WWE NXT Weekly Recap – Week 2

Another week, another good episode of NXT. The show started off by finally letting us know, in part, what makes this brand a “competition”. All of the Pros will vote on the Rookies, but they can neither vote for or against the Rookie that they’re mentoring. That’s fine, would have preferred specifics like when the voting takes place and if people are eliminated from the show at some point. Also, why can’t the Pros vote against their Rookie? Sure they can influence the others judges just by talking to them, but who would know better if the rookie can’t cut it than the guy who is supposedly spending all the time with him and mentoring him? Whatever, it’s a start. On with the recap.

– Otunga and Young actually had a match this week, and I liked it. It went almost ten minutes, and the two young guys definitely maintained my interest in the match. Yes, both men still have plenty to work on and a long ways to go, but they did a nice job pacing a longer match and weaving a story. Young in particular really needed tonight’s solid performance, because they really didn’t let him start off on the right foot last week. A good showing here by both rookies, and I’m genuinely intrigued to see what happens next for both men. CM Punk actually helped Young to get the victory, which only furthers my belief that Punk ends up embracing Young who accepts straightedge and ultimately shaves that ridiculous hair. Meanwhile the heel Otunga is already showing signs of the big head, pushing R-Truth after losing the match. I like it. Truth and Otunga got into a little scrap backstage, so now Miz isn’t the only one fighting with his “student”. I’m pulling for Otunga here; hopefully he can shut Truth up.

– Loved the video package on Daniel Bryan, which included pictures of him holding Indy/foreign titles. It’s so simple, but it’s a story everyone can get behind. Lifelong wrestling fan has been in the industry for 10 years, only wants to succeed in WWE and main-event WrestleMania and knows that he doesn’t need to learn anything from The Miz. This will only help the people like Bryan even more. Speaking of, I liked the shot of Bryan getting his ribs taped up by the trainer backstage. It shows the people that he’s tough and how bad he wants it, plus getting slapped across the injured ribs by his mentor only draw the people more to him. He’s the sympathetic face of the show, and I so far love it.

– Wade Barrett and Daniel Bryan had a good two minute match. When I say good, I mean good story-wise, not in-ring technical wrestling wise. It was essentially a glorified squash, with the much larger Barrett dominating the injured Bryan. That’s classic booking. Daniel wasn’t hurt any by the loss and at this stage Barrett needed the win and would have actually looked weak if he would’ve lost. The injured ribs are the story of Bryan, and it’s a good story for the sympathetic wrestling character. Not sure if Daniel botched his spring from the top, but I’m going to assume (somewhat safely I think) that it was a planned spot if only because I don’t think Michael Cole is talented enough to react that quickly to cover something up. Jericho certainly is though, and Jericho did a wonderful job on commentary. He obviously played the heel cheering his student on, but in a roundabout way, he put Daniel over big and didn’t dump on his Independent and world experience the way Michael Cole did last week. Cole is still a douche by the way. I enjoyed this, and Barrett definitely has the look and character to be a top level heel. I’d say we’ll have to see about his in-ring work, but that hasn’t hurt Batista any has it? Jericho kicking Daniel while he was down after the match and then locking in another sick LIONTAMER was well done and added to the Bryan story even more. I dig it.

– Liked the filmed gym segment with Christian and Heath Slater. Slater is still one of my favorites early on, and Christian was his usual self, delivering some good lines. This is a fun pairing and the two seem to be one of the only pairings that are actually getting along.

– I don’t know what the hell Justin Gabriel calls that outfit he wore to the ring, but he needs to do away with that thing ASAP. And he needs to get some trunks while he’s at it, preferably some that doesn’t look like a diaper. The Skip Sheffield video was good and I like his dumb cowboy gimmick for the moment. I was hoping they’d bring up his time on Tough Enough 4 (the same “season” as The Miz) but I’m guessing he’ll get no mention of being Ryan Reeves since that contradicts his Skip Sheffield gimmick. Whatever. The tag team match with Gabriel/Hardy vs. Skip/Regal was a very good 10 minute plus encounter. Sheffield needs to do a little more, but he was entertaining. I worry about how much life the gimmick has though, because eventually the novelty will wear off. Gabriel was okay, and he can certainly become a good WWE-style wrestler. His 450 Splash finisher was cool, although I would have preferred that he pin Skip and not Regal. Regal is such an awesome wrestler, so much so that Regal “made” this match, and he deserves more than to be the first pro pinned by a rookie. Hopefully by the end of this, Regal teaches Skip and refines him; kind of like the Bluebloods did Beautiful Bobby Eaton back in WCW in the mid-90’s.

This second week featured more wrestling than the first week, and I liked it. I’m biased towards the first show simply because Daniel Bryan kicked it off with a promo and then wrestled Chris Jericho, but this was still a very good episode. We have some semblance of rules now, every contestant has gotten the opportunity to go out there and wrestle, and so far they’ve all done a good job. I’m already looking forward to next week’s show, because this really is my new favorite show.

I’ll be posting the full episode on the blog once it becomes available on Hulu. Also I will be premiering WWE Superstars Weekly Recap this Thursday night, because the show looks great on paper (Kane vs. Mike Knox AND Chris Jericho vs. Goldust, awesome).