WWE NXT Recap By Aaron Dammit

Next week the STANDINGS are being revealed. STANDINGS? I'm pissed. You mean nobody is goiing home? Nobody is moved up? A vote for standings? The biggest episode yet right after Mania? Don't you want to advertise this more? Oh you silly WWE.

Heath Slater (Christian) and Justin Gariel (Matt Hardy) vs. Skip Sheffield (William Regal) and Wade Barrett (Jericho)

Interesting match up here. Size vs. energy. Let's see if they can tell a good story here. I hope there is some Gabriel vs Barrett again.

Staring up with Heath vs Skip. Christian coming down to the ring later than the rest. Normally means a bad thing. Slow beginning stuff. Yay Gabriel and Barrett are in. Best two person match up I have seen here yet. Mostly a lot of Barrett working over Gabriel with power moves. Not much from Gabriel. Skippy tags in. Again nice delayed suplex but it doesn't sell his cowboy redneck gimmick. Big splash. 1, 2. No Barrett in. Working over the gut.

Bad series in a corner but they work it out to a hot tag to Slater. I think you need to even things out a bit and have Skip win one here. Heath bar a ball of fire, Got caught, but no he reverses it. Near fall. Gabriel up on the top. I think he wanted to splash. He didn't. He took out the other man. Wade kicks Skip before that to lead to win for Slater Gabriel.

Danielson package. WWE NEEDS to move him up if Michaels is going to be out of it for a while for great matchups. Either that or actively seek getting Angle back. Something!

Commercial break.

Quick first match in all honesty, are they planning to give this next tag a full 20-30 minutes after the Raw recap? Oh God that means Young needs to be in there for at least 10. *sigh*

Previews previews previews. Mania and Smackdwon and Michaels/Taker and Hart/McMahon and Darren Young and ... (well this means no 10 mintues with Young in the ring) WrestleMania, and Money in the Bank and Baitista vs. Cena and.... FINALLY the next match up.

Darren Young (CM Punk) and David Otunga (R Truth) vs. Bryan Daniel (Miz) and Michael Tarver (Carlito)

First two out and a commercial break. Back now. Finally Bryan and Tarver come out and we may have the matchup.

Daniel vs Otunga start out. Power down by Otunga. Head lock. Arm ddrag. Chain wrestling. Josh Matterws samrt enough to tell us to watch how good Bryan is in the ring. Cole no selling him. Tarver tagged in. Young in. Attempted roll up by Young no good. Gallows tripping up Tarver to confuse us as to Young's status. Young taking too long to take advantage with a scuffle outside the ring, gets punched for his trouble, thrown back in and... commercial break. No actual RAW rebound? Hmmm. Long commercial break.

Hall of Fame preview.

Now we are back. Exchange by Bryan and Young. Bryan with a tag to Tarver. Tarver arm bar. Young has looked passable. Young with some innovative rope offense. And Otunga in the ring. Even match up. Otunga working over Tarver's head multiple times here. Come back by 1.9. Bryan comes in. Works over Otunga. Young in. More of an exchnage. BRyan with a standing guillotine.

Transition to the Oma Plata or something. Young makes it to the ropes. Cross body by Bryan. Tarver squaring off vs. Gallows instead of worrying about the match. Bryan gets shaked off by Otunga from the top rope. Otunga's finisher actually hit this time and still doesn't look that good. And Daniel Bryan is pinned.

There we go again! Thanks folks.
___________________________________________________________________

Thoughts on rookies.

Bryan Daniel - given a losing record for a reason. Showed that if he was pushed as a star could get a convincing win even over Khali. The only reason he should be in danger is if HHH is set to make an example of the man crowds cheered for "the best in the world" and his ego could not take it. Should be the man to take Michaels place in the line of good matches if HBK is done for.

Michael Tarver - I need to see him more. Some offense looks good. Lame gimmick but not overly generic in the ring. Would be tons better if he dropped Carlito and if I felt that he wasn't a lesser version of the Pope's WWE gimmick.

Wade Barrett - Took me a while to like his in ring ability. It could be that it just comes out with Gabriel. But TOP NOTCH on the live mic. Would not mind having him moved up if he continues to get better in the ring.

Skp Sheffield - When I first saw him I thought there was something about him that I could not take my eyes off of. Upon further review I was wrong. I know what character he is trying for and is and should be but he doesn't do it with his all so it comes across as great. Also nothing in the ring screams to me cowboy redneck. Just generic looking. I like his dialogues with Regal but regal can be fun with anybody. If his personality becomes larger than life bring him back. If not I don't mind seeing him going anymore.

David Otunga - His original package to introduce him makes him look like a superstar. When he gets in the ring, not that much. Generic in the ring except for slight moments of brilliance. Also for how great he is in a pre package deal he is just plain terrible on the mic. WWE is high up on him I get the impression but I hope he goes.

Darren Young - Generic. Supposed to be a party guy, does not come across like that in the ring that could make him fun. I think they keep him off the mic for a reason. The straight edge play is OK fine and good but it isn't as if Darren Young has shown his party side that much to show he is giving anything up at all. I just want him to go really.

Justin Gabriel - The guy I would want to work against if I was a NXT rookie. Seems to be the workhorse of the group. I know Bryan Daniel is but we have not been shown that really on NXT TV. He's not a gold mine in the ring but he is above competent. Better than some that are already in the WWE. I would be just fine with him tagging with Hardy on a regular basis.

Heath Slater - WWE is high up on him. He has a great record. I don't agree. He is not as generic in the ring as Young, Otunga, and Skip but that isn't much for competition. On the mic he isn't much either and just all around lame.

The only one WWE and I probably agree on might be Skip and Young so I hope if there is a vote off it is those two. If it was me it would be Young, Heath, and Otunga though.

Share |