Tonight is the latest episode of NXT: Redemption. Darren Young, Derrick Bateman, and Titus O'Neil once more seek to impress the WWE Universe and Pros as we gear up for the next elimination.... whenever that is. Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
AJ survived the DOD apparently.
Having AJ and Hornswoggle on the mic with Titus could only help him, really. He's kind of plain on his own.
Titus sounds like a preacher here. Maybe it's time for another NXT wedding.
I thought AJ understood Hornswoggle.
CHICKBUSTERS SIGN!
I heard a little built of AJ's FCW "princessy" heel persona coming through there.
Glad Bateman's looking and sounding more heelish this week.
Speaking of FCW, Bateman was with AJ in at least one TV match there. Not sure if they were supposed to be a couple though.
I see what Bateman did there.
I didn't even recognize Maxine at first. She's a natural opponent for AJ given their history, especially since Maryse is no longer in the picture (?).
JTG vs. Tyson? I guess they're out of other matches to do on this show. They're both heels, though.
JTG is "Jayson The Gangsta", if anyone's wondering.
Kind of a downer match. It didn't really click (mainly because they're both heels, so there wasn't much of a story).
A reboot of Yoshi's character would be pretty awesome if that's what we're supposed to read into that.
Can Striker become one of the contestants? I think he'd have a puncher's chance.
That music isn't really face-like for Striker, but it is associated with him.
Are you serious? Striker's been pretty impressive for someone who doesn't actively wrestle.
Not bad.
I get the feeling they're going to end with the Raw recap once this match ends.
Bateman and Maxine? I can dig it.
Maxine's a natural heel. She's vindictive to the core. I'm actually looking forward to where this goes. Maybe AJ can get some character development as well.
Regal and Maxine have some sort of angle in FCW right now, but I'm not really following their stuff.
Regal and Grisham can't be accused of overselling the action.
This one's had some rough spots.
I like that shoulderbreaker. The dog back, not so much.
I guess Bateman sort of "had to" win that one to make the feud and his new relationship mean something.
So, we've got AJ, Kaitlyn, and Aksana on Smackdown, and now Maxine's back on NXT. We're waiting on you, Naomi and Jamie Keys. (Jamie's not with the company anymore, but Naomi's still in FCW).
Might as well go on to rankings:
Tier lists have become less meaningful as the show goes on; it's harder to drop a tier when I know I've seen good things lately from everyone. It's been so long since the last elimination that the numbers are pretty much placeholders at this point. So, once again, everyone's on my "I want to see more of them next week" list. If we make it through August without another elimination, I'll do a different grading scale. For now, though:
Top Tier:
Titus O'Neil (last ranked:1)- Titus was a little more "on" on the mic tonight. He projected better and played off of his allies. In the ring, he was a bit clunky. For whatever reason, he and Bateman just don't play off of each other too well. It could be Bateman being a heel and presumably not being as familiar with working that way. I think Titus grew as a performer overall, but he's still a work in progress. He's still missing that "something" that would make him important. I'm not really sure what it is, though. Being more crisp and comfortable in the ring and on the mic would go a long way for him, but I suppose that could be said for anyone.
Darren Young (last ranked:2)- Young didn't get much of a chance to show what he could do this week, since the story of the match was all about Stiker having a good showing despite being out of the ring for so long. Darren's most impressive when he's the intense, dominant heel, and we didn't see that this go-round. As the show becomes less about the rookies competing to win and more about filling time, they're looking to stretch feuds out. If Young steamrolled Striker each week, there wouldn't be much of a feud to talk about, so they're giving Striker some "hope spots". I liked what we did see from Young, but he wasn't really the guy we were "supposed to be" watching.
Derrick Bateman (last ranked:N/A)- Bateman seems more comfortable as a heel now, which was pretty much required if he was going to have a chance in this competition. I don't think he's nipping at Darren's heels yet, but he's improving. I hope he continues to grow in that direction, especially now that he's paired with Maxine. Ring wise I'm not as sold on him. It's tough to say exactly what he needs to do to "work" in his new role, but I hope we start seeing it. It takes time to transition characters and styles, so Bateman's got to be hoping there's not an elimination anytime soon.
That's all for my rankings this go-round. I'll be back for Superstars and Impact Wrestling on Thursday and a news post will be up later tonight. Thanks for reading!
Decent insight this week. I'm not sure if I'm part of the minority on this one (if you agree or not), but Titus just continues to be stale to me. I think even though he has gotten better in the ring, he really took a step back tonight. He was okay I guess on the mic, but again, it's just a little stale. He needs to branch out a bit like Darren has been doing.
ReplyDeleteYou can't really blame Darren for not doing too much tonight. He usually has been good on the mic, and if he kept cutting promos over and over, I think he would be over-doing it a bit like Riley got penalized for in Season 2 for playing more of a "character". Also, with it being 24 weeks into the show, he really doesn't have too many others to feud with, because he's wrestled so many others.
To play to one of your points before, he is really coming into his role and he also came out in those new tights/look. That counter into the gut-buster is the epitome of what he is capable of in that ring and I think he is far more capable in that ring than Titus, even though he is improving (except for tonight).
I agree that Bateman was pretty good tonight. However, I don't think he's really that close to how good Young has been in his heel role. But, I don't understand why he is giving up Daniel Bryan's managing/mentoring for Maxine. I don't think it's a great move, because 1) It plays to the point that he can't beat Titus without help, and 2) Bryan counts for part of the pro's poll, so if you abandon your mentor, how could it help?
Tracing back to my point before, I think Titus is kind of keeping his eye off of the prize. He is playing to the whole AJ and Hornswoggle situation and seems to be losing track in that the competition is about him and not those two. That is something Darren hasn't lost focus of.
ReplyDeleteI'll kind of have to hit these kind of quick since I've got class in the morning:
ReplyDelete-I thought Titus did better than usual because he had better inflection and it was a somewhat different topic.
-I don't know who makes the calls on who does and doesn't cut promos on the show. I'm under the assumption that while the talents get relatively free reign on what to say, they can only do promos if they're scheduled/scripted to do so.
-Riley was really strong as a character. I think when they were on a shorter timetable, they focused on what everyone did best and kind of built around that.
-I don't blame Young for it; they likely just only got a few minutes to work in that match since they had the long Raw replay to show.
-Bateman's still got a ways to go to top Young as the show's main heel rookie. He's still pretty new in the role.
-Pros can't vote for or against their own rookies, so Bryan couldn't help him anyway. I agree that he'd be better served listening to his pro, but I'm guessing he's playing mind games to beat Titus. A win's a win in his mindset. And he's just trying to get in a role that works/clicks. That's what WWE's ultimately looking for, since you can make it to the main roster without winning NXT, and sometimes you aren't used well when you do win!
-This also holds true for Titus. His character is more concerned with his friends than winning, which is what the heels are trying to capitalize on.
Ok, let's try this again now that I have more time:
ReplyDeleteTitus was less stale this week in my book. He isn't totally out of the woods from that criticism, but he had something different to play off of. He's better when he has something/someone else to work off of.
Once NXT's over and WWE picks who they want on the main roster, they might look more in the direction of someone with a character to play off of.
Young definitely has more variety in the ring than Titus does.
And going up against your Pro worked for Kaitlyn. Bryan got some mileage out of it as well in Season 1.
Just because Titus isn't cutting promos about winning the competition, I don't think that means he's lost track of doing so. His goal's to impress the crowd and Pros, by whatever means he thinks he can do so.
Fair points. In Riley's case, I do agree that he was very good in Season 2 (even though I think he's better as a heel than as a face as he is now). However, I think a big reason (besides the fan vote) that he lost, was because it seemed like he was a little over the top and was playing a character more than being himself. I think promo-cutting is very important, but I think Riley overdid it a bit (according to that rookie discussion the pros had on WWE.com), and the pros don't necessarily like that. Leading me back to my point, I think Young has cut the perfect amount of promos, and if Young kept cutting promos every week, he may fall victim of what happened to Riley.
ReplyDeleteIf you really think about it, Titus has really only cut promos when he has been interviewed or when it was part of a challenge (not counting this week, because the promo centered around AJ and Hornswoggle). That is an area where it shows Young's work ethic, because he has took that initiative to do his own promos, which was something he didn't do in Sseason 1.
You have a good point about Titus, but I guess that is just where we both differ on what it takes to be a star in this company. I like Young partly because he is determined and focused and knows that his main goal is to win this competition. It just seems that O'Neil, and in some light Bateman, just seem to have their eye away from that a bit. Hopefully the pros/fans notice the determination factor. I just think from that point of view, determination and being focused is a key aspect every WWE superstar should have.
Riley's definitely better as a heel; it looks more natural for him. I can see the criticism of him being over the top in the role, though. The old saying is that the best characters are exaggerations of the people portraying them, so he might have been going for that. Whoever made the choice to put him on the main roster didn't see eye to eye with the Pros. As has been seen with NXT and the original Tough Enough, longevity in the company doesn't necessarily go to the winner. Creative has to take a shine to them.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point about Titus. He might just not be comfortable doing promos (which would explain his somewhat wooden delivery and staleness). Sometimes less can be more with promos if the person delivering them isn't all that great with them and sells themselves on their action. Bobby Lashley, Ezekiel Jackson, Justin Gabriel, and Evan Bourne come to mind here. Their strengths are with their ringwork so they don't do as many promos.
I like that Young is doing his own promos. He's trying to stand out, which is kind of the point. With Redemption Points hardly meaning anything at this point (and the race being so one-sided), foregoing the challenges for promos is probably his best bet.
I don't know if I've talked much about Darren in Season 1: I thought he was kind of an odd fit with the gimmick he started out with, then got better when he became more serious. Some people can stand out with a more colorful gimmick and some need to dial it back. People were talking more about his hair and what he was wearing than whether they liked him until he got things together. I don't remember his promos too much, just the "South Beach Party Boy" gimmick and hair. I wonder if he was comfortable in that gimmick or if he just carried it over from FCW and wondered if it would stick. It's hard to tell how much of which seasons of NXT are predetermined.
I think the "focused on the competition" bit works differently for different people. It fits pretty well for some people, but others stand out more because of their characters. If Young's best chance of success is by pushing the wanting to be a wrestler part, he should go that route. But it seems like most people have been successful (beyond NXT) moreso because of their characters and storylines.
At least, that's what connects with me more. There's always kind of been that divide in wrestling; some people want to see the "action soap opera" and storylines, and some just want to see fairly no-nonsense wrestling with people determined to win. Hopefully that's not an oversimplification of the argument.
That definitely makes sense. You know a lot about it. It's good to see someone who actually is objective call it like it is. I guess it really depends on what they're looking for and the true controversy on who wins the competition will show that. Like you said before, all three COULD be WWE-caliber, and just because one doesn't win won't mean they won't make it to the company.
ReplyDeleteI guess my question to you would be that what will it take for Young to move into first? I know you rank by tiers being your primary source, which puts each at the same level, which you said puts "rank 1 or rank 2" at less relevance at this point. However, you did mention before that Young was better than the other two in the ring and there was an argument to be made that he is the best on promos. If he has those elements (which are arguably the biggest two), what do you think is preventing him from being your No. 1 rank? I remember before you said his biggest flaw was his promos, which before was pretty true, but those have been getting better.
Sorry that I wasn't able to respond quickly this time:
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the kind words! Wrestling's kind of become "my thing" like others follow reality TV or football. It's awesome seeing other people's philosophies on what makes it work and who's good and not as good and the like.
I think I'm going to make the ranking system different in a couple of weeks, since they're not doing eliminations all that often and don't do the Pros' Poll rankings anymore. Hopefully it will be more clear then (because it is kind of odd now).
The rankings for now are just "what they were ranked at the last elimination", since the Pros' Poll in Season 1 would show rankings based on that. It's not a part of the show anymore, so I'll update it to look more like how things are on the show at present. I haven't decided if I'm just going to do "Rank 1, Rank 2, Rank 3" since the show itself doesn't really go that route.
Anyway, as for Young, I'd like to see him be consistently aggressive both on the mic and in the ring. I see times when he looks like he can be a ruthless heel (generally in the ring), and I'd like to see him promos go more in that direction. I like the "No Days Off" persona, but I'd prefer something like him looking to get to the top no matter who he has to step over or tick off: his Pro, leprechauns, hosts, etc. and taking no prisoners. I like imagining characters and promos if you can't tell.
Some of it's just his voice, though, which is why I don't care for Heath Slater's promos much. If he could improve a lot there, he'd be pretty hard to top.