Bateman on board. Outside of a big improvement on the mic (or Bateman being very different from Season 4), his #1 spot could really be in jeopardy.
2. Darren Young (Last time-2): This is the Darren Young I've been waiting on. He shows up from time to time to kick butt, then loses whatever magic he gains shortly thereafter. He's also having troubles with promos to a degree, but really impressed this week by adding moves to his repertoire. He's got his work cut out for him, but I think he just might be able to pull this one out.
3. Conor O'Brian (Last time-3): Yes, everyone's middle tier this week. These 3 were pretty even after the latter 2 got to put on a long match. I was warming up on Conor, but I think what I've seen in the past of the other 2 is what kept the order the same. He seems to have improved in the ring this season. It seems like there's SOMETHING there with him; they just have to find what it is. He's also not blowing me away with his promo skills, and that could be what doomed him. It just didn't click for some reason, though his exit promo was fine. Give him some more time and training in FCW and he could end up surprising people.
And just for fun:
N/A. Derrick Bateman (Last time-N/A)- If they had to bring someone back, this would be one of my top picks (presumably Brodus is considered a Smackdown star now, so Derrick might be my top pick period). He has something that was mostly missing this season: a fun personality. Lucky had some moments that got me into his character, but nothing like what Bateman had in Season 4. He was a fine prospect in the ring as well, so if he's improved since then, he might very well pull out the virtually out-of-nowhere win.
That's all for this week's NXT. I'll be back Thursday for Superstars and Impact Wrestling. A news post will be up at some point after midnight. Thanks for reading!
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