Shockwaves reverberated throughout the internet wrestling community last week when the WWE made the announcement that Smackdown starlets and the self proclaimed, co-Women’s Champions, Layla and Michelle McCool, would be involved on the next season of it’s rookie competition show, NXT. Instead of getting stuck with a nobody, or getting a chance to work with a second or third generation star, the two vivacious divas were paired off with former indy star, TNA star, and ROH stand-out Low-Ki, known to all of us as Kaval. So much butt hurt was expressed over this pairing by so-called “journalists” and “experts” and yes, I just used the term “butt hurt.” It was incredibly ridiculous and extremely disrespectful to the two women who have worked their asses off to make it in the WWE. Lets face it, the Divas division is horribly managed and the girls aren’t given a fair chance. But the comedic pairing of McCool and Layla is totally gold and they’ve managed to make enough of an impression to get a chance to “mentor” a “rookie.”
I do realize I’m using a lot of quotation marks, but we all know NXT is a scripted show with a predetermined outcome. None of the pros can teach the rookies anything they don’t already know except for how to handle the pressure of the schedule, how to manage their backstage attitudes, ect. That’s why it baffles me that so many people were horrified over this pairing. If anything, they should bow to Kaval for the simple fact that he now gets to hang out with two of the hottest divas on the roster. Heck, I’m jealous and I don’t even go that way! The storyline possibilities for these three are endless. There’s so much the WWE can do with it. I’m excited about NXT! Are you?!
This past week on the Post Raw Show, I unsuccessfully attempted to articulate my hopes and ideas for this Laycool/Kaval angle. I’m certainly not the most eloquent speaker on the Diva Dirt staff but I can certainly write my ideas down! What I want to see from this pairing is total domination by Laycool. Kaval seems like a straight-laced, no nonsense type of personality who likes for his wrestling to do the speaking for him. Laycool is funny, mean, out there, and totally fierce. They need to overwhelm this poor guy and do their best to make him into their minion so to speak. I don’t really like that adjective, but it works and it’s a nicer way of saying they should make Kaval their bitch. Of course I don’t expect him to just conform to their needs. He should absolutely not do anything they want and what could unfold is so many funny, entertaining segments of back and forth, married couple bickering. Someone has to stand up to Laycool one of these days and why not their pro despite the fact Michelle towers over him?
The WWE likes to bill itself as an entertainment show and I hope they can deliver. If they go down the route of Kaval rebelling against Laycool, it could lead to problems between the girls about how they should go about approaching him. They could start bickering, Kaval could be forced into the role of peacekeeper, and this can carry over to Smackdown. I love this and I was so happy when I was asked to recap these NXT shows. My enthusiasm shows, doesn’t it?
Anyway, I guess you guys are waiting on me to get into the good stuff so without further ado, lets find out who Lay-Kav-Ool’s competition will be for this upcoming season.
The first episode of season two of NXT began with a video package of the destruction of Raw from the previous night. It wasn’t in-depth or anything, and it immediately faded into the NXT opening. Pyros go off and the crowd seems pretty pumped to see the new group of rookies take over. Michael Cole is speaking but we tune him out and he introduces the true sexiest of the sexy, Matt Striker, who is standing in the ring. Striker, bless his heart, is gingerly selling his injuries from the previous night and he starts us off by talking about the bombastic impact the season one kids made on Raw. He puts them over beautifully (about as beautiful as his sparkling blue eyes) and wonders aloud if the season two rookies can make an impact like the others did. He welcomes us all to season two of NXT and the crowd gives him a pretty good pop. When the cheers die down, he introduces the season two pros.
skip ahead to 5:10 if you just want to see Laycool!
The Miz is out first and looking stylish as ever. He’s certainly not flawless, but the man has impeccable male fashion sense. I could be biased because I’ve grown up on television with this guy, but whatever. For all Miz haters, this guy went around on MTV’s Real World:Back To New York always vowing to become a WWE superstar. I love the fact he made his dream come true. Of course I start singing along with his theme song because it’s so damn catchy and he introduces his rookie, Alex Riley. The guy looks like a real douche and his wearing a Varsity letterman’s jacket with no sleeves. These two are definitely a good fit. They’re already acting like BFFs.
Out next is Mr. Beautiful, John Morrison, and he’s dressed in his ring attire. He is gorgeous, and chiseled, and basically the perfect male specimen…
Ahem.
John Morrison is out and he introduces his rookie, a beast with a retarded name. Eli Cottonwood walks out and he stands over seven feet tall. This guy will probably lose early but since he’s big and scary, and apparently a little unstable he’ll no doubt make the main roster once all is said and done. Cody Rhodes is out third and he doesn’t even look happy. He’s got a mic just like all the pros, but he seems to be at a loss of what to say. Finally the young Mr. Rhodes just shakes his head and sadly announces Husky Harris as his rookie. Husky comes out with a wicked little grin on his face and he starts slapping the hands of the fans. Cody trails behind, looking miserable and emo. This should be a fun pairing as well.
Laycool are up next and to be honest, they actually get a nice amount of heat. They look freakin’ gorgeous might I add in their matching dresses. They’ve got their championship belts with them and both girls sport huge smiles. Michelle has the microphone and she proudly announces that here comes the rookie we’ve all been waiting for. Layla grabs her real quick and asks her how to pronounce his name and then both girls scream “heeeeeeere’s Kavaaaaaaaal!” They giggle and turn around to greet him in true flawless fashion. They rub his head, fuss over him, and then give him their belts to carry as they make their way to the ring. Kaval doesn’t seem pleased by this and lets the belts drop from his shoulders as he follows behind Laycool. Layla turns around and sees he’s not holding up the titles and begins to scold him, which gets Michelle involved as well. Kaval seems to tune them out and ends up getting an earful as they enter the ring.
Amazing.
Mark Henry is out next and tells the world that his rookie is none other than Lucky Cannon. That’s a stupid name as well but this guy is kind of cute so he’s worth noting. According to Michael Cole, Cannon is a former sheriff’s deputy but who cares about that when one has a smile that’s just so fetching? The only other current champion on this season of NXT, Kofi Kingston comes out and he introduces third generation star, Michael McGillicutty. As much as I want to refer to Mr. Perfect’s son by the name Joe Hennig, I’ll refrain. I also think he’s going to end up being Kaval’s biggest competition. The seventh rookie to make his way to the ring is this thing that’s introduced by MVP. No words can do Percy Watson justice but good grief.
Last but certainly not least is someone who really has no qualifications to be a pro, but this is a scripted show so who cares? Mr. Oooooh Radio himself, Zack Ryder, struts out and introduces his rookie, Titus O’Neil. Something tells me Titus isn’t going to join the Zack Pack anytime soon. With everyone in the ring, the camera pans over all the rookie and pro pairings. Layla and Michelle attempt to get into position where no one is touching them, which I find so amusing. Layla even brushes her shoulder off after passing Mark Henry. Striker tells us the rules are different this season and only the pros’ poll only counts for fifty percent of the vote. We get to vote for the other half. Also, NXT is given an ending. Twelve weeks from today, the season two winner will be crowned and in six weeks, the first elimination will take place. The winner still gets a championship match on pay-per-view. Husky steals the microphone from Striker and starts talking some incoherent smack that I don’t care to decipher via the rewind button but it leads to the rookies getting in each others faces. Laycool tries to keep Kaval away from this drama but things escalate and the girls get out of the ring. NXT fades to commercial with the promise of rookie and pro action once we return.
When the show resumes, Josh Mathews and Cole are talking about the horrid actions of the season one guys from the night before. They put them and the destruction over, yet again, and Cole talks about how he escaped through the crowd and how emotional all the fans were. I love how they only talk about Cena being injured when Punk and Gallows were laid out as well, but whatever. The first match of season two is a pros and rookie tag team match featuring Beauty and the Beast against Ryder and O’Neil. The remaining pros are sitting on the stage, clipboards and pens in hand, taking notes on the action. The match is basically dominated by Cottonwood’s size and Morrison’s flash in the early going but eventually Ryder gets the upper hand on Morrison and tags in his rookie. Morrison takes over and Cottonwood gets rid of Ryder. Morrison hits Starship Pain and picks up the win for their team.
As they’re announced as the winners, a new voice fills our television screens. Jamie Keyes from Florida Championship Wrestling has made her debut as ring announcer so let me take this moment to say welcome aboard, Jamie. Now maybe Savannah can wrestle. Striker gets in the ring and Morrison says some words about his charge and the fans give it a mixed reaction. The pros are allowed to speak and unfortunately, Laycool isn’t asked their opinion. The Miz speaks up and he’s a dick, which doesn’t surprise anyone. He tells Morrison and Cottonwood that they failed and Cole starts to be annoying again. The show goes to a video package featuring the Miz’s rookie Alex Riley, and yeah he’s totally a douche. He’s probably going to be competition for Kaval and Laycool as well.
The second match of the night is another pro and rookie tag team match. Husky Harris (who is the son of IRS) and Cody Rhodes are taking on Percy Watson and MVP. I still can’t even begin to describe Watson so I won’t even try. He’s certainly special to say the least, and he ends up winning along with MVP. That’s disappointing, but what can you do? The pros are once again asked their opinion by Matt Striker in the ring. Cody is frustrated and MVP is glowing like a mother who just held her newborn baby for the very first time. We get introduced to another rookie and this time it’s McGillicutty. We go to commercial once that’s finished and when we return, all the pros and rookies are in the ring and they’re lined up to face each other. Our girls are on the end closest to the dominant camera.
Striker tells us we’re now going to watch what happened last night on Raw, and it saddens me that I wasted nine precious minutes on YouTube earlier watching the attack in it’s entirety. I’ll never get that nine minutes back and neither will anyone else. Everyone in the ring looks kind of somber, as if they’re all trying to digest exactly what happened last night. It was shocking to say the least. Striker goes to the rookies and decides to ask them their thoughts on what happened. He goes to our man Kaval first and Kaval says it’s simply unbelievable. He says it’s unbelievable that they went and did that, but that’s how you make an impact in the WWE. I suppose that means he condones it and well, I’m with him. Striker looks disgusted but he’s probably mad because he got attacked. Lucky Cannon says its cowardly but he agrees it was a great way to make a statement. Husky Harris doesn’t care what happened last night. He just wants to win this season. Alex Riley sneezes into the microphone and makes a stupid comment, which just annoys Matty. He goes down to the line and stops at Percy who is really just annoying the shit out of me tonight.
Percy Watson = The new Heath Slater
The creep Eli says John Cena deserved everything he got and he moved up a notch on my ranking system for that. Titus O’Neil speaks next and his mic skills are horrible. What he says makes no sense but he calls out Zack Ryder and basically threatens his life. That pisses off the pros and now McGillicutty is speaking. Apparently what he says isn’t important because Striker cuts him off and talks about the prevailing lockerroom concern over the unprovoked attack. The pros agree and Striker wraps it up and welcomes the NXT rookies to the WWE. Laycool starts to celebrate and Layla sashays over to Kaval. She wraps him in a hug which prompts Michelle to slap him right across the face for touching her BFF. Layla screams and slaps Kaval as well, and the two girls high five and run out of the ring while the male pros start wiping the floor with their rookies. It’s poetry in motion as the rookies are initiated into the company and I can’t help but smile knowing Laycool started it off. Great, great first episode of the new NXT.
I’m not sure if I could have asked for a better introduction tonight. Obviously Laycool aren’t going to be able to compete in tag matches unless the WWE totally pulls a fast one over on us. I didn’t mind watching them sit back tonight and relax. I strongly believe that Kaval is one of the favorites for this season and I love the fact these girls are getting this push along with him. The brief Lay-Kav-Ool moments we got tonight were nothing short of hilarious and you really have to feel for Kaval. He’s going to have his hands full with the co-Women’s Champions and I think that’s why they were all paired together. He’s definitely very business like and Laycool are just fun and girly. I love that they forced him to hold their titles tonight and I love it even more that he held them, but not the way they wanted. They fussed and fussed at him, and he just kept walking, ignoring everything that they were saying. It pretty much set the tone for how the relationship is going to work and I have to admit, I’m more excited for Laycool and Kaval than any other pair on NXT this season. That’s definitely not my bias talking either. I really like the dynamic Rhodes and Harris have, and I’m a huge fan of Joe Hennig, errr Michael McGillicutty. But there’s just something about Lay-Kav-Ool that’s special and I’m so, so glad that us the fans get to vote this season.
The brawl at the end was fitting. I don’t know about you guys, but I was positively flabbergasted when the season one guys basically destroyed everything in their path. It should put everyone on edge and Striker hit the nail on the head when he said there is an immediate concern in the lockerroom because of this. It was the hottest thing to happen on Raw in a very long time and it’s setting up this season of NXT very carefully. The pros carefully plotted an attack on their rookies to put them in their place and it kicked off with Laycool slapping Kaval. They sold it in a catty, fun way that only they could and Kaval never saw it coming. It seems to me that Laycool is definitely going to be in the thick of things and that suits me just fine!
To cap off what has become an epic recap I’m going to leave you guys with the records of the rookies so far. We’ll make sure we know who to ice out of the voting process when it comes down to us, haha. Remember, we want to make Laycool the winning pros.
– Kaval (0-0)
– Husky Harris (0-1)
– Michael McGillicutty (0-0)
– Percy Watson (1-0)
– Titus O’Neil (0-1)
– Eli Cottonwood (1-0)
– Alex Riley (0-0)
– Lucky Cannon (0-0)
