Fresh off the “NXT Invasion” angle, WWE kicked off season two of the program Tuesday night. We learned a little more about the rookies, saw two short matches, and got to re-live Monday’s drama.

- The pros and rookies brawling to end the show was a good way of furthering the NXT Invasion storyline. It gets across the point that the pros aren’t going to let the rookies disrespect them or try to “take over.” My bone to pick with it, and the whole show really, is Matt Striker. It just doesn’t make any sense for Matt Striker to be lecturing the rookies as if he’s been a five-time World Champion. Either way, it was effective in showing that there is tension in the locker room.

- I was impressed with Eli Cottonwood, not so much from a personality standpoint, but the guy gets around pretty well for someone his size. Compared to The Great Khali he looks like Rey Mysterio.

- As I’ve mentioned on Twitter, Percy Watson is like the new Johnny B. Badd. Watson, though, did show a lot of personality, as did Alex Riley.

- Michael Cole briefly mentioned that he “was able to get away” when the NXT rookies were attacking on Raw, so it will be interesting to see if he is involved somehow, or it was all just a coincidence. As Twitter pal @oldiesmike pointed out, Cole avoided answering when Josh Mathews questioned him further about the incident.

Wade Barrett was the winner of the inaugural season of WWE NXT, which wrapped up with last night’s episode. The show featured a triple threat match between finalists Barrett, David Otunga and Justin Gabriel. We were also informed that season two of NXT begins next week with the Pro’s Poll counting for half of the votes and fan voting on WWE.com contributing the other half of the vote.

- I thought Otunga would win the “competition” because he had ready-made title matches where he could challenge either R-Truth or John Cena and it would make sense. Last night, though, was Otunga’s weakest effort yet. We all know he doesn’t have as much in the ring as many of the other rookies, but his promo was horrible.

When he and Barrett were allotted 60 seconds to talk smack to one another, Otunga focused the whole thing on Barrett’s teeth. Not only is that an incredibly overdone stereotype of Englishmen, but the jokes weren’t even funny.

Barrett, on the other hand, came across as smooth as silk during his mic time, as usual. WWE made the right choice by having Barrett win, but I’m wondering who he will challenge for a title. In my post yesterday, I mentioned he could possibly challenge R-Truth for the US strap as “revenge” for Truth beating Barrett’s pro, Chris Jericho, on Raw. Or maybe they’ll go another route where a storyline isn’t built in.

- The triple threat match was well done in that there was a lot of one-on-one action. At first I scratched my head, but it made sense for Barrett to steal the pin from Gabriel in an elimination style match since each man was trying to show the pros what they were made of.

- It was hilarious when William Regal said Otunga married well but then added that he had seen Otunga’s wife and he didn’t marry that well. CM Punk also chimed in, “Yeah, he’s only here because of his wife.”

- I didn’t quite get the bickering from the pros on the stage as Matt Striker was trying to announce who the winner of NXT was. It dragged on and just got annoying.

The clear highlight of NXT, as with last week’s episode, was the interaction between Michael Cole and Daniel Bryan. The whole segment was well done and came across as being very real, which is something we don’t get very often in wrestling these days. The show also saw the elimination of Heath Slater and a few short but solid matches.

The mic work by both Bryan and Cole was top-notch. The emotion wasn’t overdone and each man stepping on the other’s words made it all believable. You knew when Bryan said he would apologize that something more was going to happen and it worked well. Something a lot of people seemed to miss was that Cole slapped Bryan before escaping the ring. A melee then ensued as Bryan broke away from security and got to Cole on the outside. It looked like Cole took a pretty hard bump to the head from the barricade but he kept going.

Daniel Bryan finally attacked The Miz, who was yelling at Bryan as he was walking to the back. The look on the face of William Regal, who was on the stage with the other pros and trained Bryan for a period of time, was great as he stood back with a wry smile.

You have to give credit to Cole, Bryan and The Miz for making this whole thing come off believable and realistic. I don’t know where this goes from here but I’m just hoping it doesn’t lead to a Cole v. Bryan singles match. Hopefully it will be The Miz who fights on behalf of Cole.

Other thoughts on last night’s NXT after the jump:

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Tuesday’s episode of NXT was by far the best of the season. WWE is finally bringing an element of excitement to the show and I really liked that they brought back the rookies who were eliminated to let them speak their minds. The highlight of the show, of course, was Bryan Danielson (although they were still referring to him as Daniel Bryan) cutting a great promo and confronting Michael Cole.

Danielson, like Michael Tarver, said he was eliminated by WWE management and that all the pros know he deserves to still be in the competition. That got Miz going, who yelled that Danielson has done nothing in WWE. Danielson challenged The Miz to come down to the ring but was interrupted by Matt Striker.

Danielson continued his rant, saying he won’t miss being constantly interrupted by Striker. He went on to say that he never had a chance because he wasn’t built by the WWE machine. He had heard about the rumors of WWE’s backstage politics and that Vince McMahon only likes big men, and they were all true. Danielson said everyone knows he can wrestle, and then he targeted Michael Cole.

The American Dragon said Cole was a parrot just repeating what Vince McMahon was saying in his ear. He finally attacked Cole, yelling that he was a “poor man’s JR.” The segment was really well done. Cole sold the whole thing perfectly and Danielson was very intense.

Other thoughts on the show after the jump:
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After watching last night’s NXT, I remembered the reason I hadn’t seen it in over a month. While the show is trying to be different and has its bright spots, it also has a lot of negatives. Last night’s show was indicative of both of those points.

- The “Seal The Deal” Challenge was just dumb but, as I said, it had its bright spot. Each rookie had the task of selling as many programs as they could, at $15 a pop, in 60 seconds. The nice thing was that the silly challenge was used to bring out more of each character and play up what we already know about them.

For instance, Daniel Bryan ignored the rules and just gave the programs away while yelling, “We don’t need your money!” and saying that he wasn’t a capitalist. This, of course, led to more negativity from Michael Cole, who called Bryan a “tool.” Josh Matthews, as expected, rebutted in Bryan’s defense.

Michael Tarver refused to participate. Him yelling, “I am the product!” and saying that WWE should be selling him was a nice touch. Wade Barrett had perhaps the best answer to the challenge, refusing to participate as well, and simply walking away with the money Matt Striker had given him to use as change.

David Otunga stayed true to his “A-List” moniker by having two kids sell the programs for him and he also netted the most money. That earned him the right to face a pro of his choosing next week and he picked his own “mentor,” R-Truth.

- Speaking of Otunga and R-Truth, the two had good interaction backstage and it really seems like Otunga has the necessary tools to at least make the full-time WWE roster. His ring work needs improvement but he’s very strong on the stick and has that look that we know Vince McMahon loves.

- Back to the Cole-Bryan dynamic for a moment, I’m not sure what the point of this is. Every week Cole rails on Bryan. My fear is that this is setting up a match between the two but hopefully WWE is wise enough to not go there. Then again, maybe it would be a smart move since 85% of the “WWE Universe” can’t stand Cole.

Bryan lost again, to fall to 0-9, when he filled in for The Miz against Skip Sheffield. The match lasted about two minutes. Again, I’m scratching my head here at how this is helping Bryan’s character, especially when he’s one of the more over rookies on the show.

- The Christian & Heath Slater v. Chris Jericho & Wade Barrett match was okay but didn’t get nearly as much time as it deserved. Cole delivered another of his signature dorky-as-hell lines during this one, saying he likes to call the team of Captain Charisma and his rookie, “Christian Slater.” Oh, Cole, you’re so witty.

Logo courtesy WWE

I wouldn’t call WWE’s newest program, NXT, a must-watch piece of television but it certainly looks to be an upgrade over ECW. I don’t think it’s as much of a blend of reality show and wrestling as WWE wants us to believe. In fact, it actually reminds me a little of ROH on HD Net with how they were showing more about the wrestlers before they competed in the ring. NXT will build interest in the rookies like WWE hasn’t done before, but I think this could be done without the “mentor” aspect. It will create some interest storylines, though.

- The internet has been going absolutely crazy about Michael Cole’s snarky remarks about Daniel Bryan a.k.a. Bryan Danielson. While I will never defend Cole, I will say that WWE is trying to create interest. Just as a heel would try to get heat, Cole is doing the same thing, only at the announce table. WWE is going to milk the whole thing to death, which is smart.

- Josh Matthews, Cole’s announcing partner, got in a few lines that I thought were great. One was a mention of how Jim Ross has been giving Cole advice, according to internet reports. He also said Cole could relate to The Miz because, like Mizanin, everyone hates Cole.

- Speaking of the announcing team, I was a little surprised to see Cole at ringside, but it all made sense as the show progressed. Matt Striker irritated me a bit in his backstage segments but Striker is one of those types. Sometimes I love him, others I hate him.

- (Please withhold your anger, Internet Wrestling Community, until you read this whole paragraph)
While Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan impressed me in the ring, he has a long way to go before he’s a star. His microphone work needs a lot of improvement and he had this look on his face that seemed like he was unsure of himself. Maybe a lot of it was nerves, maybe it’s just his boyish look.

I think he has a lot of potential but ring work is not the only factor to becoming a star in the WWE. Just look at Shelton Benjamin, maybe one of the best in-ring performers there is. He’s never gotten a decent push, though, because he can’t handle the stick. Conversely there is John Cena, who has about seven moves in his repertoire but gets a strong reaction out of the crowd every night.

- The main event match of Bryan v. Chris Jericho was very good. It looked like a bit of a botch when Bryan did a dive outside the ring onto Jericho and Y2J flipped him onto the announce table. Bryan went back-first into the edge of the table. I wonder if the table was supposed to break, or Bryan’s momentum just carried him too far.

While some would say the match weakens Jericho’s credibility, I think WWE was trying to capitalize on Bryan’s reputation as a great worker. I also wonder if they are establishing a Miz-Bryan program, or it’s just for this show only.