The John Report Wrestling Blog

WWE NXT 12/28/10
By Lonestar

Good wrestlers come in all shapes and sizes. Some are tall and lanky; others are of the more pudgy variety. Some are jacked, seemingly constructed from raw muscle and rock and maybe a few little “extras” they don’t want us to know about. Still others are smaller, but quick and agile. To this day the WWE still seems to have a very limited view on what a “good wrestler” or should I say a “profitable wrestler” can be. Obviously I am talking about Kaval, the season 2 winner of NXT, who was released from his WWE contract last week. Was he the greatest on the mic? No, but he was far better than many that the WWE continue to employ. He was definitely an exciting and unique talent capable of having very good matches. There are some of you who have argued that he would never have sold tickets or been a main-eventer anyway. How do you know this? The smallest World Champion was Rey Mysterio, a wrestler who according to WWE’s own website is a full two inches shorter than Kaval and the same weight. Rey may not have been booked well as champ but he’s been at the top of the card and earned the WWE some serious dough as well. Since Rey has broken through the cruiserweight ceiling, the only thing keeping the WWE from pushing these smaller wrestlers into the upper card is their own hesitancy to do so. I don’t truly know if the WWE fired Kaval or he left of his own accord, but I do know that their failure to write a decent storyline for the guy is very disappointing.

Read more…

I wasn’t expecting to post about wrestling today, but when I saw this from WWE.com I had to. This is what it says: “World Wrestling Entertainment has come to terms on the release of WWE SmackDown Superstar Kaval (Brandon Silvestry) as of today, December 23, 2010. We wish Kaval the best in all future endeavors.”

Huh? Kaval released? Why? The guy won NXT season 2 a few months back. He’s been wrestling for over a decade to try to make it in WWE. The crowd likes him. He’s one of the better workers in the company. I don’t understand it. The word, according to the usually reliable PWInsider.com, is that the decision was mutual in that WWE told him they have no storylines for him while he told them he didn’t want to sit around doing nothing. I don’t blame him. The company should have an angle for him. When a guy wins a show that has a FAN VOTE you should WANT to push him. It’s easy to write that story. You should say “hey the fans like this guy, so let’s give him a push so they can more of him!” It’s not difficult to do that. Plus the guy can work. His offense is unique. His look is unique too. So why not use him? I don’t understand why lesser talents from NXT season 1 and 2 (I really shouldn’t have to tell you who) are getting such high profile pushes while Kaval gets fired. It’s poor use of talent on WWE’s part.

Read more…

Welcome to Smacked Up! Isn’t Andrew Johnson just the coolest? This new banner kicks so much ass. Now who’s looking to get Smacked?

The Mexican JBL, Alberto Del Rio is out to start the show. He says Survivor Series is going to be great this year because his team will destroy Rey Mysterio’s team at the PPV. He then shows the video of him beating Sgt. Slaughter from RAW. He says he is our hero. I feel so safe now. MVP’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring. MVP says he’s tired of ADR disrespecting the ring and what it stands for. MVP says ADR is too stupid to realize what the legends have built. ADR says MVP will never be a legend and MVP tells ADR he wants to beat him down. ADR says he’s not fighting MVP tonight because he’s taking on Rey Mysterio later on. ADR says if MVP is so ready to fight then he can take on a member of his team, Drew McIntyre. Cue the man whose wife just got canned. Read more…

This is the 6th TJR podcast recorded on Tuesday August 31st. The topics this week include a discussion on Raw, a rundown on all the guys from NXT season 2 and a discussion of the WWE’s plan to eliminate some of the title belts so that they have four total (WWE , IC, Tag, Womens). Of course we also answered questions like usual. The other thing is we recorded this while the NXT season 2 finale was going on so there are a lot of reactions to what we saw on there. For example, our reaction when the Bellas were announced as trainers we both flipped out a bit. We went 61 minutes in runtime this time.

Quote of the show comes on at about the 29:30 as we encourage Kaval to do things during his NXT celebration. We make a great commentary team. Or terrible. Up to you to decide.

To listen to it click on the player below, save the MP3 file or listen on iTunes.

Read more…

Welcome to the final edition of the Vintage WWE NXT Review, I am of course Doctor Money. Tonight is the Season 2 NXT Finale. I just got home from the Yankee game and coincidently, I went to a Yankee game the night of the Season 1 Finale. Odd, no?  Anyway, it’s down to Kaval, Alex Riley and Michael McGillicutty. Who is going to be WWE’s next breakout star? Read on to find out.

The show kicks off with Ashley Valence-Money introducing the WWE Pros. If you want to know where she’s been the past couple of weeks I’ve been asking her to call out sick because I didn’t want Zack Ryder to steal her from me, but then I realized I’m from Jersey and he’s not so automatically that makes me cooler. Woo, woo, woo, you know it. The Pros whose Rookies have been eliminated sit at the top of the ramp and the rest come to the ring with their Rookies. The Rookies that were eliminated are sitting in the front row. Matt “The Walking Tampon” Striker says there will be a double elimination tonight. No shit genius. There’s only supposed to be one winner so any way you slice it two guys are going to be eliminated. Then as if it’s some bombshell, Striker says the three remaining Rookies will face each other in a triple threat match. Um, I knew that already, it’s the same way you booked the Season 1 Finale. Although, I should be shocked WWE actually showed consistency in booking this show. Striker says the match is next and The Miz gets in Kaval’s face and Kaval shoves him and then Kofi Kingston clotheslines Miz out of the ring.

Read more…

Doctor Money-acs and Cantonians alike, welcome back to the Vintage WWE NXT Review. Next week is the Season 2 Finale so what will the three remaining Rookies do to impress the WWE Universe? Let’s get this started to find out.

Before things officially get underway, I’m going to go out on a limb and say ESPN doesn’t watch NXT. I say that because they are using NXT’s theme song as one of the themes for this year’s Little League World Series. If they were viewers of NXT then they would know how much that song sucks and would not have chosen it. Rant over, let’s begin.

Read more…

Hola Cantonians. Welcome back to the Vintage WWE NXT Review, I am your host Doctor Money. Two Rookies are going to get the boot tonight so let’s get this started.

The show kicks off with the remaining Rookies in the ring with Matt Striker. Each Rookie gets 1 minute to talk about anything they want except why they should be eliminated. Percy Watson is up 1^st and his topic is 3D. He says 3D is how he lives his life, desire, determination and dedication. Is that like hustle, loyalty and respect? OH YEAH! Percy had a little spirit fingers action going at the end. Alex Riley is up and his topic is Alex Riley. He basically said maybe he shouldn’t have taken some of the shots he did at the other Rookies, but then if he didn’t he wouldn’t be Alex Riley. Michael McGillicutty’s turn and his topic is his competition. He makes fun of the other 4 Rookies and calls Riley the David Otunga of Season 2 saying he talks a lot but can’t wrestle worth a lick. I wouldn’t go that far. Riley is HBK in his prime compared to Otunga. Kaval is up and his topic NXT. He busts out a little rap, that wasn’t bad if he didn’t forget his line when talking to Riley. He says he’s the only reason for Total Nonstop Action, which is where he’ll be working after Vince wakes up from his nap and realizes Kaval said TNA’s name on TV. Husky Harris is up and his topic is cowboy boots and says where he’s from you aren’t tough if you don’t wear cowboy boots. Striker tells the Rookies that the 1^st elimination of the night will be right now. Instead of a Poll being revealed they just flashed pictures of the Rookies on the screen until it stopped on Percy Watson. Oh No! Percy takes the mic and thanks the Universe and his Pro MVP.

Read more…