On the 4/18 edition of NXT: William Regal presents Maxine vs. Kaitlyn, Percy Watson vs. Johnny Curtis, and Tyler Reks vs. Curt Hawkins in a loser leaves NXT match. Who's getting fired? Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
Bateman doing the intro was interesting. Was that a reference to something I missed out on?
*Sigh* I missed watching NXT.
I also see Percy having all the tools for success minus experience. If he's not working in either FCW or on live events, he should be.
I wonder whose idea the Glee references in the intro was.
I hope both Curtis and Watson end up eventually holding titles in WWE. Both are students of the game with charisma.
Commentary's more important than the wrestling again.
If there's no relationship between Curtis and Maxine, why did they come to the ring together?
Good match so far.
Good video for Extreme Rules. Glad it's focusing on fighting instead of spectacle.
Regal and Maxine play off of each other well on commentary, as do Curtis and Watson in the ring.
I'd be hypocritical if I didn't note Curtis yelling so much doing the submission.
If Percy had a solid gimmick, I think he'd be ready for the "main roster". Good little match.
Not sure what it says about me that I like Kaitlyn's new music.
Kaitlyn and Maxine continue to grow as competitors. Props to whomever's helping them along.
I believe Bateman that he played that game.
Heck of a match. Better than some Superstars.
Regal's just vindictive now.
Isn't Curtis a Smackdown guy too? Not like he ever appears on there.
We've gone from Reks being super-glued to an Xbox 360 controller to handcuffs. This show's something.
Titus is a goof.
But... they hadn't done challenges and points in forever.
Brief as it was, I was fine with that segment with Darren and Titus. Glad Darren's doing something different from the role I had gotten tired of.
Striker's pretty creepy when he wants to be.
Fine enough backstage segment with Maxine, Percy, etc..
That Extreme Rules promo reminded me of the Brood's entrance music. Talk about a reference I didn't expect to make today.
Hawkins and Reks look a bit like the Hart Dynasty with those tights.
Surprisingly good promo by Striker.
Well, this is an interesting turn of events.
I'd pick Hawkins to stick around of the two. I've seen him do more good stuff for longer.
Quite a story by Regal about the rat and ferret.
I like that both guys are really stepping it up in a fight-type situation since their jobs are at stake.
Who are the fans supposed to pull for here? I guess we're just supposed to be into them beating each other up.
Reks and Hawkins aren't bad. They're just kind of "missing something" as far as the "it" factor goes.
I wish they would have saved this match for the next episode to give the issue time to build. Even better, they could have said that Regal was going to fire one of them and give them a few weeks to try to be the guy he doesn't release, ending in a match between them.
Maybe Reks will do something different character-wise now. I'd like to see him in a fresh role.
Haha. Purely vindictive by Regal.
I say it's 3 weeks before they end up back on the show. There's only so much they can do with them being fired if they're not going to repackage their characters.
And that's it for NXT. On to rankings. I'm going to change things up a bit. 5 is ready for the main roster as a singles performer, 4 is on the way there, 3 is in the middle, 2 is closer to being someone who should go back to FCW, and 1 should either go back to FCW or be released.
Derrick Bateman- 4 (Last time: 4). Not really much to say here. I enjoy Bateman's work, especially outside of the ring, but space is at a premium on the main roster right now. I don't see much of a place for him as a regular part of the Raw or Smackdown brand. If he keeps improving and adding new tricks to his repertoire, that day could end up coming though. He just needs to keep gaining experience and work. (Grade: B+ or so, he just needs to do more to keep it in this range).
Titus O'Neil- 4 (Last time: 4). Titus is an odd one to rank. If his character's supposed to be off-the-wall, it's working. As a singles star, I think he still needs work before I'd consider him worthy of being a part of Raw or Smackdown. As a tag team guy, I say give it a whirl and see what happens. He's got good power and can move fairly well. If he can get the pieces together and become more smooth, I think he could turn out all right. (Grade: B-ish).
Darren Young- 4 (Last time: 3). Having gotten some time away from wrestling, it was somewhat fresh seeing Young again. After "scorching the earth" doing the angry heel act for so long, it's good to see him branch out and be a more fun character. He's a good complement to Titus: He can fill the time between Titus' power moves with solid technical wrestling. As long as he stays away from a lot of yelling and posturing, I'm tentatively optimistic about him getting a shot as a tag team guy on Smackdown. (Grade: In the B range).
That's all for the 4/18 NXT post. A news post will be up shortly, and the 4/19 Superstars/Impact Wrestling post should be up tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
Good insights this week. It's like you never took that hiatus lol.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said here. I mentioned before that Young has personality and charisma, and it's good that he's shown it. You mentioned before it's hard to combine a character in terms of charisma + aggression and making it work, but I think it could happen. I personally think it shows off Young's range. Many people didn't think he had charisma with his character, but he's showing signs of it.
Man, I sound hypocritical, but I also agree with your stance on Titus. I do think he's overcompensating a bit and isn't quite "fit" in his role yet, but he is standing out a bit. I think if he was by himself, he'd have a world of weaknesses on his hands. I know some who thought he was COMPLETELY mundane and dry of charisma. Props to both of these guys for breaking the mold and standing out a bit.
If you think about it, (I know you haven't seen the last couple of SmackDowns, so you're not yet astute to this, but ) Young and Titus are the only tag team out there that have the power, technical skills, signs of charisma, aggression and some "entertainer" value to them. What I mean is that they actually have signature poses, in-ring entrances and "teamwork-based" moves.
Teams like The Usos seem a little mundane in that they do the same thing every week, and lack some of those elements Young and Titus have as a team. I think that's what separates Young and Titus from the rest and could really be a breath of fresh air for the tag team division; one that it needs!
I'm not really sure what Titus is going for with his character, but apparently someone likes it if they're totally dropping the Tamina angle (?) and putting them both on Smackdown without any hint of them having issues (?) to keep up with the goofier character. The question marks are because I don't know if that's what they've done so far with them.
ReplyDeleteIf WWE wants to continue rebuilding the tag team division, they could team up Lord Tensai's bodyguard with his FCW partner (I have no idea if either of them are "ready" for that level, but I know he had/has a partner there). Antonio Cesaro had a critically-acclaimed partner before signing to WWE in the man who's now Kassius Ohno, but as far as I know they don't plan on putting them together just because they teamed in the past. Ohno hasn't been in FCW long, so they might still be evaluating him or coming up with what to do with him. WWE's finicky, so there's no telling.