By Rick Gardner, Torch specialist

When it was announced that WWE’s tired version of ECW was going the way of the XFL and Tuesday Night Titans, we were promised a revolutionary concept; a show with a completely different look and feel to the rest of WWE television. Two weeks in, and the jury is out on whether NXT is the show to fulfill these aims.

Daniel Bryan, the newly renamed Bryan Danielson, was the star of the first show. WWE took the unusual step of acknowledging his reputation gained from his years outside WWE, which is strange considering they changed his name, and it was made clear that he was the star of the show with a strong performance against Chris Jericho.

A notable feature of NXT is the way in which Michael Cole’s role differs from his bland babyface commentary on Raw. Cole, cast as a heel announcer, takes great pleasure in deriding so called Internet wrestling fans, as well as people who read "dirt sheets."

Firstly, labeling anyone an “Internet fan” in 2010 is laughable. According to Neilson’s NetRatings, 74.1 percent of the USA’s population use the Internet, meaning that most of the WWE’s audience use the web, whether it is to look at the official WWE website, or to explore wrestling news sites such as PWTorch.com.

This isn’t 1997; wrestling fans who don’t use the Internet are the ones in the minority. WWE has a strong presence on the Internet, with a huge new media team and an excellent website in WWE.com, yet seem to have a phobia of any web content that isn’t produced by them.

Then there is the derogatory way in which Cole referred to so-called "dirt sheets." WWE has had a tumultuous relationship with the wrestling media, and it is difficult to imagine a company in any other industry treating the trade press with such distain. It’s as if WWE management believes legitimate pro wrestling journalists are to be viewed with disdain because they cover the very sport WWE promotes.

Michael Cole’s ranting aside; there are several nice touches about WWE NXT. The video biographies that are used to introduce the new stars are short, but very well produced, and are an excellent means of establishing the personality of the new wrestlers. WWE should consider using this kind of vignettes when debuting wrestlers to the main brands, who often appear with little fanfare.

Pairing new wrestlers with established names on the WWE roster is another good move, as it gives them a degree of credibility in the eyes of the fans. ECW was used as a platform for debuting new talent, but they were rarely given the chance to work with anyone other than fellow new wrestlers or those who had been treading water on WWE’s third brand for some time. That Danielson had a good competitive match with the World Champion on his debut suggests that this new format has more to offer new wrestlers than ECW ever did.

That is not to say that NXT is perfect; it isn’t, and it’s far from being the promised revolutionary concept. Aside from the vignettes and a few extra camera angles, NXT has the same look and feel as the rest of WWE’s programming, and the promised interactivity has been non-existent thus far. It is also important to remember is that the originally made an attempt to differentiate ECW from their other programming, but the show eventually became a watered down version of Raw and Smackdown.

NXT is an interesting concept, and despite the fact that interactive elements have yet to be explained, two weeks in it is looking promising. Pairing the “rookies” with established talent is far better than simply throwing them out on Raw or Smackdown, and the show may prove to be an excellent vehicle for getting Bryan Danielson over with WWE fans. It remains to be seen whether WWE management will maintain their interest in NXT over the long haul.

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