Tonight’s episode of NXT featured the elimination of the sympathetic favorite for the season, as well as a familiar returning to the number one position. In addition to the NXT drama, we had two old rivals go at it one more time with an all too predictable ending. Who didn’t see John Morrison losing for the 2307029710239th time to The Miz? Ho hum. Just another edition of NXT! At least Michelle McCool and Layla looked fabulous!
Tonight, Kaval competed in a rematch from Monday Night Raw. For the second night in a row, he partnered up with Percy Watson and Lucky Cannon to face the team of Alex Riley, Husky Harris, and Michael McGillicutty.
Percy and Husky began the match and Husky controlled the tempo for awhile. It went back and forth, then Alex got the tag. He tried to make Percy his woman, but Percy was able to hit an absolute sick move on Alex that could have very well knocked him out. Riley staggered around on the outside for a bit before gathering himself. He finally made it back into the ring.
Alex got Percy down on the mat but Percy ended up fighting back to his feet. Alex kept his cool and maintained his control, before Percy was able to hit a few offensive moves and tag in Lucky. Lucky continued to be really pretty while he fought with the Varsity Villain. Eventually Lucky got in position to pin Alex, but Alex was out after the one. Alex got out of the ring and his teammates began to badger him. Alex screamed that he was doing the best he could and before anything else could happen, Lucky came flying over the top rope and Alex was squashed underneath his weight. NXT went to commercial break.
When the show returned, Michael had things firmly in hand against Lucky. They showed some highlights of what happened during the break, and Husky got tagged in. He started brutalizing Lucky and after the dirty work was done, Alex got tagged back in. He tried to pin Lucky, but he kicked out. Alex kept Lucky from tagging in one of his partners, and then Alex isolated him in the heel corner. Michael was tagged back in. The crowd tried to spur Lucky on and he finally mounted some offense. The crowd screamed for him to make the tag. He got it! The hot tag was made to Kaval and he began to beat down Michael.
The action was so hot and intense, and the crowd was marking. Kaval nailed Micheal with a dazzling array of kicks and strikes, before McGillicutty attempted to reverse a whip attempt. Kaval hit a handspring of sorts and Alex went flying off the apron to the floor. Kaval bounded back to land on Michael and locked him in an amazing submission move. Michael was on the brink of submitting when Husky made the save. He hit Kaval in the back and both rookies hit the mat. Percy flew into the ring to take care of Husky and disposed of him with a very pretty dropkick. Alex came in so Lucky did as well, and Lucky clotheslined himself and Alex over the top rope which left Kaval and Michael alone in the ring.
Both men reached their feet at the same time, but Michael struck Kaval down. Michael went to hit the neckbreaker on Kaval, but Kaval sidestepped it and Michael went into the corner. Kaval used his momentum to carry him towards Michael and he kicked him in the chest. Michael ended up sprawled flat on his back and Kaval headed for the top rope. Two seconds later, Kaval landed in the middle of the six and one rookie’s chest and covered him for the three count. Amazing.
Laycool flipped out on the stage and started celebrating, as did Kaval’s team inside the ring.
At the end of the show, we had the elimination. Matt Striker went to each rookie and asked them who they felt should be eliminated. The general consensus amongst the rookies was that Lucky needed to go because basically he’s failed to make an impact during his time on NXT so far. The only two rookies who voted against Lucky, were Percy and Alex. Percy finally picked Alex after spouting a bunch of BS no one understood. Then, Alex picked Michael just out of spite, I feel. Once those mini-promos wrapped up, the new poll was revealed. In a surprising turn of events, Kaval was back at number one which caused Laycool to totally mark. Slipping to number two was none other than Michael. Not sure if anyone else thought this, but I wanted to Laycool to turn around and rub Kaval’s number one ranking in Kofi’s face. I’m just sayin’!
Percy came in at number three and Husky at four. At this point I started to panic, because the best rookie in the competition, Alex Riley, was now on the bubble. Thankfully, Alex was spared elimination and Lucky went home. Lucky was handed the microphone to say his goodbye speech and he showed more personality in that one promo than he had all season. Shame the personality he showed was that of a bitter little girl who just found out that Justin Bieber would never, ever date her. The rookies had some priceless reactions to Lucky’s little rant, but they all wished him well as he made his exit. Striker told us that next week there will be a double elimination so soon enough, we will know who our final three are.
– Before NXT began tonight, they showed a video of something that happened earlier in the day. Dressed in his douchebag best, Michael Cole was attempting to complete the rookie challenge for this week. It was a punching bag challenge, basically, and how hard you hit the bag determined your score. Cole was completely owned by Josh Matthews and then stormed off the set like a scorned child. It was hilarious.
– The rookies and pros came out together this week. They all stayed on stage. Kaval came out with denim romper clad co-Women’s Champion, Laycool. He held their broken belt and they kissed him on the cheek before posing and heading off.
– Striker let us know Mark Henry wouldn’t be in attendance tonight because of the injuries he sustained at the hands of the Nexus. Striker revealed that the finale is in three weeks and reminded us of what the prize is. There was a challenge tonight and it was called “The Power of the Punch.” The winner of the challenge won a solo appearance on Raw next week. Here were the scores;
Alex Riley: 896
Michael McGillicutty: 863
Lucky Cannon: 744
Percy Watson: 715
Husky Harris: 380
Kaval: DQed due to breaking the rules
Riley won. Yay! He said that The Miz may be a reality television star, but he (Alex Riley) is a star in reality.
When Kaval took his turn, Laycool stood up and cheered for him. When he got a horrible score, they were laughed at by all the pros and hugged each other out of embarrassment.
– During the commercial break, The Miz and Morrison went at it over the Summerslam match. The Miz bragged about how Bret Hart and Cena begged him to join Team WWE. The Miz demanded that Morrison do the same. He refused and challenged Miz to a match tonight and said he is going to show The Miz why Team WWE doesn’t need him.
– Miz versus Morrison. The two former partners locked up with Miz getting the first knock down. Morrison was back up and the two delicious men made dramatic eye contact. JoMo eventually took control and brought Miz down with a nice, flashy armdrag. He followed it up with a front flip into an arm across the chest to Miz and went for the cover. Miz kicked out. After awhile, Miz got Morrison in a defensive position and went to work on his former tag team partner. The Miz missed one of his signature moves in the corner and Morrison reversed it into a backslide for another pin attempt. The Miz got out of it and headed to the outside of the ring to regroup. Morrison wasn’t about to let that happen so he corkscrewed over the top rope and The Miz was down. Morrison decided to celebrate with the fans and NXT went to break. Like usual, the momentum ended up reversed during the break and when the show came back, The Miz had Morrison down on the mat, inside the ring, in a headlock.
Morrison began to fight back, but Miz was quick to stop it. The Miz’s flurry of offense led to a pin attempt, but Morrison was able to kick out. Morrison was set up in the corner, and Miz was able to hit the move he missed earlier. He went for another pin but he failed. The crowd attempted to get Morrison back into the match and finally it started to work. He fought out of a sleeper hold, bounced back from being knocked down once again, and even managed to get a near fall. That’s all JoMo needed to find his second win and excuse me, but I slightly marked when he flew back to his feet a la Shawn Michaels. He punished The Miz and tossed him into the corner. Morrison jumped onto the middle rope and came back with his Flying Chuck Kick. The Miz hit the mat like a ton of bricks and only by sheer instinct did he manage to get his shoulder up. Sadly, JoMo got hit in the face and had Miz fall on top of him. Lucky for him, he wasn’t pinned at that point. The two former BFFs exchanged some more blows before Morrison finally got The Miz into position for Starship Pain. The Miz moved out of the way, but Morrison landed on his feet anyway. The Miz grabbed Morrison, but Morrison had one last trick up his sleeve.
It didn’t pan out to well for our pretty California boy. The Miz moved and Morrison smashed his ankle into the ropes and immediately started to wither around on the ground in pain. The Miz realized that victory was within his grasps and one Skull Crushing Finale later, the WWE’s newest poster child had yet another victory.
I wasn’t to impressed with tonight’s episode of NXT. The Miz’s mega push, as deserving as it is, is starting to wear me down. If the WWE continues to handle his character in this way, they’re going to risk overexposure and fans are going to get annoyed. I’m all for new blood making it to the main event, but we don’t need to have someone shoved down our throats. Did we really need to see The Miz defeat Morrison again? I wasn’t to keen on the fact they used NXT to build up Summerslam. This show isn’t about the pros, it’s about the rookies. I guess it works from a Summerslam/storyline perspective, but I reiterate that this isn’t the show to rehash old feuds or settle the scores for the WWE pros. It needs to be about the rookies. That said, I thought The Miz and Morrison had a great match tonight. It was very back and forth, and they’re so comfortable together. I feel a lot of trust is there so they seem to swing freely to me and just go for it. You can tell the difference in matches like that. This didn’t feel forced or awkward. I like the fact The Miz’s win only came because Morrison missed a high risk move. It wasn’t this dominating performance by The Miz. It was a nice match that showed he can wrestle and Morrison did his thing, which is always impressive to me.
Now if only we could teach JoMo the proper ways of cutting a promo…
The six man tag was much better tonight than on Raw in my opinion. It was given more time and we didn’t have to look at Sheamus sitting at ringside. The rookies each got a chance to shine in this match. I loved Michael and Husky giving Alex shit when he kept going to the outside to regroup. That was great. I love that the “heel” team didn’t try to act like friends or even legit partners. They were just three guys working towards a common goal and that was an impressive win on elimination night.
Kaval finally getting a win was needed. We watch this poor guy job each and every week. He took the pin on Raw and the worst bump from Sheamus. He needed this and man, he’s so unorthodox and different. I love watching Kaval work. He can go toe to toe with anyone. Not going to lie, I giggled a little at the fact he pinned Michael. I’m sick of Michael McGillicutty and his bland personality. He puts me to sleep and seeing Kaval go over the so-called favorite was a nice little touch.
As far as the rankings go, I was left surprised by a few things. Lucky’s elimination wasn’t one of them. He needed to go. Out of all the rookies, Lucky was probably the least memorable besides Titus O’Neil. His ring skills were just okay and his promos were horrible. The only thing Lucky really had going for him was the fact he was really pretty. I will miss that prettiness every week.
I didn’t think Kaval would get back to number one, so imagine my surprise when he ended up in that very slot. It just goes to show the power of the WWE Universe, I suppose. He definitely deserves it because in terms of experience and sheer ring talent no one can touch him. Kaval is the best of the rookies this season. He’s so experienced. What shocked me more than anything is the fact Alex Riley was ranked so low. He must have gotten crucified in the fans’ poll which saddens me to no end. This guy is amazing. He can work defense and offense in the ring. His personality and character are brilliant. The “Varsity Villain” gimmick is fresh and new, and I can’t wait to see how he comes over in his solo appearance on Raw next week. As happy as I am that the WWE Universe helped Kaval get back to one, I’m incredibly disappointed in them for not voting for Alex Riley. Wasting your votes on someone like Percy Watson is ridiculous and anyone who would pick Percy Watson over Alex Riley needs to have their head examined. Those people are probably the ones who like two minute diva matches and Santino Marella “comedy” skits.
Yeah, I went there.
I would love to have someone give me three legitimate reasons as to why Percy Watson deserves to be ranked number three ahead of Alex and Husky Harris. When accepting this challenge, make sure you give me points that I can’t argue. Good luck.
Until next week, Cryssi out!
