By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

NXT HITS

MVP & Watson vs. Miz & Riley: This was a good opening tag match. Percy Watson and Alex Riley seem to be two of the most over wrestlers this season on NXT. The crowd rallied behind Watson as he was twice able to get a clap going from the fans. Riley is getting good heat. There was good interaction in this match between these rookies and their pros, Montel Vontavious Porter and The Miz. I liked how Miz shouted at Riley early on when Watson got the better of him. Riley looks to be pretty well rounded as a performer at this point. Watson needs to keep developing his in ring skills, but he showed good athleticism, particularly on that standing twisting splash.

Kaval - LayCool: I'm enjoying Kaval's interaction with LayCool. All three are doing good jobs in their roles. They seem sincere in their desire to see him do well in the competition, and he is doing a nice job in going along with them despite obvious misgivings about the new shirt they made for him. That was amusing. Yet, I have to say that while some of the relationship is based on them trying to cheer him up after a loss, that doesn't mean he has to lose every week (imagine how funny it could be if they over celebrated his victories while he was more stoic). It is just two weeks, so I might be wrong. But, last week I said that I was worried that Kaval was going to turn into Daniel Bryan v.2 in that he would have good showings in the matches but never win. So far, he is 0-2 after two good showings in the ring. I won't get too worried after him losing this week, but I fear that he will lose again next week, and the week after, etc.

Closing Segment: This is a marginal Hit. I haven't been a big fan of these types of segments on NXT. The season 1 versions were usually pretty lame. This one was better than I expected it to be. There were some problems with a few wrestlers going over their allotted 45 seconds. That works for a cocky heel like Riley, but not as well for a babyface like Kaval. Some of the mic work was just ok, but some of it was quite good. I was entertained by Watson. He just makes me laugh. Michael McGillicutty and Titus O'Neil were pretty strong (better than their match - more later), but O'Neil gave a babyface promo while getting booed. Husky Harris got to steal the spotlight by attacking Matt Striker just like his pro Cody Rhodes did last week. I'm curious to see where WWE is going with Striker at this point.

NXT MISSES

McGillicutty vs. O'Neil: This was not a good match. For one thing, WWE didn't give these two rookies enough time in just 3 minutes to showcase what they can do in the ring. A 3 minute squash is fine when you are establishing a new wrestler in a match against a jobber. But, when you are trying to establish two new wrestlers at the same time, it doesn't afford them much time in the ring. I don't want to see really long matches in these cases, but a 5-6 minute match would have been better. Or maybe not. The match itself wasn't that good while it lasted. There was one really sloppy spot. Titus O'Neil didn't look comfortable in the ring. I haven't been that impressed by him so far. Michael McGillicutty was ok, but we've seen more from the clips of him wrestling in FCW than we've seen on NXT to show why he could stand out on this show.

Lucky Cannon: Like O'Neil, Cannon hasn't impressed me much so far. He doesn't have much of the "it" factor which is important (just not something that should be talked about on camera). He seems rather bland in the ring. His 5 minute challenge against Cody Rhodes was ok to further establish the dominance of the pros over the rookies, but it wasn't a good match. It wouldn't surprise me if he were the first to go home, but there is still several weeks to go before that first elimination, so hopefully he will step it up and show more than he has so far.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, NXT, and Superstars each week. s 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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