Five-Star Conversation 06.08.10: NXT Season Two Kicks Off Tonight

I probably shouldn’t have been, but I was a little surprised NXT wasn’t going on any kind of hiatus or anything following last week’s Season Finale. No, they’re forging ahead tonight with Season Two and, along with discovering last season’s winner, this season’s Pros and Rookies were introduced. I thought it might be a worthwhile endeavor to break it all down and speculate what it seems we have and where we might be going this time around. I’m also very interested in getting your feedback!

PRO The Miz mentors ROOKIE Alex Riley
I don’t think it can be argued that the biggest story to come out of NXT Season One was the derision existing and, eventually, boiling over between The Miz and his rookie Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson (I’m still a little unclear on this…didn’t he cut a promo where he referred to himself by his real name, Bryan Danielson, once the acrimony between Michael Cole and him also exploded…?).

Sigh. That may have to become a weekly feature…

Obviously, Danielson was the stand out among the eight last season, given his greater experience in the ring and the fact that so many members of the “WWE Universe” would be familiar with his work, it would be hard to sell the fact that he was just as much a rookie as the other recruits. However, we’ve seen WWE ignore such established stars in the past, square-pegging him (or her…Alundra Blayze, Vince? Really?!) into a role seemingly ill-suited, or, at the very least, a poor attempt to own an acquired talent (Lex Luger’s Narcissist and Made in the USA gimmicks come to mind). So why go all realistic on us when introducing someone with a significantly less-known reputation and following in Danielson than Medusa Miceli and Luger’s? Is WWE finally acknowledging The IWC in an inclusive manner, and not just to ridicule it and take it for granted? I’m throwing out this topic with the intention of stimulating some discussion, so, please, go for it!

To say The Miz’ frustration with Danielson was apparent is tantamount to suggesting Steve Cook might enjoy a peek at a fake breast or two. It also seems as if, because Danielson appeared to be the shoo-in to win the whole shebang, that it made sense to write him as one of the first to lose, allowing him instead the opportunity to get over anyway, via his heat with Miz and Cole and, thereby, giving the winning slot to someone else who might benefit more greatly from the honor of having done so (personally, I think the right guy won in Wade Barrett and hope to see not just an extended mentoring period with William Regal, but great things as a result).

That scheme changes, however, as The Miz returns to mentor once again in Season Two, only this time, to a fellow named Alex Riley. My first impression of Riley (and did anyone think for just a split second The Miz was going to announce, “ALLLEEEXX WRRRRRIIIGHT!”) is a rookie Shane Douglas in collegiate gear, only with his “dump the Eastern Championship Wrestling Title in the garbage”-era brazenness, combined with a modern-day obnoxiousness, not unlike that of his mentor. I have yet to see Riley in the ring, but I suspect he may be one of those types who has more style than substance, but that, again, is just a first impression and is ultimately an unfair judgment.

So does Riley have a shot of winning NXT II? Again, without seeing him perform, it’s difficult to say, but he seems to have the kind of gimmick that will serve him very well upon moving up to the next tier, assuming he makes it that far, and, considering WWE has trademarked all the names of NXT I, assuming because they plan to use them in some form, there’s a good shot he might, as well. My initial hunch is that Riley might actually attempt to out-Miz The Miz, leading, again, to a certain level of heat between Pro and Rookie, although for completely different reasons than last season. If that’s the case, then I think no, Riley won’t win, simply because he’ll already have a reason “to exist”, eef you wee-yull, leaving the door open for someone else in Barrett’s boots.

PRO Cody Rhodes mentors ROOKIE Husky Harris
Am I the only one who wishes it was Dusty Rhodes rather than Cody in the Pro position this time, just to hear him say “Huthkeh Harreth”…?

First of all, we now must address one of the most noggin-scratching aspects of NXT II, and that’s the renaming of the third-generation stars competing this season, as well as the other annoying/puzzling feature…where the HELL did they come up with these names?!

Harris is the grandson of WWE Hall of Famer Black Mulligan (one-half of the former WWF TTCs, The Blackjacks), the son of Mike “Irwin R. Schyster” Rotunda and the nephew of Barry and Kendall Windham (Harris’ real name is Windham Rotunda).

If you’re going to introduce/promote the kid based upon his heritage, and Harris has it in spades (no pun intended), why rename him? And if you’re compelled to rename him, why the hell Husky Harris?! I know WWE has a history of ribbing/embarrassing its’ employees into complying to its’ wishes, such as when they tried to shame a complacent Mark Henry into action by forcing him into a romantic relationship with Mae Young.

Obviously, Harris is named Husky because he is such and one can imagine Harris being given the “Good news/Bad news” scenario. Good news, kid, you’re going on Season Two of NXT! Bad news? We’re calling you out on your weight. Wanna shed the name? Shed some pounds! Still, with a last name like Rotunda, you’d think they could have come up with a name that played off of that and got the point across while still being true to his heritage. Or they could have taken the innovative route and put him in ring gear that minimizes his moobs and played up the fact that we have another third-generation wrestler coming up the ranks.

The relationship with Cody could prove to be interesting, too, considering the history their two families have with one another, albeit Big Dutht and Barry more so than IRS. Is Cody likely to be harder on Harris because he expects more of him given that third-generation status? Could we see some bad blood if/when Cody calls out Harris for his excess girth? Might Harris get fed up at some juncture and point out that, while his grandfather is a legend, Cody’s was a plumber? Or perhaps that, ever since Legacy imploded and Cody ended up on SmackDown!, he’s managed to accomplish maybe making TV without his partner…? Things could get very heated in a hurry between these two.

So, could Harris walk with the whole thing? Again, it strikes me that, should we see Cody and Harris start going at it over heritage and birthright, Harris could find himself elevated in this manner and not really require the extra push winning would afford him. I also have another possible scenario involving Harris I’ll discuss in a moment…

PROs Team LayCool mentor ROOKIE Kaval
Okay, first of all, having never heard Kaval speak, I was not expecting that deep ass voice to come out of him! Second, for the uninitiated, yes, he has wrestled on the indies and in TNA as Low-Ki. I’m not really going to include this in the “What the hell are you thinking renaming him” category because he’s actually been signed to WWE Developmental for quite awhile and was rumored to have been originally scheduled for last season, but was held up (I don’t think this had anything to do with a serious knee injury he suffered, but who knows?). Going by Kaval also allows him the opportunity to start going by his former moniker should he and WWE part ways, which leaves him in good stead. I also think Kaval is a pretty cool name…but check out what I discovered in having researched him on-line:

The kaval (pronounced [kaˈval]) is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, southern Serbia (кавал), northern Greece (καβάλι or dzhamara), Romania (caval), and Armenia (Բլուլ or blul).

So he’s named after a flute. Not terribly masculine, but neither are his Pros.

Speaking of LayCool, this is a love/hate thing with them, obviously…you either love them or hate them. Or want to nail them, especially if that would shut them UP. Speaking as Vickie Guerrero mark, I can’t really say too much, I realize, although I can defend that markism (and have), whereas LayCool straight embarrass themselves each week by acting like middle school girls who’ve spent too much time inhaling nail polish remover, ie, a very poor man’s Beautiful People. It’s nice they have a gimmick and, while Beth Phoenix is out, they’re pretty much the most interesting Divas act on SmackDown!, even if it doesn’t appeal to me.

So the question is, how will this coupling play out? Will Kaval suffer from having Divas as his mentors, both in terms of a leadership capacity, given that they seem more concerned about how wonderful they think are so as to meet him with apathy, to the other boys giving him a hard time over it? Or could this be the catalyst that splits LayCool for good, stemming from jealousy over whom he likes more?

It seems to me we’ll have the same dynamic this season with Kaval as we did last season in Danielson’s regard, the fact that he has a presence and a history elsewhere in the business before coming to WWE, such that he’s not a rookie in the truest sense of the term, not like his fellow contestants. This leaves one to ponder whether or not we’ll get a reprise of the whole Cole scenario, or are we going to sweep his history under the rug, and, if so, why? Is it because it was a situation that served to better benefit Danielson? Or could it be the means by which they eventually unite? They certainly are familiar with one another:

There are too many factors that convince me Kaval won’t need to win this competition to have a solid springboard to the main roster. He has more experience, a style that will thrill the fans (especially at a time when we can start to look at Rey Mysterio and wonder how much more time he’s got as a full-time performer, given the numerous injuries he’s managed to rack up in the last 15 years) and appears to be somewhat eloquent in a speaking capacity. What if the duel Pros catfight over him and split as a consequence, leaving Kaval without a Pro? Would that force him to be disqualified or would another Pro be assigned?

PRO Mark Henry mentors ROOKIE Lucky Cannon
Okay, here we have the grand daddy of ridiculous names of the season. I can see if his story implies that he’s met with dumb luck and the moniker stuck, as was said on last week’s NXT, but come on. As a matter of fact, look what I found:

Johnny Prime is a hell of a better name than Lucky Cannon, granted, though, quite similar to Johnny Nitro, but he’s John Morrison now, isn’t he? Lucky Cannon? God, HOW many times are we going to have to endure Michael Cole whine, “…or will Cannon’s LUCK run out this week…?”

In addition, judging from that clip, Cannon seems to be an incredibly generic worker (and props to Riley, he actually looks to be quite a naturally gifted athlete…think a young Billy Gunn, but with an attitude you can invest in). Aside from looking like a Chippendale’s dancer in, say, a fireman’s outfit, he doesn’t appear to bring a lot to the table, other than basic charisma, size and charm. The ladies (and a few of the men) will like him for that and he could get to a certain point with it, but if more of this is what we can expect, I don’t see a lot coming from this kid (of course, this is just one match, and if he was allowed to go over what appears to be a superior worker, perhaps there’s more going on that what we allowed to see here). I hate to say it, but it seems the most interesting thing about him was having to question why he’s wearing a Transformers logo on his butt.

But the other reason I don’t see him going anywhere is because he’s paired with Mark Henry, who seems to be at a loose end on Raw at the moment. It almost makes me feel as if he’s on NXT to give him something to do, and by hooking him up with The Luckster, it’s an innocuous pair.

PRO John Morrison mentors ROOKIE Eli Cottonwood
I don’t mind the name this time around, and, quite frankly, it sort of reminds me of a Waylon Mercy-type of deal (and not just because the impetus of Cottonwood’s FCW character was that he was recently released from a sanitarium):

I used to LOVE that character. I know the quality sucks, but, if nothing else, check out the end of the match when Mercy gets his opponent in The Sleeper and check out his face. I know we’re all basically skulls with skin stretched over it, but it’s never more apparent than with ol’ Dan Spivey.

I don’t know if they’re going to go this same route with Cottonwood, that whole kayfabed Sycho Sid route, but they’ve suggested he’s a “rather unique individual”, so who knows? I can also see a little bit of a young Diesel in him, too, the way he lunges over the ropes in his video vignette and we’ve mentioned here in the past that it appears Vince is attempting to repopulate his current ranks with personalities similar to this that have worked in the past. Cottonwood, at least in appearance and back story, could offer a couple of different scenarios. At 7’1″ and with Khali out gas as anything but a comedic character, he could fill that role, too, perhaps.

The one point that discourages me is that he’s not been wrestling for more than a year yet, so it would seem we could be in for another one of Vince’s giant fetishes with little experience, although, who knows, he may be a quick study. Given the majority of Vince’s other such investments, though, I’m not optimistic. (It should be noted that I was unable to find any in-ring action of Cottonwood on-line.)

As for how Cottonwood will gel with Morrison is a mystery and could prove to be this seasons most esoteric of pairings…on the other hand, Morrison can play a pretty out-there, psychedelic guru himself. Suppose he mesmerizes Cottonwood into following him to The Palace of Wisdom and Cottonwood becomes a follower/bodyguard? That scenario would work if two things were true – 1) If Morrison were still a heel and 2) if CM Punk weren’t utilizing that gimmick to its’ best end already.

Quite frankly, I think Cottonwood’s chances of winning are fairly slim, if only because he already has his size to get him over anywhere he goes, thus he doesn’t really need the rub, and also, owing to his inexperience, right David Otunga? I don’t know of anything The Friday Night Delight could impart to counterbalance that.

PRO Kofi Kingston mentors ROOKIE Mike McGillicutty
Okay, here we have “Husky Harris” part two. McGillicutty, as was announced, is Joe Hennig, the son of “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig and the grandson of Larry “The Ax” Hennig. So why the hell rename him Mike McGillicutty?! Is there something we don’t know about between Perfect and Beulah? Again, this completely boggles, unless it’s the beginning of an angle whereby the two third-generation stars decide they’re pissed at WWE (once they’re eliminated) for having abandon their namesakes and forced them out of adding to their fathers’ legacies by giving them ridiculous names. Could this be an extension of what we saw last season, in that WWE is finally responding to The IWC’s complaint that rookies are saddled with idiotic names, despite having had a certain amount of success elsewhere with another name…?

So how about Hennig and Rotunda eventually teaming up, along with Rhodes, turning on Hennig’s Pro, Kingston? This prompts Kingston to go to Teddy Long and request emphatically that he sign Hennig and Rotunda, which initially confuses Long. “Why you want me to sign, ‘em, dog?” Because Kingston wants revenge and has recruited two other SmackDown! roster members to help him achieve it. This way, we have that second- & third-generation stable we thought was going to include Hennig, Ted DiBiase and Brett, Ted’s younger brother (currently out with a knee injury). Rotunda replaces Brett, who can be introduced and tagged up with his brother, making more sense as The Fortunate Sons anyway, as the sons of The Million Dollar Man, and Hennig and Rotunda, who are healthy and ready to go now, get their chance.

In case you’ve not seen Hennig go, BTW, here’s an FCW Heavyweight Title match against someone with whom you may be familiar [JIP]:

PRO MVP mentors ROOKIE Percy Watson
This is just my first impression, but this fruitcake irritates me, and that’s coming from me. In researching Watson, I discovered two things: 1) He was last season’s Darren Young’s tag partner in FCW in a team called The South Beach Boys. That makes sense, and I can see who had the greater part of the personality, for better and worse; 2) He’s been wrestling for about as long as has Cottonwood, and that initially concerned me. Then I looked them up and found this:

You know, based upon this, it makes me wonder why WWE chose to split these guys up and run them separately on NXT when they have a gimmick that, one way or another and depending upon how they played it, would most certainly get a reaction, especially when both brands, Raw especially, are hurting for tag teams.

At any rate, Watson certainly has some very natural athletic ability and appears to be the quick study I hope, for his own sake, that Cottonwood might be. He definitely knows how to work his gimmick. It should be interesting to see, as was intimated by MVP himself, exactly how these two will gel and how the fans take to Watson’s flamboyance. I’ll be honest, I had to look up South Beach because I didn’t know if they, let’s say, have a little some-some in common with Orlando Jordan the way they were prancing around and how they were made up. Whether or not Watson wins this thing depends very heavily on these two factors, I think. It might be interesting to see what could happen if we have NXT alums return this season, as is the case with many reality shows, and, if so, what the dynamic between Young and Watson might be. All things considered, Watson might actually walk with this one.

PRO Zack Ryder mentors ROOKIE Titus O’Neil
My initial thought was that this could end up being more beneficial to Ryder than O’Neil, depending upon what happens. This could also end up being a situation similar to Danielson/Miz, as we have the fairly unestablished Pro mentoring the more serious and no-nonsense Rookie, which could lead to its’ own story above and beyond the actual contest.

He appears to be an enthusiastic, charismatic character in the ring, but seemed quite sedate and bland in his sit-down introduction promo. One wonders if that was intentional, and we’ll see him explode later in the competition, say, once The Long Island Ice-T manages to push his buttons once too often and a little too far, or if what you see is what you get…? I found a match on-line where he was tagging with last season’s Skip Sheffield. They seemed to have a decent enough connection with similar football-players-psyching-up kind of pre-match ritual, and, as I said, his style is quite explosive, but he was very basic, riding the ring apron, mostly, while Sheffield played face-in-peril for Vance Archer and, again, Alex Riley. Incidentally, the maneuvers he’s shown performing on his introduction video are about all he showcases in this match, as well, making me wonder how much else he knows how to do. My complaint with last season’s Justin Gabriel was that he seemed to have learned a handful of flashy moves with which to pop the crowd, but when it came time to connect them in any meaningful way, he seemed lost. One wonders if O’Neil is in that same situation, only working an intense power game as opposed to an aerial assault…?

I was thinking O’Neil might be my initial odds-on favorite to win, despite his somewhat lackluster vocal performance last week in his promo video; he struck me as a sort of anti-David Otunga, because at least A-List made you know exactly who he was and what he was about before he disappointed you in the ring. O’Neil strikes me as a neo-Ahmed Johnson, although I said that about Otunga, too. But Otunga was the runner-up and we certainly haven’t seen the last of him.

So what do you think? Are you watching NXT II? What were your thoughts on the last season and why? Who do you think might win? What other things might we see down the road? Let’s hear it!