Your Raw Guest Host Next Week Is...

This guy.


...this guy.

David Otunga is apparently a pro wrestler for WWE's "NXT" show, but I wouldn't know because I haven't watched that program since its second week. I tuned in the first week expecting a true reality show, something akin to UFC's "Ultimate Fighter" where you watch the guys training and sparring and learning, and get to know who they are as real people and characters before they ever debut in their first fight. "The Ultimate Fighter" is pretty much UFC's version of Tough Enough, and that's what I was looking for out of NXT. But alas, we were given more kayfabe bullcrap. Yes, I said it, bullcrap. While I will agree that the ECW name was a bit worn out, the concept for the show was perfect. Younger talent like Jack Swagger, CM Punk, John Morrison, Sheamus, et al., had a place to debut while working with established veterans like William Regal, Goldust, Shelton Benjamin, Finlay, Christian, and the Hurricane. It gave new characters a chance to either shine or fade out (anyone remember that dude with the Rally Towel?) naturally, by their own God-given ability to get over, and move on to one of the A shows. It didn't force the young guys down our throats, it just gave them a place to debut and see what stuck and what didn't. While I would prefer just letting the new guys do the same on Raw or Smackdown, it was basically the perfect formula for creating new stars. NXT, on the other hand, takes a whole barrel of new guys and says "YOU HAVE TO CARE ABOUT THESE GUYS RIGHT NOW." It's a horrible, horrible concept and after watching the first episode out of excitement and the second one out of "is this really all this show is going to be? REALLY?," I haven't watched since.

And nobody else seems to be watching either. NXT is drawing the same ratings that ECW was (after a brief spike in the initial couple of episodes, probably from people like me who thought it was going to be worth a damn). I couldn't have picked David Otunga out of a lineup, and apparently, google image search doesn't even know he's a wrestler. He's more famous for being Jennifer Hudson's arm candy, and the GIS brought me little more than the fru-fru picture you see above. It also brought me this unintentional bit of comedy towards the bottom of page 2:





I feel the same way, Jeff.