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It's time for episode 4 of NXT, and this show had better deliver in a big way. You cannot have a contest reality television show go for four weeks and go absolutely nowhere in terms of progressing the contest.
And, while we're working on a wish list, how about less bad professional wrestling elements on the show? How about more character development by showing "behind the scenes training" or just simply unscripted promos where the wrestlers comment on what is going on? Hey, if your going to challenge TUF you had better be doing the things that they do that work.
Finally, we hear the words that we've been waiting to here. In two weeks will be the first vote. But, will this lead to an elimination? And, if there is going to be multiple votes, will the votes be cumulative? And, if not either, is the vote going to be purely symbolic?
And, isn't it funny that in two weeks TUF starts up again? Is this the WWE's way of doing counter programming?
Last week we had a tag match featuring tag teams that had tension between the pro and rookie (technico R-Truth and rudo David Otunga vs rudo The Miz and technico Daniel Bryan). This week we start off hot with a tag team match featuring another team that doesn't get along, rudo C. M. Punk and rudo Darren Young. Who are they going to face? Another team that doesn't get along?
I stand corrected! We get the technico team of Matt Hardy and Justin Gabriel. So, so far this show is on a roll.
Justin and Matt come down to the ring in matching t-shirts. Compared to Justin's previous fashion choices this is a huge step up! And, to further the MMA feel, they flash a graphic saying that Justin is 2-0.
This opening match is hot! Which often happens if you pit rudos vs technicos and have excellent workers like Punk and Hardy in the mix. However, Darren and Justin more than hold up their end.
After the commercial break Justin plays the Ricky Morton baby face in trouble role and plays it really well. Finally, Matt makes the hot tag and starts cleaning house. However, Luke Gallows takes advantage of Matt and Darren going to the outside to ambush Justin on the outside with a hay maker.
Matt is able to avoid Luke's follow up attack and takes Darren back into the ring. But, then the referee gets distracted again and Punk sneaks in and delivers the GTS so that Darren can deliver the pin.
Then, it's rudo beat down time as Luke throws Justin back into the ring and dishes out some more strikes to Justin and Matt.
But, IT'S ALL A RUSE! Darren celebrates with C. M. Punk and then turns around and gets MURDERED by Gallows with the gallows pole. That Punk, what a heel. He's not going to stand for some wannabe trying to get in good with him.
Great match and great angle. So much so that I can forgive it being a professional wrestling story line in an MMA wannabe show.
What? Daniel Bryan vs the Great Khali? If the Miz wants a bounty hunter why not the Big Show, The Miz's tag team partner? At least Big Show can be a really good worker.
Daniel Bryan's manliness meter? Is this some inside rib on William Regal's old gimmick "the man's man"? Does Daniel Bryan squeeze his own Orange Juice?
Wow, they really like their choke slam variations in the WWE. Khali, Gallows, and Otunga using variations in the last two weeks.
Oh, wait. Here comes the Big Show who gives us our third choke slam variant of the night to the now 0-4 Daniel Bryan.
Now, will The Miz truly do a heel move and bring in Takeshi Morishima as a bounty hunter?
This week the RAW recap/Wrestlemania shill was pretty good. There was a pro wrestling angle, but it was a good one and it involved signing for a match instead of a tired in match angle.
Okay, after a reasonable run, the show falls off the cliff by repeating a promo package that they showed in episode one with no changes whatsoever. This would have been a good place to put a segment where the rookies get asked to comment on the matches so far.
But, they at least come back with a grudge match as Heath Slater must defend against Michael Tarver who is indignant that Heath upset his pro last week. The two rookies come out without their pros so we get to see if Heath has won over the peeps.
Wow, is the WWE starting to get it? Cole giving out Tarver's track statistics in the 100 yard dash and long jump?
Slater wins with a sloppy looking roll up after dodging a Tarver charge into the corner. But, to keep the show completely the same all the time, we get our third consecutive rudo beat down as Tarver jumps Slater and lays him out with a T-Bone Suplex. Zero people cared. This is really, really bad booking. What happened to Tarver's gimmick? Shouldn't the logical end to this segment been Tarver stalking Slater and then when Slater turns around Tarver punches him and knocks him out in 1.9 seconds? And, then have Slater do a stretcher job? (By the way, the 1.9 second gimmick is stupid and should be dropped, by why not the simpler "All it takes is one punch"?)
William Regal should borrow a page from the Bugs Bunny cartoon play book and tell Sheffield to "shut up shutting up".
Wow, Chris Jericho gets to close every NXT show? Being the champ has its privileges.
I wonder what Wade's rose means today? "I'm sorry I lost like a jabrone last week?"
Oh, ask and I shall relieve, it is the red rose of England because he feels patriotic today.
Well, the best part of the final match of Wade Barrett vs Skip Sheffield was William Regal's disgusted facial expressions. Which is not to say the match totally stunk but to say that Regal's expressions rule.
Does Sheffield REALLY have two pairs of trunks, one that says "CORNFED" and the other says "SHOOOOO"?
And, no rudo beat down in the final match?
Well, they did fulfill one of my wishes this week in announcing that in two weeks that they will be doing something that might (but probably won't) affect the outcome of the contest.
Also, this show was less predictable that the previous week. There was still a ton of rudo beat downs, but they didn't have one in the last segment. They also got everyone on the show in one form or another.
So, where do I think the contestants stand in terms of getting a contract? (Yes I do know that they ALL already have contracts and this is a kayfabe question.)
Wade Barrett and Justin Gabriel look like they should have no problems getting contracts. They should also have decent careers with Wade as a bruising singles guy and Justin as a Ricky Morton styled tag team guy.
Heath Slater could probably make a good tag team wrestler, but seems a little on the thin side to be a singles wrestler.
Of course, WWE doesn't know how to spell tag team wrestling, but maybe in the future there will be a tag team revival?
I'm on the fence with Darren Young. He looked really good in his match today, but look at the people we was in with. He does have a really disturbing look so maybe that will make him stand out in the cookie cutter WWE universe?
David Otunga will also get a contract because the WWE writers want him to be around so that the writers can pretend that they matter to Hollywood. However, Otunga CANNOT wrestle and will probably hurt badly anyone unfortunate enough to wrestle him so he won't last very long.
I don't know what the WWE wants to do with Daniel Bryan. It seems that VKM is using Bryan to lash out against the independent wrestling fans by saying "see, he sucks, he never wins, he's an ingrate, ha ha ha ha". Of course, non-kayfabe, VKM is paying Bryan a fortune for this privilege. But, what's the long term plan? If you destroy a guy's credibility for 16 weeks, how long will it be before you can bring him back up and have people buy it?
Skip Sheffield and Michael Tarver should be cut. They have nothing.
So, no interviews by Striker this week? They could have not replayed the Otunga promo and just had Striker ask him what his opinion was of the matches so far. Oh, wait, this guy knows NOTHING about wrestling. Well, it might have been unintentionally funny.
WWE NXT is rapidly sinking to the level of just some other B-level wrestling show. Where is the innovation? Where is the spark? Why just do a live wrestling show? Why is this show married to the Smackdown tapings? We've had all of ONE segment so far away from the ring (Heath and Christian in a gym). This might risk boring the Smackdown fans, but here's some suggestions for EVERY show:
They should have at least one vignette with a rookie being trained by his pro. The vignette doesn't have to be funny or even interesting. It could just be the two of them training and not saying anything.
They should have at least one segment where Striker picks one of the rookies in the back and asks them to comment on a match that just happened. Let them sink or swim.
They should also have each rookie shoot an "on the road" video. Don't have it be a professional looking WWE promo package, but have them shot it with a cam corder. Maybe you could show Sheffield at a redneck bar arm wrestling people? Maybe you could show Darren Young at a night club showing that he is drinking straight orange juice? Maybe show Wade Barrett at a flower store explaining roses?
I know that two of these suggestions takes control away from the pudgy oil stained hands of the WWE writers, but, if you want to see who can succeed, YOU HAVE TO LET PEOPLE FAIL.
And, four matches in one show is two much. I would have kept the first match and the last match and done character development stuff in between.
So, instead of continuing to bust a gasket over NXT, let's continue to talk about the culture of TUF instead.
One of the first things you notice about TUF contestants is that they are small compared to your typical WWE superstar. The reason for this is that the Ultimate Fighter Championship (UFC) matches have weight limits. In fact, the most a UFC fighter can weight is 260 pounds. So, you are never going to see a King Kong Bundy or a Mark "The Undertaker" Calaway in the UFC because they are too heavy.
In the upcoming season of TUF they have the contestants fight in the middleweight division which means that everyone will have to "make weight" at 185 pounds. This means exactly what you might think it does if you went to a high school which had a wrestling team. Guys who normally walk around weighing 200 lbs will cover themselves in trash bags and jump on a treadmill in a sauna for multiple hours trying to drop 15 pounds by sweating and dehydrating their bodies.
While the typical professional wrestling physique (which has muscles in places where most people don't have places) can't really be considered that healthy, dropping 15 pounds in one day to make weight is probably even less healthy.
So, one thing to look for in the upcoming season is to see if any of the contestants have an issue with making weight. In the fifth season of TUF Gabe Ruediger came into the show 20 pounds overweight and showed little interest towards losing the weight, even gorging himself on ice cream. When it came time to cut weight he got down to within three pounds of the limit but then passed out and had to be hospitalized. In the eight season Jason Guida was unable to make weight for his preliminary fight to make it into the house and was immediately cut.
Another theme to look for in TUF is the theme of "Bromance". While the fighting culture is in general pretty homophobic, you do get a lot of male bonding going on during the show.
In each season, the fighters who survive the preliminary round get split up into two teams coached by the "star" fighters who headline the show and who will fight each other at a pay-per-view at the end of the season (usually).
In the first half of the season the fighters on each team are supposed to cooperate with their teammates in training. In the second half of the season they may have to beat these same people into a bloody pulp. One hint of bromance is when the fighters start saying that they don't want to fight another fighter because they are teammates in the house (or because they train together outside the show).
In season ten they had a perverse form of bromance between the two coaches, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad "Sugar" Evans. These two would constantly get inside each others personal space spewing third grade insults. These insult festivals would last for up to 15 minutes. This, added with Jackson's tendency of ascribing to other fighters feminine characteristics, made these scenes seem like some sort of a mating ritual.
Another aspect to watch for on the show is excessive drinking. The Ultimate Fighting Championship can't spell "wellness policy" when it comes to alcohol (although they presumably test for other stuff). Typically each season you'll have at least three or four guys who will get totally hammered on a regular basis and then act like idiots.
I'm amazed that these guys are able to still make weight with all that drinking, but maybe it's the guys who are not walking around with excess weight who drink the most?
Some of the alcohol related incidents in the past:
In season one Chris Leban was drunk and was insulted by Bobby Southworth. Leban was so angered that he decided to sleep outside (this show is shot in Nevada) and then he had water sprayed on him by Southworth and Josh Koscheck while he was sleeping. Leban goes into berserker mode and winds up damaging two of the house's doors.
In season five Marlon Sims and Noah Thomas were kicked out of the house after getting drunk and doing a "practice fight" outside. During the fight Thomas had his head dropped on the concrete while he was holding onto a cross arm breaker. Allen Berubie was also kicked out for suggesting the fight.
In season eight Junie Browning was a one man drunken highlight reel, continually binge drinking and getting into dangerous fights at the house. However, due to the fact that he cut really good promos ("Beat me? That guy has a better chance of getting me pregnant."), Junie didn't get kicked off the show.
What will this season bring? Only two more weeks to wait.
