Worst of Wrestling #2: NXT season 1

Welcome back to the Worst of Wrestling. This is part 2 of my coverage of NXT Season 1. If you have not checked out part 1, click here and read that article first.

We are 9 exhausting episodes down, we have 6 more left to digest. Let’s just get straight into it.

NXT S1, Ep10 (apr. 27th 2010)

Blast of pyro and we go straight to the ring with Matt Striker and the NXT rookies. We are 2 weeks away from the first elimination. This weeks challenge will test likability and “salesmanship” with the Seal the Deal Challenge.

Seal the deal challenge

The 8 rookies will get 60 seconds to sell as much merchandise as possible. The winner of the challenge gets a match with any WWE pro they choose.

Another ridiculous challenge which has no bearing on being a WWE star. However, this should be a home run for Daniel Bryan right? He can challenge his own pro The Miz and kick his ass.

Last week’s challenge winner Skip Sheffield goes first. He is given a bag and tries to sell programmes…to a bunch of people who already have programmes. He sold 4 programmes at $15 each, $60 is the score to beat. This challenge will continue throughout the night.

christian & heath slater vs wade barrett & chris jericho

We got highlights of Jericho throwing a tantrum after losing to Heath Slater last week, which we didn’t see because the show ran over. This match only goes 3 minutes. Jericho brings a lot of fire and aggression. This is a basic tag match, Jericho and Christian had some nice work together but there is little they can do in 3 minutes. Jericho pins Slater after the Codebreaker.

Seal the deal challenge continues

Daniel Bryan is up in the crowd and begins his time. He is not a capitalist and he is not good with money so he just throws out all of his programmes for free. Michael Cole calls him a Communist because Bryan says down with Capitalism. Bryan’s score is zero.

Justin Gabriel is next. He is in an area surrounded by cash waving children, I am sure this is a planted segment. He sold 22 programmes and is in the lead. “22 programmes? That is like $5,000.” Matthews says and Cole laughs.

Commentary have totally given up on this show.

Michael Tarver vs Darren Young

Most of the pros only have negative things to say about Tarver, which is unsurprising. This is another 3 minute match but this one does not feature Chris Jericho or Christian. This match has no substance. Tarver throws strikes, Young makes a comeback and wins.

Uninteresting trash.

Luke Gallows attacks Tarver behind the referee’s back to help Young win. I guess Gallows is willing to help him now?

Seal the deal challenge ends

David Otunga’s turn. He is a celebrity so he doesn’t do work. He gives the programmes to a bunch of kids to sell whilst he handles the money. They say the scores will be tabulated but Matt Striker never tells us. Commentary later tell us that $315 is the record set by Otunga

David Otunga wears his sunglasses backwards like a prick. He complains R-Truth didn’t help him win last week. Truth says it is survival of the fittest.

Heath Slater has his turn. We don’t get told what his score is, just that he did not sell as many as Otunga. The same happens to Darren Young who is trapped in this weird social distancing hug by Matt Striker.

Of course, Michael Tarver refuses to compete and just shouts that he is the product. Wade Barrett is last and he takes the change money Matt Striker gave him and left.

The challenges are stupid, but they look even more worthless if the rookies are not even willing to compete in them or try. At least Wade Barrett was smart enough to leave with a bit of cash.

skip sheffield vs the miz?

In a video package, the pros of course glaze Daniel Bryan as a future star, except for The Miz.

David Otunga won the challenge and he chooses his own pro R-Truth next week. He is sick of him and wants to prove himself to his teacher.

These two haven’t even had that many issues together. You would think they have been at odds all season. That is not true.

The Miz struggles to talk as he says that he is not able to compete tonight. Daniel Bryan will take his place in the match instead.

skip sheffield vs daniel bryan

Bryan dominates with a submission and a bunch of kicks. Then, Skip hits a clothesline and a backpack stunner to win in 67 seconds. Bryan is 0-9.

I am getting so sick of this bullshit.

analysis

Dreadful. There is 7 minutes of wrestling on this episode. SEVEN. That is ludicrious. As much as this is a shitty reality show, this is still a wrestling programme. There should be more wrestling than that.

This challenge is the worst one saw far. Watching 8 rookies selling programmes in the crowd is not entertaining and his no correlation with being a WWE star. MORE TIME WAS SPENT SELLING MERCHANDISE THAN WRESTLING ON THIS SHOW.

If it is believed that all of the challenges are a shoot, then I totally respect Bryan, Barrett and Tarver for doing their own thing. Sure it completely undermines the whole show and buries the concept of the challenge, but what else are they supposed to do? You can tell by their demeanour compared to the early episodes that a lot of them are so done with this whole process.

So am I.

NXT S1, Ep11 (may 4th 2010)

Matt Striker is ringside with the NXT rookies. They don’t get introductions this week. This week we have a very infamous NXT challenge. The obstacle course.

Obstacle course challenge

Here is the course. First navigate the monkey bars across the stage then climb rope-hung ladder to ring a bell. Run down ringside, over the barricade up the stairs to the concourse. They all must down a beverage, run back down through the crowd into the ring. Juggle for 5 seconds, do the ‘dizzy bat challenge’ outside of the ring and then push a cart up to the finish line. The challenge winner will receive immunity from elimination next week.

If you think that this course sounds totally ridiculous and completely damaging to any wrestlers character, you would be correct.

Daniel Bryan goes first, he has ribs taped because he had a match with Batista on Raw last night. Michael Cole on commentary so far is a completely different person, he is being empathetic to Bryan’s injured ribs and journey to get to WWE. That all ends when Bryan struggles to drink a soda because he doesn’t like it. “He’s a weirdo!“

Aaaaaaand he’s back.

Daniel Bryan takes 1 minute to drink the soda, Michael Cole comments it could be a rib and maybe it was. There are only 2 balls in the ring for juggling. “That is not juggling. That is tossing.”

I cannot argue with Cole on that fact.

Daniel Bryan completes the course in 2 minutes 45 seconds.

The Miz mocks Bryan for his poor performance. He will wrestle Tarver now and if he loses, he sees no hope for him in this competition.

daniel bryan vs michael Tarver

Well at least this match actually gets some time. It goes 7 minutes long. Nice to actually see some wrestling. When Bryan is on offence the match was great, Tarver didn’t look too bad here either. I swear Bryan was in control and then out of no where Tarver hits a powerslam and pins Bryan!

They really took the greatest wrestler that they have in developmental and made him lose every single match. The matches were rarely screwy, he lost clean most of the time. A complete burial.

CM Punk tells Darren Young to figure out who he is, don’t use him to make a name for himself and go win the obstacle course. If he fails, Punk will make the decision for him.

Obstacle Course continues

Heath Slater runs the obstacle course clean in 1 minute 36 seconds. Darren Young runs struggles to climb the ladder and gets booed for it. He absolutely stacks it over the barricade, finishing the obstacle course in 2 minutes 7 seconds.

Matt Striker says he wishes he had an immunity pass when he was working. “Wasn’t Matt a teacher? Do they give immunity passes to teachers?” Good point Matthews. Gabriel runs the course in 1 minute 29 seconds. He even impressively juggled 2 balls with one hand.

There is a joke there to be made, I’ll leave that to you.

David Otunga complains about the soda not being diet. He runs the course in 1 minute 35 seconds. Otunga has a match with his pro right now.

david otunga vs R-Truth

Let’s get one thing straight. David Otunga is a bad wrestler. He sucks. From a storytelling point of view though, he probably should have won here. Stealing a cheap win over his pro would have made him look good. That doesn’t happen R-Truth beats Otunga, barely breaking a sweat. Otunga now looks like a joke for not being able to step up to his own challenge.

Michael Cole is excited to “hang out” with R-Truth on Raw and sing What’s Up. Josh Matthes rightfully calls him pathetic. This is one of those painfully cringe Michael Cole moments that make you turn the channel. Matthews sends it back over to Matt Striker. Cole shouts “Alex Trebeck!“

He does not care at all.

Obstacle Course finale

Wade Barrett struggles on the monkey bars and then quits the challenge after 25 seconds. Ship Sheffield runs the course in 1 minute 31 seconds. “Congratulations Skip Sheffield!” shouts Matt Striker, even though he was not the fastest time.

Michael Tarver actually attempts the challenge this time. He reaches the concourse and struggles to drink the soda. After 2 minutes and 5 seconds Tarver is disqualified.

Why is Tarver suddenly interested in challenges? I thought he did not play by NXT’s rules. His attempt was bad and destroyed what little credibility he had left, if there was any.

Rookies final thoughts

Justin Gabriel wins immunity and this terrible challenge is finally over. Gabriel is glad Otunga didn’t win because he is sick of him. “Your ego outweighs your talent.”

Damn that actually goes kinda hard.

David Otunga said he checked with Neilsen and the ratings go up when his face is on the screen.

Michael Tarver thinks that next week he should be eliminated next week. Why? “Because if I am not here, then all of these walking dead bodies are safe.” He is sick of not getting a chance to prove himself and had to beat up an injured, overrated Daniel Bryan to do it.

Michael Tarver makes absolutely no sense ever.

Skip Sheffield thinks Tarver should be eliminated. Tarver gets angry that he would say that. Does he have a 60 second memory? Did he forget what he just said before? Heath Slater also thinks Tarver should be eliminated.

Otunga and Gabriel are having an intense face to face. Otunga calls him “Justin Gay-briel“.

What a fucking loser.

Wade Barrett votes for Tarver too. Daniel Bryan votes for himself since he hasn’t won a match. Darren Young gets in everyone’s face and ends up in a scrap with Wade Barrett to close the show.

analysis

I am running out of negative descriptors. Bear with me while I look in a Thesaurus……This episode was repugnant. I really didn’t think there would be a worse challenge than selling programmes but this was indeed worse. Whilst the programme selling was boring and stupid. The obstacle course was boring, stupid and damaging to both the wrestlers and the show itself.

I mean, what are we watching? We are watching grown men who want to be wrestling stars struggling to drink soda and doing the dizzy bat challenge? This is a mockery of wrestling. This is a perfect encapsulation of everything wrong with 2010s WWE.

The burial of Daniel Bryan is complete but it ain’t just him. The rest of them look crap and phoney now too. I think only Wade Barrett has some semblance of credibility left.

NXT S1, Ep12 (may 11th 2010)

Opening video package recaps the last 11 weeks of NXT. Pyro goes off, Matt Striker welcomes out the NXT rookies who get introductions this time.

Special announcement

We get a recap of Raw last night. Team NXT defeated Team Raw and Daniel Bryan get the pinfall win over Santino Marella. Matt Striker reminds Michael Tarver that he said he should be eliminated. WWE management think that if a superstar doesn’t believe in themselves, then how can anybody else? Michael Tarver is eliminated. He gets angry and blames the fans before leaving.

Matt Striker awkwardly walks up to each rookie down the line until he reaches Daniel Bryan. He says the same to Bryan who is now also eliminated by management. Surprisingly Michael Cole is nice about Bryan being eliminated.

There will still be a pros poll tonight and there will be a third elimination tonight. Barrett and Slater will wrestle right now.

a rant break

I gotta get this off my chest fellas. For nearly 3 months, every single week we have been told about how important the pros polls are. The entire show is built on the concept that the rookies try to impress the pros and ultimately they decide who is the top star in NXT. After all of that bullshit, it turns out that it doesn’t really matter because WWE management can pop in and do whatever the fuck they want and eliminate people themselves.

Are you kidding me? They have completely shit the bed here. Why couldn’t the pros just vote Bryan and Tarver last and have them off that way? There is no need to confuse the audience and bury YOUR OWN SHOW by overriding the entire concept.

Well good luck. You have just lost the only great wrestler in NXT…and Daniel Bryan too. Ha ha.

wade barrett vs heath slater

Not much analysis to give for these 3 minute matches. Barrett dominates, Slater fights back but he is caught in mid-air and slammed with his finisher. A nothing match.

Striker interviews Tarver. He thinks the ruling was fair but the contest wasn’t. Striker asks about his peculiar approach to the challenges. Tarver claims it is impossible to not notice him unless you choose not to. He walks away without telling us what is next for him.

Tarver clearly thinks all of the words he says are badass. They’re not.

Daniel bryan promo

Bryan thinks the elimination was fair, he makes no excuses and if he is eliminated for being the worst then he should be eliminated. He will find his way. Striker asks if he regrets leaving the independent scene to drown in WWE. Daniel Bryan says that he has never competed on the independent scene. Daniel Bryan is only found in WWE. But there is another guy who people called the best wrestler in the world and he was a champion in Japan and Mexico. He asks if Striker knows him.

Matt Striker is absolutely “marking out bro” to steal a phrase of his. You can tell by the smile and the lip licking.

Striker asks what is next for Daniel Bryan. He says this might be the end for Daniel Bryan who can take Batista to the limit but cannot be rookies. Daniel Bryan might be done, Bryan Danielson might have something to do.

I love the tease and it was a great promo. He was sneakily throwing digs at the nonsensical booking of his character in NXT. Towards the end of the promo the camera got shakier and shakier for some reason. As if the cameraman heard a non-WWE wrestler name and had a panic attack.

david otunga vs justin gabriel

Well at least it was a different match, but it was a worse one. Mostly because David Otunga is on the offence a lot. Gabriel barely gets anything in as Otunga wins in the quickest match of the night. His strikes look so bad.

NXT elimination

Matt Striker and the rookies are ringside preparing to read the pro polls. Striker asks everyone who should be eliminated. Young tries to cut a promo but Striker stops him. Young votes Barrett.

Heath Slater votes David Otunga because he doesn’t belong here. Gabriel is asked and he literally says “I don’t really care, man.” He is pushed for an answer and votes Otunga. Sheffield also says Otunga does not belong here.

David Otunga says they should all be eliminated because they don’t measure up to him. He then votes for Slater and claims that he is copying his style. Slater calls Otunga a joke. Barrett also votes for David Otunga.

David Otunga is the correct pick. He is the worst out of the 6. He has no redeeming factors and he brings nothing to the table except a famous fiancée.

pros poll

1. Wade Barrett
2. David Otunga
3. Justin Gabriel
4. Heath Slater
5. Darren Young
6. Skip Sheffield

Skip Sheffield blames William Regal’s guidance, but then immediately says that William Regal is not to blame. He promises Skip Sheffield will be back.

Analysis

Contender for worst episode so far, even including the episode that was mostly a Wrestlemania advert. 9 minutes of wrestling in terrible, formulaic matches.

They eliminated 3 people in one night, 2 of them via WWE management which was a baffling decision.

The show is completely coming off the rails. Commentary have given up and are more focused on popping each other than calling the show. The format is being broken, the rookies look sick of their lives, the fans barely react to anything. I am being reminded just how bad 2010 WWE was.

NXT S1, Ep13 (May 18th 2010)

Video package recaps last week’s triple elimination. We get a pyro display and we head to Matt Striker on the entrance stage. He introduces the NXT Pro’s, not the rookies. No Carlito though, because he has been fired at this point for breaching the wellness policy.

We Hear From ThE Pros

Matt Striker asks the pros what they are looking for in NXT rookies. The Miz is looking for someone who has the IT factor. William Regal is looking for adaptability like he has shown. One minute he is funny, the next he is jumping down someone’s throat. He got right in Miz’s face to say that last bit. CM Punk decides against answering the question because he does not want to speak to the audience.

Christian wants someone to step up and show the IT factor. “When are you going to show me it? You haven’t shown it in 10 years.” Blasts Regal out of nowhere. Matt Striker of course talks over and interrupts a rare exciting moment on NXT and asks Matt Hardy to answer his question. Matt Hardy says a lot of the same things everyone else has but in a different way.

Chris Jericho says there is only 1 NXT rookie that would make him part with money to see them wrestle, alluding to Wade Barrett

Our first contest happens right now.

They all said generic things except for William Regal who was willing to go off script and fire off some shots against Christian. A boring sit-down chat for the first 10 minutes of the show.

Wade Barrett vs Darren Young

These 2 men got into a physical scrap 2 weeks ago ahead of the Pro Polls. Chris Jericho is loud at ringside putting over Wade Barrett’s dominant performance. Barrett kicks Young’s ass until he makes a comeback. There was a miscommunication and Darren Young legit punched Barrett right in the face. Not sure whose fault that was. Barrett anticipates Young on the top rope, hitting his finisher to win.

It is a 3 minute match, there is only so much they can do. It was basic, it was fine. Wade Barrett continues to be dominant and Young continues to flounder.

In a video package about David Otunga, CM Punk calls him the worst NXT rookie whilst The Miz calls him the next breakout star in WWE. One of these men are correct.

Michael Tarver

Matt Striker is with Michael Tarver & Daniel Bryan who were eliminated last week. Michael Cole is unhappy Bryan is back. Striker asks Tarver how he feels about last week. He voices my complaints that everyone should have been eliminated by the Pros Poll, but they were eliminated by WWE management. He calls WWE management pencil pushers who are intimidated by him. Striker questions Tarver’s professionalism for not participating in challenges and voting for himself.

There are boring chants getting louder and louder from the crowd.

“If 8 limousines pulled up in front of you and they were all the same colour except one, which one would you notice first?” He made himself intriguing and different to be memorable. He gave this show firepower. Striker cuts off his promo early.

Ironic that Michael Tarver is probably the least memorable member of this class of NXT rookies. His promos always suck.

Daniel Bryan

Striker poses the question to Bryan. He talks about the politics of WWE who like their own made product whilst he is a self-made man. He says he is the best person for this job. Bryan doesn’t need to tell people how good he is. Michael Cole starts talking over his promo, complaining about him being here. Bryan says The Miz knows that he is better than him. The Miz calls him an indie star who has achieved nothing. “Miz, Miz. He is better than you.” Says William Regal. He is a menace this week. Daniel Bryan challenges Miz to come prove him wrong.

Matt Striker interrupts Bryan. Bryan doesn’t miss Striker constantly interrupting him. He turns his attention to Michael Cole who always criticises him. Bryan calls Cole a parrot and goes HARD on him for the weeks of overbearing insults. He calls Cole a poor man’s replacement of JR. Bryan starts shoving, slapping and kicking Cole around before being dragged away by security.

This is the best segment we have had on NXT so far. Daniel Bryan cutting a brillliant promo proving how good he is and how much of a sham this show is. Watching Michael Cole finally get some comeuppance for 3 months of dickhead behaviour was good to see. I’m not sure how good of an idea it is to have one of your eliminated stars come back and bury the show, because it is hard to argue with the facts that are being said. However, very compelling stuff and the audience finally cared. Also, William Regal is the GOAT.

Heath Slater vs Justin Gabriel

Michael Cole is continuing his tirade against Bryan for attacking him. He actually says he is done and he is going to deal with this. Cole walks out and leaves Josh Matthews to cover commentary on his own. Joey Styles, without the talent.

This is match goes less than 3 minutes. Justin Gabriel shows his flashy offence. Slater hit a nice spinebuster. Gabriel hits the 450 splash to win.

Criminally short. A chunk of this match was dedicated to Michael Cole’s tantrum. These guys ain’t impressing anyone with only 2 minutes to do so.

Skip Sheffield

Skip Sheffield claims that the pros were intimidated by his size, intensity and desire. The Pros took him out because he is the biggest threat so they got rid of him.

Is everyone going to complain about being eliminated? Does anyone understand how this show works? This is not like survivor at all, opposed to what Sheffield says. In Survivor, the contestants vote each other out therefore it makes sense that they would vote out a strong contender for their own gain. However, these are WWE stars trying to find someone who deserves to be competing on the main roster. They are not holding people back. They are not intimidated. Skip looks and sounds like a fool.

Pros Poll

Michael Cole is back unfortunately. We get a video package about Darren Young, no one really said anything interesting about him. Striker tells the Pros to tally up their scores and come up with the final standings.

WAIT. THERE ARE SCORES? SINCE WHEN? I know that there are factors to take into account, but there has never been a scoring system has there? Am I going crazy?

The rookies are out here and the polls are revealed.

1. Wade Barrett
2. David Otunga
3. Heath Slater
4. Justin Gabriel
5. Darren Young

Why exactly did Heath Slater go above Justin Gabriel? Gabriel beat him in a match, there was no challenges or anything else that happened that would warrant that decision. Also why is Otunga still so high when we heard most of the Pros in the video package slate him for being trash?

Darren Young is eliminated. He thanks the fans. Young says he has respect for you, respect for you, respect for you…(he goes on and repeats it to every one of the pros). The crowd sing “Na Na, Hey Hey, Goodbye.” This is not the last we’ll see of Darren Young. Striker says the competition will truly intensify next week.

Darren Young was given the opportunity to go out with a bang and he delivered possibly the most boring, generic promo of all time. This was one of the worst of the season. He lacks any identity and has no clue who he wants to be. Does he want to pander to the crowd and be cheered, or does he want to work as a heel and be booed? Pick a lane.

Analysis

The Daniel Bryan promo and his attack on Michael Cole saves this show from being a complete wash. Another week of little wrestling, only 2 matches equalling 6 minutes. The opening chat with the Pros took far too long and accomplished very little. William Regal was a highlight trying to have a little fun on this dreary show.

At this point this feels like a complete waste of time. The only man who is getting any serious crowd reactions at all is not even in the competition anymore. The rest of the competitors do not stand a chance against Wade Barrett who has been booked so overwhelmingly strong that it would be ridiculous for him to lose this competition now.

NXT S1, Ep14 (May 25th 2010)

We get a cold open with a hype package, immediately to Matt Striker introducing the NXT Pros. R-Truth has now become the US champion. CM Punk is not here, although there is an empty seat left for him. Out come our final 4 NXT rookies.

We Hear From The Rookies

Matt Striker waffles on about the show getting closer to the season finale. The rookies all get a chance to tell the Pros and the fans who should go home next and why.

Wade Barrett says Justin Gabriel isn’t man enough to win, David Otunga in the ring reminds him of the Benny Hill show but he wants the “ginger ninja” Heath Slater to go because he cannot stand his offensive hair.

Sure I guess. It is the 2010s so it is still on brand to roast ginger people.

Justin Gabriel thinks David Otunga should go because in the ring he has no clue what he is doing.

Otunga has been dragged through the coal for his in-ring ability. Rightfully so.

David Otunga says Wade Barrett is boring and Heath Slater is annoying. He calls him Carrot Top’s evil twin. However, he wants Gabriel eliminated because he is a bumbling, stumbling idiot with a microphone in his hand.

Otunga is not exactly great on the mic himself, but I cannot disagree Gabriel’s mic work has been weak.

Heath Slater wants Wade Barrett eliminated because his nose is as crooked as the road.

Which road? What are you talking about?

Matt Striker reveals the rookies and pros will team up right now. They must prove themselves in the ring.

Funny he says that, considering this entire show has been about them doing stupid challenges and having personality rather than actually showing their skill in the ring.

Christian & Heath Slater vs R-Truth & David Otunga

This is the first match to go over 5 minutes in 3 weeks. This is as basic of a tag match as you can ask for. Christian wrestles well as you would expect. Truth is solid. Heath Slater looks decent in the ring with the pros but David Otunga looks out of his depth. I am not sure why Christian and R-Truth would want to wrestle each other at all here though. Surely they would choose to wrestle the rookies for scouting purposes? That would make sense, which I guess is too much to ask.

During this match Michael Cole is putting himself over as being “hip”. Josh Matthews retorts with “you need a hip replacement.” Just some of the worst commentary you will ever hear.

David Otunga rolls through a crossbody by Slater into a winning pin.

Daniel Bryan public apology

Michael Cole has security with him and there is a young Johnny Gargano! He somehow looks older than he does now. Michael Cole insists he is not trying to make the show about him, which is ironic when he has made every week about his hatred for Daniel Bryan. Cole threatens to take Bryan to court if he doesn’t apologise.

Daniel Bryan says WWE is his dream, he asks for the security to leave and he will apologise. They shake hands and Bryan says he is sorry that Cole is by far the worst announcer in history. Bryan mocks Cole for claiming to be a man whilst hiding behind an announce table. He claims Cole never got his job because he was good. Daniel Bryan does a good job to stay in the zone even though Cole keeps shouting “Listen to me!” over him.

Cole calls Bryan a loser and slaps him before running away. Bryan is restrained by security but he escapes and takes Cole down! Security manage to drag Bryan away. The Miz shouts at him so Bryan punches him to a huge pop. The rest of the pros laugh at The Miz. Security finally separate them both.

Another enjoyable Daniel Bryan segment. I think Bryan shoot dropped Michael Cole with a rough tackle which was funny. After 3 months of character assassination, Bryan is finally being put over as a passionate star and the fans are eating it up. They could have just done this from the start but oh well.

It was a good follow up from the first episode of NXT when The Miz slapped Bryan. Daniel Bryan said that he would hit Miz back even harder and he did.

Justin Gabriel vs WAde Barrett

We have Matt Striker on commentary with Josh Matthews now.

Kill me.

Matt Striker talks about respecting who came before you which does not relate at all to what we just saw. Matt Striker and Josh Matthews bicker on commentary and it is insufferable to listen to. This commentary pairing could single-handedly ruin any wrestling promotion.

Justin Gabriel defeats Wade Barrett in a 3 minute match. Like all of these short matches, it is impossible for the guys to do much but these 2 are the best wrestlers not called Daniel Bryan. It was as good as it could have been. The commentary made this impossible to enjoy.

Pros Poll

The Pros poll is revealed:

1. Wade Barrett
2. David Otunga
3. Justin Gabriel
4. Heath Slater

Absolutely criminal how far David Otunga has went and the only reason for it is because he is dating a celebrity. That can be the only justification. As if somehow David Otunga is going to bring in ratings.

Heath Slater is eliminated. Striker asks Christian why he was eliminated. Christian believes the cards were stacked against him from the start. He says Heath could have done it but people like Chris Jericho were biased towards their own guy. He cannot pin point what went wrong.

But surely the pros just discussed everything right? He would know what people said about each other’s rookies? Also, how can Chris Jericho be biased? The pros cannot vote for or against their own rookie, so there is no bias. Nonsensical.

The Miz explains that Heath Slater didn’t let loose and did not show us his passion.

That also doesn’t really make sense, because I think out of all the rookies Slater was probably the most loose and passionate, often to a fault.

Chris Jericho says that it doesn’t matter because Wade Barrett will win NXT, but he warns him to not lose to clowns like Gabriel and stay on top.

Heath Slater hypes himself up and recaps all of his accomplishments in NXT. He reminds Jericho that he beat him. Slater might be eliminated but he warns everyone to prepare for an encore.

analysis

Similar to last week, this is another show that is saved by Daniel Bryan. The rest of the show is so mid and uninteresting. I would like to see the viewership for these episodes. I bet they peak when Daniel Bryan is coming on and drop after he leaves. There is no way people are tuning in to watch the rest of the bland show.

I never, ever, EVER want to hear a Striker/Matthews commentary team ever again. I thought 2010 Michael Cole was bad but Jesus Christ. That was torture.

NXT S1, Ep15 (June 1st 2010)

THANK GOD. We have reached the final episode of the season. We get a hype package recapping the season. Matt Striker is in the ring already and introduces the eliminated rookies sat at ringside. The Pros come out next. CM Punk is back this week and he is wearing a mask thanks to having his head shaved by Rey Mysterio at Over the Limit. Now here comes the finalists.

I just remembered. Remember when Wade Barrett won a challenge to get his own entrance music to stand out from the rest of the rookies. What happened with that? He has been coming out to Jericho’s music still and we haven’t heard any new music for him. Another inconsistency.

Matt Striker says the finalists will wrestle in a triple threat right now. Commentary tells us that next week will be the premiere of Season 2 of NXT. Throughout the show we will be introduced to the rookies and their pro.

Hooray…

Husky Harris will be paired with Cody Rhodes.

2 wrestlers from famous wrestling families. Husky Harris is such an awful ring name.

John Morrison introduces a video for his rookie next season, Eli Cottonwood.

Triple Threat

This is the one and only match on this show. At least it gets some time. A 10 minute match on NXT feels unheard of. This is actually an elimination match.

Josh Matthews has the gall to call Justin Gabriel a One Trick Pony and deserves to be sent home first. This match is awkward at first and the most exposing of how terrible David Otunga is. His selling looks like shit and so does his offence. There is numerous moments where he looks like a deer in headlights. Luckily, he is eliminated early on. Gabriel hits the 450, Barrett pulls Gabriel off the pin and eliminates Otunga himself.

Gabriel vs Barrett have a solid singles match with Barrett eliminating Gabriel after countering the 450 splash.

Honestly, terrible booking. Wade Barrett has been dominating on top for 5 weeks and after being the stand-out winner of this match with both eliminations, his victory had no doubt. If they wanted to actually generate intrigue, they should have eliminated Barrett first via a fluke and then have Gabriel win the match.

Pros Poll 1

MVP will be a pro next season, mentoring Percy Watson.

Oh my god I forgot about Percy Watson. Remember when he did NXT commentary for a cup of coffee? What a throwback.

Zack Ryder will be mentoring Titus O’Neil next season and he will be teaching him how to be a stud and pick up chicks.

Matt Striker asks the eliminated rookies who should be eliminated. Michael Tarver of course uses this time to talk about how he is the product. “If I had to choose anybody, I choose me.“

Okay. Michael Tarver either has carbon monoxide poisoning or he never listens to what he is being asked. None of his responses actually make any sense with what he is being asked. Michael Tarver might be the stupidest man in wrestling. He has half the brain Sid Vicious has.

Daniel Bryan says David Otunga can’t wrestle, Justin Gabriel can’t talk so Wade Barrett should win. Skip Sheffield is asked who should win. “I don’t care.“

Honestly, fair enough.

Darren Young votes for Wade Barrett to win and will prove all of the haters wrong. Heath Slater also votes for Wade Barrett and that it is obvious.

Well, they might as well just end the show here. It is obvious.

The Pros Poll is in:

1. Wade Barrett
2. David Otunga
3. Justin Gabriel

I don’t know why this is not the end of the show. Why do they need to do a second one to confirm what we already know is going to happen? This is just a waste of time. David Otunga finishing second makes absolutely zero sense.

Justin Gabriel says he won’t stop until he makes it in this company. He will keep fighting and one day he will be a world champion.

Sorry mate, but you won’t.

Rookie Face Off

LayCool will be mentoring Kaval, more commonly known as Low Ki.

This will be the Daniel Bryan of next season. The only guy who can reliably wrestle.

Mark Henry will be the pro for Lucky Cannon.

Matt Striker gives both rookies 60 seconds to tell the other why they should be eliminated from NXT. David Otunga says that Wade Barrett is ugly. He has a face only a mother could love. “Not to mention your teeth. You don’t intimidate anyone but your dentist. The only PPV I would pay to see is a triple threat between you, Aquafresh and Listerine.” Otunga continues to criticise Barrett’s looks and praising his own looks and charisma and mentioning he went to Harvard.

That was honestly one of the worst things I have ever seen. There are not enough words in the dictionary and Thesaurus combined to describe how poor Otunga’s promo was. This was cringe-inducing and embarrassing. The crowd did not react to anything he said. The fans just booed when he was finished because it sucked.

Wade Barrett says the viewers were turning off listening to Otunga, just like they have done anytime he is in the ring. Barrett says he is a fighter. Otunga has a good physique but no clue how to use it. He has seen the Great Khali move better than Otunga does. Wade says Otunga has no tangible quality that WWE can hang on to. Barrett channels his inner Stone Cold and says 2 letters should be added in front of It Factor and that sums up what he thinks of Otunga.

Now that is how you do a promo Otunga. Wade Barrett looked like Shawn Michaels in comparison to David Otunga. He dropped some good lines and the crowd reacted well to him.

Complete Burial

Kofi Kingston will be mentoring Michael McGillicutty next season.

The polls are about to be revealed but The Miz interrupts with an announcement. He says that he will be a pro next season again and his pro will be Alex Riley.

This is the first time they have perfectly paired a pro and a rookie.

The polls are about to be revealed, William Regal prematurely congratulates Chris Jericho for having the best man on the show. R-Truth says the result is not certain. Regal says the only thing Otunga has going for him is marrying well, but taking a look at his wife he didn’t marry that well. CM Punk also agrees that he is only here because he has a wife. William Regal congratulates Barrett again. R-Truth threatens to shut him up. Regal complains he has been stuck on this show without a live microphone for 15 weeks and he begs for anyone to do something. Regal calls The Miz Kermit and Matt Hardy Eugene. R-Truth does a silly dance and Regal is disgusted.

Christian tells Regal to sit down, he hasn’t won a fight in a year. Regal calls Christian Benjamin Button. CM Punk has had enough and walks out. Regal calls Skip Sheffield a complete moron. Jericho puts himself over as the top trainer. Regal says he always liked his 2 moves. Regal says that Wade Barrett would have won this show with anyone as his pro. Matt Striker finally gets things under control.

William Regal became the star of the show. He absolutely buries this entire format, buries Skip Sheffield and puts over Wade Barrett hard. This unscripted segment clearly rubbed some of the other pros up the wrong way which I understand but Regal isn’t saying anything false.

Final Pros Poll

1. Wade Barrett
2. David Otunga

David Otunga disgrees and says he must be being punked. He is the next break out star. It doesn’t matter to him. He will be a bigger star than anyone else on this show. Matt Striker says he sounds bitter.

Wade Barrett told us he was the best and he was right. He came here to make a lot of money and now he has a PPV title match. The big bucks will come rolling in. This is the beginning of a brand new era in WWE. Change is here and it will take him to the WWE Heavyweight title.

We have a final video package that recaps the season and then the show just ends.

Analysis

A fittingly car crash ending to what has been a terrible first season of NXT. Yet, this will be the best NXT season ever. There was only one match but at least it got time. It was solid when Otunga was eliminated. There was also no follow up on the Daniel Bryan story with Michael Cole which was a bit disappointing.

David Otunga making it to the finals made zero sense whilst Wade Barrett winning was pretty clear early on.

As weak as this show was, I absolutely loved the chaos of the unscripted promo from William Regal. Fitting that this man would become an integral part of NXT becoming good in the future. He tore NXT to shreds. This is the words of a man who is clearly frustrated with what could have been an exciting way to elevate young stars, but ultimately became a farce reality show.

Aftermath

A poorly structured season of NXT was seemingly made up for a week after it wrapped up. On the June 7th edition of Raw, these 8 rookies made an emphatic debut as the Nexus by destroying everything and anything in their path. Unfortunately for Daniel Bryan, his violence was deemed too much for advertisers. He choked Justin Roberts with his tie, which he was allowed to do, and got fired for it to appease the unhappy sponsors. The Nexus, led by NXT Season winner Wade Barrett, saw themselves as the future of the WWE and they were here to take over.

The angle was incredibly hot and booked rather well for the first few weeks. The faction were a legitimate threat as a unit and dispatched the often divided WWE stars they came up against. That all went out of the window at Summerslam 2010 when John Cena, along with a rehired Daniel Bryan, defeated the Nexus in what has been viewed as a complete burial that destroyed any momentum and credibility the faction had. Wade Barrett continued his feud with John Cena and Randy Orton throughout the year, with the Nexus going through a few personnel changes. John Cena defeated Wade Barrett at the TLC PPV in December and LITERALLY buried him under a pile of chairs. Hmm, poetic.

The Nexus would be taken over by CM Punk who created The New Nexus, whilst some of the original members founded rival faction The Corre. They feuded for a little while but by August of 2011, both The Corre and The Nexus were disbanded. The Nexus has gone down as one of WWE’s biggest missed opportunities and poorest booking decisions.

Let’s have a look at where everyone is now and if they benefitted from NXT.

Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan went on to be a 5 time world champion, 1 time IC champion, 1 time US champion, 2 time tag champion and a Money in the Bank winner. He tragically retired due to concussion issues but made an in-ring return a few years later. Bryan is a Triple Crown and Grand Slam champion and he has main evented Wrestlemania twice.

After leaving WWE in 2021, Bryan Danielson has ended his full time wrestling career in AEW. He won the 2024 Owen Hart Cup and he is a 1 time AEW world champion. He put on some of the best matches of his wrestling career in his final years.

Daniel Bryan absolutely did not benefit from appearing on NXT. Although his rivalries with The Miz and Michael Cole were the highlights of the show and take center stage, his terrible booking destroyed his credibility. He said it himself. How can he take Batista to the limit, but struggle to beat “rookies” and lose in minutes? Although Bryan would eventually have a successful WWE career, a lot of that has to do with his ability and connection with the fans rather than WWE handling him well.

Wade Barrett

The winner of NXT and the next breakout star would go on to win the Intercontinental championship 5 times as well the King of the Ring tournament in 2015. Wade Barrett requested his release from WWE to focus on acting and recover from the overbearing schedule of being a WWE wrestler. Wade Barrett would appear for various independent promotions in non-wrestling roles before returning to WWE in 2020 and has been one of their better commentators since.

As bad as this show was, I think Wade Barrett did benefit somewhat from being in NXT. He was the only man consistently booked strong throughout the programme and he was put over hard by all of the NXT pros. The final episode saw the entire NXT format being buried but in turn it actually put over Wade Barrett as the only legitimate competitor. Although the Nexus was poorly handled, they had a memorable debut that Wade Barrett was in charge of.

Wade Barrett is probably a future Hall of Famer, as is Daniel Bryan. I cannot say the same for the rest of the rookies.

Heath Slater

The ‘One Man Rock Band’ won tag team gold with Justin Gabriel 3 times as part of The Nexus and The Corre. After violating the wellness policy, Slater remained in midcard limbo drifting from one team to another. He found little success with 3MB, Slater-Gator and the Social Outcasts. In 2016 after the New Era Brand Split, Heath Slater saw a spike in popularity after not being drafted. He pleaded for an opportunity at Smackdown and coined the phrase “I’ve got kids” which caught like a fire. Slater found himself a tag partner in Rhyno and they became the first ever Smackdown Tag Team Champions, now known as the WWE Tag Team Championships.

After losing the tag titles, Heath fell back into obscurity and was released from the company in 2020. He wrestled in Impact Wrestling for 3 years afterwards, where he won their tag championships with Rhino. Heath still wrestles on the independents today.

Heath was another wrestler who was portrayed rather well on the show. He was definitely one of the better workers out of the bunch. I think Heath Slater benefited from his time in NXT. I am unsure whether he would have been able to achieve the same amount of success without being in NXT and a part of the Nexus. He probably would have been just another lower midcard guy WWE shackle with a lame gimmick, used to put over their bigger stars.

Skip Sheffield

Sheffield broke his ankle shortly after the Nexus’ Summerslam 2010 match and he was out of action for over a year. He returned in 2012 as Ryback and got over quick for his dominant squash matches and ‘Feed Me More’ chant. It looked like he was set to be the second coming of Goldberg, however after losing to CM Punk at Hell in a Cell 2012 he never really made it back to that level of popularity. It might have something to do with complaints of Ryback’s unsafe wrestling ability. After an unsuccessful tag team with Curtis Axel, Ryback would win the Intercontinental championship at Elimination Chamber, his only gold in WWE.

Ryback would not re-sign with WWE in 2016, citing contract issues and a dispute over wages. He took a few independent dates until 2018, shifting into a podcaster role. Since then Ryback has garnered a negative image for himself in the eyes of the wrestling world. From his incessant complaining about his treatment in WWE to lashing out online against his former co-workers, Ryback is viewed as a whiny clout chaser trying to remain relevant.

Ryback/Skip Sheffield did not benefit from his time in NXT. He looked and sounded like a fool throughout the show. He was barely a part of the Nexus and his character Skip Sheffield made zero impact in wrestling. It wasn’t until he reverted back to his Ryback name that he experienced any level of notoriety.

darren young

After being kicked out of the Nexus, Darren Young returned to NXT for Season 5 in 2011 and would eventually form a tag team with Titus O’Neil called the Prime Time Players. They won the tag team titles once before breaking up. The Prime Time Players would reunite and break up again before Young formed a peculiar alliance with legend Bob Backlund. He got a mini push as a US championship contender but did not achieve any success. Young was released from WWE in 2017.

Under the name Fred Rosser, he has won the STRONG Openweight Championship in New Japan Pro Wrestling and has also appeared for the National Wrestling Alliance.

NXT was not beneficial for Darren Young at all. His character lacked identity throughout the show and he was the first man kicked out of the Nexus. He ended up back to NXT. I think he achieved about as much success in WWE that he was capable of. He has found more success outside of WWE as Fred Rosser, but he hasn’t made a huge impact in wrestling as opposed to other members of the show.

michael tarver

Michael Tarver was removed from the Nexus after suffering an injury, later being released from his contract in 2011. Tarver appeared in New Japan Pro Wrestling and the NWA from 2011 to 2014 and has wrestled sporadically on the independent scene but has achieved little success.

Michael Tarver is the most forgettable competitor from NXT season 1. He lacked wrestling skill and promo ability. He was gone within a year of his appearance in NXT and since leaving WWE he has barely made a splash in the wrestling industry. It is safe to say that Tarver benefited the least from being on NXT.

david otunga

The only man the remain a member of the Nexus from start to finish won 2 tag team titles with the black and yellow faction. One if his title wins was with John Cena. David Otunga became an on-screen legal advisor character as well as a wrestler for a few years. He wrestled his last match in 2015 on a WWE Live Event. Otunga transitioned into a non-wrestling role for a few years after this, giving his opinions on pre-show panels and even having a small stint on commentary. He was released from WWE in 2019. David Otunga has made a couple of acting appearances since then, including appearing in 2 episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Otunga is focused of motivational speaking, charity work and applying his legal expertise in between acting gigs.

It is hard to determine if David Otunga benefited from NXT. On one hand, he barely made a splash in WWE and he was pretty much awful at everything he attempted. However, if it wasn’t for NXT I doubt that he would have ever even made it into WWE, let alone a 2 time tag champion. Ultimately, I am going to say that he did not benefit from his time in NXT because he did not make it far in wrestling. He benefited from his association with Jennifer Hudson. That is what got him as far as he did.

Justin Gabriel

After his 3 tag title wins with Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel floundered in WWE’s lower midcard for the rest of his time there. He had a good feature in 2011 Money in the Bank ladder match, he had a fun tag team with Tyson Kidd and he challenged for the Intercontinental title. Towards the end of his career, Gabriel played the role of ‘The Bunny’ in a feud with Adam Rose. Gabriel was let go from WWE in 2015.

Under the alias P.J. Black, he has wrestled all over the world since his WWE release. TNA, Ring of Honor, NWA, Lucha Underground and Evolve have all been graced with his appearance.

Gabriel did not benefit from his time with WWE at all. Although he was lacking in charisma, Gabriel was an incredible wrestler that needed a mouthpiece and could have had some success in WWE if he was given good creative. His time with NXT was very exposing of his weaknesses and he did not really recover from it. I was certain he would have been an IC champion at some point.

After about 10 hours of wrestling content reviewed, it is finally time to ask the big question. What the hell went wrong with NXT? In an alternate reality, this idea could have worked as a middle ground between FCW and the WWE but a variety of things went wrong in the process.

choice of pros

The entire idea behind NXT is to find a breakout star, with the winner receiving an opportunity at any title they choose. That basically means a world title shot, because it would be daft to choose anything but. So the winner of the show has to be a reasonable consideration to become a main eventer. I struggle to see how R-Truth, Carlito and to an extent Matt Hardy have the credibility to guide someone to that level. I know R-Truth is a former NWA world champion, but that is not the same. Carlito and Matt Hardy especially have been irrelevant and lacking success for some time at this point.

William Regal and The Miz could be thrown into that debate too. However, Regal has a proven track record of training wrestlers and The Miz is a soon to be world champion who fits the narrative to contrast with Daniel Bryan.

On top of that, this is a scripted reality show. This is not like WWE’s current LFG show where everyone is being legit and themselves. All of the Pros are in character. Why would heel Chris Jericho decide to be selfless and train a rookie? He is on the road to Wrestlemania where he defends his Heavyweight championship against former ally Edge? Why would heel CM Punk even bother wasting his time being a pro to Darren Young? That is why Punk looks so disinterested and disconnected from the whole show. Because his character should not be invested in this.

The decision to choose these pros to be in character added too many complex layers that created contradicting narratives and confusing plot points.

Random rookie/pro pairings

I understand the appeal of pairing two opposites with each other. The Miz and Daniel Bryan being partnered up was a good example of that. A cocky, arrogant sports entertainer trying to coach a wrestling veteran who can do everything better than he can. That is an interesting dynamic! However, you don’t have do that with more than 1 or maybe 2 pairings.

David Otunga and R-Truth contrasted each other but they did not have an interesting dynamic. A boring man paired with an annoying man. They got into a fight and their issues were not addressed again for like 2 months. Straight-Edge saviour CM Punk paired with flamboyant party boy Darren Young. These polar opposites had uncanny chemistry in the ring together, but that was one week. The rest of the time was just Punk not wanting to be anywhere near him. William Regal and Skip Sheffield, an upper-class snob paired with a blue collar dimwit who never did anything interesting. Regal just insulted him at any opportunity.

Then, Michael Tarver and Carlito. These two had no on-screen issues but they are two characters that do not belong in the same space as each other. Carlito is a jovial fool whilst Tarver is an intense badass. They didn’t mesh. To an extent, Heath Slater and Christian was a random pairing that didn’t make much sense.

I think the rookies could have came across much better paired with a pro that would let their character shine. That is why Wade Barrett was presented so well because him and Jericho made sense together. Same for Gabriel and Hardy.

Heel/faCE dynamics

Although we are in an age where the lines are being blurred a lot between good guys and bad guys, a dynamic still needs to exist. There should be a guy you are rooting for, and a guy you root against. Even in a good guy vs good guy situation there is usually someone who plays the role of heel, even if they aren’t one. See The Rock vs Hulk Hogan, Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns, Bayley vs Sasha Banks at TakeOver as my evidence.

Daniel Bryan, Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater are consistently faces throughout the show. Wade Barrett and Michael Tarver are consistently heels throughout the show. David Otunga flip-flopped for half the season before finally settling on being a bad guy. Skip Sheffield started off as a face but then would later talk like a heel, but would continue to act like a face in the ring. Fuck knows what Darren Young was supposed to be, he just did whatever he felt like out there.

There would end up being A LOT of heel vs heel or face vs face matches and few of them very good. There was never any story. The participants just went out there, did a bunch of moves and that was it! The lack of consistent roles or good vs evil set ups made it hard and confusing for the fans to follow along. That was not the main issue with the matches though.

Wrestling Quality

They can call it sports entertainment all they like, but at its core this is wrestling and it is about being the next big wrestler. Far too often, wrestling was the lowest priority on NXT. Some weeks only having 6 or 7 minutes of wrestling is absolutely ludicrous and detrimental to the rookies who are trying to make a name for themselves. We don’t need to see endless video packages for upcoming PPVs or random hype packages for established wrestlers. There is no need for repeating hype video packages for rookies that we have already seen.

A lot of the promos and segments have so much waffle and it is usually Matt Striker talking far too much and overexplaining. The rookies cannot get themselves over wrestling for 3 minutes. They cannot put together anything interesting in that amount of time.

However, for some of the rookies even when they got the time they weren’t that good. Barrett, Bryan, Gabriel and Slater were the only guys who were reliable to wrestle well. Young was incredibly hit and miss. Sheffield had moments of shine but it is lost in a lot of blandness. Otunga and Tarver were usually the worst performer each week.

You can have your interviews and your vignettes and your segments, but you need enjoyable wrestling otherwise WHAT IS THE POINT?

The challenges

This was the biggest reason for some of the worst matches during NXT. From episode 7 to 11, we had challenges that took up large portions of the show, leaving little time for anything substantial or enjoyable.

These challenges were dreadful and they only got worse. The Keg Carry was fine, I guess, but I fail to see how it relates to being a breakout star like Matt Striker suggested. The ‘talk the talk’ challenge was embarrassing. Lame, infantile topics such as rainbows and toothpaste put these rookies in an uncomfortable spot and made most of them look like amateurs.

The stick fighting thing was repetitive and boring to watch. The merchandise selling challenge was agregiously boring and the total time of watching wrestlers sell magazines was greater than the total time of actual wrestling on the show. The fuck.

However, worst of all, is the obstacle course. Bloody crisp in a biscuit. Nothing says future WWE champion quite like struggling to drink a lemonade on camera. WWE had 8 of their top developmental talent running around the arena like a bunch of Year 6’s on Sports Day.

Commentary

NXT Season 1 saw the birth of heel Michael Cole. That is enough to justify my argument but I will back it up further if you like. Josh Matthews is here too.

Do you know what is a sure fire way to make sure the audience do not care about the product they’re watching? By having the commentators clown on the show and show little interest in what they’re watching. Cole and Matthews spent most of their time making jokes at the rookies expense, putting themselves over and not paying attention to what is happening before them.

Whilst I understand that the product they had to watch was largely dreadful, it is their responsibility to try and present the best way they can. Listening to these 2 bicker all the time, tell terrible jokes and bury the talent on the show is making the product even worse.

Somehow though, Michael Cole and Josh Matthews are not the worst commentators on this show. That award goes to Matt Striker who is the most infuriating man in wrestling. He puts himself over as a smart mark. His voice is grinding to listen to. Constantly interrupting the wrestlers, making them look weak for his own benefit is dreadful behaviour. He this narcissist maintained a job in wrestling as long as he did is beyond me.

Burying your talent

I touched on it previously, but the constant mockery and ridicule by the commentators kneecapped all of the rookies from gaining any serious momentum. There are several examples for each of the wrestlers, but of course Daniel Bryan is the most blatant example.

Michael Cole spending most of each episode ragging on Bryan is unbearable to listen to. Even worse is watching Bryan, easily the best wrestler on the show, lose in short nothing matches to every he comes up against. Why did we need to see him destroyed by The Great Khali? Why did we need to see him chokeslammed by Big Show? What is the point in discrediting everything Bryan has done in wrestling thus far?

The treatment of Bryan and the rest of the rookies is another example of how out of touch Vince McMahon was with the wrestling business and their own fanbase.

Inconsistent

The show must be absolute shamble to produce because this was one of the most inconsistent thing I have ever watched. The biggest example is R-Truth and David Otunga, who had issues with each other in week 2 and 3 but then the angle was not referenced again for about 2 months. Then, David Otunga won the merchandise challenge and wanted a match against his own pro. Commentary try to tell us that they have had a lot of personal issues which is just not true.

The show was built around the pro polls being the elimination process, until WWE management decided to eliminate 2 people themselves. The pros polls went from being rankings to a judges scoring system. Sometime Michael Cole is being a heel but sometimes he is not. Hell, they couldn’t even decide whether or not they wanted a pyro introduction for the show. Some weeks had fireworks, some weeks they had a video package, some weeks they had neither.

No order. Poorly structured. Hard to watch. I guess that can be boiled down to the…

Intentions

I think all of the other faults are a by-product of the major issue with NXT and that is the conception. There might be a universe where this idea could have worked. They should have kept everything mostly scripted, allow the wrestlers to work with WWE veterans to improve their game and fine tune their character. They go out there and try to put on the best matches, have the best segments and see how connects with the fans the most. That would work if the intentions of NXT was to actually prepare 8 men to be future stars in WWE.

I am not actually sure what Vinne Mac’s intentions were with NXT. Was it to humiliate a wrestler held in high regard for some weird ego boost? Perhaps it was to have fun at the expense of a bunch of developmental talent, seeing what crap nonsense he could put them through. Or, was this all just a terrible attempt to put over Wade Barrett as a future star at the expense of 7 other men. Personally, I think his intentions are a lot more simple and selfish than that.

ECW was revived and desecrated by Vince McMahon, probably intentionally, and it was drawing bad ratings. They were going to lose their slot on SyFy if something didn’t happen. However, Smackdown’s deal with the MyNetwork TV was coming to an end in October of 2010. Only 2 months after NXT debuted on SyFy, it was announced that Smackdown would be taking its place on SyFy from October, with NXT moving to WWE’s website.

I personally think that NXT was simply a placeholder. It was a half-baked idea created to spike the ratings and keep a slot warm whilst they waited until Smackdown was ready to be negotiated for. The idea was never meant to succeed. That is why it was doomed to fail from the beginning. That is why commentary were allowed to clown and that is why wrestlers were allowed to openly bury the entire process on camera. It simply didn’t matter.

Final Words

I talked about NXT Season 1 A LOT so there isn’t really much else for me to say. It was bad and I hope I do not have to watch another season of it anytime soon.

Again, if you seriously want to torture yourself for 10 hours then here is a link to a full collection of NXT Season 1-5.

Is it worse than Heroes of Wrestling? If I had to choose between one of the worst 2 hours of wrestling ever and 10 hours of awful wrestling programming, honestly I am choosing the former. However, we have to be fair and judge them as if they were equal. If this entire NXT experience was shortened to the same size of Heroes of Wrestling, I don’t think it comes close to the same quality. At least I got to see SOME good here. Heroes of Wrestling is pure, unadulterated trash. NXT Season 1 is bad, but not that bad.

Worst of Wrestling Leaderboard

1. Heroes of Wrestling
2. NXT Season 1

Let me know if there are any other terrible wrestling shows you think could be a contender for worst of all time. I have a massive list already but I am always willing to add more. For now, it is time to spin the Wheel of Woe.

Wheel of Woe

Oh boy. We are returning to modern day WWE and the final Royal Rumble before Vince McMahon’s “retirement” after allegations of hush-money and nondisclosed agreements. Royal Rumble 2022 is hailed as one of the most boring shows ever. From what I can recall, there is only really one good match on this show and it ends in a DQ. This is also the show that saw Shane McMahon get fired by his own dad which is mental.