It's Season 5, Episode 30 of NXT tonight. That's not a typo. It's like Gilligan's Island: everyone's stuck on the island, and they keep hinting that someone will escape but they never do. Derrick Bateman, Titus O'Neil, and Darren Young continue to battle it out for a spot on Season 6. They're inching closer to an elimination, though none have been announced. So, maybe someone goes home soon and maybe they don't. Until then, three people are competing for a WWE contract, and every week counts. Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
Honestly I'm a bit concerned with Darren Young being paired with JTG. It feels like an awkward fit with their characters. But, I think it can end up working. JTG has that swagger that's hard to "learn".
JTG's pretty good here.
Maybe the competition just disappears, and people move on to the other shows?
How bad is it that I didn't know whose music that was (peoples' change so much)?
I don't know which is which, but differentiating The Usos is interesting.
Honestly, yeah, a lot of fans don't know who the Wild Samoans are.
Good segment.
Should I count this as a gimmick change for Young?
Del Rio could use the boost going into a match with two former multiple-time champions and HIAC competitors.
Come on, still no serious music for Yoshi? It just doesn't fit.
I guess Jinder's still being used after Khali beating him up after all.
We still haven't seen too much of Jinder in the ring, so this could be good.
Yeah, this one's going more than 2 minutes.
I'm just going to make up that WWE management and/or the COO decreed that people from other shows (and FCW) can be on this show without being in the competition.
Regal's doing his job well. It's not about arguing with the other member(s) of your team; it's about the action.
Regal's a pretty clever guy sometimes.
Jinder's a little generic in the ring, but he's got good ring presence and seems to pretty much have the basics down.
Somehow I don't think we'll see anything on the level of Mick Foley or Undertaker on Sunday. Hard to top.
Remember when Hornswoggle was learning to speak? He's doing pretty well in writing.
So, Young's Pro was fired, Bateman's Pro kind of disappeared, and now Hornswoggle's leaving, too? Weird show. Hornswoggle's actually been a member of the Smackdown roster for a good while now officially.
I get this weird feeling that we're in for something between Hornswoggle and Aksana. I don't even want to think about that one.
Percy still doesn't look right without the glasses. I like him, though.
Tyson's indeed a student of the game.
Nice showing by Percy. Still a ways to go, but we're seeing good things from him each time he competes.
That Dungeon Drop. I miss Tyson's run on the ECW brand.
Good promo by Jinder I guess. Not sure what's going on between him and Khali. It ended kind of abruptly.
No Titus or Derrick in the ring this week? Weird.
Yeah, after Season 1, the winners were less and less successful.
Awesome move by Young. Perfectly timed.
I wish Young would pick up some of the tricks Finlay did using the areas around the ring. It could be a respect thing, though.
Him saying "D Young" is a nice touch. He's getting better as a heel seemingly every time we see him in the ring.
I wish more people on the roster were as unique and full of personality as the Usos are here.
Hahaha, it just keeps getting more crazy here. It's like they're combining NXT and Superstars. Hey, if it means I get to see some of these people I don't see otherwise, I'm ok with it. I don't know how much it does for the people trying to get onto Season 6, though.
Ok, on to rankings. We didn't get to see much of Titus or any of Derrick, so things are a little uneven this go-round. Remember that 1 is unwatchable, 2 still needs a great deal of work, 3 is either somewhat average or good in some areas but not so good in others, 4 means they're progressing nicely towards a bigger role in the company, and 5 means they're ready for the main roster.
Darren Young- 4. Young continues to entrench himself firmly in 4 territory. It's taken him time to break out as well as he has, but his ringwork is very crisp and innovative and he's getting more and more comfortable with the other intangibles. Getting to a 5 is very tough compared to dropping to a 3, so he's still got work ahead of him. That being said, so far, he's working out pretty well. He's working hard to improve and it shows.
Titus O'Neil- 4. We're talking more of the low end of a 4 here. It was seemingly inevitable that he'd slip when he didn't get a chance to wrestle and there wasn't much to grade on. It's not his fault that he wasn't booked in a match, so I can't fairly dock him much. He's got some ground to make up in the weeks to come if he wants to stay in this tier. That being said, he sounded more natural in this week's segment. That's been a problem for him in the past.
Derrick Bateman- 3. Talk about someone who couldn't afford to miss a week. Just as he was impressing and growing in his role, he was absent from this episode. There's only so much slack you can give when someone's not there to wrestle and/or cut promos. Maybe he was on a mission from Maxine? Either way, this was kind of a risky decision as far as the competition itself goes.
That's it for this week's show. I'll be back for Impact Wrestling on Thursday and a news post will be up later. Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment