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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 often looks like a bad pro wrestling show.
After the debacle of a show that they had next week my expectations are not high for this week.
My guess is that they will have some sort of a challenge for immunity and another elimination. Since they need to "protect" Husky Harris, I could see them doing the pugil stick challenge since Husky would have a large advantage in such a competition due to his size and his coordination. Or, they could have him win a singles match.
They should do something so that he stays ahead of Eli Cottonwood. I honestly don't know what the WWE is thinking most of the time. Why bring someone up to television who looks like he has at most a month experience? If Eli is ever going to be worth anything as a wrestler it would be at least a year down the line. Didn't they have someone else that they could have brought up from FCW? Maybe the WWE only has a slot for one shorter individual a show?
But, I did note this week that there is good news on the horizon. The Masked Warriors of Wrestling is set to debut on MTV2 this weekend. An American television show that wants to be a lucha libre show? Sounds promising since in Mexico kayfabe is the nation's second largest religion and luchadors get buried with their masks on when they die.
But, until this weekend we'll have to make do with NXT so let's click the VTR play button:
In case you hadn't heard, the Nexus return to NXT this episode. Will they be playing nice?
We start with Matt Striker and Ashley Valence in the ring. They bring out the pros, or at least seven of them since there are only seven chairs. Will we be having a mixed tag match first?
Morrison comes out selling the beat down he took last night from the Nexus.
When the Miz comes out last Mark Henry has to be restrained from attacking the Miz, to further their issue from the night before.
The Nexus are then introduced. They have six chairs of their own on the other side of the stage. They have t-shirts with the letter "N" on it. Does this mean that if they get knocked out then their t-shirts will spell out "zzzzzzz"?
Sorry, but BDK >>> N.
Justin Gabriel has done a good job modifying his facials (mastering the annoying smirk) and now seems like a credible heel rather than a Jonas brother.
However, Michael Tarver still hasn't learned that he shouldn't be smiling.
Darren Young will not be here as he is still selling the ring steps to the head angle from a week ago. This means no South Beach Party Boyz reunion.
Wade Barrett cuts a semi-sincere baby face promo, wishing the season two rookies all the best and saying that they came to relax and enjoy the show so the pros shouldn't try messing with them.
To kick things off we have Team Red Carpet (The Miz and A-Ri) taking on Team Strong Luck (Mark Henry and Lucky Canon). Henry will be looking to avenge last night were The Miz dumped a large can of trash on him.
The story of the match early is that The Miz does not want any part of Henry so A-Ri takes a beating in his place. After The Miz repeatedly refuses to tag in Mark tags in Canon who continues to beat down A-Ri until Lucky tries a plancha to the floor and hits the ring steps with his head on the way down.
Lucky then gets the Ricky Morton baby face in peril treatment by Team Red Carpet as it is explained that Lay Cool are enjoying a "spa day". Maybe that's what Chuck Liddell was doing on his days off in TUF? Probably not.
Lucky finally makes the hot tag and Henry comes in and manhandles The Miz. The Miz gets an opening and runs out of the ring tagging A-Ri. Henry picks up A-Ri off the apron into the world strongest slam for the victory. A-Ri is now A flat.
After the match, Mark Henry buries A-Ri under a container's worth of trash.
Good opener, but Lucky needs to study some Ricky Morton tapes so he can play a baby face in peril better. However, he wasn't half bad.
We then get the subliminal programing
We then get a recap of the six on one handicap match on Raw, won by the Nexus against Superman John Cena, who had some help after the match by Shamus.
And, as if we haven't had enough non-wrestling segments, it's time for Showtime Percy Watson's talk show. His guest is fellow South Beach Florida resident Montell Vontavious Porter. After some mutual ass kissing, Percy tells MVP that he has taken his talk on seizing the moment to heart and brings out the rest of the season two rookies for a seven on one beat down. However, MVP never rolls alone when he parties and the season two pros come down and join him.
Striker comes out and asks for the ring to be cleared so that we can have a battle royal. Works for me! But is it pros versus rookies or every man for himself with last rookie getting immunity?
But no, the Nexus spokesman Wade Barrett respectfully requests to join the party, saying that it will be every man for himself. Is Wade being a sneaky heel and the Nexus are planning on operating as a unit?
The battle royal starts and the Nexus bail under the bottom rope to the outside where they proceed to jump anyone who gets eliminated, starting with Mark Henry.
MVP is eliminated but several of the other pros slide under the bottom rope allowing MVP to safely make it to the back.
After the next commercial, the Nexus decide to join the party in the ring.
The season two rookies are all eliminated leaving the Nexus to duke it out with Morrison, The Miz, Kofi, Rhodes and Ryder.
The Miz turns on Ryder and eliminates him. The Miz then tries to join up with the Nexus, but realizing that this wasn't going to work he eliminates himself.
This leaves only three pros. The Nexus goes to town on Kofi and Morrison while Rhodes discretely hides in the corner.
The Nexus eliminate Kofi and Morrison. Rhodes tries to make nice with Nexus, but finally realizes that he's going to get his ass kicked and drops his head in defeat. Nexus mauls him and then throws him out.
So your winner is that every man for himself group, the Nexus.
After the match they throw Kofi and Rhodes back in the ring for some more punishment and Rhodes eats a sloppy chokeslam and a 450 splash.
The crowd actually chants "Nexus sucks".
Matt "Sting Stratus" Striker gets in the ring to talk to the Nexus. This isn't going to end well. Wade tells Striker to get out of the ring if he values his life.
Wade then cuts an invasion promo saying the Nexus are part of a much bigger picture. But, Striker is not backing down. He asks Wade if he is happy about what he did to Cena on Monday and Wade blows him off saying that he is proud of everything that every member of Nexus has done and if you're not Nexus then you're against us. Not a bad tag line.
So in the end, the Nexus are walking tall and standing proud.
This show greatly exceeded my expectations. Maybe WWE is feeling the heat of the masked warriors?
But the new MTV show has it's own set of problems to solve. MTV had a wrestling show on before (Wrestling Society X) but got rid of it as fast as they could. Plus, they are not the first lucha libre promotion in the United States. Chikara was here before them, and they have a weekly podcast that people can see for free on Youtube. Yes, it's not as posh as a TV slot, but Chikara has kept their podcast alive for more than four years now so they must be doing something right.
Is Chikara feeling the heat of the masked warriors?
On this week's podcast we had a grudge match as Eddie Kingston (no relation to Kofi) takes on his old rival and newly minted rudo and BDK member Lince Dorado. When Lince was a technico Eddie used to brutalize him and this match is no different. However, after a brief ref bump, Lince takes off his own mask and gives it to Eddie so the referee will think that Eddie unmasked Dorado. The referee falls for it and signals for a DQ. However, this doesn't sit well with Eddie who beats down Lince and then beats down other BDK members such as Pinky Sanchez, Sara Del Rey and Tim Donst who come out to help. Eddie is finally taken down from behind by his recent rival Claudio Castagnoli, Der kraftvollste Mann in Wrestling, who puts Eddie away with the Ricola bomb.
Speaking of Pinky, he is also in action in a clip against Equinox who blames Pinky for a training injury that Equinox suffered because of Pinky while Pinky was "still a technico". In this clip Equinox abuses the living daylights out of Pinky with some brutally stiff chops, going all around the ringside area in the process.
And that's it. Not a lot to the podcast as it is their way of giving you a taste of the product so that people will want to buy their DVDs.
Can this compete against a full one hour show?
We'll find on on Friday.
