Dominick Mayer, PWTorch.com Contributor (5.5)

Not much to say, other than that this is definitely a show in desperate need of direction. You know things aren't at their best when we've been given an official time for voting, and we're now left with even more questions than we came in with. This having been said, I enjoyed the tag team match, though I have a problem with it getting 15 minutes when the other matches on the show didn't get ten between them. The way to push new talent is to have them splitting TV time evenly. It's also interesting that, although this show is a competition, there are definite tiers emerging, as far as who WWE is digging and wanting to keep around. Just an uneven edition and a considerable step back from last week's series high, in terms of quality.

Jon Mezzera, PWTorch.com Contributor (3.0)

This was a poor episode of NXT. It did have a good tag match of Darren Young & CM Punk vs. Justin Gabriel & Matt Hardy. I was pleased to see much more of Gabriel than just a 450 splash which is about all we had seen from him previously on NXT and he looks like a possible star of the future. Young looked good in the ring as well. I am enjoying the dynamic between Young and his mentor Punk as it played out after their match.

I also liked how WWE included the win/loss record for the rookies during their ring entrances which should continue. It was good that the announcers also focused on the importance of their records in impressing the judges. We also found out that the first vote would take place in two weeks. Unfortunately, WWE still seems to have no clue what the format and rules of the competition portion of NXT are. How many rookies will be eliminated? How many total votes will there be? What criteria will the judges use to decide their votes? They talked about the importance of wins and losses, but then Michael Tarver lost and attacked his opponent Heath Slater afterward and the announcers talked as if he would get the WWE Universe talking which they made sound like a bigger deal than getting wins.

I said in my Hits & Misses that WWE should simply have a few video packages in which the pros state exactly what they are looking for in deciding whom to vote for. Some might just look at the win/loss record. Some might look at intangibles. Some might look at how they improve from week to week. Some might look at how they respect their pro and how much they listen to him. Each one can have slightly different criteria, but if we knew exactly what each was looking for, a simple rookie vs. rookie match like Tarver vs. Slater (which was boring by the way) would have more meaning as we would be looking for those same traits to see which (if any) pros each rookie is impressing in the match.

Greg Parks, PWTorch Columnist (4.5)

NXT feels like WWE is making up the rules as they go along. They're foolish if they don't think regular viewers can tell they have no idea what they're doing, and it makes them come off as minor-league. For some rookies, WWE seems to be weaning the pros off of them, as evidenced by some rookies coming to the ring alone. It certainly didn't help the crowd heat, especially for guys like Michael Tarver, who the fans don't know a whole lot about.

The opening tag match was the highlight of the show. I'm not sold on Darren Young, so it's good they're giving him CM Punk to play off of. Daniel Bryan vs. The Great Khali was a bump in the road for Bryan's push. If Miz wasn't there, they should've given Bryan the week off. Skip Sheffield is better in the ring than I expected, but it still doesn't make up for his goofy gimmick.

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