WWE NXT Weekly Rankings & Evaluation
By George Chiverton, PWTorch specialist

Week 2 - June 27

Week Two of NXT Season 6 was a slight letdown from the first with the initial excitement perhaps beginning to wear down. However, it was still a good show with some equally good performances.

- Seth Rollins was first out this week against FCW jobber extraordinaire Jiro in a short squash. It wasn't amazing, and Jiro largely struggled to keep up with the experienced Rollins, but Rollins was still comfortably over by the end of the match which was the main purpose. Hopefully better matches are yet to come.

- Jinder Mahal came out next for a squash of his own against up-and-coming blue chipper Jason Jordan. Jason is a big athletic guy who has the WWE look as well as a great deal of support from Jim Ross. A couple years of training and the guy certainly has potential. The match lasted marginally longer than your average squash, perhaps to give Jason more credibility. As for Mahal, he was standard Mahal - generally impressive, but missing a difficult to define x-factor. His moveset is strong, though.

- Next to be introduced was Leo Kruger. Now, Leo Kruger is a big star in South Africa and although at the moment he is only a big (literally) guy in the U.S., WWE seems keen to make him a big star for the future. Many FCW title runs as well as consistent main event status in FCW implies at some point in the near future he'll get a WWE debut with all the bells and whistles. Personally, although he has "star quality," I just cannot watch the guy's matches. They are so dull. Why, though?

Number one, as the most important reason, his offense. Yes, I know he's a heel, but I've seen him on face runs, too, and his moveset still consisted of zero originality. Problem two with Kruger is he has no idea about his own gimmick. He's part JBL/Del Rio aristocrat, part Wildman, and part Sandow as a classical music enthusiast. This does not compute both on paper and for live audiences. Third, as a big man on defense, he is nothing exceptiona,l which in itself is nothing important but when combined with the other factors makes for a 100 percent generic and unexceptional package. I am totally willing to have my opinion changed, although Kruger did very little to convince me otherwise in the night's match, which ended in the revolutionary submission move of a sleeperhold. As RVD said to Hogan on TNA about a year ago: "A leg drop doesn't cut it anymore in professional wrestling." Perhaps Kruger will feel that sting harder than others.

- The Usos got beat by the Ascension. Come back to me on this as I'm fine with the Usos getting beat on a show no one watches. (Heck, I'm happy you're reading this.) But, I'm still yet to be sold on Conor O'Brian or Kenneth Cameron. Notably, Conor didn't use his previously awesome glow in the dark contact lenses.

- Next to be introduced was the very promising Richie Steamboat, a man who I am very much excited to see develop and succeed, which he will. Richie, as son of The Dragon, obviously has a lot of expectations. WWE has not felt pressured by the name, and has smartly chosen to keep Richie in training until he is completely ready for the big time. NXT is the right step for him now and he has a huge quantity of potential. His in-ring style is virtually an updated version of his dad's while with some unique offence of his own. Although he benefited from the talented Rick Victor being his opponent, Richie put on a strong match with classic knife-edge chops, armdrags, and slightly more restholds than a squash match requires. Still, Richie won over the audience with a solid "Steamboat" chant breaking out at Full Sail. There is a lot more to come from the Lizard. Yes, "The Lizard." I'm hoping this catches on.

- Antonio Cesaro came out for an impressive squash against the physically imposing Dante Dash. You should already know Cesaro, although if that's not the case the deadlift gutwrench on his 300-pound opposition should tell you at least half the story. I'm hoping his gimmick and pairing with Aksana is sorted soon, though, as having two people with English as a second language in the same relationship just doesn't really work for me.

- Finally, a Bateman vs. Curtis main event was as good as I would have written about three weeks ago on the old NXT Redemption series. Both are great and they put on a great match as a result. Great. They will likely end up high on my rankings when the full roster is resolved.

- Hopefully the next NXT debut will be Chris Hero, as his matches in FCW have consistently been high quality.

[Torch art credit Marco D'Alfonso (c) PWTorch.com]

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