By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

NXT HITS

Competition Finally Explained: Do we know everything? No. Did it take WWE too long to explain how the competition works? Yes. Would it be nice to have more information, like who makes the matches? Yes. Would it be nice to know exactly how the voting from the pros works? Yes. Do they each get to vote for a rookie? Do they rank them 1-7 (assuming they don't rank their own?) with a first place vote getting 7 points and a seventh place getting 1 like baseball's MVP voting? Clearly there are still a lot of questions. However, we do know that starting in six weeks, the lowest ranked rookie will be eliminated, with another three rookies eliminated over the next three weeks. So we know time frame and how long Darren Young has to impress the pros to get out of the cellar. How will the winner be determined? Matt Striker said the eliminations will determine the final four, which might mean a four man tournament which is a great idea. We also learned about the extra prize for the winner to get a title match in the future against a champion of his choosing. This a marginal Hit since they keep giving us information which is good, but it is too little too late and we still have questions left unanswered.

Otunga - Bryan: I enjoyed this verbal exchange between the rookie being set up by WWE as having the most charisma, David Otunga, and the least charisma, Daniel Bryan. Bryan was very funny. I loved his come back when Otunga told him that listening to him talk was like eating mashed potatoes when he said that nobody knows what that even means. It was almost like someone had the idea that it might be nice to see a personal issue between two of the rookies instead of just competing to win the competition. Good idea. The opening segment also featured Young in a chance to get over his issues with his pro CM Punk (although much more could have been done here to develop that angle), and it set up the big battle royale main event.

Pros vs. Pros 8 Man Tag: This was a good 8 man tag match. I have to assume WWE was responding to last week's poor ratings by putting seven of the eight pros in this match (when none of them wrestled on last week's show). I am glad that Chris Jericho didn't wrestle to sell the effects of Edge's spear at WrestleMania. Plus, it gave him a chance to do some great guest commentary (more in a bit). It also gave one of the rookies a rub in Wade Barrett getting to tag with CM Punk, R-Truth and Matt Hardy. The match itself was fairly basic, but entertaining. The brief interaction between Punk and Christian made me want to see a feud between them down the line. The match was well booked to have the focus on Barrett at the end. I also liked how Hardy and Truth kept themselves separated from the rest of the team after winning, as they clearly weren't thrilled with the way they won.

Jericho's Awesomeness: That was a good tag match, but it seemed great because we got to hear so much from Jericho on guest commentary. He was outstanding. He put over himself, his World Title victory at WrestleMania, Wade Barrett, and Daniel Bryan, and addressed the fact that CM Punk doesn't care about NXT, while taking pride in being the mentor of the #2 ranked rookie, while also insulting Michael Cole numerous times. I loved it when he said that he voted for Barrett only to be told that he wasn't allowed to vote for his rookie, and he responded that he is the World Champion and can do whatever he wants. It did play into some of those lingering questions that I asked above, but was hilarious.

NXT MISSES

Rookie Battle Royale: I have complained about multiple aspects of NXT the last few weeks. This was a pretty good show with far more Hits than Misses. It was quite enjoyable. However, the biggest problem with NXT (yes, even bigger than the lack of clear rules and a format explanation from week 1) is the lack of quality wrestling on the show when just the rookies are involved. Some of these guys have talent in the ring. But, others don't have much (or at least they haven't shown much). Most of these guys don't have a ton of experience. They are not all Daniel Bryan with his ten years of experience on the independent scene. They can put on good matches, but not against each other right now. Whoever helped put the match together didn't help them out. I liked how it started, as the other rookies ganged up on Wade Barrett since he had such a singular spot light earlier in the show. Unfortunately, that was the start of the match and it went down hill from there. It seemed that some of the best action took place during the commercial. The three eliminations after the break came too quickly. What was even worse is that when it came down to the final two, the final elimination came too quickly also. They had a chance to do something to further what happened earlier between Otunga and Bryan, but they didn't. It just wasn't a good match. I am fine with Otunga winning and am curious to see how he does as the Raw Guest Host. I loved his line about green M&Ms.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, NXT, and Superstars each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.

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