By Rich Twilling

WWE NXT on the Syfy Network
Taped in Tampa, Fla.

[Q1] Brief footage of last night's awesome show ending angle was shown. The opening video aired and it was the same theme music as was used in season one. Michael Cole welcomed us to the show and said there was a sense of uneasiness...

Matt Striker said the graduating class of season one made a "bombastic impact" live on Raw last night. He wondered out loud if the season two class would have a similar impact...

Twill's Two Cents: I figured they would open the show with footage, but I'm surprised they went through it so quickly. I'm guessing they will show more extensive footage later.

Each WWE pro came out to the stage and introduced their rookie. The Miz and Alex Riley buddied up very quickly. John Morrison said Eli Cottonwood was "the tallest" guy in the competition. Cody Rhodes was not at all happy to have Husky Harris as his rookie.

LayCool forced Kaval to carry their belts. Oh shit. Mark Henry introduced Lucky Cannon. Kofi Kingston came out with Michael McGillicutty. McGillicutty looks like Matt Morgan. MVP introduced Percy Watson, who looked like he was having an organized seizure. Zack Ryder was cool with Titus O'Neil being his new bro...

Twill's Two Cents: The most talked about part of the opening segment will be Low Ki carrying the two woman's championship belts.

Striker said season two would be different from season one. He said the fans would comprise of 50% of the voting. The show would only last twelve weeks. The first Pro's Poll will be during week three. The first elimination will take place in week six. Other than that, they are in competition for a pay-per-view title match...

Husky Harris grabbed the mic and said something about rocking this joint, not to be confused with Bradley Cooper rocking joints last night on Raw. The rookies shoved each other around a little bit... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Begin the long countdown to week six and the first elimination. Looks like Cody is playing C.M. Punk's role from season one as the guy who does not want to be there. I actually think Kaval being teamed with LayCool will be good for him because he will get the chance to stand out a lot.

[Q2] Michael Cole and Josh Mathews recapped last night's NXT attack on John Cena and others. Cole said he "managed to get away." Both men just hoped nothing like that would happen tonight...

Twill's Two Cents: By Mathews not calling out Cole for "getting away," they have to be setting Cole up to be the leader of the pack. By the way, they are referring to the season one guys as the "graduating class." Did they actually pass?

1. John Morrison and Eli Cottonwood defeated Zack Ryder and Titus O'Neil in 5:38. Cottonwood is very tall and O'Neil is more lanky than I thought. Morrison knocked Titus to the floor as the show went to commercial... [C]

Ryder broke up a pinfall of Morrison on O'Neil and Cottonwood hit a big boot on Ryder, sending him to the floor. Morrison hit Starship Pain on Titus for the win...

Morrison sort of cut a promo afterwards. He said something about some people liking Cottonwood, some people not liking him, but everyone having an opinion. Striker asked Miz what he thought and Miz said he was not at all entertained...

Twill's Two Cents: Not a whole lot to judge the rookies by, but Cottonwood showed a little something. I'm not sure what the hell Morrison was trying to say afterward.

A video package for Alex Riley played. Riley is the David Otunga of this class. He is cocky, confident, and he seems to have the skills to back it up. He reminds me a lot of Chris Nowinski...

Cole somberly plugged the footage from last night being shown later in the show... [C]

[Q3] 2. MVP and Percy Watson defeated Cody Rhodes and Husky Harris in 8:47. Cole threw down the knowledge and connection between the Rotundas and Rhodeses. Percy wrestles with his glasses on. If he catches on, WWE.com will be selling those babies like hotcakes.

Husky tagged in and although he may not have the traditional look Vince McMahon is looking for, he's ring ready. He seems very comfortable in there. Rhodes tagged in and scored a nearfall on Watson... [C]

Husky hit a back splash but it looked like Percy was supposed to roll out of the way. MVP finally tagged in and hit his signatures. By the way, yes, I noticed MVP and Kaval are wearing similar outfits.

Rhodes tried to interfere but he was met with a boot to the face. MVP tagged Percy back in and he hit a DDT with unnecessary movements for the win...

Afterwards, Cody basically made fun of Husky for being fat, comparing him to somebody in his family. Cody said MVP had a great athlete to work with, but he was going take "this" (Harris) and make him the next breakout star. MVP said Percy was ready for prime time...

Twill's Two Cents: Husky Harris is a shitty name, but I like him. He can go and yes, he doesn't look like an adonis, but he brings something unique. Percy didn't get to do much offensively, but he did a decent job selling.

The Michael McGillicutty video package aired. He mentioned he was the grandson of Larry Hennig and the son of Curt Hennig. What he didn't mention is why he had to change his name. Witness relocation? He said he was bringing back ruthless aggression...

Twill's Two Cents: Ruthless aggression. Anyone remember that? Vince McMahon blew a gasket trying to get that phrase over. Ironically, that was around the time of the WCW/ECW Invasion angle. Like I said before, hopefully this one turns out a lot better than that one.

Cole hyped the footage everyone has been waiting to see again... [C]

[Q4] Matt Striker stood in the middle of the ring with a line of pros on one side and a line of rookies on the other. Striker called last night's attack "vicious and disturbing actions." Live footage aired from before Wade Barrett even appeared.

Everyone in the ring watched the footage on the Titantron. I'm going to pay attention to when Michael Cole got the hell out of there. I also noticed David Otunga knocking out the referee. Didn't see that last night.

I'll tell you what. Watching this for the second time just solidified how great this was. Another thing I didn't notice last night was Darren Young laying the beat down on C.M. Punk, his mentor from season one.

Another thing, they showed it from different camera angles this time. This footage was not exactly how it was shown last night. Did anyone else see Heath Slater throw a ringside floor pad on someone? Don't think that hurt much Heath.

[Overrun] The footage continued to air as Cena was being placed on a board. It's really hard not to say how great that angle was. By the way, Striker laid on the floor like he was dead...

Kaval said last night was simply unbelievable but that is what it took to make an impact. Lucky Cannon said it was cowardly. Husky Harris didn't care about it. Alex Riley sneezed and said he was allergic to Striker.

Percy Watson said it should have been one on one. Eli Cottonwood said Cena deserved everything he received. Titus O'Neil botched his promo so there's not much more to say. He did threaten Ryder. McGillicutty was cut off by Striker during his promo.

Striker welcomed the rookies to NXT. Then the pros kicked the shit out of them with the idea that nothing like what happened last night would happen again...

Twill's Two Cents: I loved the footage but did not agree with trying to recapture it tonight. As for last night, let's face it, this angle was so well done so instead of recapping it, why not end the show with it. Nobody was going to turn this off because they saw it already. Smart move by WWE showing the footage in its entirety. I absolutely love all eight guys working together as a unit. I say keep all of them together and let them terrorize everyone. Each guy gets more over as a result. Hell, even Michael Tarver and Heath Slater are interesting to me now. I bet those armbands are going to sell quickly. Tonight's attack sent a message, but last night is still what people will be talking about.

What did you think of the show? Tonight was not really about getting the new rookies a step ahead, it was all about last night. Tonight's matches were a lot of the same stuff and the show leaned on the crutch of last night's instant classic angle. They cannot do that every week though so we'll see how things go in the next two weeks leading up to the first elimination.

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