5 Ups And 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (May 4)

8. Downs - Eric Young's Debut

Samoa Joe was cutting a great promo to open NXT when he was interrupted by the debuting Eric Young. Young, who got a great reaction from the fans at Full Sail University, told Joe that he collects championships and had his eye on the NXT Title. Joe, scoffing, said that Young didn't belong in the same ring as him and that he'd kick his !*$% the next time he saw him.

Joe's performance was great here, and there wasn't anything particularly wrong with Young's, but WWE's portrayal of him was weak. They counted on all of their fans already knowing Eric Young, which may have been fair, but they also counted on everybody already caring about him. Personally, I have nothing against Young, but in my limited exposure to TNA I saw him mostly as a comedy character. It was strange to see him jump right into a challenge to Joe, and the way the announcers put him over felt more like telling, not showing.

The material with which Young was working wasn't anything special, either. His line about collecting championships came off as generic, and Joe outclassed him when it came to showing personality. Again, WWE was counting on fans already caring about Young.