Quick Results:
Darren Young (#8) defeated Daniel Bryan (#1) with a roll up. Daniel Bryan is now 0-7.
Justin Gabriel (#3) defeated Michael Tarver (#7) with the 450 Splash. (Tarver is now 0-5 - "entering Daniel Bryan territory!" said Michael Cole)
Wade Barrett (#2) defeated David Otunga (#5) with his fireman's carry front slam.
Kane defeated Heath Slater (#3) with the chokeslam. (I could swear Cole called the win as "Kane with a win over a very gay Heath Slater!" but no, he said "very game".)
Not a Pro in sight this week, which turned into a positive as the NXT Rookies got a ton of mic time. I think everyone got to at least say something to the live audience if not cut a promo.
Skip Sheffield turned heel during his promo (later, Josh Mathews mocked his Twitter, pointing out all of his Tweets are about what he's eating. He also inferred Sheffield is the least intelligent Rookie after Cole rightly praised the intelligence of Wade Barrett's blogs.)
Another new wrinkle in the ever-being-figured-out-as-they-go-along nature of NXT is that now, each week, there will be a physical competition.
This week, there was a full beer keg that the Rookies had to haul around the ring and back up the entrance ramp. Fast time wins, which turned out to be 12 seconds set by Heath Slater. His prize was a main event match with Kane, who took on and trounced all eight Rookies on Smackdown last week.
Striker claimed that each week's physical competition would test the physical and mental toughness of each Rookie. So this week's Keg Challenge tested the Rookies to see who had the physical and mental toughness to set up a Stone Cold Steve Austin beer sketch from 1998.
A big plus is that the live audience responded to the Rookies quite a bit this week. The crowd was into the competition, especially when Tarver acted like a total heel after he dropped the keg and was DQ'd. The crowd rained a "You suck!" chant on him. Otunga also got heel heat from his abandoning Cena on RAW, and Gabriel and Bryan got their usual positive responses.
Still, the new competition aspect is WWE Creative reaching into an old bag of tricks. NXT has now turned into the Diva Search. When will the Rookies have to eat pie and tickle Kamala?
Finally, Michael Cole was absolutely phenomenal this week. Seriously, he was all over Daniel Bryan, calling him every petty name in the book, mocking his Twitter, his blogs, his size, everything. He was actually totally hilarious.
Not since Jerry Lawler absolutely despised Bret Hart in the early 90's and murdered him on commentary each week has an announcer totally had it out for a wrestler like this. I find it really, really funny. Cole is the most entertaining thing on NXT.
Right now, Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole is my Feud of the Year.
Darren Young (#8) defeated Daniel Bryan (#1) with a roll up. Daniel Bryan is now 0-7.
Justin Gabriel (#3) defeated Michael Tarver (#7) with the 450 Splash. (Tarver is now 0-5 - "entering Daniel Bryan territory!" said Michael Cole)
Wade Barrett (#2) defeated David Otunga (#5) with his fireman's carry front slam.
Kane defeated Heath Slater (#3) with the chokeslam. (I could swear Cole called the win as "Kane with a win over a very gay Heath Slater!" but no, he said "very game".)
Not a Pro in sight this week, which turned into a positive as the NXT Rookies got a ton of mic time. I think everyone got to at least say something to the live audience if not cut a promo.
Skip Sheffield turned heel during his promo (later, Josh Mathews mocked his Twitter, pointing out all of his Tweets are about what he's eating. He also inferred Sheffield is the least intelligent Rookie after Cole rightly praised the intelligence of Wade Barrett's blogs.)
Another new wrinkle in the ever-being-figured-out-as-they-go-along nature of NXT is that now, each week, there will be a physical competition.
This week, there was a full beer keg that the Rookies had to haul around the ring and back up the entrance ramp. Fast time wins, which turned out to be 12 seconds set by Heath Slater. His prize was a main event match with Kane, who took on and trounced all eight Rookies on Smackdown last week.
Striker claimed that each week's physical competition would test the physical and mental toughness of each Rookie. So this week's Keg Challenge tested the Rookies to see who had the physical and mental toughness to set up a Stone Cold Steve Austin beer sketch from 1998.
A big plus is that the live audience responded to the Rookies quite a bit this week. The crowd was into the competition, especially when Tarver acted like a total heel after he dropped the keg and was DQ'd. The crowd rained a "You suck!" chant on him. Otunga also got heel heat from his abandoning Cena on RAW, and Gabriel and Bryan got their usual positive responses.
Still, the new competition aspect is WWE Creative reaching into an old bag of tricks. NXT has now turned into the Diva Search. When will the Rookies have to eat pie and tickle Kamala?
Finally, Michael Cole was absolutely phenomenal this week. Seriously, he was all over Daniel Bryan, calling him every petty name in the book, mocking his Twitter, his blogs, his size, everything. He was actually totally hilarious.
Not since Jerry Lawler absolutely despised Bret Hart in the early 90's and murdered him on commentary each week has an announcer totally had it out for a wrestler like this. I find it really, really funny. Cole is the most entertaining thing on NXT.
Right now, Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Cole is my Feud of the Year.
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