WWE NXT Report WWE NXT ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 6/29: Caldwell, Mayer, Parks rate and review
Jun 30, 2010 - 2:32:41 PM
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James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (2.0)
This was a dreadful episode of NXT that completely came off the rails in the middle of the show. The whole thing seemed like an absurd joke WWE was presenting to the audience. Perhaps it was Husky Harris failing to feed properly for MVP's comeback or the audience completely lifeless entering the fourth hour of a TV taping, but the show became completely laughable for all the wrong reasons.
WWE giving the new NXT guest host a long opening monologue was mistake #1. The keg carry was mistake #2. I thought WWE learned its lesson from Season 1. Mistake #3 was giving Husky Harris 15 minutes in the ring with MVP. Poor Husky isn't ready for national TV. Then, WWE randomly inserted six live bodies into a random match. Mistake #4 was having the default heel trio isolate Lucky "cliches and no charisma" Cannon for five dreadful minutes. The only reason this show gets above a 0.0 was for Kaval finally hot-tagging into the match and showing off his offense and Alex Riley helping elevate the match to a one-star level.
It seemed like WWE drew the show up on a paper napkin in the restroom in-between Superstars and Smackdown at the TV taping. It was just a terrible episode that set back NXT after some good tweaks early in season.
Dominick Mayer, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.0)
Just when you thought it was safe to start enjoying NXT again...it's time for the revenge of the keg carry! It wasn't as awful this time around, as it didn't comprise a full third of the show, but it killed a little bit of the strong momentum the show has had during the first few weeks of the new season. This having been said, last night's installment still did more well than it did badly. I liked the MVP-Harris match. Despite Harris' clear flaws as an in-ring performer right now, I'd still rather see the Rookies get the chance to have that shining moment. If they don't follow through, then it's not exactly a fun watch, but there's something interesting about that process. Harris might be gone by next week, but he's benefiting greatly from Cody Rhodes' present command of his character.
The six-man tag was good but sort of just "there." Kaval's deadpanning is still hilarious, and he and Alex Riley are definitely the top guys this season. Percy Watson's video did well to further his development, but it's hard not to look at him right now and see either a face version of David Otunga's gimmick from season 1 or even MVP when he came up to Smackdown. The early start of eliminations has given NXT a much-needed sense of urgency, and Titus O'Neil is already out. He was clearly the odd man out, but that makes the next few weeks considerably more intriguing, as all the remaining Rookies have shown something of value.
Greg Parks, Torch Columnist (4.0)
I was disappointed in the elimination of Titus O'Neil. I thought Cottonwood deserved to go first, and O'Neil showed at least a little promise in the ring and was fine on the mic; trouble is, he didn't stand out like Cottonwood did, albeit only because of his size. I really thought we wouldn't see any stupid challenges this season based solely on how badly they bombed last season, but I suppose I was wrong. WWE did need to find something to fill air-time and it can't just be match after match.
Speaking of matches, boy did Husky Harris look lost during his entire bout with MVP. Surprising coming from a third generation wrestler. I had really enjoyed Harris' work up to this point too. The six-man tag was fine, but Kaval looked like he almost broke his leg landing on Alex Riley for the Warrior's Way. I'm sure that move will be gone from his arsenal sooner rather than later.
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