Here we go with the third edition of NXT, coming to us live from Seattle, Washington. I wonder if Greg “The Hammer” Valentine is in the audience.
1. One thing bothers me about this show. If Matt Striker is the “host” the show why does he have such a limited role? It seems that he should be one of the people that drives action on the show and relays information and not the announce team.
2. I like the continuity of the tag team storyline from Raw in the Otunga/R-Truth-Miz/Bryan match. We get a nice Virgil-Ted DiBiase feel between Miz and Bryan and it’s getting Bryan over with the crowd.
3. I don’t understand why Michael Cole keeps talking about how the Miz is so crucial for Bryan’s success on the show. Does the Miz have that much pull in the back? Looking at the array of pros on this show I’d significantly doubt it.
4. The tag team match started well but died after the commercial break. However, nice rub for Otunga to pin the U.S. champion.
5. Having Heath Slater discuss Carlito’s apple spitting incident last week with serious music in the background was pretty hilarious. You’d almost think Carlito beat up Slater’s mother right after he did it.
6. I wish the “WHAT?” chants would die. They really ruin live promos.
7. Great spot to open the Slater-Carlito match with Slater ducking the apple spit. Little things like that make wrestling fun. Carlito’s loss to Slater shows just how far he’s fallen down the WWE food chain.
8. I had made the comment last week about Darren Young looking like John Cena so in keeping with that reasoning I found this picture:
9. Again, I really love the Johnny Cash music for the HBK-Undertaker match at WrestleMania. Using “Be Yourself” for WrestleMania is a bit puzzling, though. They used that song for the Diva Search several years ago and it doesn’t convey the seriousness of the show (or the Cena-Batista feud) feud for that matter.
10. I loved Jericho pulling a Jim Cornette during the main event and yelling at the camera about how Barrett is his protege and how great of a job he’s doing as a pro. Also, who would have thought Matt Hardy’s rookie would be 2-0 right now?
Overall, not a bad show. Nothing special but nothing atrocious either which is what I’ve come to expect week in and week out. I expect to see some political lobbying by some of the rookies in subsequent weeks, though, so that they can emerge victorious on the show and earn the votes of the pros involved.
