With the big debut of WWE NXT last night came reactions as well. Here's a sampling:
Rich Twilling
Good match and good showing for Daniel Bryan. I actually believed Jericho might have tapped out. So far, I like the show. It feels like a reality show and the idea is to really feel for the rookies being in the position they are in, and they succeeded with this viewer. I'm curious to see how long this format will remain interesting. I thought they did wonders with Miz and Bryan tonight.Totally disagree with the "reality show" feel comment. It felt like a regular WWE show with some different stuff sprinkled in. It didn't feel like I was watching Jersey Shore or Next Food Network Star, but in a way, that's a good thing.
Chris Jericho
NXT was pretty cool. Daniel Bryan and Wade Barrett will be stars. However, Punks guy has the worst hair I've ever seen....Jericho also retorted mockingly to someone who whined about him being too stiff with Danielson last night. The whiner deserved it. I mean, people don't realize that Danielson has been in matches that would make the one last night look like gay porn.
Cox813 of Cageside Seats
Overall, it was a decent hour of wrestling. It seemed like there might have been timing issues, as there were a TNA-esque amount of commercial breaks in the last half hour, which hurt the flow of the show, but there was enough different between the sit-down interviews, the crane camera, and the hyped "pros vs. rookies" conflict to where it felt like it wasn't standard WWE fare. We'll see how long they are able to keep that feeling, but for now, the show feels fresh.Yeah, the RAW Rebound and the commercials really hurt the end of the show from a timing standpoint. I think if they had combined the two shorter commercial breaks into a slightly longer one, it might have helped things leading into the match.
Good Ol' JR
Enjoyed NXT..thought the announcing had an interesting edge. Adding some sizzle & attitude to commentary nice, new element.The announcing was probably the freshest thing on the show.
In another intriguing note, Michael Cole has removed his profile from the WWE Universe page because he doesn't want to associate with us Internet fans. God bless them for really going all out with this angle.
They need to remove that short camera from the ringside. That was a horrible view. They should do it all via steadycam at ringside, UFC style. That short camera was awful.
ReplyDeleteJericho ought to have squashed Bryan. Not because Daniel Bryan is bad, I'm a huge Danielson fan, but Jericho is the World champion and this makes him look weak at the same time that it makes Bryan look strong. Jericho's already had a series of tainted wins. To actually compete with a guy who is supposed to be a rookie doesn't do much to build him up going forward to Wrestlemania.
ReplyDeleteIf Bryan had had that competitive match against someone like Evan Bourne, even one of the other Pros, I would have been all about it. I did like the match itself. I just don't think they're doing Jericho a lot of favors.
Their match was under 10 minutes long. it was a squash match by 80's and early 90's standards. Sadly the fast-food wrestling on RAW had made 5 minute matches the norm I guess for people.
ReplyDeleteIt went just as long as the tag match, the Otunga match was too quick for two rookies wrestling unless they're going to give Otunga a Umaga who can talk on the mic type gimmick when they're done.
I disagree, actually. I thought that it more put Danielson over than it did bury Jericho. They needed to come out and give people a reason to care about these rookies and not just tune in to see what R-Truth or Christian are doing on Tuesdays. Presenting them as strong wrestlers does that.
ReplyDeleteLike RJ said, the match didn't go more than 6 minutes and Bryan tapped pretty easily to the Walls (ORIGINAL LIONTAMER~!), but I don't think it hurts Jericho one bit to have a little bit of trouble against a guy whom no one except Michael Cole was denying had the wrestling chops coming in.
Yeah, the bad thing about that Otunga match really wasn't the two wrestlers, it was that there was one real move in the minute that it lasted... and that move looked awful and awkward.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Bryan should be pushed after this in feuds with guys like Punk and Miz. God help me, it looks like they might do right by that man!
It was an interesting show. A definite good debut, I think. Danielson's heel hook was glorious. With the way he was built up this past week and with Jericho's selling, it made me think Jericho might actually tap. They could have something special with Miz/Bryan. I have a feeling the powers that be will be mad about Bryan's smiling. It was like he was cutting an American Dolphins promo with a blazed Paul London. On the plus side, Daniel came off as anything but bland. Wade Barrett left a very good first impression. He sure can talk. I'm thinking Punk's guy is there mainly as a punchline. I'm hoping Hardy's guy will make up for not having Low Ki on this show. The new camera angle reminded me of old Shotgun Saturday Night's filmed on location. It made the show feel different, but I didn't love it. I dreaded having Matthews and Cole on the show and Striker relegated to backstage interviews, but it worked for the first episode. I vividly remember Josh having one match on Smackdown though around 03 or 04.
ReplyDeleteI got two words for you
ReplyDeleteGOOGLE ME.
"I have a feeling the powers that be will be mad about Bryan's smiling. It was like he was cutting an American Dolphins promo with a blazed Paul London."
ReplyDeleteDoes everyone have a copy of the script?! I don't want to sound like a douche, but why does everybody seem to think that Danielson wasn't supposed to react the way he did?
If someone were to slap you, especially in the context of which it happened to Danielson, you're probably more likely to laugh and be like "WTF is this guy's problem" versus crying or something.
Just sayin.
And I mean no harm.
Because I love the Hybrid Dolphins too.
Danielson/Jericho was fine. Jericho showed his experience in WWE rings(by flinging Danielson into the announcer's table off the tope), and showed his dominance by catching Daniel with his codebreaker right into the walls of jericho.
ReplyDeleteWhich I loved that it was the classic variation.
Although telling people that Daniel Brian doesn't have any personality is kind of cutting yourself off at the knees, no?