With ECW on SyFy’s ratings stagnating beyond repair, the WWE has given us a ‘brand new, innovative’ ‘WWE meet reality TV’ concept – as the promos keep saying – for our entertainment on Tuesday nights. NXT (pronounced N-X-T, not text speak for Next) is a thirteen-week series where eight rookies team up with eight members of the WWE roster. One rookie will win a contract in the end to wrestle on Monday Night Raw, determined through the process of reality TV-style elimination. I don’t know whether this is actually true as it hasn’t been made explicitly clear to us yet, for some reason.
NXT starts with a typical stilted WWE backstage segment. So much for reality TV. The Miz demands his rookie Daniel Bryan (former ROH Champion Bryan Danielson) to go to the ring and show some personality to the audience. Miz then has a strange theatrical aside where he tells the world if Daniel doesn’t impress, he’ll slap the taste out of his mouth. It’s Shakespeare for idiots! I hope NXT avoids these backstage segments as they’re already cringeworthy and poorly acted on Raw and Smackdown.
Things pick up as Daniel Bryan comes to the ring and apologises for being paired with The Miz, stating he’d rather have William Regal as a mentor, presumably for the submission style wrestling background. This brings out The Miz, taking exception to Bryan’s apology. After an argument about who is the more successful wrestler, Miz slaps Daniel Bryan and walks away.
In our first match, Carlito and his rookie Michael Tarver team up against Christian and Heath Slater. As Kick-Out!! pointed out: Christian/Slater, get it? Before the match, we’re introduced to the reality TV aspect of NXT through personal interviews with Tarver and Slater. And you know what? They’re very effective. In the match, Christian pins Michael Tarver after Slater drags Carlito out of the ring, with miscommunication the blame for Tarver and Carlito’s loss.
Up next, CM Punk’s rookie Darren Young – think John Cena if he were a severely tanned troll – is annihilated by David Otunga (mentor: R-Truth) in match barely lasting a minute. Did you know Otunga is Jennifer Hudson’s boyfriend? It took him all of seventeen seconds to mention that. Thankfully for him, he looks impressive as a wrestler, so the association is just icing on the cake. Oh, he’s also met Barack Obama twice. That means in the heavily Republican supported WWE he’s a bad guy.
Next week on NXT: OH SHIT! WE FORGOT TO INTRODUCE TWO OF THE ROOKIES!
In the main event, World Champion Chris Jericho faces Daniel Bryan in an amazing contest, even with the bizarre distraction of Jericho’s rookie Wade Barrett being interviewed at ringside as the match is happening. Bryan has arguably the strongest debut since John Cena in 2002; practically killing himself when Y2J sends him flying into the announce table, hooking in a leglock that nearly makes the champion tap, before having to submit thanks to a (these days) rare use of the Walls of Jericho. Afterwards, The Miz beats down Daniel Bryan to end the debut edition of the show.
Right now, the tone of NXT isn’t perfect. It wants to be an obviously scripted show with traditional wrestling storylines, yet they’re firing on all cylinders when they had the interviews. I don’t know why they can’t have the storylines shot and presented in the same reality TV style way. Why couldn’t they have had The Miz and Daniel Bryan, in character, improvising an argument in a gym or something leading up to the in-ring promo? The tension would be a lot more believable. Apart from that, it was an enjoyable show.
The pay-per-view formerly known as No Way Out is where the Wrestlemania card usually takes shape, but several surprises at the Elimination Chamber event mean what we’ll see in five weeks time in Arizona is for the most part still unclear.
The show kicked off with the first of two Elimination Chamber matches between defending WWE Champion Sheamus, Legacy’s Randy Orton and Ted Dibiase, Kofi Kingston, John Cena, and Triple H. While Legacy finally exploded when Dibiase took advantage of an accidental lead pipe shot to Orton by pinning him; Sheamus’ two-month title reign came to a sudden end, with his place on the Wrestlemania card now doubtful. My biggest criticism of the Raw brand is its failure to try anything new, so when Triple H and John Cena are the last men standing once again, there’s more of a collective groan than excitement. Cena became WWE Champion for the sixth time after he made Triple H submit to the STF.
But that wasn’t it. In response to Cena’s support of Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, Vince McMahon reran the events of New Year’s Revolution 2006 by declaring Cena must defend his title immediately against Batista. In the space of a minute, Batista became champion, and a match against Cena – unnecessarily for the WWE Title – looks set for Wrestlemania.
Next, Drew McIntyre defended his Intercontinental Championship against Kane. Considering the Scotsman is an up-and-comer and handpicked by Vince McMahon as a future World Champion, that he won against a man with a poor record against whomever the WWE is touting as the Next Big Thing came as no surprise. McIntyre won by following up an eye gouge with the Future Shock Double Arm DDT.
In a bizarre decision, Maryse and Gail Kim’s match for the vacant Divas Championship (or as I call it: the Toilet Break Title) was changed to a dire tag match against Smackdown’s Michelle McCool and Layla. Team Smackdown won after a ridiculous ending where Maryse mistimed swerving her tag partner, leaving Gail Kim stood there looking like an idiot for what felt like an age.
In technically the third unadvertised match of the night, The Miz (accompanied to the ring by Big Show) again defended his United States Title against MVP (with Mark Henry). Like last month’s unadvertised match at the Royal Rumble, this was a decent bout between (hopefully) two future main eventers. In the end, interference proved to be the deciding factor as Henry crashed through the barricade, while Show delivered a knock-out punch to MVP when the referee wasn’t looking in a nod to how he used to win matches with his former Tag partner Chris Jericho.
Speaking of, Chris Jericho became the World Heavyweight Champion in the second Elimination Chamber match. It was a more entertaining affair than the opening bout, and indicative of how better Smackdown is as a show compared to Raw. During the match, CM Punk pinned R-Truth before cutting a promo to further his Straight Edge Society cause, the true highlight of the WWE right now. Then Rey Mysterio got revenge for Punk’s recent actions by eliminating him. John Morrison won a surprising pinfall over Mysterio, but fell victim to defending champion The Undertaker. The ending was marred in controversy when Shawn Michaels appeared from under the Chamber, delivered Sweet Chin Music to Undertaker, and let Chris Jericho pick up the victory to become World Champion for the third time.
Elimination Chamber was a show of two halves. Everything up to MVP/Miz was wretched, at which point it became good. How Wrestlemania will shape up is anybody’s guess. It seems the two title matches will be Edge versus Chris Jericho for the World Title, and John Cena versus Batista for the WWE Title. However, with Shawn Michaels versus The Undertaker seemingly back on after a teased demise of D-Generation X, where does this leave Triple H on the biggest show of the year?
RATING: 6/10
(Note: This was written for Kick-Out!! Wrestling and published on November 17th 2009. The original article can be viewed here.)
It goes without saying that I love Razor’s concept for a better wrestling media. For too long, fans have been anything but fans – moaning about the smallest details as if they could write a better episode of Monday Night Raw, and complaining that Internet darling number 23 is stuck under the glass ceiling because of Triple H. Wrestling should be a positive experience. It’s just a soap opera where larger than life characters beat the s*** out of each other, after all
But the thought occurs that TNA rarely gets mentioned in this new media movement, apart from a reference here or a joke there. Why is that? After watching an entire month of TNA, from October’s Bound For Glory pay per view to last week’s Impact, I understand why. Rather than producing something innovative or entertaining, TNA dwells in dirt sheet style negativity and sensationalism.
In the fallout of the Monday Night Wars in 2001, those who still wanted to watch fighting fragmented into two sections. MMA was for those craving for ‘reality’ and ‘shooting’, while the WWE – realising wrestling can never be portrayed as a true sport – leaned heavily towards the entertainment aspect so it could be popular with kids and adults alike.
TNA has different ideas. Instead of being innovative or entertaining, it has taken a direction that can be best described as a limp and frankly embarrassing version of the WWF Attitude Era. Characters are egocentric shades of grey (ie: genuinely unlikeable) as proven by the recent AJ Styles/Daniels/Samoa Joe feud. Wrestlers are too busy brawling backstage over wives to be actual wrestlers. And, for those who love ‘reality’, Tara and Kim Couture have impromptu shoot fights, and Team 3D and Rhino talk about losing their spots, peppering it with insider lingo. Fire Russo? Fire the guy at the TNA offices for getting desk calendars ten years out of date.
The company certainly has an identity crisis. It wants to be the alternative in professional wrestling, going as far to script (then) ex-WWE wrestlers like Christian to say they came to TNA because they love wrestling itself. Yet, it not only relies on former WWE talent to give their home grown stars legitimacy – an unnecessary practice, wrestlers constantly revisit memories from the past to make their current storylines seem relevant. Team 3D was dangerous in a TLC rip-off at Bound For Glory because they’ve “wrestled in this type of match in front of 70,000 people,” and Raven attacked Mick Foley for “getting in-between me and my playmate Tommy Dreamer.”
TNA has been around for seven years now. Surely they should have a plethora of moments they can look back at, right? After all, the WWE puts out hours of great memories every year. But can you honestly name one defining moment in TNA history? One to rival Austin stunning Vince McMahon, or HBK’s spectacular entrance at Wrestlemania 12? They had the AJ/Daniels/Samoa Joe match for the X-Division title at Unbreakable 2005, and that’s it.
Recently, they had the chance to put this right with the signing of Hulk Hogan. The press was tremendous, with mentions on shows such as Larry King and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Now with Hogan’s fans coming to check out TNA – it was essential for the company to impress and do something unforgettable for the new viewers. And, as it just so happens, TNA did. For all the wrong reasons.
Dixie Carter delivered a speech to the TNA roster and fans at home with the intention of rallying up the troops. This was a bad idea anyway; the viewers want to see total non-stop action now, not a promise there will be total non-stop action in a few weeks or so. However, she took the ridiculousness up tenfold by holding a lecture, demanding everyone to get behind her (non-existent) direction, or go elsewhere. After seeing the wrestlers belittled by a small woman resembling a stern teacher, those extra Hulkamaniacs went elsewhere, as proven by how the ratings slumped back to the 1.1 level again.
I have no idea why they did this speech, clearly a work due to the several mentions of it later in the programme, but it showed that TNA is a company run by sneering, cynical smarks. The type that demands too much just because they believe it’s their right. TNA thinks it can toy with wannabe fans through stunts like that, and by teasing major ground breaking announcements that will ‘shake the core of TNA’, only to turn around and have Eric Young change the name of an insignificant title.
Until TNA and its programming become a positive experience to watch, their buyrates, merchandise, ratings and attendances will not progress. We don’t care about what you’re going to do in the future, or what your wrestlers have previously done in clearly superior wrestling outfits, or insider stuff. We want to be emotionally involved with TNA. We want to be inspired by breathtaking, memorable moments you produce. That’s it! How hard is that to understand?
Maybe Dixie Carter would take notice if I tweeted this article to her…
