Kaval wins NXT, a giant lady may or may not show on WWE TV and The Anvil finds himself in some hot water.
Opening Witty Banter
I hope you are all having a fantastic Labor Day. As I write this I’m coming down from the fun of a pre-Labor Day Sunday funday so forgive errors and brevity. Besides there was literally nothing going on in the E this week.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
Kaval was crowned the winner of WWE NXT season two this past week live on the SyFy Channel.
For winning this season he will receive a Championship match of his choosing at an upcoming WWE pay per view and earn the moniker of the company’s “Next Breakout Star.†While any of top three could have easily won, Kaval was never not in the top 3 when it comes the season’s Pros’ Polls.
After the introductions of the Rookies and Pros, the three remaining Rookies (Kaval, Mike McGillicutty and Alex Riley) battled each other in a triple threat match. Kaval hit McGillicutty with a Rolling Liger Kick and then went to the top rope to hit with the Warrior’s Way. But Riley pushed Kaval off the top rope and stole the pin on McGillicutty, making himself the winner.
Throughout the night, there were two eliminations. Before the first one, the five eliminated Rookies from season two (Titus O’Neil, Eli Cottonwood, Lucky Cannon, Percy Watson and Husky Harris) were all interviewed in order to give their thoughts on who should won, with everyone either picking Riley or McGillicutty. However in the first elimination it was Alex Riley who was eliminated. In his exit interview, he not surprisingly insulted his two remaining competitors and promised he would still be the future of WWE, despite not winning NXT.
Kaval and McGillicutty got a chance to speak face to face one more time before the second elimination and Kaval was chosen as the winner. After the announcement was made, McGillicutty got a chance to say his final words as Kaval celebrated with his Pros, Michelle McCool and Layla. Then once Kaval got a chance to give his victory speech, the seven eliminated Rookies attacked him. The Pros intervened and it turned into a wild brawl, with Kaval ending up receiving the finishers from his seven fellow competitors.
Season three will begin next week in the current NXT timeslot, 9 PM CST, on the SyFy Network. However unlike the first two seasons, this shortened season will feature a cast of all Diva Rookies. Not much is known about the season three Rookies, but Jamie Keyes has been seen on NXT recently as the show’s ring announcer. Also, Aloisia is a legit 6’9 and will definitely turn some heads.
Season Three Rookies and Pros:
Naomi Knight, who will be mentored by Kelly Kelly
Maxine, who will be mentored by Alicia Fox
Aksana, who will be mentored by Goldust
Jamie Keyes, who will be mentored by Nikki & Brie Bella
AJ Lee, who will be mentored by Primo
Aloisia, who will be mentored by Vickie Guerreo
Congrats to Kaval! He was easily the most deserving of the Rookies to win. While Mike and Riley both were fairly deserving, it was obvious that Kaval was the most polished of them all and dare I say improved on the mic during his NXT tenure. I look for both Mike and Riley to be called up soon enough. As for the rest, Husky Harris impressed and entertained me more and more each week and I want to see him continue in his role as Cody Rhodes’ heavy. Percy Watson impressed me out of the shoot but then impressed me less and less as things went on. He should still have a role as a great mid-card babyface act that pops the crowd. If I never see the other again I won’t shed a tear, considering I was fan of Lucky Cannon’s back when he was Johnny Prime in FCW.
But speaking of NXT season 3, WWE.com announced that Aloisia won’t be on the show.
From WWE.com:
“WWE Pro Vickie Guerrero has fired her NXT season three Rookie Diva, Aloisia.
Various sources are reporting that Guerrero, the temperamental Official Consultant of SmackDown, had an argument with her 6-foot-9 Rookie Diva over Vickie’s influence over Aloisia.
The news has left WWE NXT season three shaken before it’s even started. But when reached for comment, Guerrero stated she would reveal her new Rookie Diva on the WWE NXT season three premiere this Tuesday night at 10 p.m. ET on Syfy.â€
On her official Twitter account, Aloisia writes “no comment. Just know there is absolutely NO replacing ME. We ALL know there is just 1 of me in the ENTIRE world & I’ll be back.â€
Much Daniel Bryan’s firing back in June, no one seems to know for sure if this work or shoot. All of her marketing has been removed from the NXT season 3 on wwe.com. PWTorch says that, “the quiet removal prompted speculation that Aloisa had already been cut from WWE shortly after she began working in developmental.†While others have said that officials just felt she was too green to be TV.
Okay, this seems like a work to me. When you have a legit 6’9 monster of a woman, why shoehorn into a show like NXT when she has a ready-made spot on the roster. WWE has never worried before about their ladies being under talented. I mean The Bellas and friggin Kelly are Pros this season; that should tell you what they think right there. I fully expect Vickie to bring out someone new as her Rookie and it will allow Aloisia to come out on NXT or SmackDown on her own as her own character and do The Great Khali thing. This season is going to be a train wreck. I can’t for all those four star mixed tag matches featuring Goldust carrying Primo and two females.
The new word on the street is that the plan is to once again re-unify all the company’s championships over the course of the year, leading to one Heavyweight, one Tag Team, one mid-card and one women’s Title. Naturally the Tag belts are already unified and the women’s titles are on their way. The working idea right now is unify the World and WWE Titles at WrestleMania XXVII.
Remember when they unified all the mid-card belts into the Intercontinental Title and then merged that into the World Title back in 2002? Yeah me neither. I have no problem with a merged Women’s and Tag Title with roving Champions. Neither division is stacked enough to sustain two titles. While I like the idea of making one World Champion, as ideally there should only be one face of the company, I wonder how that would affect the company’s almighty bottom line? While one World Champion would simply mean more Cena, Orton and Triple H, have guys like Sheamus, Jack Swagger and Rey Mysterio really set fire as World Champion? But I would keep the two mid-card belts. If you are going to keep two touring companies, then it makes sense to keep a singles Champion on each show that doesn’t rove like the rest of the Titleholders. And while they are at it, why not reinstate the Cruiserweight Championship for old times sake? With legit guys like Rey Mysterio, Kaval, Daniel Bryan, Evan Bourne and Chavo Guerrero dotting the roster alongside guys like Primo, Yoshi Tatsu, The Dudebusters and Zack Ryder, there is more than enough to keep a Champion entertaining and busy.
In breaking news just as this and I were about to go to bed, I found that former two-time WWF World Tag Team Champion and father of The Hart Dynasty’s Natalya Neidhart, Jim “The Anvil†Neidhart, was arrested on Sunday morning after causing a ruckus at a gas station parking lot in Thonotosassa, Florida. It was reported that he was loud and obnoxious while pumping gas and trying to open a pill bottle at the same time. When the cops arrived, Neidhart argued with them, which lead to them patting him down and finding twenty-eight methodone tablets and ninety-five oxycotin pills on him. Apparently many of the pills were reported as stolen by his neighbors. He was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance, one count of burglary of an occupied dwelling and one count of grand theft. He is being held without bond until his first appearance before a judge. Since it’s Labor Day today, that won’t be until Tuesday.
I really have nothing witty or snarky to say here. It’s too bad to read something like that, but at least it wasn’t a death this time.
The Road to…The Night of Champions
Six Pack Challenge for the WWE Championship
Sheamus (c) v. John Cena v. Edge v. Chris Jericho v. Randy Orton v. Wade Barrett
World Heavyweight Championship
The Undertaker v. Kane (c)
WWE Divas Championship versus WWE Women’s Championship Unification Match
Melina v. Layla
expected matches:
Kofi Kingston versus Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Title
Daniel Bryan versus The Miz for the US Championship
The Hart Dynasty versus John Morrison/R-Truth versus Drew McIntyre/Cody Rhodes for the Tag Titles
Wrestler of the Week
Week of August 30 – September 5: Kaval
Yeah so for once the right guy won and Kaval came out as the “next breakout†star in season 2 of NXT. While both Mike McGillicutty and Alex Riley were worthy opponents and worthy winners as well, it’s great to see Kaval get international exposure like this after over a decade of experience. In addition he gets love from me for teaming with his fellow Internet sensation Daniel Bryan on RAW. Even in the loss it was worth it just to see. I’ll take tag teams I’d never thought I’d see on RAW for $1000, Alex.
RAW’s On Tonight!
Really nothing is set for tonight’s RAW but with only a couple weeks before The Night of Champions, surely all stories should point to that show. The Nexus defeated Sheamus and the top four contenders for the WWE Championship last week on RAW so there should be plenty to continue that storyline heading into the upcoming Six Pack Challenge. Plus Melina looks to unify her Divas Title with Layla’s Women’s Title. Will LayCool make an appearance tonight. Plus Miz is still Mr. Money in the Bank and still needs a challenger for his US Championship at Night of Champions. Will Daniel Bryan make his challenge official tonight? Or will the Internet really lose their minds if Daniel Bryan gets to team with Evan Bourne and/or Kaval tonight in another Internet dream team? Plus expect some time wasting comedy and much more on the longest running weekly episodic action adventure pseudo-sports live cartoon series on television.
On Last Week’s Episode…
Bunkhouse Buck~! sighting on SmackDown.
Tim and Kelly cover a Superstars with really solid Goldust-DiBiase and Kingston-Guerrero matches.
Ivan and Logan get to cover arguably the worst show-closing beatdown in WWE history on NXT. I thought Lucky Cannon was going to kill poor Kaval with that move he tried to hit on him.
Marshall, Pruett and Wheeler do the honors on the most boring 900th episode ever.
How They Rated
SmackDown! (8.20.10) – 1.7
Superstars (8.26.10) – .59
A.M. RAW (8.29.10) – .57
RAW (8.30.10) – 3.5
NXT (8.31.10) – 1.02
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Logan wraps up the year of RAW in 1995 with TELL ME A LIE~! There it is.
Logan then dives headfirst into the glorious of 1994 and Superstars of Wrestling. It’s great stuff.
Mark has been a columnist for Pulse Wrestling for over three years now, evolving from his original “Historically Speaking†commentary-style column into his current Monday morning powerhouse known as “This Week in ‘E.†He also contributes to other ventures, outside of IP, most notably as the National Pro Wrestling Examiner for Examiner.com and a contributor for The Wrestling Press. Follow me on Twitter here.
