For those expecting a regular, in depth Mouth of the South Shore article, you have come to the wrong place. Usually, I would have an hour's worth of programming to talk about, analyze, critique, and perhaps joke about, but this week, that cannot happen. That is because in WWE's infinite wisdom, they decided to dedicate most of their Tuesday broadcast, which normally features rookie wrestlers being mentored by veterans, to more Wrestlemania hype. While I understand that Wrestlemania is huge and will take place in 5 days, I think it's a little ridiculous how much marketing they are doing for the event. Personally, I think they are a little nervous, given that there are actually still some seats available at the show, but was it worth it to completely overshadow a new concept program that is struggling as it is? Since the ratings aren't in as of this writing, I cannot say for sure if this style of programming caused a decline in ratings, but as just one avid viewer, I can tell you that I was tempted to change the channel.
The show started out just fine, with a tag team match between the Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater team and the Skip Sheffield/Wade Barrett team. Decent match given the lack of overness any of the guys have. The only pop was for one move that Heath Slater made. That in and of itself makes Slater just about the only NXT guy getting any reaction. In fact, the biggest crowd reaction in the whole match was when Christian decided to come out mid-match. Either way, Slater and Gabriel picked up the win, bringing Slater to 4-0 and Gabriel to 3-1. This is significant given the announcement before the match.
As I've stated previously, each week, WWE seems to put a new piece into place in regards to the concept of NXT. This week, we found out more about what the voting will be based on. Matt Striker informed us that pros will vote on the rookies based on Win-Loss record, quality of opponent, "it" factor, among other things. It should be interesting to see how these qualifications affect the voting, and if anyone still cares.
The problem began after the first match when another match was announced as the main event. It was to include the other four NXT competitors, which meant that no other matches would take place. That would be fine if some cool backstage vignettes or pro/rookie interactions were shown, but unfortunately, from about 10:10-10:45, we basically got nothing but Wrestlemania hype videos. Obviously they were quality videos, but many of them have been seen on Raw and Smackdown and were just unnecessary on NXT. I would have had no problem with one main Wrestlemania video package, but seeing videos for every major feud when that time could have been spent building the characters of these young men is ridiculous. These matches don't do much for character development, so that time is so vital and was very wasted. The only video worth seeing was the one with The Miz and David Otunga attending a hollywood party. It was great to see them together as they both had fame before entering WWE, and while Miz has used it to his advantage, Otunga needed something like that to help develop his persona. Unfortunately, his personality is drier than the air I breathed while attending the University of Arizona. His lifestyle lends him to be a cocky heel who feels he's better than everyone because of his fame and life, but his soft spoken nature and lack of stage presence aren't allowing that to breathe through. Some see the potential in this character and mistake it for current presence, but the truth is, he needs to hone the ability to have a presence. Hopefully the Miz could rub off on him a little bit, as he's one guy who truly owns any stage he's on.
After seemingly endless promos, the main event finally came as Daniel Bryan and Michael Tarver took on David Otunga and Darren Young. Again, nothing truly special in the match except for maybe Daniel Bryan's submission maneuver. However, given that his motto is "snap or tap", the fact that every time he locks in a submission, it is easily countered or broken makes him look quite weak. I get that they are for some reason booking him on a losing streak, but in order to get him over, he's going to have to start going nuts with getting people to tap out to him. Otherwise, why bill him as a submission specialist? As it stands, his excellent submission in this match was easily overcome as Darren Young made his way to the ropes with ease and later amidst some poorly executed commotion, Young hit Bryan with what I'm guessing is his finisher for the pin. The only positive for Daniel Bryan is that Miz wasn't there to see the match or abuse Bryan after it.
As you can see, there wasn't much going on with the rookies on this night. I undderstand that they are wallowed in the shadows of Wrestlemania, but I still believe more could have been done with this show. Then again, that has been the theme of every NXT episode since the first one. I'll reserve judgement until after the first vote, but the direction this show has been going is certainly not a positive one. I only hope that once Wrestlemania is over, the show finds direction and truly spotlights the young talent like it was intended to do.
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