This week NXT is live from the American Gladiators arena and we’re going to start things off with the classic game of Joust!  Actually the gimmick Rookie challenge of the week is called “Rock em Sock em Rookies” but its Joust.  The winner of the tournament gets a feature on WWE.com!  Granted the site gets millions of hits but haven’t all the Rookies been interviewed on the site?  The tournament goes like this:

Heath Slater vs. David Otunga – Slater wins.

Skip Sheffield vs. Wade Barrett – Wade falls into Skip, pushing Skip off  as well.  Skip wins.

Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Tarver – Tarver drops his stick and walks away, Bryan wins.

Darren Young vs. Justin Gabriel – Young wins.

Semi-finals:

Skip vs. Heath – Skip wins.

Daniel vs. Darren – Darren wins.

Finals:

Darren vs. Skip – Both men fall off at the same time.  Match is restarted.  Skip wins.

These contests are becoming more and more ridiculous.  I can only imagine its intended to be part of the “reality show” aspect of NXT.  Besides the promo contest of last week none of them have been relevant contests.  There is not an Intercontinental Jousting title.  Also, Stone Cold and the APA are long gone so there’s no reason to find out what Rookie can carry a keg of beer in the fastest time.

David Otunga vs. Justin Gabriel

Gabriel hits a sunset flip on Otunga.  Otunga begs R-Truth to help him out, Truth refuses and Gabriel gets the pin.  An Otunga and R-Truth feud after NXT would be interesting if anyone cared about Truth.  Oh sure the kids like to know what’s up (What’s up?!) but does anyone that matters care about the Truth?

Michael Tarver vs Skip Sheffield vs Darren Young.

Luke Gallows tries to cost Darren Young the match, but Darren ends up pinning Tarver.  I’ll call it right now, Tarver will be the first NXT Rookie to be released.  He’s done nothing, has a losing record, messes up promos.  He’s had half the matches that the other Rookies have!  Plus he’s partnered with Carlito, which let’s be honest, is always on the cusp of being released.  Skip needs to be a monster heel.  The cowboy gimmick is lame.   Well maybe a bad ass cowboy would work, but has to be heel.  Darren Young will be ridiculously over once he accepts his destiny as the black John Cena.  Seriously, they have the same face!

Chris Jericho vs. Heath Slater

Jericho tries for the Walls of Jericho but Slater rolls through and gets the pin with a small package.  This is a huge win for Slater.  Days before Jericho has a high profile steel cage match against Edge and days after Jericho lost the world title.  Slater could fit in anywhere on the card.  Plus a heel turn would not be that difficult.  Just give him Lead Singer Syndrome.  Now getting a win over a former world champion does not turn a Rookie into a guaranteed star. *cough*Maven*cough* But it is a good sign that there’s some faith in him.

I’m still waiting for Daniel Bryan to get a pin on NXT and start building his momentum.  The best way to end NXT is for DB to win and take his title shot against the Miz for the US title.  I’m calling it now, even though we’re still weeks away.