All Aboard the Riley Express: More Thoughts on NXT Season Two

So since my last NXT review, my TV has shorted out and I can’t watch WWE programming.

However, thanks to the WWE’s video section—as well as YouTube—I was able to look at some of what happened on NXT last night and wanted to share some thoughts once more.

All Aboard the Riley Express

First and foremost: Thanks to a message from Hellbilly, I see that Alex Riley mentioned that “if it were up to the Pros...he’d win by a country mile,” accused Kaval of trying out for a Morgan Freeman role, and called Percy Watson a “poor Eddie Murphy impersonation.”

Now, I’m sure that there are astute people writing the promos in WWE (wait...um...), so it’s not like these things are so subtle that nobody could pick up on them, but...those were almost the exact phrases I used in my last article. As Hellbilly asked, does Alex Riley read B/R?

If so: Alex, you’re the man, and I hope you win. Also, you owe me royalties, which you can gladly pay off by throwing in a Voodoo Magic reference next week (i.e. “I’m still only third? Man, this voting process is crazy like some Voodoo Magic” or such).

All kidding/pandering aside, Riley is just straight-up distancing himself from the pack, Secretariat style, in his promos.

The man is easily one of the most polished speakers I’ve heard in a very long time and can talk better than a large portion of the guys on the main roster.

That, coupled with his in-ring ability and his alliance with The Miz, means that this guy is the next breakout star whether he wins the competition or not.

I mean, let’s look at Tough Enough and the Diva Search in years past (yes, I know, we’ve all tried to forget at times). Who among the winners made a real impact as opposed to the runners-up?

In the three Tough Enough competitions, only John Hennigan (now John Morrison) ever made an extended impact, and of the Diva Search winners, only Layla and Eve have done much of anything.

Now, let’s look at some of the runners-up from those shows: Josh Matthews, Matt Morgan, and The Miz all didn’t win.

Matthews, while not a wrestler, is a prominent part of WWE programming, and I don’t need to go into how Daniel Puder over The Miz was a titanic mistake (though, at the time, it didn’t look too bad).

As far as the Diva Search, tons of the runners-up made an impact on TV, many of them winning championships, while people like Christy and Ashley did very little.

So what does this say about Alex Riley? Since this is partially a fan-driven...wait, let me take a page from the man himself: Since the voting is partially driven by the “democracy of dorks,” it’s fairly clear that McGillicutty or Kaval is going to win (though it’s not like either is a worthless chump by any stretch).

However, as we’ve seen in the past, that doesn’t mean that Riley won’t make an impact.

Let’s look at a parallel example from a “legitimate” sport: the Heisman Trophy. Supposedly, this award is given to the best player in college football, but so often it goes to the starting QB or RB on a BCS conference title contender (but I won’t get into my issues with the Heisman right now).

Therefore, we’ve seen Gino Torretta, Jason White, Ron Dayne, Chris Weinke, and Eric Crouch win the award while guys like LaDainian Tomlinson, Michael Vick, Warren Sapp, and Peyton Manning did not.

Same thing goes for WWE competitions like this: guys like Kaval and McG (sorry, I’m not spelling that name out anymore), who are solid guys but don’t have anywhere near the upside of someone like Alex Riley, will win the popularity contest, while a sensational heel like Riley (or even a rising one like Husky Harris, who I will address in a minute) will have to make it outside the NXT competition.

Other Thoughts

· Husky Harris’s promos last night were quite impressive. Despite the occasional moments where he slips into Will-Ferrell-doing-Harry-Caray, he not only made some good points but actually showed some quality promo skills.

As I mentioned before, I’ve heard that WWE is quite high on this guy, and he’s starting to show why. I hope he keeps up the good work, since it’s been a while since someone who isn’t tall, dark, ripped, and handsome made some noise in WWE.

· So Eli Cottonwood was eliminated, which I predicted. What am I, clairvoyant? Nah, he was just awful. Seriously, why did they pull this guy up from FCW to put on the show and not someone more fitting?

· Now that Cottonwood is gone, time to trim more dead weight: Goodbye, Vanilla Cannon. That promo you cut last night (“my best friend was a guy named Nobody”...what? Are you Odysseus all of a sudden?) was horrific, and the fact that the fans booed you for it was the death blow. Nobody wants a plucky, underdog babyface with no charisma.

Now, the last time the fans turned on a guy like that, he went on to become The Rock. I don’t know if I see that from Mr. Cannon...