By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

NXT HITS

SES and Young: As I said in my Smackdown Hits & Misses last week, one of the most intriguing aspects of NXT early on was the relationship between CM Punk and his protégé, Darren Young. That continued to be the case with the backstage scene with Young trying to explain why he changed his mind and didn't join the Straight Edge Society. I liked Luke Gallows involvement and I loved Punk's scolding looks as he was clearly not happy with Gallows for interrupting. This was a simple, yet effective way for setting up the main event of the show. That main event was one in a series of pretty short matches, but it accomplished what it needed to with Young getting the win and thus the reluctant approval of Punk. I want to see where this angle is going.

Barrett vs. Christian: There was quite a bit of interaction this week between pros and rookies which was totally missing on last week's show. That was the case in the first match which came ridiculously late in the show. Wade Barrett and Christian had a good 7 minute match, but it was too short to amount to much considering only about half of it aired after a commercial interruption. This was a good follow up to Christian losing to Barrett in the tag match two weeks ago. It was well booked to have Barrett get in plenty of offense to look credible against a pro like Christian. It also allowed Heath Slater a moment to shine as he helped Christian get the win to counter Chris Jericho's attempted interference and mirror his interference in the previously mentioned tag match.

Miz - Bryan: This was more of what was missing last week. It was good to see The Miz berating Daniel Bryan. We haven't seen much interaction between them in recent weeks. It was as if Miz was just ignoring Bryan. This was a nice twist that actually painted Miz as wanting Bryan to do well in the competition. I loved how he tried to rub some of his own charisma physically into Bryan. If WWE does this right, when Bryan finally snaps on Miz and Miz becomes his first opponent to tap, the crowd is going to go crazy.

NXT MISSES

Opening Segment: Well, on the manliness meter I'd say that... Oh I have to stay on topic and I only have 14 seconds left. Wade Barrett seemed to know how to cut a promo. I'm not sure anybody else did, but if I had to write a paragraph about rainbows or toothpaste or itchiness and relate it to wrestling at the same time, I would probably bomb as well. This was a total waste of time. It made everyone except for Barrett look bad. I don't see how this helped any of the other rookies. What is worse is that I don't see how this could possibly have helped them. It was setting them up for failure and setting them up to look like idiots. That should not be the goal of NXT. What did this have to do with wrestling? Even from a behind the scenes stand point, do wrestlers ever even get to cut unscripted promos in WWE any more? When will any wrestler under any circumstances in WWE be given nothing but a one word topic and told to go out and cut a 30 second promo? So from a scripted stand point, it was ridiculous. From a "reality competition" getting them ready to be the next WWE breakout star it was a joke.

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.NXT HITS

SES and Young: As I said in my Smackdown Hits & Misses last week, one of the most intriguing aspects of NXT early on was the relationship between CM Punk and his protégé, Darren Young. That continued to be the case with the backstage scene with Young trying to explain why he changed his mind and didn't join the Straight Edge Society. I liked Luke Gallows involvement and I loved Punk's scolding looks as he was clearly not happy with Gallows for interrupting. This was a simple, yet effective way for setting up the main event of the show. That main event was one in a series of pretty short matches, but it accomplished what it needed to with Young getting the win and thus the reluctant approval of Punk. I want to see where this angle is going.

Barrett vs. Christian: There was quite a bit of interaction this week between pros and rookies which was totally missing on last week's show. That was the case in the first match which came ridiculously late in the show. Wade Barrett and Christian had a good 7 minute match, but it was too short to amount to much considering only about half of it aired after a commercial interruption. This was a good follow up to Christian losing to Barrett in the tag match two weeks ago. It was well booked to have Barrett get in plenty of offense to look credible against a pro like Christian. It also allowed Heath Slater a moment to shine as he helped Christian get the win to counter Chris Jericho's attempted interference and mirror his interference in the previously mentioned tag match.

Miz - Bryan: This was more of what was missing last week. It was good to see The Miz berating Daniel Bryan. We haven't seen much interaction between them in recent weeks. It was as if Miz was just ignoring Bryan. This was a nice twist that actually painted Miz as wanting Bryan to do well in the competition. I loved how he tried to rub some of his own charisma physically into Bryan. If WWE does this right, when Bryan finally snaps on Miz and Miz becomes his first opponent to tap, the crowd is going to go crazy.

NXT MISSES

Opening Segment: Well, on the manliness meter I'd say that... Oh I have to stay on topic and I only have 14 seconds left. Wade Barrett seemed to know how to cut a promo. I'm not sure anybody else did, but if I had to write a paragraph about rainbows or toothpaste or itchiness and relate it to wrestling at the same time, I would probably bomb as well. This was a total waste of time. It made everyone except for Barrett look bad. I don't see how this helped any of the other rookies. What is worse is that I don't see how this could possibly have helped them. It was setting them up for failure and setting them up to look like idiots. That should not be the goal of NXT. What did this have to do with wrestling? Even from a behind the scenes stand point, do wrestlers ever even get to cut unscripted promos in WWE any more? When will any wrestler under any circumstances in WWE be given nothing but a one word topic and told to go out and cut a 30 second promo? So from a scripted stand point, it was ridiculous. From a "reality competition" getting them ready to be the next WWE breakout star it was a joke.

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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