NXT - 28/06/12

Or is it 27th? I don't even know anymore.

Wasn't Bray Wyatt supposed to debut on this episode? I felt really cheated when all we got was another one of those promos.

Seth Rollins beat Jiro in a short match to open. For a 2-3 minute match, it was good. Rollins pinned Jiro after landing the neck stomp... Which he actually landed on Jiro's back but never mind. Then someone had the clever idea to give him mic time. The best thing about that was seeing Briley Pierce.

Jinder Mahal came out before Rollins could leave and beat Jason Jordan in another short match with the camel clutch. Slightly irrelevant but am I the only one who thinks of Cena when I see Jason Jordan? Mahal cut a short promo afterwards and whilst I'd rather not listen to it, at least guys are getting promo time so new viewers can familiarise themselves with them more.

We got a promo for Leo Kruger, which made him seem like Tarzan... Or something along those lines, which was followed by his match against Aiden English. It was okay; not much to say. Kruger obviously picked up the win here.

There was another promo vignette thing, this time for Richie Steamboat, which covered his heritage with Ricky Steamboat being his father. That was good because it gives the audience an idea as to who he is and what he's about.

The Ascension beat The Usos, which was awesome. I get this urge during The Ascension's entrance to close the curtains so the room's completely dark, put a torch in my face and growl at my laptop with them... Can I join them, please? Anyway. I'm liking The Ascension. They're like a legitimate tag team rather than the lazily thrown together ones we frequently see on WWE TV. They have a great gimmick and really stand out, especially with their entrance and their intensity. It's a bit of a throwback to when we had more dramatic characters like vampires, a "dead man" etc and WWE have been sorely missing characters like this from their programming.

It hurts to see Rick Victor jobbing for the second week in a row. I understand you need to put some talent in that position to make other talent look good especially since this show is so new but Rick Victor is too talented to be put in that position. He loses to Richie Steamboat. Ricky Steamboat was at ringside watching and this match did a pretty good job at putting Richie over with the crowd.

Derrick Bateman beat Johnny Curtis in the main event and the match was far too short, especially for a main event match. We had 6 matches on this show. Six entire matches; that's around how much we get on Raw, if not more. The difference being, Raw is twice as long! Despite it only being episode 2, I'm slightly worried they might be rushing the way they're introducing talent and with a show under an hour long, it'll be difficult to feature them all frequently enough. The vignettes are taking up TV time so hopefully once most debuts have been made, the matches should be slightly longer. I don't think there's any need for more than four matches, if I'm honest, considering you want some reasonable promo time to build storylines more effectively but like I said, hopefully once they're past the "introductory episodes", the show should feel less choppy and take a stronger direction with longer matches.

So it was another solid episode, being the second one and all. I can't wait for Ohno's debut next week. They're giving up something to look forward to each time and that's awesome. On a final note, I'd much rather have Byron Saxton on commentary than Lawler or Cole.

NXT - 21/06/12

William (not Regal, I mean William) was being a dick and telling me everyone jobs to Jinder Mahal, which basically equates to "everything sucks" and it didn't SO HA!

The first thing I noticed, naturally, was the new theme song! Wild And Young, as I'm sure you know, was the bane of my life so Coheed and Cambria is a massive improvement. Dusty Rhodes is serving as General Manager of the show and we have the team of William Regal and Jim Ross on commentary, which automatically means anything this show produces will eclipse Raw.

I never noticed how charismatic Bo Dallas is until I saw this promo, which made him look like such a lovable babyface. It's a shame Ric Victor had to essentially job to him considering how talented the guy is. It also bugs me how Dungeon-trained wrestlers get put over so much by the commentary yet WWE never seem to capitalise on the advantages of their background. In any case, it looks like Bo's being built to be one of the top babyfaces, which I like.

Briley Pierce returns to his role as interviewer extraordinaire. Excuse me as I take a moment to cry over how cute he is and the potential (yet slim-to-non-existent possibility) for his, um, "relationship" with Brad Maddox to be recreated.

I feel like Antonio Cesaro's been cheated by being put on NXT. Was there much point in putting him on Smackdown aside from inducing sympathy for Teddy Long?

Damien Sandow cuts a magnificent promo and refuses to wrestle Jason Jordan. I feel like he's being cheated here too? This show isn't as accessible as Smackdown is even though it looks like they're trying to build it up as the new Smackdown since Smackdown is basically becoming Raw but... Sandow does this on TV anyway so why put him on here?

We got this awesome promo for The Ascension. I first saw these guys when O'Brien was injured and it was just Kenneth Cameron but since O'Brien has returned, their intensity has multiplied and I'm a fan. They quickly beat the team of CJ Parker and Mike Dalton.

This Bray Wyatt promo thingy is brilliant. He's such a creepy character, the way his personality contrasts with things like his attire, his theme music etc. it only amplifies just how fucking weird he is, which is amazing and I can't wait for his debut.

In a backstage segment, Derrick Bateman confronts Johnny Curtis in Curtis's office... AKA the toilets. They're in next week's main event. Yay for build up for the following week's card!

The main event is Tyson Kidd vs Michael McGillicutty, which makes sense because they appear to be the top babyface and top heel of the show for the past few months now. It still bugs me that McGillicutty isn't going by Hennig. It would make such more sense and attract so much more attention. JR even referred to him having a wrestling background with his family without specifying the name and if you don't know his father is Mr. Perfect; Curt Hennig, you're going to be confused.

The match was really good, as expected. They've wrestled a whole bunch of times so you could expect a good match and it was a nice way to end the first show. JR and Regal sound so enthusiastic about both guys, it really helps get the viewer become more invested in them compared to the constant bickering between Cole and Lawler on Raw. I liked it when McGillicutty put Kidd into the sharpshooter and Kidd struggled for a while. I also love that Kidd's no longer relying on that to finish his opponents off and is trying to get his own finisher, The Dungeon Lock, over instead.

I noticed the crowd were okay for most of the show but their interest definitely picked up during McGillicutty and Kidd's match, which was awesome.

There was a Seth Rollins promo thing at some point too, which is good. I'm assuming the FCW titles are just going to be used for live events now?

I've noticed all the FCW guys the show focused on this week have something gimmick-wise, which makes them standout, which is reassuring, in a way because it makes them more memorable etc.

So all in all, a good first show. If I was to complain about anything, it'd be that considering there were only 3 (4 if you include Sandow and Jordan) matches on the card and all but the main event were so short, it would have been nice to see them get another minute or so in. On the other hand, the other time was used well in introducing other talent so I guess I can overlook that!

However, there's so much talent to get on the show consistently enough, is 45~ minutes really enough?

I CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK THOUGH.

So, just watched FCW 13/05. The opening match was Ohno vs Cesaro. It was good but the ending was just over complicated with the referee getting knocked out and the DQ finish. Having Ohno win by DQ in itself was good though. The match felt a bit too much like a brawl at times but overall, it was good. Ohno will face Rollins for the title then. Bray Wyatt was with Eli Cottonwood and cut a promo. He beat Benicio Salazar in a short match. Brad Maddox cut a promo. I'm a big fan of the guy but this promo... It felt way too much like a Dean Ambrose promo, it made me feel uncomfortable. FCW doesn't need more psycho gimmicks. Plus I liked Maddox better when he was doing the Ziggler-esque stuff. :( Anyway, he basically says he's going after Richie Steamboat. Richie Steamboat beats Rick Victor in a decent match. I like this alliance between Paige, Victor and Sofia Cortez. The ending was interesting with Sofia taking down Steamboat but Steamboat still winning the match. Maddox attacked Steamboat afterwards. But his mannerisms... Too much Ambrose man. Summer Rae "interviews" AW (who is with the flawless tag team champions, Corey Graves and Jake Carter). AW on the mic is A+. The Ascension are facing Graves and Carter next week. Bo Rotundo defeats Leo Kruger and will also challenge Seth Rollins for his title. It was a decent match. As expected, Rotundo won but the finish sucked. His spear looked pretty crappy if I'm honest and I'm sure this was the case last week too. All in all, a decent show. For once, I just wasn't really feeling Maddox though. :(