It's week 40 (yes, FORTY) of NXT: Redemption tonight. Titus O'Neil, Derrick Bateman, and Darren Young all continue to try to become WWE's next breakout star, but will Bateman and Maxine be on the path to breaking up? Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
Well, we're starting things right off today.
Looks like Eden's still doing NXT at least.
Hmm, I wonder where Regal is?
The Usos are good at getting a crowd warmed up. I like that.
Bateman's hair is hilarious like that.
The mystery thickens!
Whoa, no Young with Hawkins and Reks again. Kind of a shock.
I like Hawkins' unique look. With so many potential stars and so few spots, standing out is important.
The Usos have something to stand out as well. Good potential here when/if the tag team division becomes important again.
The "Uso" chant's getting over pretty well.
I'm glad we don't have a celebrity host for the Slammys. That hasn't worked so well in the past.
I do kind of miss Regal's insight as a trainer on commentary.
Very good match! This is a criminally underwatched show.
And the string of "people's mothers on NXT" continues.
Derrick vs. Johnny. I'm ok with this. They've definitely got reason to fight and are developing nicely.
I guess we're supposed to ignore Young's alignment with Reks and Hawkins and move the clock back to his teaming with JTG (though they aren't explicitly saying it's over).
I wonder what Striker thinks of her other daughter (Melina)?
If Percy was officially in the competition, he'd be doing well.
Good intensity by Young. He's really got to get back in this one after the focus has moved away with him.
Don't think I've seen that move before. Good by JTG.
I'd have liked more energy from Titus on the apron to get the fans behind Percy (and wanting to see him tagged in).
Sweet dropkick. I'm liking this teaming.
Darren drawing attention to himself on the apron. Nice.
Titus is still rough and kind of clunky, but he's at least playing his role well (big man on a mission).
Haha, nice ending. Young gets some attention for once. Though, hilariously, they played JTG's music instead, so it was somewhat even by the time it ended.
Not something we see much from Titus. His delivery still needs work, but it's certainly better than some of his past work. Quite impressive because it's unexpected from him.
There's only so much else they can do between Young and O'Neil. Maybe this'll lead to a Loser Leaves NXT match or something so we can finally be on the road to wrapping this season up. Though of course winning the show is pretty much secondary at this point.
Iron Sheik is comedy gold as far as "trainwrecks" go because he'll say anything, and oftentimes people will have no idea what's going on in his mind. Check his Twitter if you don't believe me. I's not PG.
Another Bateman sign? Nice.
I'm not really sure what Curtis' attire is referencing (if anything), but it's a unique look compared to what we saw on Smackdown.
Good points from Striker.
Curtis is showing depth we haven't seen from him.
Heh, Seinfeld reference. Nice.
I would like Bateman to be more animalistic here. Though the match is good it isn't really a "fight" like it needs to be given their angle.
Ouch.
Kind of weird since both of these guys are heels. Are fans supposed to feel sympathy for Bateman even though he's been a jerk for a lot of the season?
Not bad from Bateman, but there's something missing in his story in the ring.
Wow. Nice little clash.
That cover could have been from him being so exhausted from his match that he couldn't do but so much.
How did Aksana make it on TV before Maxine? She's great here.
So, now what? Is Bateman still going to be a bad guy? I am interested in where things go from here, though it has almost nothing to do with "who will win the competition".
On to rankings. I honestly feel kind of weird doing them at this point since the competition might as well be in-name only and people just show up on any show whenever. They might as well drop that aspect of it and just make it a show like (WWE's) ECW was. At this point, I've pretty much decided to consider NXT part of the main
roster (or a "third brand") because it's really being treated like one
instead of a competition to earn a contract on one of the other brands. Winning doesn't hold as much significance as it did in the past. Anyway, here's where I think everyone is. 5 is "main roster" ready, 4 is on their way if they keep doing good things, 3 is in the middle and can go either way, 2 needs a lot of work, and 1 should be eliminated immediately. (I think I might need to adjust this scale given the shifted focus of the show).
Derrick Bateman- 5 (Last week: 5). Bateman's not a perfect competitor, and he was in a pretty weird position this week as a bad guy facing another bad guy (not something you see much of). If they use him right, I think he's got what it takes to be successful (once he has more experience doing what they want him to do). It's a shame that there's such a logjam of wrestlers who could be getting TV time but aren't, because he's earned a spot. If Raw stars stayed on Raw most of the time and ditto for Smackdown, he'd be someone I'd like to see get a chance instead of so much saturation from others. But that's not really here nor there. Bateman works hard and has a natural "it" factor with his mic work and matches, and he's someone I hope WWE looks out for in the future. (Grade: A).
Titus O'Neil- 4 (Last week: 5). I was in a bit of a quandary here. Since I kind of over-ranked him last week and didn't feel he was as good this week (since he had to do more things), it looks like a bigger downgrade than it would normally be. Titus still has a good ways to go at sounding more natural on the mic and smoothing out his issues in the ring. There's still some growing to do for someone who's not a natural at playing to the crowd and such. That being said, I think they can use him in the right roles and he'd do well. I'd recommend more time training and getting better before he's used as a regular, even when he's got Percy to "cover for him" in tag matches. (Grade: B-ish)
Darren Young - 4 (Last week: 4). Talk about someone who's being ignored. Young's just another guy on the show for the most part at this point (and was headed that way to a degree before the suspension). As crowded as the roster's getting and with more potential performers coming up from FCW, he's in a really bad place at the moment. He's going to need to knock it out of the park next week to get enough attention to be someone WWE's interested in for the future. With the possibilities of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Damien Sandow being considered for roles in the company (all of whom stand out in their look and/or style), Young needs to show how valuable he can be. The one thing you don't want to be at this point is someone who doesn't draw attention. He's not really doing anything "wrong", but he's kind of in the background compared to his opposition (who WWE is giving more focus to).
If I had to eliminate someone, it would be (same as last week): Darren Young. Honestly, at this point, I'm thinking it would be better for Young to be written off for a while. Certainly not because I don't enjoy what he's done when given the chance, but so he can come back and they actually possibly do something with him. They're clearly confused with what role he should have (and who to align him with), so maybe some time away would be good for both sides. Young can improve on promos and ringwork in FCW and/or dark matches, and in the meantime Creative can hopefully think of somehow to use him.
That's it for NXT thoughts this week. I'll be back for Superstars and Impact Wrestling tomorrow, and a news post will be up later tonight. Thanks for reading!
I understand that Titus is trying to make an effort and fill in the holes of his flaws, but that promo was flat-out horrible. I don’t know if he was flustered or what, but the stuttering and lack of charisma shows. It’s just hard to take him credibly most of the time. He’s acting like Darren Young broke his leg in that promo, when all Darren did was pin Titus and show his in-ring skill and Titus took his eye off of the prize. Titus just isn’t natural to me.
ReplyDeleteI understand how he wants to show his intensity, but he just doesn’t belong on the microphone making promos. That is where I don’t see him being a star in this company, because he just doesn’t have the charisma and credibility. His intensity he tried convey just doesn’t seem natural to me. Take Bateman and Young, for example: They seem more natural in their roles, whereas Titus just seems like he’s trying to prove something, and prove to be something he’s not. You know?
As far as Young goes, you made a good point last week that he’s not really getting many opportunities. He’s showed his skill in his matches and has showed his natural intensity, but it seems like Bateman is getting most of the airtime for some reason. You’re probably right in that WWE Management is confused how to market him at this point, and most of that could be attributed to his suspension, but it doesn’t mean it is fair.
I think Young is basically a prisoner by default. Wouldn't you agree? I think since they don't know what to do with him, he's gotten a raw deal, even though he's got a lot to offer. ='
I’ve been watching wrestling for a while, and I’m surely not saying I can predict everything, but it seems that WWE Management is booking Darren to win these tag matches against Titus, but seems that they are building Titus to get the better of Young next week. Let me put it this way…notice how during the Titus/Bateman rivalry, Titus would win the tag matches, but Bateman won like four out of five of the singles matches.
That brings up my previous point in that if this was actually a competition and less of getting other superstars airtime, Titus and Darren would have had more chances and airtime to build up this rivalry. Instead, WWE just fills in airtime to bring in its underutilized talent. Maybe adding an hour to the show may kill two birds with one stone. This is probably more of an inclination, but it just seems that is the predictability of WWE and its bookings.
I've certainly heard worse (but it wasn't great, and he did stumble in places). I did think he put more feeling and emotion into it than any other promo I remember him doing. Once more, he set the bar so low in Season 2 that looking decently now makes him look like he's really improved. If I could go back and "unwatch" their previous work, that's one thing, but there's no way for that to not bias me now.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't really peg him as a star still. Someone to be used in brief spurts where he shows his power, possibly in a team with with Percy, would be about all I'd recommend (but that's still a role he could fill).
It'd be hard to disagree with that. Bateman and Young have years of experience doing this kind of thing.
I think even before the suspension they liked Bateman and Titus more. They were seen celebrating backstage a number of times on Raw, and Titus had both dark matches and a match on Superstars. Of course, Young was demoted from the main roster to NXT to start the season.
Actually, now that I think of it, Percy Watson was originally teamed with Darren Young in FCW, so that's another thing they've passed him over for for one of the others.
Yeah, it certainly looks like "we don't have any ideas for him, but he's a good wrestler, so we'll use him to push Titus more". I wouldn't be surprised if Titus got a big win next week and eventually Darren got eliminated (or just further relegated to a background role until they decide what to do about the competition aspect).
As far as adding time to the show goes, it's not really their decision. Where the show still airs, it's on an hour timeslot so they film for that. If it got canceled, they probably wouldn't make it at all (since they wouldn't be paid for the rights to air it by TV distributors). I'd assume it will be on the WWE Network come April but I haven't seen one way or another. Even then, I'd guess it would be an hour because otherwise they'd have to tape a lot of stuff every Tuesday (and I don't see them doing good enough business with an NXT-only or NXT/Superstars taping since a lot of people don't even know about those shows existing!).
I think they see the situation as them having a lot of people who aren't getting screen time, so they use NXT for some of them, too. They're thinking about all of their careers instead of primarily the "rookies".
As I alluded to earlier, WWE's looking at some other names to possibly bring up to the roster. Given that Percy and Maxine found themselves on NXT, I think others might as well. What should they do with them (given that Raw, Smackdown, and Superstars are already pretty "full")?
I'd really be ok with them changing the show's concept, if for no other reason than it would be pretty weird to add even more competitors to the voting. But that could work, too. The people who aren't doing anything Pro-wise anymore could mentor/work with the newer people. Young, Bateman, and Titus could choose whether or not to get Pros and/or partners of their own to even things up (Titus could choose Percy, for instance).
Just throwing that idea out there because the show's concept as it is now is a mess.
It's a double-edged sword in terms of how they go about the show. Hypothetically, if you added another hour to the show, you could get Young some more meaningful storyline time. It would also allow some of the non-main roster guys more air time. However, it's not televised, so it may defeat the purpose. Plus, the adjudication of going about those decisions does go to a higher party than NXT Management, so you're right.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking objectively and empathetically, I kind of feel for Young, and Titus even a bit. Young has been working hard, and you made a good point that he's doing nothing wrong. Unfortunately, this is the type of job where it's out of his hands. If this was virtually any other position or organization, his performance would be noted. Unfortunately, this is a "play-favorites" type of organization.
It is a shame how the hard workers get shafted in favor of others who may not be harder-working. Then again, I don't work for the company, so it's not my say-so.
Yeah, I don't see them adding time to a show that not many people watch. I don't guess they feel that they'd make enough money from ads or traffic to justify adding it. Plus it'd be weird for those where it does air for an hour to be online-only. I don't know if those outside the U.S. can watch WWE.com videos online. I know Hulu (and maybe YouTube) have had that problem.
ReplyDeleteI think what's working against Young is that they don't see him as marketable. He's just not a "fit" for whatever they want him to be. It's like an accomplished actor being passed over because he's not right for the particular role they want.
It's kind of the case with a lot of entertainment. Either fans react better to a certain performer better or the higher-ups think they will. If this was a contest strictly on pure wrestling ability, Young would be a good deal ahead of Titus. But they're looking for a "sports entertainer", so he's being overshadowed. Justin Bieber might not be the best singer in the world, but people pay to see him/listen to him, so he's who's "pushed".
And I agree that Darren's working harder than Titus (or so it seems). That just only counts for so much in this kind of contest (and wrestling in general).
I don't know what he needs to tap into to stand out enough and get noticed as a potentially marketable performer, but he's going to need to do it soon or he could very well be completely passed by.
NXT thoughts are going to be late again this week. I have to get through Tribute to the Troops and Tuesday's news first. But I have more in-attendance notes this time! Sorry that I'm so behind lately.
ReplyDelete