What's Next for NXT?

Back in February, when Vince McMahon announced that ECW would be cancelled, he said the show replacing it would be "the next evolution of the WWE and the next evolution of television history."

So far, WWE's NXT program has been entertaining for the most part but calling it the next evolution in television history, even pro wrestling television history, is a bit of a stretch.

Much like any new television program, the first season of NXT has been a bit of a work in progress and the rather low ratings only prove that the WWE has some work to do if it wants this "groundbreaking" concept to be a success.

One of the WWE's biggest mistakes with NXT has been branding it as some type of reality show hybrid, which simply isn't the case.

Most everything on the show appears scripted, aside from perhaps the rookie challenges on each show. Besides that, NXT comes off like just another wrestling program which is disappointing to viewers who were expecting something more.

Internet geeks, as Michael Cole so affectionately refers to fans of independent wrestling, were excited that Bryan Danielson, or Daniel Bryan to the WWE Universe, would be a part of the show.

Add him to a list of seven other developmental talents from Florida Championship Wrestling and then pair them all with WWE pro mentors and the formula for NXT was looking promising.

It hasn't panned out to be as promising as it could have been, though the rookie/pro relationships have become one of the more entertaining parts of the show. "South Beach Party Boy" Darren Young getting paired up with CM Punk has provided moments of comedic gold.

The same can be said for the odd couple of William Regal and the "Cornfed Meathead" Skip Sheffield. Of course, everyone was up in arms about Bryan being mentored by The Miz, and as the show has progressed it seems apparent that a clash between the two is inevitable.

Despite being 0-8, Daniel Bryan is still ranked number one in the polls. While his losing streak is likely just a part of the WWE's long-term plan for him, it is still disheartening to see one of the most talented wrestlers in the world being forced into four-minute squash matches.

If the WWE had given Bryan and Regal a 10 minute match, we could've seen a technical masterpiece. Now the WWE walks the fine line between making Bryan an underdog and turning him into a jobber.

Over the past few weeks, we have seen the NXT rookies compete in challenges to kick off the show. While the idea is good, the execution has been poor. These contests take up a good 15 to 20 minutes of TV time, leaving us with enough time for a few quick matches and a handful of promos.

Showcasing the character traits and mic skills of the rookies is an important part of the show, but it would be nice to see some actual matches that were longer than five minutes. At least that would give fans a taste of the in-ring talents of these rookies.

After a month and a half, it is still hard to judge just how talented some of the rookies are between the ropes.

None of the rookies have been awful, in fact most of them have impressed me in one form or another.

Michael Tarver is probably the least impressive thus far, but that has a lot to do with the fact that he hasn't been given a whole lot of time to impress.

I like what I have seen from Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, both have potential to be solid in-ring performers. 

Wade Barrett has been the biggest surprise of the show and with a bit more experience the big Brit could really make a name for himself in the WWE. It doesn't hurt that his mentor is Chris Jericho, arguably the best all-around talent in wrestling today.

There are still a few weeks to go before the first elimination, and from that point on a rookie will be booted from the show each week until only one remains.

With any luck, as the numbers decrease the match length will increase and the fans will be able to better judge how good, or bad, the competitors are.

Overall, NXT has been an interesting experiment if anything. The low ratings are somewhat expected for a brand new show featuring a bunch of people that the majority of the audience has ever heard of.

SyFy will be dropping the show in October once Smackdown moves to the network, leaving NXT as the WWE's fish out of water. Will the show move to another network or be cancelled altogether?

It would be a shame to see it go after just one season. The concept itself is a good one that has yielded some decent results. Once the cobwebs get worked out, NXT could be a really fun and interesting way to introduce new talent to the WWE.