-- 9/21 WWE NXT Reax

Kaiden Malik, of Cleveland, Ohio (7.0): Best: C.M. Punk and Michael Cole. Worst: Everything else. This episode of NXT was just laugh-out-loud funny. I'm giving this a 7.0 because of the announcing team. I can't remember enjoying NXT more than tonight. Punk and Cole are money on the mic and were hilarious throughout the show. Cole's promo was just plain awesome and his line "I wonder if my gong is here" was just priceless. However I was very down on the competitions. Musical chairs? Really? The "talk the talk" competition was just sad, but, like I said, Cole and Punk made this night and will have me tuning in next week.

Alex Mobley of Louisville, Ky. (7.0): I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm really liking Michael Cole's new character. This show, like the others, was crap. The only good, no, great thing was the announcing. I'm not sold all the way on Cole's character, but if Cole turns out to be the GM of Raw, he could be the biggest heel in a long time.

Clay Tonic of Richmond, Va. (8.0): Best Match: Six-Divas tag. Worst match: Whatever the other match was. Impossibly, this all-women iteration of NXT is becoming my favorite season yet. WWE knows the in-ring action is not going to be very good and, as a result, they aren't taking it seriously, and I like that. Like Caldwell mentioned, it almost has a Mystery Science Theater vibe now, and the addition of C.M. Punk gives Cole's sarcastic commentary some context. Before, with Cole cracking jokes and Mathews playing the straight-man, it almost drew too much attention to the announce table, which just seemed weak to me. But with Punk, Striker, and Cole all in on the joke, you can just sit back and laugh along with them. This is some of the most outside the-box thinking I've ever seen out of WWE's creative team. I applaud them for taking a risk. Everything just works now, and it's so unlike typical wrestling TV. We saw C.M. Punk coming to ringside in a sport jacket with no pants, a full 30 seconds of TV time devoted to trying to hype the crowd up for a picture of a llama, "SPEAR! SPEAR! SPEAR!," and the Boomer Sooner reference. Everything seemed to be an inside joke aimed at wrestling fans on the Internet. At the very least, it was a satirical dig at themselves - anyone who loves wrestling but cringes on a weekly basis (because a character or segment is so stupid that you feel embarrassed for watching WWE) can appreciate the humor here. I never thought I'd see "humor" on WWE TV that didn't involve poopy jokes, weird Hornswoggle skits, or bizarre dance parties. Maybe someone finally told Vince McMahon he's not funny, maybe C.M. Punk is just that good, or maybe WWE realized the "Internet fans" make up a little more of their audience than they thought. I don't know. But I can't wait until next Tuesday night.

-- 9/20 WWE Raw Reax

Dan Ryckert of Minneapolis, Minn., gaming journalist. (7.0): Best Match: Jericho-Morrison. Worst Match: DiBiase/Maryse-Truth/Eve. It seems like WWE pulled the trigger a bit early on Orton's championship win as a face, but the fans are clearly happy about it (despite what this week's ratings may say). However, I can't help but feel that it would have been a more meaningful win if there was a longer build-up. Comparing Orton to Austin is commonplace nowadays, but it always seemed like Austin had a tougher, longer road to the title. When he eventually did win it, it felt like the end of a months-long struggle. With Orton, it feels more a more shortsighted booking decision based on his current popularity. ... I'm starting to like Morrison's current push, but I still feel he needs a better gimmick to be taken seriously. ... Daniel Bryan and The Miz continue to have the most interesting feud on WWE programming today, and it was the highlight of Raw this week. I also like that they're getting Alex Riley involved on Raw. I doubt we'll see a complete influx of NXT Season 2 Rookies a la Nexus, but Riley was a shoo-in if they wanted to get at least one more in. ... I have no idea what WWE is doing with Ted DiBiase, but I strongly dislike it. Pairing him with Maryse makes sense, but it hasn't led to anything particularly noteworthy outside of a cringe-inducing song-and-dance routine last week. Hopefully that cryptic Titantron message leads to something intriguing, but it's too early to tell exactly what they're going for. Goldust, maybe? If that's the case, hopefully this winds up being better than GDTV. ... It's obvious that I'm not alone in the opinion that the Mystery GM angle has to stop. At this point, I don't even know who they could reveal the GM to be that would make this all worth it. ... Unless WWE throws a curveball and has Cena join Nexus, the storyline really doesn't have anywhere to go. With Sheffield gone and Darren Young doing whatever the hell he's doing, this stable has gotten stale and looked more and more harmless. Barrett has a future in this company for sure, but the other guys need to be able to show their chops in singles competition if they want fans to care. ... Overall, it was a better show than the last few embarrassing weeks. They need to build up some momentum in record time for the next PPV in two weeks, but there are at least a few storylines (Orton's win, Cena possibly joining Nexus, Miz-Bryan feud, Jericho's uncertain future) that should make things somewhat interesting.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for an "NXT TV Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. Just to add a twist to this feature, include not just your hometown, but also your occupation (mechanic, lawyer, stay-at-home-dad, college student, etc.) so readers get a flavor for what everyone does as "day jobs." To contribute your thoughts on NXT, click here.

[Torch photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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