NXT Weekly Rankings & Evaluation
By George Chiverton, PWTorch specialist

Episode - May 9, 2012

Wrestler: Tyson Kidd
In-Ring Performance: 9 (9)
Out of Ring Performance: - (6)
Last Week's Rank: #1
Rank: #1

Comment: Kidd brings out the best in everyone around him while being better than all of them. He is the mark of a true professional.

***

Wrestler: Johnny Curtis
In-Ring Performance: 9 (8.5)
Out of Ring Performance: 9 (6.5)
Last Week's Rank: #2
Rank: #2

Comment: He was superb and arguably carried most of the show by explaining Maxine, being strong backstage, and being the highlight of a very good main event. For a big guy, he can really move in the ring and he assisted in the move of the night with a mean leg drop over the top rope onto a backsliden (the past tense of backslide, clearly) Tyson Kid. It was just one of many impressive and unpredictable moves he pulled off, which made his match a lot more fun than anything on the main shows these past couple of weeks. Congrats, Curtis.

***

Wrestler: JTG
In-Ring Performance: 7 (7)
Out of Ring Performance: - (-)
Last Week's Rank: #5
Rank: #3

Comments: JTG Lethal - as his new attire would have you believe - looked fresh this week. Not in a street sort of way (although I did like his new attire) but with his in-ring work. He really committed to his match and bounced around the ring with a lot more fluency than he has in the past. It's great to see this resurgence, so he moves up my ranks.

***

Wrestler: Alex Riley
In-Ring Performance: - (9)
Out of Ring Performance: - (-)
Last Week's Rank: #3
Rank: #4

Comment: Last week may have just been a quick stop for Alex, which is a shame but, hey, he was on Raw with Punk, perhaps an indication that he will be getting TV time more often.

***

Wrestler: Derrick Bateman
In-Ring Performance: - (8)
Out of Ring Performance: 5 (5.5)
Last Week's Rank: #4
Rank: #5

Comments: Bateman was quiet once again, and he didn't sell particularly well after a backstage "attack" on his knee. Fortunately, he was funny elsewhere and still works well with Kaitlyn.


***

Wrestler: Maxine
In-Ring Performance: 7 (6)
Out of Ring Performance: ? (6)
Last Week's Rank: #6
Rank: #6

Comments: Maxine was much better in the ring with far more convincing execution that was enhanced by a good commentary team of Regal and Curtis. I really don't know what to think of her character, though, which is sort of the purpose, but I want to see where they're going with Maxine before I rank anything.

***

Wrestler: Kaitlyn
In-Ring Performance: - (7)
Out of Ring Performance: - (6.5)
Last Week's Rank:#5
Rank: #7

Comments: She's very attractive. So, as long as she's on camera, I'm not complaining, but her in-ring work is also very good.

***


Wrestler: Percy Watson
In-Ring Performance: 7 (6)
Out of Ring Performance: - (6)
Last Week's Rank: -
Rank: #8

Comments: Watson worked well off a hot tag in a well-executed tag match all-around.

***

Wrestler: Michael McGillicutty
In-Ring Performance: 3 (3)
Out of Ring Performance: 3 (3)
Last Week's Rank: #9
Rank: #9

Comments: McGillicutty had a much better match this week, but until he manages that with someone other than Tyson Kidd, he'll stay where he is.

***

Other Comments: NXT is set to move to Full Sail, which personally I'm very excited for. FCW has depth on the talent roster and some fresh match-ups would be greatly approciated, especially when they are Tyler Black vs. Chris Hero (or Seth Rollins vs. Kassius Ohno as they're now known).

Also, I'm aware that some NXT talent has yet to appear on my rankings, such as Yoshi Tatsu, Tyler Reks, and Curt Hawkins. I'll see if they stick around before ranking them. Otherwise, this column will just become too long with all of the cameos on the show. I'll be honest, I'm impressed if you've made it this far!

[Torch photo (c) PWTorch.com]

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