Tonight we continue the longest running weekly episodic season in NXT history. Allegedly Season 6 is coming, but before it happens we have to get through this. Derrick Bateman, Titus O'Neil, and Darren Young are all competing for redemption tonight. Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
I don't know if I explained the whole joke previously, but some time ago on Twitter, Yoshi Tatsu posted about his someone taking the head off of his action figure (with pictures of the headless figure). This started a running "storyline" there where people designed him different cartoon faces on paper and he tried to find out who did the deed. I think it ended up being Curt Hawkins, though Chris Jericho took credit as well. Anyway, that might be what inspired this storyline.
Just when you think they're out of ideas, they come up with a (first-ever?) necklace on a pole match. I can't really say I fault the Creative team for a lot of this: there's only so much you can do with such a small roster over such a fairly long show.
Hey, if Mick Foley can wrestle a Rocky cutout on Impact, Bateman can reference the movie on NXT. Kaitlyn referenced "Over The Top" when she arm-wrestled in Season 3, so we've got a running Stallone theme here.
Thank goodness he's wearing something under those pants.
I'm somewhat under the impression that Titus is supposed to be wrestling a more slow and methodical pace.
Bateman's got something as a heel. He does seem kind of unrefined in the ring now that I'm seeing him work a longer match this season.
Darren seems to be getting more comfortable in his role here. His promo on Zack Ryder's Youtube show was nice. Somewhat "rehearsed" sounding, though.
So-so match from Bateman.
WHAT!? AJ returns to NXT! They did get kind of flutter eyelashes in Season 3.
Psycho AJ! I like it! Well, briefly Psycho. She's been a surprisingly good heel in FCW, so maybe we see some of her spicy side here.
KOZLOV'S PLANKING! I officially love this show again.
Stipulation and what they were fighting over aside, this was a pretty good match.
Tyson's a pure mean, nasty heel. I like it.
If NXT didn't need all the material it can get, I'd like to see them continue this on Smackdown.
Aaaaand, recap time.
I can't be the only one who listened to that song on YouTube today after Punk came out to it. I think he used it in the "Summer of Punk" angle in ROH, too?
That TitanTron's pretty awesome, too.
That's a wrap. Not too much to go on this week as far as rankings go, but we'll give it a whirl anyway. Remember that top tier means that I want to see more of them, middle tier means that I don't care for them either way, and bottom tier means that I want them to be eliminated ASAP. I only do "numbered" rankings on elimination weeks, so these are just general thoughts on the rookies:
Top Tier:
Titus O'Neil (last ranked-1): Titus seems to be coming more into his own each week. He could definitely use more in the personality and promo department, but he works the "big man" style fairly well. I don't necessarily see him making the jump to the main roster any time soon, but he seems to be coming along as a performer. After 21 weeks of the show, we're getting pretty used to everyone, and I don't see any big surprises coming up for him. It seems like it's just going to be a case of how comfortable he gets in the ring, as I doubt we'll see him pull out anything too unexpected. The longer the competition goes, the better chance someone has of potentially pulling ahead of him.
Darren Young (last ranked-2, incorrectly listed last week as 3): We didn't get to see much of Young this week, so there isn't much to comment on. I do think he's fitting into his persona better now, and sounding more natural in it. That, to me, is the main thing he needs to improve on. If he could become as good in his role as Tyson Kidd is in his, I think he'd really be someone to pay attention to. I just want more to sink my teeth into with him. He reminds me a bit of Charlie Haas as far as being good in the ring, but without enough personality to stand out in the sea of wrestlers who are on WWE and TNA programming every year.
Derrick Bateman (last ranked-N/A): Apparently, next week is yet another one without an elimination, so we'll continue to see how Bateman is as a performer. He seems like he's got the gestures and nuances of being a performer, but didn't really click in the ring this week as well as I'd have liked to have seen. I think he definitely has something to keep an eye on, but how much "steak" he can add to the "sizzle" will be what makes or breaks him this season.
And that's a wrap for my rankings this week. I'll be back for Superstars and Impact Wrestling on Thursday, and a news post will be up at some point after midnight. Thanks for reading!
Your insights this week are very good. I agree that Bateman and Titus really didn't perform well in that ring; that match was probably the worst this season.
ReplyDeleteI have a few questions/thoughts:
1) What was the mindframe of Young seemingly coinciding with Bateman when Bateman is his competition and basically cost him the match last week? (Maybe to show his teamwork skills?)
2) Objectively, Darren Young is the best wrestler of these three and Titus is the worst....I am not sure why Bateman can beat Titus, but yet Young can't when he is better. I know match results don't count for much, but it's hard for me to grip my thoughts around that.
3) I know NXT has been notorious for its bad decisions, but what is the benefit of having such a long season and bringing back Bateman to evaluate him at the last second? I mean, Young and O'Neil aren't getting any younger, and it kind of sends the signal that the WWE thinks Bateman is superior...when he's really not.
1. I don't know how much of NXT is "scripted" in regards to people's alliances and whatnot. I looked at it as the "enemy of his enemy being his friend", starting an alliance to try to take out Titus. It's possible that he'll have an explanation next week. The show's going on so long they keep needing to come up with more for people to do!
ReplyDelete2. I think maybe they think that for Bateman to have a chance with the audience, he needs to make good impressions quickly as far as wins go. Since his opponents have a months-long head start on him, he's the underdog in a way.
3. NXT is REALLY low on the WWE totem pole. When they first started the season, they knew it was going to be overshadowed by Tough Enough, so they just went with returning rookies. The show's kind of in a holding pattern until they come up with who to use/what to do with next season I guess.
In some ways, a long season is good for the rookies because they get more experience working in front of larger crowds (and being with their Pros and the like). And it gives people in FCW more time to improve before being part of Season 6.
I guess they put Bateman on the show because they weren't ready to wrap the season up, and adding him gave them a way to prolong it. It could also have a good deal to do with the fact that on the week they eliminated O'Brian, they had to tape another episode the next night, so there wouldn't be a week for people to vote for the winner online. And it's possible that they really did plan to use Bateman from the get-go but couldn't due to his injury.
With no elimination next week, this season's going to total at least 23 weeks. Season 1 was 15 weeks, and the other 3 were only 13! And the first two seasons had 8 rookies to evaluate. They don't really have to worry about ratings, so they can just do whatever they want with it apparently.
Anyway, did you see Young's promo on Zack Ryder's Youtube show?
Good points. I guess we will have to wait out these upcoming weeks to get the answers.
ReplyDeleteI saw that promo and thought it was good. I think it shows his personality and credibility when the stars of today know his true talents and create exposure for him because of it. I also think it is a great idea to reach out to fans and naysayers through social media, and that is one element that may help him with fan votes. That is because he has more followers on Twitter than O'Neil and Bateman combined and that can only help him. What did you think of it?
I liked the promo, too. He's growing on me. If he keeps adding to his character, he'll almost certainly move up in my book.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that you brought up the Twitter followers thing, because that was something I was keeping track of during Season 3 (before I had a blog). I think AJ had a noticeable lead when she was eliminated, but I don't remember the numbers at the time. So, it's not necessarily a guarantee of staying on in of itself.
I don't even remember the last time they promoted their Twitter accounts on-air. I know for Seasons 1-3 (and I'm pretty sure 4), the little graphics that had their names also had their Twitter screen names.
Titus only having 13,000 followers is kind of a disappointment, considering he was actually on TV in Season 2. Bateman's not too far behind him and he was on an Internet-only season. Interesting...
Young might have a lot more (partially) because he was on Season 1, which I'm pretty sure had the highest ratings. He stuck around for longer than Titus did in Season 2 (and Titus was really unmemorable in that season), so there was more time for fans to find out who he was, etc.. Just a theory, though.
I like the idea of wrestlers using Twitter, YouTube, and the like to assist in getting themselves over. It can backfire if people don't like what they get (a lot of people don't like Matt Hardy's Youtube show, and Goldust was notorious for blocking a lot of people), but some people do pretty well with it. When Dolph Ziggler was "fired" from Smackdown earlier in the year, he tweeted a bunch of stuff about getting an agent to take bookings, and made references to TNA (without actually naming them), and it got some people online talking about the storyline. It was pretty cool.