NXT

Last week on Season Two of NXT, we were all privy to the first elimination of the season, as well as a shocking revelation of the who the number one rookie happened to be. Titus O’Neil, the rookie charge of Zack Ryder, was sent packing, and Laycool’s little package of dynamite, Kaval, was announced as the NXT number one. With the rankings in place, this week’s results count more than ever. Those who are highly ranked, now have to perform with the pressure of living up to expectations. Those who have a low ranking, can only hope to move up. How did the rookies fare and more importantly, how did our NXT number one Kaval fare?

The Miz comes to the ring first and he has Alex Riley in tow. As usual, The Miz is brimming with confidence and Riley definitely has similar mannerisms. The Miz is looking to avenge his rookie’s loss to Kaval last week. NXT goes to commercial in the middle of The Miz’s entrance but nothing is really missed because when the show returns, Miz and Riley are standing in the corner, talking. Kaval is out next and Michelle McCool and Layla both spring from their seats. Both women absolutely come alive when Kaval appears in front of them. They rush to his side and start fussing with him. Michelle even takes her fingers and forces Kaval’s serious look into a smile. Eventually he’s had enough and takes off down the ramp and this forces the girls to practically sprint in order to keep up with him. They manage and Layla even strokes Kaval’s head along the way. He gets away from Laycool and enters the ring. He strips his pink shirt off and jacket, and gets ready for the match. Both men are intense, including The Miz, because he knows this is going to be no easy task.

The bell rings and the two combatants circle each other, both looking for the perfect opening. Kaval is the first to strike with a nice kick to Miz, which prompts the United States Champion to take a step back. They start staring one another down again and Kaval once again hits Miz with a nice, crisp strike. The Miz backs off again. Finally, the two lock horns and Miz forces Kaval back into the corner. Kaval is able to turn this around on his pro opponent, but the referee is quick to get in there and pull the men apart. The Miz comes flying out of the corner with a devastating boot to the face of Kaval and Laycool shriek in terror on the outside. The shot has forced Kaval to the mat. The Miz goes on the attack and slams a vicious knee right into Kaval’s lower back. The smaller rookie is hurting and Miz begins to strike Kaval near his collarbone with some pretty hard looking elbows. All this is taking place in front of Laycool and the co-Women Champions are beside themselves. They’re screaming and begging Kaval to fight through this attack. They just want him to stay strong.

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After reading the comments last week, a few of you expressed your opinions and said that you didn’t enjoy the long recaps and whatnot. The majority of you, however, enjoyed having the whole show spoken about so in the interest of fairness (I’m not a World Cup referee), I’ve decided to try and come to a compromise. Hopefully no one will complain about my writing style this week, and if you do, then oh well. It’s not my problem because at least I tried. Anyway, lets get down to it! Last week, Kaval saw his first in-ring action against standout rookie, Alex Riley. He came up on the short end of the stick, but this week he had a chance at redemption against creep-o, Eli Cottonwood. Were Michelle McCool and Layla able to cheer their man to victory or did John Morrison’s psych ward reject steal the win?

Kaval versus Cottonwood begins after a commercial so that means we have to miss Kaval’s entrance. That saddens me because this week Laycool is standing at ringside. They have on matching tops and skinny jeans, with porn star shoes, and of course, yours truly is already jealous. These two are so hot! Speaking of hot, the man who needs no mic skills comes out with Eli Cottonwood and Josh Mathews begins throwing out a million different analogies to describe this match. Kaval tries to start the match off on his terms, striking the much larger man in the legs. Cottonwood just brushes it off and bullies Kaval into the corner. Kaval fights back and gets Eli to back off, and he hits him with a fancy air move. Eli staggers but he doesn’t go down, much to Lay-Kav-Ool’s chagrin, I’m sure. Kaval bounces off the ropes and attempts to slide under the legs of Eli, but the monster freak catches our plucky little Brooklyn boy and carelessly tosses him half-way across the ring into a turnbuckle.

Cottonwood takes over the match and begins to punish Kaval for just getting into the ring against him. Eventually he ends up lifting Kaval up into a huge bear hug. Laycool begin cheering on their man and bless him, Kaval begins to fight back. He strikes Eli in the head a few times and that prompts the big man to slam Kaval into the opposite corner from where they began. Kaval keeps trying but Eli grabs him by the throat. Kaval doesn’t give up and he turns Eli’s offense into an illegal submission armbar or something on the ropes. Now that’s pretty damn cool. Kaval breaks the hold right before the five and stands up on the second rope. Eli lumbers towards him but Kaval kicks him back. Eli presses forward and tries to throw Kaval across the ring again. The crafty Kaval lands on his feet and runs towards the ropes. He springs off the middle one and nails Eli in the mouth with a stunning kick.

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Hello and welcome to another fantastic edition of the Diva Dirt WWE NXT recap! I am your host, the one and only… Cryssi! I wish I could say I’m cute and cuddly, but I’d be lying and I don’t really feel the need to do that because lying is wrong. But what I do feel like doing is going on record as saying that Matt Striker has really gorgeous blue eyes. Anyway, last week season two of NXT officially kicked off and all of us were given a small sample as to what we should expect for the remainder of the season. Smackdown mean girls and co-Women’s Champions, Layla and Michelle McCool, are the mentors of Kaval, and we got to sample that mixed up relationship very briefly. It was enough of a tease to leave the majority of us wanting more and this week we got more. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Blue Eyes himself is standing in the ring to greet us as the show gets underway. As usual, we were treated to a video package highlighting the debut episode of season two, and now Striker wants to have all the unanswered questions, answered. He says they’re going to bring everyone out and that’s just dandy. He announces the rookies first and NXT’s resident frat boy, Alex Riley struts out. He doesn’t really impress anyone because he looks like a love child produced by a DJ Gabriel/Mike Mizian one night stand. Following behind Riley is El Freaky, Eli Cottonwood, and then the adorable Husky Harris. Harris certainly gets a better introduction this week since the bland Cody Rhodes isn’t speaking and that makes me happy because I quite fancy Husky. He’s precious. Our boy, Kaval, is fourth and I love that Josh Mathews mentions that the most intriguing pairing is Kaval and Laycool. It really is. Percy Watson comes out and dear Lord. I still have issues with this person but he took a step in the ring direction this week by wearing puple. I can handle purple a lot better than I can handle red and he doesn’t really stick out like Megan Fox’s deformed thumb this week. Michael McGillicutty, the extremely hot and pretty Lucky Cannon, and Titus O’Neil round out the rookies.

The pros are announced next and Mr. Beautiful gets the coveted position of walking out first. As good as JoMo looks in his ring gear, he looks even better in street clothes, and the dapper button down tie-dye looking shirt he is wearing tonight is simply stunning. The man should be a model. He’s just that perfect. Behind Morrison, is none other than Cody Rhodes but really, who cares? It’s Cody Rhodes. The reason we watch NXT, Laycool, is out third and like usual, they look FLAWLESS! Michelle and Layla are both sporting minidresses again this week and they’re of similar style. Michelle’s is more my thing, but Layla is rocking the hell out of hers. Loving it! MVP, the Intercontinental Champion and my fellow Celtics fan Kofi Kingston, and Mark Henry all come out.

And then Zack Ryder comes out.

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Shockwaves reverberated throughout the internet wrestling community last week when the WWE made the announcement that Smackdown starlets and the self proclaimed, co-Women’s Champions, Layla and Michelle McCool, would be involved on the next season of it’s rookie competition show, NXT. Instead of getting stuck with a nobody, or getting a chance to work with a second or third generation star, the two vivacious divas were paired off with former indy star, TNA star, and ROH stand-out Low-Ki, known to all of us as Kaval. So much butt hurt was expressed over this pairing by so-called “journalists” and “experts” and yes, I just used the term “butt hurt.” It was incredibly ridiculous and extremely disrespectful to the two women who have worked their asses off to make it in the WWE. Lets face it, the Divas division is horribly managed and the girls aren’t given a fair chance. But the comedic pairing of McCool and Layla is totally gold and they’ve managed to make enough of an impression to get a chance to “mentor” a “rookie.”

I do realize I’m using a lot of quotation marks, but we all know NXT is a scripted show with a predetermined outcome. None of the pros can teach the rookies anything they don’t already know except for how to handle the pressure of the schedule, how to manage their backstage attitudes, ect. That’s why it baffles me that so many people were horrified over this pairing. If anything, they should bow to Kaval for the simple fact that he now gets to hang out with two of the hottest divas on the roster. Heck, I’m jealous and I don’t even go that way! The storyline possibilities for these three are endless. There’s so much the WWE can do with it. I’m excited about NXT! Are you?!

This past week on the Post Raw Show, I unsuccessfully attempted to articulate my hopes and ideas for this Laycool/Kaval angle. I’m certainly not the most eloquent speaker on the Diva Dirt staff but I can certainly write my ideas down! What I want to see from this pairing is total domination by Laycool. Kaval seems like a straight-laced, no nonsense type of personality who likes for his wrestling to do the speaking for him. Laycool is funny, mean, out there, and totally fierce. They need to overwhelm this poor guy and do their best to make him into their minion so to speak. I don’t really like that adjective, but it works and it’s a nicer way of saying they should make Kaval their bitch. Of course I don’t expect him to just conform to their needs. He should absolutely not do anything they want and what could unfold is so many funny, entertaining segments of back and forth, married couple bickering. Someone has to stand up to Laycool one of these days and why not their pro despite the fact Michelle towers over him?

The WWE likes to bill itself as an entertainment show and I hope they can deliver. If they go down the route of Kaval rebelling against Laycool, it could lead to problems between the girls about how they should go about approaching him. They could start bickering, Kaval could be forced into the role of peacekeeper, and this can carry over to Smackdown. I love this and I was so happy when I was asked to recap these NXT shows. My enthusiasm shows, doesn’t it?

Anyway, I guess you guys are waiting on me to get into the good stuff so without further ado, lets find out who Lay-Kav-Ool’s competition will be for this upcoming season.

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