NXT – December 21, 2010
NXT
Date: December 21, 2010
Location: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Commentators: Todd Grisham, Josh Matthews
It’s week 3 here and I’m pretty sure we’re live here for a change due to the whole confusing thing of Smackdown having to be live tonight due to Christmas Eve. Hopefully it’s decent like the previous two weeks have been but they need to give the characters a chance to develop a bit as they haven’t done that at all for the most part yet. Let’s get to it.
This is starting IMMEDIATELY after Smackdown ended which is a bit of overkill indeed.
The opening video is about the obstacle course last week which wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be.
Theme song is still good.
Here come the rookies as usual. Sorry if I’m a bit off tonight as this isn’t something I want to be doing at the moment. The challenge is a wheelbarrow race and the Soaring Eagle will be inside it. I’m not sure if this is better or worse than Horny.
Curtis goes first and jumps the gun, prolonging the stupidity of this one. His time is 13 seconds. There’s nothing to say about this stuff at all other than some weak jokes from the announcers. Grisham is whining like he has a piece of Cole stuck inside him.
Novak breaks the mark at 12.8.
Brodus gets 13.8 and drops the wheelbarrow, sending the Eagle sprawling to the floor.
O’Brian is next and sets the new mark at 12.7. This is REALLY boring if you can’t get that.
Saxton wants to warm up and puts on a black glove to get a time of 12.5.
Bateman is last and ties it. Please….no.
We do it again and Bateman throws a flag on the ground that he got from….somewhere. Saxton doesn’t CROSS THE LINE as that has to be a rib of some sort. Never mind he did as they keep saying it over and over. GET ON WITH THIS. Bateman goes again and wins this STUPID segment that went on way too long. He gets two points.
Novak vs. Curtis and a six person tag later.
Jacob Novak vs. Johnny Curtis
JTG is subbing for R-Truth here. Dolph yells at Novak as he sends Curtis to the floor. Dolph is in a tie so we talk about that more than anything else. We hit a chinlock as we talk about hitting on Vickie. This match is really, really dull. This whole season has had dull characters. Ziggler gets in a cheap shot to Curtis and Novak adds in a big boot to end it at 5:00. Vickie is watching and smiling.
Rating: D+. The match was fine from an in ring perspective, but WOW I could not care less about these two guys. Neither are interesting in the slightest and neither are the majority of these rookies. This wasn’t a terrible match, but I could not wait to get to the end of it which is never a good thing at all.
Profile on Bateman who was on Heat once. He says he’s Man-Tastic and has the most charisma.
There’s a Divas calendar. The PG is slowly slipping away actually. Just little things like that or a bit more swearing. It’s barely noticeable but it’s helping somewhat.
Profile on O’Brian who looks like a rat and was an outcast. Yes we get it he has a weird looking face. He says it’s time for the Rattitude Era. I hate this guy already.
Bateman and Bryan are training more as Bateman reads the WWE Champion book which appears to be upside down to him. There’s a trivia challenge tonight which should be fun.
Trivia challenge time but there’s a twist. There will be a category named and you go down the line with each person naming something/someone that fits said category. First up is Undertaker Wrestlemania opponents. Shawn Michaels being mentioned gets the big hometown pop. They don’t go on until people are eliminated, as in once 6 are named we move on to a new category.
Second up is King of the Ring winners. Owen Hart is mentioned on TV actually. Bateman goes with Billy Gunn. We go through this again due to no one being eliminated yet. Brodus Clay is the first one out as he thinks Diesel was King. New category is Wrestlemania host cities. Conor says Pee Wee Herman. That isn’t a typo. Saxton reminds me of Token on the news anchors episode of South Park.
We stay with it as they’re running low on cities. No one has said LA yet surprisingly. Curtis is out as he can’t think of anything. New category is any WWE PPV in 2010. Saxton repeats Survivor Series and he’s out. Final two are Bateman and Novak. Their category is WWE Champions. BATEMAN TRAINED FOR THIS! Hogan reference. Novak says Miz and gets buzzed for no apparent reason and we keep going. Novak freezes somehow and can’t get Cena in time, giving Bateman the win.
We go to the back where Conor comes in to see Alberto as per his request. They get into a semi spat which goes nowhere. Conor wants some of the cheese Alberto is eating. HEY, MAYBE YOU SHOULD PUSH THE FACT THAT HE LOOKS LIKE A RAT MORE!!! YOU’RE BEING TOO SUBTLE!!!
Ted DiBiase/Maryse/Brodus Clay vs. Byron Saxton/Chris Masters/???
There’s a guest/mystery Diva here to team with Masters and Saxton. And there’s no real intrigue/suspense as it’s Natalya. Gender vs. gender here as usual. Those who I’d prefer to see topless start us off. Natalya outsmarts her to start and the beating/screaming begins. Off to the rookies now and Saxton can’t hurt Brodus. Clay sends him to the floor as we take a break.
Back with some not hot Saxton on DiBiase action. Masters comes in and it’s pro vs. pro. Is Clay a face or a heel? I’m not sure. Masters hammers away on the fat man until Saxton comes back in. Clay gets a somewhat awkward looking cover for two. It’s hard to describe but he looked odd laying down on Saxton. No one will tag in for Saxton as his bravado is costing him.
DiBiase gets a dropkick for no cover. Oh apparently Saxton wouldn’t tag out so here’s Masters. Powerslam gets two. Dream Street is countered and Masters gets a spinebuster. Brodus beats on Masters in the corner and Maryse adds a slap. Back to the girls and it’s a catfight. The pros go outside to break them up and it’s up to the rookies. Powerslam ends Saxton but a Vader Bomb misses and Saxton gets the pin. I forgot to check the clock but it ran about 12:00.
Rating: C-. Not a terrible match I guess and it worked ok as it was supposed to. Getting a 12 minute match on NXT is a nice touch for a change and at least Brodus, one of the only decent rookies, was featured. This redeems Saxton a bit which I guess is your storyline advancement for the week. Decent enough match I guess.
Overall Rating: D+. Definitely the weakest show of the season so far but I think a lot of that can be attributed to having three straight hours of TV tonight which is WAY too much, especially with this being the stuff we ended on. The trivia stuff was ok but it would have been nice to have it be more actual trivia. The show wasn’t horrible, but it’s the weakest so far.
If Tough Enough comes back in its old form I likely won’t be watching. I have zero desire to see someone make a great accomplishment as they learn a hiptoss. Make it like the Ultimate Fighter where they’re guys that already know how to wrestle and I could live with it.
I’m not thinking he’ll be doing much right away, but Brodus Clay could start as a midcard guy, and work his way eventually (I’m thinking a couple years here) to where Kane was before he finally won the Title a few months ago.
And I agree that the NXT thing has run its course. The one thing I think that could save it for a season 5 is if they did an NXT second chance type thing, where they bring back losers from the first 2 seasons, or lower the rookie count to 4, or eliminated the challenges completely. No one gives a shit about watching wrestlers do an obstacle course or wheelbarrow race (although the Swagger Soaring Eagle made it awesome).
This was why I preferred Tough Enough (and WWECW) over NXT. Tough Enough was all about the wrestling, or we got to see them interact with each other at the house. WWECW was about creating new stars (they did a hell of a job doing it too). And I wouldn’t be surprised in fact if NXT is cancelled soon, especially when Tough Enough makes its rumored return.
Maybe but at the same time the problem is he’ll be billed as a rookie and he’s a guy that just lost to Saxton tonight. He’s good but this whole Nexus class isn’t working for me. It’s like they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for anyone and you could argue that was the case after season 1. I’m not enthusiastic at all about this show anymore and it’s not good for the most part.
that’s why I think the Santino role would fit Bateman to a T (Comedy Jobber for a long time, then eventually getting a slight push like Santino is now). He just has to be funny (which he is) and decent in the ring (which I think he is).
Clay on the other hand could very easily be the next monster Heel type guy on either show, and the other 4 can all go back to FCW where they belong. Since Kane is getting very long in the tooth (and has been rumored to retire for years now), I wouldn’t be surprised if Clay wound up taking his place eventually. Maybe not as a World Champ monster heel (especially not right away), but he could easily be an upper mid-card Monster heel if booked properly.
Bateman is good too, but guys like O’Brian, Novak, Curtis and Saxton (not as much with him) are just AWFUL. They’re some of the guys I wouldn’t argue at all with about the whole lack of personality. The thing is, Bateman is a guy that is decent on NXT. If/when he gets to the main roster I’d think he’ll be in WAY over his head.
You don’t see anything in Bateman? I can see him being a Santino-like character on whatever brand Santino isn’t on. I find his stuff with Daniel Bryan backstage to be hysterical, and I didn’t think he was utter crap in the ring last week (granted he was with ADR).
Thanks about the flag thing. Typing while a show goes on can be a bit tricky at times.
Clay is one of the few guys here that I can see doing something. Everyone else is completely uninteresting.
Kind of yeah he does need to. He looks like a white Mabel after all, so yeah I think he does need to.
Good stuff as usual KB. Couple things.
I think NXT was still taped prior to SD, because if SD was taped, there’s no way Ziggler could get from ring being all sweaty from a match to dressed in street clothes for NXT. Plus with the late SD Start time (9 eastern) NXT didn’t start until 11:10. No way they would start taping a program at 10:10 Central (I think San Antonio Texas is Central). And Bateman pulled the flag out of his wristband.
Also, I have been on the Brodus Clay bandwagon since the reveal video. He has a unique look, and he might be the best serious promo guy on NXT 4 (Bateman is hysterical, but haven’t heard him be serious yet). After last week and tonight, Brodus Clay also seems to be the best in-ring guy, especially for a guy with his size.
And 1 question for you. I mentioned this elsewhere before a lot, but does it look weird seeing Brodus go through the ropes when he enters? A man his size should go over the top, it not only looks more intimidating, but also looks more natural.