Not Xactly Tolerable

Wow, were those closing moments of last night’s NXT atrocious or what?

Let me preface this (likely scathing) post by saying that I really enjoy NXT. There’s a certain air of it being off the radar of the WWE brass, so everybody involved is a lot freer to loosen up and act natural. While everything on Raw and Smackdown feels so incredibly scripted, NXT – especially in its inaugural season – felt spontaneous and unrehearsed.

This was especially apparent with Chris Jericho. On the main shows, he’s been playing this scowling, bad mannered, monotone speaking heel. But on NXT, he was cracking jokes, acting like his old Y2J self. I’ll never forget him yelling at the announcers for not mentioning something Wade Barrett did, and when Cole responded that they were just talking about that, Chris yells, “Say it again!” Or when he told the announcers he was going to vote for Barrett, and when he was corrected and told he can’t vote for his rookie, Jericho nonchalantly tells them that they’ll do what he wants.

Season one of NXT also did a wonderful job of allowing CM Punk to display the subtle nuances of his heel character. Whether it was blowing off Darren Young on the entrance stage, or moving his chair slightly away from Christian before sitting down, Punk exhibited brilliance in refining his heel character. This season, Cody Rhodes filled that role.

And I will also state that the commentating team of Michael Cole and Josh Matthews is blowing away every other tandem we’re being offered right now. Their chemistry is natural, and their characters really do feel like extensions of their actual personalities. And I wouldn’t categorize Cole as a full blown heel. Instead, I see him as antagonizing. In my view, his work on NXT improved his performance on Raw. And Matthews works off of him wonderfully.

I’ll also say that this season of NXT seemed slightly more focused than last season. You could tell that the show debuted before the powers that be truly knew how they wanted to format it. Going into this season, there was already a design, which had been refined slightly (with fan voting). They also had an idea of what challenges worked, and which ones didn’t (chugging soda). My one qualm about this season’s challenges, though: WAY too many “Talk the Talk” challenges. It seemed like we had one every other week and for the most part we saw the same performance over and over. Kaval was the only one who seemed to show any improvement in that department.

Oh, and it was this season that Matt Striker, for me, crossed the line into becoming obnoxious and intolerable. I understand that he has the tough responsibility of guiding and maintaining segments on live TV with a bunch of rookies, but it absolutely drives me crazy when he tries to look tough at the expense of people who are supposed to be marketable talents. How many times did we see him shove away Alex Riley? And how often did he tell these rookies not to touch him? This show is about making them look good, not him look tough.

Anyway, about the finale. I didn’t really have any problems with it, at all, until when the winner was announced. I’m thrilled Kaval won, because he’s not only the most talented, but if handled right, I think he may be the most marketable as well. But the segment absolutely died when Michael McGillicutty cut his promo. It was, in a word, painful. Here’s the transcript:

Unfortunately, I got eliminated today. And I lost my guaranteed shot at a title. But that is not gonna stop me from becoming a future World Heavyweight Champion. See, I am the future of this company. I am gonna be a big time player in this machine called WWE. I am the next big thing. I am the next generation. And starting this moment, from now…from this moment on, this will be the moment, starting now, of the genesis of McGillicutty.

First off, how many times did he say “moment” there? “Starting this moment, from now, from this moment on, this will be the moment starting now.” He sounds like a cartoon character. Speaking of which, “McGillicutty” is such a ridiculous last name, that attempting to use it in an intimidating and threatening fashion is laughable. Honestly, this “I’ve snapped” moment was begging for him to disown this silly moniker so that he can go by his given name, Joe Hennig. Massively blown opportunity.

Then instead of getting to enjoy his moment, Kaval is jumped by the rest of the season two rookies. And the beat down was so weak and pathetic looking that everybody involved looked foolish. The moves were sloppy, the punches and kicks were weak, and it simply looked terrible. But oh, it got worse…

The face WWE Pros run in to save Kaval (which makes sense). The refs then run in, MAKE THE PROS LEAVE, but allow the rookies to continue their assault. The referees then stand in the aisle, effectively blocking anybody from helping, while obliviously watching on as Kaval is attacked by 5 other people. Even Cole and Matthews were confused by this, asking why nobody is doing anything to help. But fret not, kind readers, it gets worse….

Alex Riley and McGillicutty run down to join in on the fun. And what does Riley do after laying in a few shots at Kaval? He proceeds to begin attacking Percy Watson, who is part of the attack that Riley himself is joining in on. Instead of selling Riley’s offense, Watson tries to wrestle away from him, as if saying, “What the hell are you doing you dumb moron?” But no, Riley continues punching and kicking Watson, clearly having no clue as to what the hell he’s supposed to be doing. He proceeds to body slam Watson and even throws him out of the ring. Confused, Watson stands out there for a few minutes before coming back into the ring and HELPING RILEY IN HIS ATTACK ON KAVAL. Yes, all of that actually happened. It was an awful mess.

To be perfectly honest, I hope we don’t see the second coming of Nexus with the rejected season two rookies. This attack showed that these guys are NOT ready to be on television and that they desperately need more seasoning. Along with that, having all of the rookies end up with contracts immediately following the show, both seasons, really discredits the competition. Otherwise, why not just award all of them contracts, and have the competition be about getting that guaranteed PPV title shot?

So I wish Kaval the best. Hopefully he won’t get weighed down by that atrocious ending.

Oh, and an All Diva season is a terrible idea.