WWE NXT's debut show, like Vince McMahon promised, delivered something that I never thought any show could possibly have done.
They made Michael Cole interesting and sound innovative.
No, seriously, dead seriously. I groaned when I saw him and Josh "Dead-Air" Matthews would be the on-air staff, but both guys were tolerable and damn well good. Cole especially during the Bryan/Jericho match (yes, they put Bryan Freaking Danielson against the World Champion in his first WWE match... more on that later), when he was HEELING IT UP TO THE EXTREME describing how he'd never heard of Daniel Bryan and about how he had no charisma. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the heel play-by-play announcer. That in and of itself is innovation.
But enough about Cole, what about the rooks, you say? Well, it was a mixed bag. First, we start with Bryan. I can almost hear every corner of the Internet bitching and moaning about how he was "buried" because he was bitch-slapped by Miz and then jobbed to Jericho while Michael Cole was cackling about his inexperience. The way I saw it was completely different. The guy carried himself like a star for the most part. For one, he was proving the scripted material about his lack of charisma wrong all night. His promo delivery is solid, more solid than I came to expect, although I really know him more for his ring work. He came close to making Jericho tap to his heel hook. They built up his character as a submission machine right away to the point where once he slapped on the heel hook, it was like he was already with the company and had established his in-ring MO. And if anything, Cole's attention to him was a device to get him over. Think about it. Cole sounded like a complete smacked-ass in his criticism of Bryan, right? What's the reaction to that kind of outrageous argument? Well, if you don't agree with him, and trust me, the WWE fans over the years have learned to loathe Cole even if by accident, then the stubbornness and zeal of said argument tends to polarize you towards the opposite. The WWE tried their best to get Danielson over as much as they could on his first night, and outside of one glaring flaw, he carried his end of the deal.
Speaking of that flaw... well, I didn't like how he was all smiles, giggles and LOL after Miz slapped him in the face. That not only undermines the credibility of the segment, but it gets you in hot water with Papa Vince. Let's hope that he curtails that, because that can be a major flaw.
Other than that, we didn't get as much of a look at the other five guys featured on the show. Of the limited dosages we got, I liked Wade Barrett the best. They seem to be molding him as a kiss-ass to Jericho. Hopefully his game in the ring is as good as the snippet we saw out of it. Heath Slater seemed to annoy most of the people watching, but he didn't bother me. That being said, I don't see what's so special. Neither did I with Michael Tarver, although I must say, they didn't really stink it up in the ring in their tag match (Slater and Christian vs. Tarver and Carlito). Christian and Carlito actually rebounded from their match last night, which is good. Darren Young didn't really show much except that he was trying to get Punk's attention. Punk's aside-promo before the match kinda set up that that's going to be the vibe for this season, which is good I suppose, but do we really need to have tension for more than one or two of the couplings? (Jericho seemed annoyed at Barrett's kiss-assiness) Finally, there's David Otunga, who showed some douchebag charisma in his promo segment (Batista would have been a great mentor!), but man, the little bit I saw of him in his squashing of Young was pretty bad. If that spinebuster thing is going to be his finisher, well, he's gonna have to learn to use it better. Sad thing is, that might not matter, as his physique and whom he's engaged to may short-track him to the roster.
One other thing I want to mention is the camera angles. They used a lot more close-up angles, like they didn't want to show the apron or the ringside area too much. To me it seemed a bit cutesy, like they were trying too hard to distinguish NXT from the other shows. However, I'll give it some time to get used to.
After one week, I can see the promise. Their big focus is definitely on the right guy (Bryan), and I think that the other guys and partnerships might have promise as well. This may all change when we get Fat Hardy on screen, but things are looking up so far. Hopefully, they keep it up. Good work.
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