Matt O’Brien writes and maintains the Wrestleview.com poll every two weeks.
In the most recent Wrestleview poll asking what your favorite season of WWE NXT has been thus far, the results are as follows:
What has been your favorite season of WWE NXT?
Season 1 (Wade Barrett) 57.16% (1,837 votes)
Season 2 (Kaval) 22.87% (735 votes)
Season 3 (Kaitlyn) 11.11% (357 votes)
Season 4 (Johnny Curtis) 2.8% (90 votes)
Redemption (Current) 6.07% (195 votes)
Total votes casted: 3,214
When ECW finished up in early 2010,WWE told its universe of a new brand called NXT. The show was to feature “rookies” with WWE veterans as their mentors. The show quickly grabbed the attention of independent wrestling fans as Daniel Bryan was placed on the show, having been paired with the Miz. WWE took an interesting approach and brought up Bryan’s past, and the odd relationship between Miz and Michael Cole. It was on the first season of NXT that Cole really began to find his groove as a heel character. It was also the first season that saw the rise of Wade Barrett. It was Barrett who took home the prize on the final episode of NXT.
It was the first season that took the cake in the voting with over eighteen hundred votes. Perhaps the most significant part of NXT was what happened after the season ended. The images of the NXT alumni crashing a match between John Cena and CM Punk were some of the most fascinating moments of 2010. All the members of NXT became prominent parts of WWE. Barrett had the most success as he went on to main event five pay per views in 2010. If there was anything the fallout of the first season of NXT can be described as, its success.
Coming in second in the voting was the second season. Like the first season, WWE was very clever in their parings. The most peculiar paring of mentor and rookie was LayCool and Kaval. Putting Kaval with Michelle McCool and Layla was very similar to paring Bryan with Miz. In the end it worked as Kaval took home the prize. Even though Kaval became a prominent mid-card performer on Smackdown, he did not achieve the same level of success as Barrett. After a few months, Kaval was gone from the company.
The third season saw WWE take a different direction with the NXT brand. It was the first season to feature all female rookies. The season grabbed the attention of the wrestling media before it even started as Aloise was advertised, and then dropped from the show. The individual who took her place, Kaitlyn, would wind up taking the title of Season three winner.
Coming in fourth place was NXT: Redemption. This is a different season from any other. Instead of a new crop of rookies, the show features rookies from past season fighting for redemption. Finally, coming with the least amount of votes was the fourth season that saw Johnny Curtis walking away with the win.
Thanks to all those who participated in the voting and be sure to check out the current poll asking about wrestling’s next big boom period!
Matt O’Brien
Columnist, Wrestleview.com
mattman5436@yahoo.com