NXT- Tap or Snap
I cannot fully explain how much I enjoy NXT. I know the rating went down a little this week, and Miz mentoring Daniel Bryan turned off a lot of people at the start, but damn, I love it. Watching the “Monday Night Wars” between RAW and Impact last Monday was good… I liked having another show to change the channel to when something less than interesting came on (like Sting’s never ending beatdown on RVD and anything with Chris Angel and Hornswoggle), but nothing really grabbed me like NXT does.
I think there are a couple of reasons why… and it’s not just to see if Barrett has figured out how to wear a jacket. Part of the reason is that with wrestling in general I’m usually more interested in watching younger, newer guys come up rather than watching established main eventers. I’m going to try to avoid going on any Hogan/ Nasty Boys/ Undertaker rants, but seeing if someone new will make it big, fade into obscurity, or get stuck in midcard limbo always interests me more.
Also, and I hate to sound like a mark, but NXT leaves me wondering what’s “real” and what’s scripted more often than the other wrestling shows out there. I know matches are planned, promos are written by creative teams… but the feud built on the more experienced Daniel Bryan being insulted by the Miz grabs me way more as a realistic feud than Undertaker wanting Shawn Michael’s soul.
It’s still early in the show’s run, but so far in my opinion it’s the best wrestling show WWE has to offer. I love the mentor/ pupil teams and the fact that they don’t break kayfabe. I will say that some of the rookies like Skip Sheffield, Heath Slater, and Michael Tarver don’t interest me nearly as much as guys like Otunga, Barrett, and Bryan, but it’s still early in the season. I hope it catches on with more of the WWE fans though, because with the rating from the third episode dropping so much it could make NXT tap or snap. …That doesn’t make much sense, so I guess I’ll just say “get cancelled.”
I don’t get access to NXT, but I wish I did. The concept seems to have been well handled and I’d like to support it. I have very little interest in any of RAW, Impact or ROH so after SmackDown, NXT is probably the weekly show I have the next-most interest in. Obviously Bryan is the one they’re pushing most, and deservedly so – pairing him with Miz was an excellent idea. Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel were pretty much FCW’s two biggest stars of the last few years so I’m intrigued by how the make the jump to WWE proper. Most of the others, I’m neutral on. Otunga is just not a ‘name’ here in the UK like he is in America, Wade Barrett is solid but unspectacular, Darren Young looks too much like Cena for me to take him seriously, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything at all involving Michael Tarver. From the little I’ve seen of the Skip Sheffield persona, I’m unimpressed. I much preferred him when he was Ryback. That said, the whole point is to test these guys out, and I hope to be pleasantly surprised by some, or even all of them. I hadn’t heard about the low rating. It’d be a shame to see it cancelled, especially if the rumours are true that they’re holding back Kaval/Low-Ki to be the Danielson figure of the next season. They’ve got Mistico on contract now too – he could be another exciting choice of Rookie.
Spare a thought for the victims of NXT, though: Yoshi Tatsu, Tyler Reks, Caylen Croft & Trent Baretta, Vance Archer – these guys appear to have basically been forgotten about since the switch from ECW!
I’m pretty sure Croft and Baretta popped up on Smackdown at least once since ECW ended. As for Tyler Reks, I didn’t know he was even still on ECW. Vance Archer/Lance Hoyt, well, it’s just so hard to take him seriously when he’s got a tramp stamp. Plus I recall the commentators talking about him like he was Mike Knox 2, saying he studied something or other to learn how to hurt his opponents, etc. etc.
As for NXT, I am enjoying it. As a fan of the indies, I’m glad they pretty much acknowledged who Bryan Danielson is and that he’s getting the spotlight he is.