This week on NXT, Maxine continues to seek power in her relationship with William Regal, and Tyson Kidd looks for revenge against Michael McGillicutty. What else will go down on the show? Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
Good start to things to set up the show. Given that some basically assume NXT is a bunch of dark matches, it's good to make them mean something.
Hawkins vs. Gabriel. I'm good with that.
I like Regal's mindset that opening the show is an opportunity. I'm sure there are some who don't look at it so highly.
A jab at WCW in 2012. Interesting.
Not a bad little match. Hopefully both men grow as performers in the years to come.
What happened to Tamina wearing curly hair?
Silly conversation.
That was kind of weird. Young's usually so confident as a character.
I appreciate the two of them getting a backstage segment. It just still feels kind of weird with them teamed up.
Because he wasn't so over-the-top backstage, I'm less worn out seeing Young here.
Someone should add subtitles to the Uso entrance.
Maybe Young's getting a bit more depth to his character, being kind of frustrated because of the whole Tamina thing. Did I miss her breaking up with JTG?
People knew Young when he had the crazy hair and was in Nexus...
The leave from commentary got more people into the match, so it works for me.
I could just be in a good mood today, but that was good by Young. He wasn't over-the-top and he didn't try too hard.
Hmm, maybe they'll combine Young's "No Days Off" persona with his old more party-centric gimmick. To show that he's not all about work, etc..
NXT's a crazy place at times with all the backstage shenanigans.
Hahahahahahahahaha. Curtis following Alicia with the rag was great.
One day Maxine and Percy Watson will be on the main roster. We've just got to get some of those older names out of the mix.
Regal and Maxine on commentary could be good given their respective characters.
I don't think I've ever seen a foot massage on commentary.
I also don't think I've ever wanted to see a foot massage be more important than a match.
Regal has done some weird things in WWE.
The match might as well be an afterthought here.
This show is WEIRD.
There's a joke in here somewhere about a British man complaining about American taxes, but that's not my cup of tea.
Percy reminds me of someone in the ring, but I can't quite think of who. He's got a lot of athleticism and speed.
That said, that wasn't a great match.
As good as that video package for the HIAC match was, it was kind of funny seeing the original incarnation of the Hunter Hearst Helmsley character. Given the years and years of history involved between those tree, that match is really big.
This is a lot more comedy than wrestling, but I enjoy it.
Or maybe there is some crazy swerve here and someone else is behind the ransom note. Either way, it's pretty entertaining.
Michael McGillicutty's a crazy man here.
NICE video package. Midcard feuds treated as important, with people getting mic and ring time? What a concept!
Regal putting over this match and the people in it is great. If you treat your performers as important, maybe the fans will agree?
Ooh... kind of a miscue with the Tysoncanrana. He covered for it, though.
A match with The Miz in 2012... you know who's losing that one. Kick-ass that Miz and Bryan are teaming, though.
Five years feels like a long time in wrestling.
Hats off to the commentary here.
Brock Lesnar was from Minnesota as well.
Pretty good match so far. There's certainly some skill in these two.
I admire Kidd's training.
As someone who felt McGillicutty was really replaceable not too awful long ago, I'm pretty impressed here.-
That looks like a set-up for Round 3 to me.
Good stuff from both guys. I wish more of WWE was like NXT.
Uh-oh. Could McGillicutty be going after Natalya? That would be quite sinister and I think I'd enjoy him doing that.
NXT's done, so on to a very delayed evaluation session. 5's must-see, 4's mostly good, 3's kind of in the middle, 2's terrible, and 1's must-miss.
Derrick Bateman- 5 (Last week: 5). Bateman's kind of coasting now, but that's expected since he was kind of being put back in the background this week. He's not overcompensating by overacting to try to get noticed. He's just continuing to do good stuff. As long as he doesn't just totally fade away and/or noticeably slip in what he's doing, he'll stay ranked highly. (Grade: A-range, mainly because he hasn't done anything to bring it down lately).
Titus O'Neil - 4 (Last week: 4). No real problems with Titus this week, though of course he was just a backstage guy this time. He's come a long way with his character and I've been impressed. There's still work to be done, though, so expect him to stay here for quite some time until he really grows inside and outside of the ring. (Grade: somewhere in the B-range).
Darren Young- 3 (Last week: 3). This was Darren's best week in quite some time I think. He addressed pretty much everything I found issue with in the past. He toned down the things I thought he had too much volume with and was better at the more subtle ("non-yelling" role) backstage. I don't even really have any complaints. It will take some time for me to be fully convinced that this wasn't just a one-time thing, but if he keeps this up, he'll certainly hit a 4 sooner rather than later. (Grade: B-/C+).
If I had to eliminate someone, it would be: Darren Young. He's closing the gap, but if push came to shove I wouldn't be able to change my mind just on this week.
That's all for NXT. A news post will be up later tonight as I continue to catch up. Thanks for reading and I apologize for being so late!
What are you making of this connection between Young and Tamina that seem eminent? It would definitely be a chance to see another side of Young and kind of "shake things up" a bit for his persona. I like it because of that, and it seems like an angle you would get behind.
ReplyDeleteThe only odd thing about this that I can't wrap my head around is Tamina went from getting a huge push (ads, title matches) to being back on NXT, but I guess that's the nomenclature with this company and its fickleness.
With Young being a bad guy still, how will that play out with Tamina still being a good guy? I know Bryan is a bad guy and AJ is still a good guy, but this seems a different situation. It is definitely an interesting angle that has some potential.
With Titus this week, 1) It was hard to identify him as a good or bad guy, and 2) He seemed a little off with his wordings and balance. What I mean by that is I guess he's just not a "public speaker" like we talked about. He could have said more meaningful words during that backstage segment. Maybe it's something that's just not in his nature, but he will need to improve on those two aspects if he wants to make it onto a main roster. He's at a high 3, low 4 for me right now if I'm going by your ranks.
I would be nothing short of hypocritical if I bashed WWE for doing something different with Young. This is exactly what I wanted as it presumably means he'll do things that require a little more range.
ReplyDeleteThey might not have felt Tamina was totally ready for that big of a push being more permanent. Going into Mania season, it's "safer" to go with the more established and pushed performers in the Divas match. Kelly's been a face and on TV for a good while now (by Divas standards), so that's likely why they're going that direction.
He could become the overprotective boyfriend or something. Or maybe try to show Tamina his softer side (which doesn't necessarily mean he'll turn face). I'm thinking a little bit like Drew McIntyre's angle with Kelly Kelly not too awful long ago, but it could be very different.
Titus was pretty "different" from how we've seen him backstage before, doing something less serious. I suppose him being with Young and against Tamina made him something of a bad guy by default in that segment, but that is a good point.
Hypothetically, backstage segments "aren't in front of the public" as far as stories go unless someone's specifically being interviewed or addressing the camera. I know that's kind of a ridiculous premise, but it's how they're generally seen. I see what you mean about his speaking though. It's definitely not as smooth as I'd like it to be (and that's a lot of why he's almost certainly not going to be in 5 range any time soon).
We will see what happens in the upcoming weeks, but I think it could only help Young.
ReplyDeleteBy the way (my opinion may be skewed due to being a bit biased), I've been watching Ryder's show, and I'm not digging how the show has been dogging Otunga. I'm not sure how this is coming about, but I think with Otunga getting a push and trying to fend off the criticism he's been getting about his talents, it's not good for him or the WWE, in general. With 200k people viewing it every week, it's not good to bash the guy and doesn't send a good image towards him moving up in the company. Again, I may critical because I like Otunga, but what are your thoughts on this?
I suppose it could hurt him if he really failed in the role (since it could be pretty different from what he's done most of the season), but at least I'd finally get the question answered of what he can do in an at least partially different setting than "intense wrestler" (in 2012).
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the latest episode, but it could be in-character due to Otunga's place as Laurinaitis' assistant (since Ryder's trying to get on Long's team at Mania). I know Jericho and Miz busted each others chops for a while, but they were good friends as far as I know. If Otunga makes an appearance on the show (like Ziggler and Morrison in the past), I'd think it was just two friends goofing around.
I get what you mean, though, since if I'm not mistaken, he's going after things like his in-ring abilities more so than his character. Ryder might be trying to be on the side of the internet fans who see Otunga as just getting pushed because of his celebrity status, look, and character. Or he could be legitimately upset that the company's pushing him. Either way, it's almost certainly Ryder himself doing it instead of WWE trying to send some kind of message through the show. And I suppose that if it gets the audience against Otunga in a way that they'll still tune in to see him (boo him), it could be beneficial in kind of a weird way. A lot more people watch WWE TV than Ryder's show, so it's not something to worry too much about right now.