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Welcome back to the Fun House Mirror, where we look at a reality television show that wants to look like a MMA show but looks like a bad pro wrestling show, and we look at a reality television show that wants to look like a MMA show but comes off like a good pro wrestling show.
This will be the sixth week of the first "season" of NXT and for the first week since the first week there are a lot of tantalizing questions for this show:
(1) As it was reported in PWI last week, Wade Barrett had his nose broken by an errant forearm shot by Justin Gabriel last week. How will this be dealt with? Will Wade be told tough luck, but if you're healed up please come back on season two? Will he be wished well in his future endeavors? Will he be allowed to stay even though he won't be able to wrestle? Will he be cut by the first round of voting even though he obviously should be one of the front runners to win the competition?
(2) Will there be any consequences to this weeks vote? Or, will this vote be treated like Consequences Creed in TNA (who was wished well this week). Will someone be cut? Will someone be warned that they are close to being cut?
(3) Will three quarters of the show be a recap of Wrestlemania, RAW and Superstars?
(4) Will WWE break out of its bad habit of showing the wrestlers in those slick promo packages and just have them pop up and give their opinion on what's going on? This would be a great week to do so. During each match have pre-recorded comments from wrestlers and coaches giving their opinions on the people in the ring. That wouldn't even cost a second of program time!
(5) Will WWE react to the fact that The Ultimate Fighter returns this week to TV? Even though they are not going head to head, if WWE has any pride or common sense they should load up this show and make it full of fireworks, or else this article might wind up being 90% TUF.
So, WWE NXT VTR, come on!
We start off with a promo package putting over the vote and the criteria for the vote, so color me surprised that there was no mention of Wrestlemania so far...
Wow, Matt Striker in the ring? Too bad he's not doing his Roddy Piper or Sabu impersonations, but I guess you need to look at the old 3PW tapes for that. But, at least tonight's something different than Jacked level matches.
Ahh, so the poll will reveal the "standings". In other words, no one will be eliminated. On the other hand, on that other show, they are going to send home half of their cast without any input from their "creative team" (other than trying to give tomato cans to the people who they think they can make money on so they can make it into the house).
But, at least the rookies will come out so that we can get their reactions to the rating. It won't be good as getting their opinions on how they should be ranked but it will be better than nothing in trying to get their characters over.
How will Wade look?
Wow, no sell city! I guess that the nose break wasn't as bad as it could have been and Wade will try to work through it.
Counting down from number eight? Well, I guess no one is going home so that the suspense would be for who is ranked number one.
Darren Young as number eight? That must have hurt worse than that Gallows Pole. But, seriously? At least Tarver was number seven. But ranking Young below Skip Sheffield is kind of odd. After all, Young has won matches with team Straight Edge Society and team Party Like a Rock Star. Doesn't that count for versatility?
Strange, Tarver looked a lot less upset than the other members of the bottom four. Young kind of looked in shock, Sheffield looked pissed, and Otunga looked like he was in denial.
The top four look like a happier bunch, although Gabriel manages a bittersweet smile to his credit.
Reaction interviews? Holy cow, what a concept! Here is were WWE can allow one of the rookies to succeed, but at the same time runs the risk of them failing.
Darren got off a couple of bullet points in his interview but wasn't very memorable.
Only two reaction interviews? Well, better than zero. At least Bryan gets to get heat on Cole and Otunga which makes sense in the storyline since Otunga dissed Bryan last week in a promo package.
But, wait, a confrontation between Bryan and Otunga? Bryan disses Otunga's Jeans? Otunga and Fergie wear the same brand of jeans? I wonder who Bryan considers manlier? Otunga does a much better job with his promo than Bryan or Darren, so maybe there is hope for him.
So, the big announcement: after six more weeks there will be the first elimination, then one elimination per week until there are only be four people left. Then on the last episode of the show a winner will be chosen and this winner will be given the special prize of a championship match against any champion he wants at a Pay-Per-View. Will this turn out to be Bryan vs The Miz?
Even so, this seems too little and too late for me. In my opinion they should start eliminating one person every two weeks. That way you can build suspense.
A battle royal with the winner hosting RAW next week? Sounds interesting. Will they do the gimmick where Otunga and Bryan are the last two and they both go over together so that they can co-host RAW?
A WWE universe poll? Business is finally picking up. However, even though it would have diluted the build up to Wrestlemania, it would have made more sense to have the poll last week and announced the fans poll before the pro's poll. Now, the Universe poll seems redundant since the fans have already been strongly lead who to vote for. This poll could have been used by WWE to identify who the fans were really reacting to, but now they will not have that valuable insight.
A WWE pro's eight man tag? Works for me. Will Carlito be given a chance to work and will he sand bag it?
Hold the phone. What are the teams going to be? There are five rudo coaches and only three technico coaches. Which heel will go with the baby faces?
Okay, it's RAW vs Smackdown.
Cool! The master of psychology, Jericho, brings Wade Barrett down to ringside to get under the skin of William Regal.
Oh, even better, Jericho pulls the injury card so he send the injured Wade Barrett to wrestle for him.
It was cute that Punk asks Barrett to move to the other side of the pole so that Punk wouldn't be polluted by his presence and Wade cheerfully complies.
Tarver is 7.0 now? Jericho should announce every week!
Interesting that Jericho agrees with Darren Young about his number eight ranking being because of the lack of help from his mentor C. M. Punk.
"I consider you a shameless, gelatinous tapeworm?" Jericho is bringing the attitude back to the WWE!
Wow, a surprise ending (at least for me). For a moment I thought the finish was going to be a Killswitch from Christian on Barrett and then have the story line be that the Killswitch broke Wade's nose. But, instead we have Jericho interfering allowing Wade to hit the front Attitude Adjustment for the win.
In this segment Jericho once again shows why he is so the man.
The only thing that might have made the commentary better would have been ripping on Carlito saying that he could have let Tarver wrestle for him but then Carlito would miss his only chance to wrestle on television.
Wow, Hunter kisses HBK during the RAW recap of HBK's farewell speech? WWE is going all out, even trying to head off the bromance angles on TUF.
Odd that Darren Young is a better fit for C. M. Punk's music than C. M. Punk is.
The other rookies immediately team up to eliminate Wade in the rookies battle royal. This makes sense because Wade is taller and heavier and would be tough to eliminate one on one. Also, they can protect his nose better that way as Wade obviously prepares to land on his knees right before he gets tossed.
Back from break, Darren is already eliminated but at least he got a kill by eliminating Sheffield who wasn't even wearing new trunks.
Down to two left, Otunga and Gabriel. We all know who the WWE writers want to host, but will the wishes of the female members of the WWE universe be heeded?
Can Gabriel carry Otunga (who admitted earlier in the show that he doesn't have a flashy move set or a lot of experience)?
Really cool "keeping it real" end to the battle royal. Gabriel nails the 450 splash on Otunga but then realizes to his horror that he has to get 250 pounds of dead weight over the top rope. Gabriel gives it a good effort, but Otunga has time to recover. An eye rake and a toss later and the WWE writers favorite son is going to RAW.
Otunga must have been told off backstage about not selling and this week he sells the 450 for the rest of the show. Although, it did't seem to affect his ability to talk. Good fiery promo, so maybe he will do okay next Monday.
Four Hundred twenty seven green MnM's? Who does he think he is? Van Halen?
This week's show was light years ahead of last week's show. However, they STILL could use some inset pre-recorded comments from rookies such as Tarver, Sheffield, and Young. They could use some depth to their characters.
Before we get to the SEASON 11 PREMIERE of TUF, lets pick up on some more of the TUF culture.
One thing that no one wants to come off as on TUF is as a baby. To underscore this, UFC has a video up on their website on the top ten babies of TUF. Description: "The ten fighters who rolled out of the show in a waaaambulance."
My only nit with the video? Putting Big Baby up there. The guy didn't leave the show on a waaaambulance, he left because he got beat in the semi-final after dominating early. And, he was called back for the live finale of season 10.
This brings up another cultural point to TUF. Dana White (DW) is someone who does NOT forgive a slight easily. This is shown in the video as they take a cheap shot on Ken Shamrock who apparently is on the outs with DW. And, you thought that only wrestling federations did that? Think again.
So, it's time. TUF VTR come on!
Wow, DW announces that he's made up with Tito Ortiz? This should be a cool season. Tito Ortiz might as well be a cocky heel professional wrestler. Heck, his series with Ken Shamrock (who has also done professional wrestling) might as well have been a wrestling program. We're talking here about a guy who used to beat people up in the octagon and then put on a T-shirt immediately after the fight that bragged that he won.
And, Liddell is a no nonsense kind of guy who the fans would tend to believe in his wanting to shut down the egotistical heel.
And, did I mention that Tito is married to a porn star? Sorry, Otunga, Tito is cooler than you. Why don't you google him? Or, pornotube his wife?
So, twenty eight middle-weight fighters will try to fight their way into the house. This means that this episode will be squash match city with maybe a few competitive matches thrown in. The episodes will probably mostly be used to establish the personalities and conflict between the coaches before they start in the following weeks in establishing the personalities of the fighters.
I stand corrected. They go with the reaction interviews right out of the box without even going to their theme music. See, WWE? You should take notes.
A two tone green and black faux-hawk? Are you kidding me?
A new and improved training facility. Will they have Rampage Jackson proof doors?
Let's hope that DW's wife never wants to run for public office. I would seriously miss DW's ability to cram a dozen f-bombs into a one minute promo.
Dana warns the fighters to never leave it in the hands of the judges. Specifically, recklessly expose yourself to danger by trying to win the fight rather than have regrets later.
And, we are NOT wasting time here as they cue up the first two fighters as Dana, Tito and Chuck look on. Tito and Chuck will be scouting to see who they want on their teams and DW will be trying to see who he thinks will make money for him.
One thing that is apparent from the get go is that MMA fighters love their tattoos. Both fighters have the right pectoral regions completely covered with ink.
The first match is squash city as Jamie Yagar defeats Ben Stark. Another interesting thing about the show is that the fighters and coaches will often try to say witty thing and totally screw it up.
First, we have Tito saying "Hey, there's a difference between cockiness and confidence, and cockiness is always good." Then you have Yagar saying "I envision this fight: my fist meets his face, his face meets the ground." Which might have been okay except for the fact that in the fight he threw one punch and seven kicks with the kicks doing all of the damage.
Jordan Smith vs Brad Tavares is next and is a little bit more competitive, but Smith gets caught thirty seconds in and knocked out. But, at least he got more offense in than Stark, who got nothing in.
Cleburn Walker vs Kris McCray: Kris cuts a promo before we get started and he also had an insert promo at the start of the show. Since this is a pre-recorded edited show, this bodes ill for Walker who admits coming from a less than financially secure background.
This is the first fight that makes it to the ground, but Walker verbally taps out. It turns out that his journey to the ground by McCray's belly to belly suplex was not a happy one and his shoulder got screwed up by the impact.
Norman Paraisy vs James Hammortree. So far the first person out has been the jobber. Will the streak go to 0-4? Probably, since Hammortree must be one of "Tito's boys" since Tito shouts instructions to him while the fight is going on.
Norman cuts a promo before the fight about wanting to prove that French fighters have heart, but then quits after the first round claiming to be too beaten up to continue.
Best diss of the night so far by Chuck: "Quitting in between rounds? That's crazy. That's like tapping to strikes. Oh, wait, Tito did that."
After four fights we go to the highlight reel (since these are probably longer fights that would not have fit on the forty minute show).
Nick Ring vs Woody Weatherby: Nick gets a back mount and wins by strikes.
Kyle Noke vs Warren Thompson: Kyle wins be referee's decision 20-18, 20-18, but left Warren a bloody mess after Warren got a Dusty Rhodes size gusher on his forehead. Seriously, the floor of one of the corners of the Octagon was painted bright red after the fight.
Court Mcgee vs Seth Baczynski: This is the most competitive fight so far as both fighters throw strikes with reckless abandon for the first two rounds. The judges are deadlocked so a third round is on. Court had better wrestling in the final round so him and his Amish looking beard advance to the house.
We're back to more complete fights again as Victor O'Donnell takes on Chris Camozzi. Victor might be in trouble since Chris has twice as many tattoos. However, both guys go for all three rounds without an obvious winner. Chris might have had the advantage in take downs but Victor caused a lot of damage with striking. The winner? Chris by superior tattoos.
After the fight they reveal that Victor fought the last two rounds with a broken orbital bone, giving him the Vader award for the night.
Kyacey Uscola vs Brent Cooper: Kyacey is 18-15. Will his losses give him wisdom or just bruises? It turns out wisdom as Brent is willing to go toe to toe with Kyacey and Kyacey knocks him out in less than thirty seconds.
We're back with some highlights again. Joe "Lionitis" Henle vs Constantinos Philipou: Henle, who looks like the Gieco cave man spokesperson, gets dominated for most of the fight but then pulls off an armbar and gets the tap out.
Rich Attonito (of Top Team) vs Lyle Steffens: Rich wins by decision by his wrestling, but since he is a boring ass wrestler very little of his match is shown.
Josh Bryant vs Greg Rebello: Josh wins by decision in a close fight which he admits wasn't his best ever.
Jacen Flynn vs Charles Blanchard: The shorter fighter Charles gets a dominate position and pounds Flynn out as the first round ends. Flynn cannot continue after the beating due to lack of vision.
And, we're now back to fighters getting shown walking to the ring as it's Charley Lynch vs Clayton McKinney. Clayton is the one with the green and black faux-hawk. Charley and Clayton are friends outside of the show. Both fighters want a quick and violent knock out.
After a mix of wrestling and punching for most of the round Clayton breaks the nose of his friend and then punches him right in the face again. Some friend! However, Charley's hair which looks like it was inspired by Bleach's Rukia Kuchiki and is just as annoying as Clayton's hair so it was for the best.
Afterwards we get some bromance as the fighters make up.
The cast members have been chosen! Dana gives them a pep talk to close the show.
We then have a preview of this season and surprise, surprise, the doors of the new facility are not Ortiz proof. But, no noticeable spoilers though.
So, TUF comes out with a bang and a blood bath. It's amazing how easy it is to develop characters when you use reaction videos instead of overproduced promo packages.
However, next week TUF switches gears and settles down to one fight per show, plus the shenanigans during practice and the house. This is where the character development will kick in for real.
One advantage that TUF has over NXT is that TUF is not a live show. Maybe what the WWE should do for it's second season is have the show be delayed one week. You could still shoot footage before Smackdown, but then spend a week post producing it so that the show is all about the reactions of the rookies instead of being all about the announcers.
This one episode of TUF had a bazilion fights but still had time for almost all of the fighters to cut promos. They did more for fourteen fighters in one week than WWE has done in six weeks for eight fighters.
WWE, are you taking notes? This is how you do reality TV.
