WWE NXT First Episode(SPOILERS)

waltersobchak

WWE NXT:



Michael Cole & Josh Matthews are NXT announcers.

Miz is backstage and told Daniel Bryan to come and cut a promo in front of the crowd to introduce himself. Dragon out now!

Bryan apologized for Miz being his pro. He said he wanted Regal. He came out and introduced himself. Miz interrupted and they had a great exchange ending with Miz slapping Bryan. Dragon more than held his own.

Matt Striker was backstage for an interview with Bryan, who said some day he will slap Miz back and he slaps harder. Striker tells him he'll have to listen to Miz.

Christian & Heath Slater d. Michael Tarver & Carlito. Christian hit The Unprettier on Tarver for win.

They showed promotional videos on the rookies befor their matches.

David Otunga d. Darren Young in about a minute. I missed the finisher. CM Punk walked out on Young after match.

Main Event: Chris Jericho d. Daniel Bryan with a codebreaker & a Lion Tamer. Really good match.

Miz beat the hell out of Bryan af


w
Was a decent enough show, matches where way too short. The Jericho/Danielson match was good but again very short. Unlike ECW were the Main Events where always given good time.. Michael Coles commentary was horrific.. Josh Matthews was awesome, gave Cole loads of abuse which was pretty funny.
the match

Jolt2007

Random thoughts: Fun little show. That rookie Daniel Bryan sure looked small beside the rest of the rookies at the start but he showed some potential as a plucky young underdog. Could be the new Sean Waltman. Enjoyed seeing the Lion Tamer again. Wade Barrett and David Otunga are going to make it big. Both talked great and looked great, and what else matters? Punk sure was fun looking well peeved with Darren Young, who I honestly can't tell if he's black of used far too much fake tan Cole was just weird as hell. Could be fun hearing him get more angry and heelish each week before he gets kicked off by a returning commentating legend

Sean Mooney *fingers crossed*

As for the other two, Tarver wasn't that bad, but not that good either. Slater has X Pac heat with me, but when all is said and done all that were on this week have characters and they all got to show personality which is quite the novel new concept indeed. The only real negative was the camera work got a bit too wonky and all over the place at times. Thumbs up from me so far.

JP Liz V1

Jericho v Daniel sounds good

rossie1977

i thought coles commentary especially during the jericho and danielson match was hilarious

Handsome Bob

Originally posted by LZ5by5
I imagine it could be a rather "staged" reality TV show, I think they'll portray The Miz and Danielson as the pair that won't get on and seeing whether or not they'll co-operate will lead to the "big drama" every week on the show. It could even end up as a prelude to a Danielson/Miz feud.

waltersobchak wrote: »

Miz is backstage and told Daniel Bryan to come and cut a promo in front of the crowd to introduce himself. Dragon out now!

Bryan apologized for Miz being his pro. He said he wanted Regal. He came out and introduced himself. Miz interrupted and they had a great exchange ending with Miz slapping Bryan. Dragon more than held his own.

Miz beat the hell out of Bryan

I hate being right. I knew they wouldn't have Danielson play the nice little rookie getting on perfectly with The Miz.

Gerard.C

Danielson was brilliant as usual. That Heath Slater lad is never going to win me over. What a gimp

waltersobchak

Gerard.C wrote: »

Danielson was brilliant as usual. That Heath Slater lad is never going to win me over. What a gimp

He definitely came across like a dope, might have been better for him if he was a heel, because there's not really much to like about him tbh

Gerard.C

waltersobchak wrote: »

He definitely came across like a dope, might have been better for him if he was a heel, because there's not really much to like about him tbh

He's a face???

gimmick

Ya, he seemed annoying and was most certainly a face. That gimmick will not get him over in a million years though.

Jericho Vs Dragon made me happy. Gave Dragon a very good showing. I think they will pull the trigger with him alright.

waltersobchak

gimmick wrote: »

Ya, he seemed annoying and was most certainly a face. That gimmick will not get him over in a million years though.

Jericho Vs Dragon made me happy. Gave Dragon a very good showing. I think they will pull the trigger with him alright.

Jericho really was the perfect first opponent for him, because no other Main Eventer in WWE puts the younger guys over like Jericho does.. Cant fu*cking wait for Dragon/Regal now..

Actually love how WWE are acknowledging Dragon's past, thats really smart, they did that with CM Punk too and when he debuted at Hammerstein Ballroom he was a bona fide star.. kinda worked with Danielson lasted night, but his promo's really won the crowd over.
Also loved how he's still the American Dragon in WWE, we'll judging from the ring attire anyways.

rossie1977

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iS2KUMZu2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiewksssVDA

Gerard.C

Jesus I didnt realise he was a face at all, he was so annoying I just assumed he was a heel.

I was thinking earlier - this is the first series of NXT, right? For the second series, what are the chances of them bringing in another American Dragon for it. Say, Austin Aries or Tyler Black or someone along them lines. This series could actually be fantastic for the WWE in the long term

rossie1977

Gerard.C wrote: »

Jesus I didnt realise he was a face at all, he was so annoying I just assumed he was a heel.

I was thinking earlier - this is the first series of NXT, right? For the second series, what are the chances of them bringing in another American Dragon for it. Say, Austin Aries or Tyler Black or someone along them lines. This series could actually be fantastic for the WWE in the long term

they will only bring in guys from fcw, can never see aries in wwe personally

expect to see the likes of kaval, joe hennig, the young dibiase lad in the next series, already announced for next series though

waltersobchak

Danielsons injuries
http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/photos/13610194/danielbryaninjury/

I loved Bryan v Jericho and The Miz as his mentor is great.

jaykhunter

Jay Hunter wrote: »

Finished watched the inaugural episode of NXT. It is not ECW, and it's not a reality show, it's an odd but enjoyable mix of the two. This week was really just to introduce most of the mentors and rookies.

Click here for the mentor/rookie pairings (pics) :

Here's the general concept :
There are 8 mentors and 8 rookies.
The rookies have matches in either singles or tags (with their mentors).
They'll get time for wrestling and promos, and interacting with each other/the mentors/the crowd.
Michael Cole and Josh Matthew commentate, and Matt Striker is the backstage reporter/does some commentary.
The ropes are white!
The rookies come out to their mentor's music.
The "winner" of the season gets a spot on RAW or SmackDown.

Here's what happened on this episode :

Bryan was singled out immediately backstage, as the Miz made him cut a promo in the ring. Danielson looks so green with his short haircut and clean shave. He's also the smallest out of the NXT rookies. Bryan cuts a weak-ish babyface promo, but also disrespects Miz by saying he's been wrestling for twice as long as he has, and wished Regal was his mentor. (Regal did train Bryan, and gave him his boots and tights - which is why Danielson wears purple). Miz interrupted him and admonished his lack of charisma. He made Bryan come up with a catchphrase - which Bryan stole from Kurt Angle - saying he can either "tap or snap". Miz slapped Bryan and left the ring.

Backstage, Bryan again disrespected Miz (while staying face) as Striker condemned his words.

Whenever a new NXT rookie came out, there'd be a promotional video explaining the background and the character.

Carlito and Michael Tarver (the boxer) vs Christian & Heath Slater (red-haired 'rocker')
The two rookies wrestled fine, just a little sloppy, but nothing bad. They had no big moves. There was usually at least one veteran in the ring. In the end Christian hit Tarver with the Killswitch and the win. Heath celebrated by waving his arms about which was pretty funny.

David Otunga (w/ R-Truth) vs Darren Young (w/ CM Punk)
Otunga's the "MVP" of Hollywood, and Young is a "partier" in contrast to CM Punk. Punk's taken an immediate dislike to Young. This was a squash. Otunga hit an awkward spinebuster on Young for the win. Otunga's jakked; he's huge, like a shorter version of Big Zeke.

Chris Jericho (w/Wade Barrett - the bare knuckle boxer) comes out to face Daniel Bryan! Wow!

Main Event : Chris Jericho vs Daniel Bryan
Jericho makes Barrett introduce him; but he takes his time, and Jericho gives out to him (which seemed pretty real). Miz comes out but Bryan lightly shoves him, running past. Miz is not amused! During the match, Striker asks Wade what he's learning from Jericho. He kind of dodges the question and so Striker asks him again. Wade shakes his head afterwards like he's messed up. (Looked real!) Danielson tries a suicide dive through the ropes but Jericho turns it and Danielson's back hits the commentators' desk. Looked pretty bad!

Jericho and Bryan have an ok match, with Jericho in control of most of it. At one point Bryan counters the walls with a kneebar and Jericho really sells it. Jericho gets to the ropes, hits a codebreaker and applies an awesome looking Walls-of-Jericho for the instant tap. Afterwards Miz beats up on Danielson.

Overall :

Good Points
+ Bryan is showcased
+ The idea is pretty fresh
+ The rookie/mentor relationships should prove interesting
+ Otunga was put over strong; in his vignette he cut a very good promo
+ Cole played heelish/real by saying Danielson hasn't done anything where it counts, Striker/Matthews talks Bryan up
+ It's not another Tough Enough/Ultimate Fighter with guys in a house up to BS shennanigans/girlfriend/family problems
+ An hour-long show is the right length. We get a few matches and some time for talking.

Bad Points
- The mentors are mostly non-big names (HBK? Tripper? Cena? Orton? etc) It's not really a bad thing, as they have other storylines to do

Other Points
- Some of these guys don't look like they have charisma (Skip Sheffield looks like WWE's version of Rob Terry :pac::pac: )
- It looks to keep kayfabe

All in all, this was the Bryan Danielson show. It was really promising, and is exciting to see new wrestlers before they're ready, in this climate. Well done, enjoyable show, I'll definitely watch next week. How they progress (will it end up being like the Diva Search with men?) is up in the air, but for now it's pretty interesting.

Bounty Hunter

I only saw the start and the end of this as my stream sucked but I think i got the best bits, essentially The MIz/Danielson show. I have to saw I really like the format of this show and tbh we got Danielson vs the WHC Chris Jericho to start so well whats not to like.

Id say the WWE (Vince) must really be high on The Miz atm to make him Danielson's Veteran (ha the idea of him calling Bryan a rookie!) while also using him on both Raw and SD as the voice of MizShow. The guy has really made huge strides imo and is one of the best atm in terms of his mic work.

Was kinda concerned about how they were constantly referring to Danielson lack of personality but the more i thought about it it'l probably work. Either he will get over on his in ring ability a la Benoit or the angle will force a persona to develop on air even if its just that of the guy who already thinks he knows it all and is read/the best (cos he kinda is).

rossie1977

Those tuned into Tuesday's premiere of WWE NXT, notably the main-event segment, undoubtedly noticed that WWE built the commentary between a "mark vs. smark" dynamic between announcers Michael Cole and Josh Matthews.

While Matthews played ally to the "Internet fans," touting Daniel Bryan's worldwide and domestic independent experience, Michael Cole repeatedly dismissed Bryan's history of performing at "high schools" as irrelevant. He aligned with The Miz's character when it came to demanding Bryan show respect for the WWE Pros and added that he had never really heard anything about the wrestler prior to the debut of NXT.

Some fans reacted with outrage, feeling as if Cole's comments represented a deliberate disrespect for diehard wrestling fans and what talent like Daniel Bryan have accomplished outside of the WWE ring. But it was obvious to most, however, that Cole was simply playing a character to further get the NXT dynamic over with the broader audience.

In case anyone still doubted whether Cole was simply playing a role, the WWE Universe Twitter posted the following Tuesday night: "Michael Cole has requested his @WWEUniverse profile be removed from our site, not wanting to associate with "online fans" any longer."

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/6594.html

lol thats really well done, i am liking this show more and more each passing minute, turning cole heel on the IWC could be genius, cole is already hated by everyone on the IWC so him playing to that will only up the profile of the show more imo

Rjd2

I thought it was a fun show, Cole burying the internet was a stroke of genius, the Daneilson/Miz partnership looks very interesting. I can see Jennifer Hudson's fella doing well, he doesn't look the greatest worker but he is very good on the mic, has the look that Vince likes and will bring in some mainstream interest. You wonder does he really need R-Truth?
Punk mentoring the black John Cena could be very funny in the next few weeks also.

rossie1977

that guy looks so much like cena facially its kind of freaky :eek:

krudler

How awesome is Punks beard these days? I hadnt watched since before the Rumble but had a look at Elimination chamber and the idea fo a pure wrestling show is a great idea, least they're dedicating time to the new stars

paddyismaddy

i'd like to see dragon beat miz for the us title and a move to raw

flahavaj

Cannot describe how much of a thrill it is for me to see Danielson on WWE TV. I like how he's immediately been pushed as the star of the show. Credit to Jericho for giving him so much in the match, thought Danielson looked very good, never really seen that leg submission from him before at the end, Crowd were actually into the match at that stage as well. Also like how much of his aerial offence he was alowed to use, I never liked how they totally changed Punk's style when they signed him. Thought he did really well on the live mic, given that its not his strongest suit. Certainly didn't look too nervous anyway.

Also Cole heeling on the internet was brilliant, a heel turn could be the thing that makes him tolerable.

Jolt2007

What I'm interested to see is if Bryan will be the main guy every week or will every show focus mainly on a different guy each week where they'll get a chance facing a big star. I'd rather enjoy seeing Batista v Otunga and a Cena v Darren Young staredown, just so I can see those two in the same place at the same time.

Or a Heath Slater - Sheamus.
Ginger pale faced showdown!

waltersobchak

By Dave Scherer

The debut edition of NXT on 2/23 did a 1.4 rating (rounded up from a 1.35), with 1,704,000 viewers. That is up from what ECW has done recently but not the number that I feel the show deserved. Still, it is a good start.

flahavaj

waltersobchak wrote: »

By Dave Scherer

The debut edition of NXT on 2/23 did a 1.4 rating (rounded up from a 1.35), with 1,704,000 viewers. That is up from what ECW has done recently but not the number that I feel the show deserved. Still, it is a good start.

Does that mean Danielson is a bigger draw than Hogan?:pac:

Mr.Nice Guy

Gerard.C wrote: »

Jesus I didnt realise he was a face at all, he was so annoying I just assumed he was a heel.

I would be astonished if that guy winds up a face. I thought he was a heel as he acted way too OTT.

I liked this show and thought it was surprisingly good. Bryan was good on the mic and his match was decent. Some off bits but some good moves near the finish.

Michael Cole was great fun in his heel role bashing the net. The stuff with Punk and Darren Young was funny too.

I liked the promo from Otunga a lot. This guy sounds like he has good mic skills although it looks like he's still green in the ring.

My early thoughts would be that Bryan and Otunga have the most potential in the company. Looking forward to the next offering.

JP Liz V1

When is Punk going to shave his guy's head

dlofnep

I think Michael Cole was just playing the heel. He knows who Bryan Danielson is. He's not that stupid.

I thought he gave a good account of himself. Solid match.

flahavaj

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I would be astonished if that guy winds up a face. I thought he was a heel as he acted way too OTT.

I liked this show and thought it was surprisingly good. Bryan was good on the mic and his match was decent. Some off bits but some good moves near the finish.

Michael Cole was great fun in his heel role bashing the net. The stuff with Punk and Darren Young was funny too.

I liked the promo from Otunga a lot. This guy sounds like he has good mic skills although it looks like he's still green in the ring.

My early thoughts would be that Bryan and Otunga have the most potential in the company. Looking forward to the next offering.

Remember those epic arguments me you and gimmick used have about ROH and Bryan in particular? God be with the days. If he can win you over I think he's gonna have a solid career in WWE.;)

waltersobchak

Justin Angel looks very very good, Sort of a bigger Evan Bourne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyXXSc5SHQE

geeky

Got a chance to watch the whole thing...

- Heath whatever-the-fk-his second name is/ 'one man band'/'rock star without the instruments' is some goon. I mean seriously. Solid in the ring, but when he dances, he looks like an eight-year-old trying to rock out to AC/DC. The fact that he sounds like a man-child when he talks doesn't help either. Vaguely reminds me of Billy Ray Cyrus - not just for the voice, but for the totally unshakeable (and mistaken) belief in his awesomeness. Why saddle a guy who has no charisma with this ridiculous gimmick?

- I love CM Punk in this - does a great job of looking away in disgust whenever his rookie is around. Hopefully the chap he's mentoring won't get squashed every week, because he can move and has a great look (was anyone else reminded of Jimmy Snuka?). TBH I think the finish of that match was a well-disguised botch. The move looked mighty awkward, and the ref checked the loser with a certain sense of urgency.

- They're building Brian Danielson as a good competitor but, having seen him for the first time, his mike skills don't seem quite where they should be. His delivery is a little too quick, and he fumbled his words a couple of times. Great ring-work though. I think he needs something to make people give a damn about him, and the Miz may just be that person.

- Whoever came up with the idea of Michael Cole turning heel is a genius. I hope it keeps up, because it's fun for so-called smarks to actually have a heel to really, really hate.

Will definitely make an effort to catch next week's instalment.

dsmythy

geeky wrote: »

Got a chance to watch the whole thing...

- Heath whatever-the-fk-his second name is/ 'one man band'/'rock star without the instruments' is some goon. I mean seriously. Solid in the ring, but when he dances, he looks like an eight-year-old trying to rock out to AC/DC. The fact that he sounds like a man-child when he talks doesn't help either. Vaguely reminds me of Billy Ray Cyrus - not just for the voice, but for the totally unshakeable (and mistaken) belief in his awesomeness. Why saddle a guy who has no charisma with this ridiculous gimmick?

That seems to be the general view. He did get some of the crowd to copy his mid-match 'woooo' but otherwise it came across bad. I suspect he will be getting tweaked for his next appearance. Ultimately i don't think we'll be seeing him in WWE beyond this show, bar some sort of gimmick change.

dsmythy

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

When is Punk going to shave his guy's head

Indeed. You can see the storyline already!

Penn

I like how some of the younger guys aren't getting along with their mentors. Adds so much more than just the mentors standing at ringside cheering them on

starviewadams

It's going to be an interesting show but I thought all the rookies that were featured looked a bit crap besides Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson,though Ron Killings rookie is a great talker,but completely blew the finish to to his match with CM Punks rookie.

The things I enjoyed most were:

The interactions between The Miz and Danielson
Michael Cole's new found heelish personality
CM Punks total disdain for his rookie
The fact that Jericho and Danielson were allowed to have a competitive match

D2D

WWE NXT has launched it's own twitter where you can follow tweets from everyone on the NXT roster - http://twitter.com/wwenxt

Byran Danielson/Daniel Bryan's twitter - http://twitter.com/DanielBryanNXT

chordtype

I really enjoyed the first episode. Danielson was made to look a star in 40minutes. The Miz is an awesome heel. Think about it. The kids in the audience hate him and people on wrestling forums hate him. How often does this happen? Punk was his usual great self in totally not caring about his guy. There was a nice touch when he moved Serena away from the guy as they were walking down the entrance. On the Cole thing, does anybody still say 'dirtsheets'?

Mr.Nice Guy

flahavaj wrote: »

Remember those epic arguments me you and gimmick used have about ROH and Bryan in particular? God be with the days. If he can win you over I think he's gonna have a solid career in WWE.;)

Yeah I think I was playing the role of The Miz in those days.

To be fair he's got the mic skills and looks like he can get the job done in the wrestling department. I'd just be concerned about his size though as we all know about Vince's love for the big guys. I didn't realise he was actually that small so hopefully that's not held against him.

Ridley

... I must the only one who doesn't think Bryan looked all that great.

Although he does sell the moves well simply by actually getting wounded. The red patch after the Codebreaker makes the move look better. Hooray for the return of the real Walls of Jericho.

I like that Heath Slater does THE Brian Kendrick's dance.

geeky

Ridley wrote: »

I like that Heath Slater does THE Brian Kendrick's dance.

Like a goofy eight-year-old. God I want to punch him.

flahavaj

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Yeah I think I was playing the role of The Miz in those days.

To be fair he's got the mic skills and looks like he can get the job done in the wrestling department. I'd just be concerned about his size though as we all know about Vince's love for the big guys. I didn't realise he was actually that small so hopefully that's not held against him.

This is the worry really, the size thing.:(

JP Liz V1

When is this on tv here please?

Same time as ECW was on sky sports 3.
Thursday nights.:)

briany

I wish that they could have these nxt shows actually down in the FCW live shows from time to time.Nice to see big time stars in a close packed in small time atmosphere sometimes.

Headshot

just watched the show there

I thought it was a very good start , was impressed with Bryan

I do love the CM Punk bit

Bounty Hunter

flahavaj wrote: »

This is the worry really, the size thing.:(

its why he has to go to SD imo and be against Punk, Rey, Jericho etc SD has the smaller in stature heavyweights.

D2D

Deleted User wrote: »

Same time as ECW was on sky sports 3.
Thursday nights.:)

Which, this week, was at 1.30am. The replay is on Sunday at midnight

Just watched it back. Overall, I'm impressed by it. Danielson's match with Y2J was excellent and the table bump that Danielson took looked pretty sore

johnnycnandy

I thought it was a really good first episode. Bryan is obviously the star of the show and it was a good idea to put him with Miz. CM Punk was hilarious. His rookie is a total jackass, another good pairing. Otunga had a good promo. I thought Michael Tarver looked promising. A good promo and seemed decent in the ring, although we didn't see much of a moveset.

DM_7

I really enjoyed NXT.

The way the show centered around Bryan was a good idea. He came off like an important guy.

He looked very small in the backstage parts but once he was in the ring he didn't look out of place (I know it was jericho and not one if the big guys, but still!)

Perhaps going forward they don't need so many rookies at one time. Giving 3 or 4 new wrestlers plenty of time on screen in this type of programme, over 6 to 8 weeks is a great way of intoducing them to the audience.

It could also be a great way of giving some of the pros screen time they may be struggling for, like carlito.