Paul Heyman's New Client Revealed on Raw

It was revealed on Raw tonight that Michael McGillicutty is Paul Heyman's newest client. McGillicutty's new ring name will be Curtis Axel, which is an homage to Larry "The Ax" Henning and McGillicutty's real life father Curt Hennig.

JR Gives Talent Evaluations From WWE NXT TV Tapings

Jim Ross, who knows a thing or two about talent, posted a new blog on his official website with thoughts on this week’s WWE NXT television tapings. Below is an excerpt:

Bray Wyatt Family had a stellar night. Good presentation.

Sasha Banks beginning to impress.

Jake Cater back from injury.

Good taping for Cory Graves.

Adrian Neville formerly know as PAC had a superb nite. An amazing, flying Dynamite Kid.

Mason Ryan returned to the ring & looked massive & imposing.

England’s Paige is improving & is a keeper in my view. The anti Diva.

Alex Riley looked good as did Bo Dallas & Michael McGillicutty.

Really enjoyed Kassius Ohno & Leo Kruger together.

Xavier Woods has ‘something.’

Willam Regal & Tony “Don’t call me Richard” Dawson handled all the commentary. Michael Cole & yours truly helped the announcers that were there. Enjoyed it. Shawn Michaels held court for hours w/ the young talents. Awesome. Great seeing Kevin Nash & Sean Waltman. Dusty Rhodes and I talked Johnny Football. An overall great experience at Full Sail & one I’d encourage fans to try at least once.

JR Comments on Future Stars In NXT, More

NXT was the best night of TV that we’ve produced in Orlando to date. NXT Champ Seth Rollins got a great ‘rub’ from WWE Champion CM Punk. The impromptu tag bout that occurred after the official taping ended between Punk/Rollins vs. Cesaro/Ohno was simply outstanding. We called it just for the Hell of it just in case it ever airs on a DVD, etc. It was really fun.

Big E Langston continued to take giant strides and is a star in the making if he continues to steer the course and gets a break once he debuts on one of the WWE rosters which I feel will happen some day soon. Just a gut feeling.

Michael McGillicutty can be a star and he is beginning to really bring it. The duo of Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel impressed me as does the team of Ascension every time I see them.

Paige is the top young diva in NXT for my money and the young lady from England has a bright future.

I’m really enjoying the new TV persona of the talented South African Leo Kruger.

Rumor Mill - Talent Gimmick Changes

Triple H is reportedly high on Michael McGillicutty and Drew McIntyre. There is a belief both will have a re-packaging to their gimmicks coming soon as Triple H views both of them as having long-term potential.

source: wrestling observer

Update on Michael McGillicutty

WWE official Paul Levesque (Triple H) is said to be a fan of former WWE Tag Team Champion Michael McGillicutty, who has become exclusive to WWE.com's Superstars and NXT programs over the past year since the end of his tag team partnership with David Otunga. It's uncertain when McGillicutty will be brought back to main WWE programming, but his work on Superstars and NXT has been getting positive reviews backstage.

source: wrestling observer

WWE NXT Championship Tournament Participants

The following individuals have been revealed to be competing in the WWE NXT Championship Tournament:

Bo Dallas, Richie Steamboat, Leo Kruger, Jinder Mahal, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Michael McGillicutty, Justin Gabriel

New WWE Tag Team Champions

Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga of Nexus are the new WWE Tag Team Champions. They defeated Kane and Big Show on tonight’s RAW with help from their Nexus partners CM Punk and Mason Ryan.

First NXT Season Two Contestant Eliminated

Tonight on WWE NXT, one of the eight Rookies' road came to an end, as the night of the first Pros' Poll also signaled season two's first surprise elimination.

The WWE Universe and the WWE Pros votes were combined and the results have been tabulated for first NXT Poll. Kaval is ranked No. 1, while Titus O’Neil came in last, ranking at No. 8! With the ranking, O’Neil has been eliminated from the NXT competition. The combined results of the NXT Poll are as follows:

1. Kaval
2. Percy Watson
3. Michael McGillicutty
4. Alex Riley
5. Lucky Cannon
6. Eli Cottonwood
7. Husky Harris
8. Titus O'Neil

source: wwe.com

Background Info: NXT Season 2 Rookies: Who Are They?

WWE NXT Season Two Rookies & Pro's

WWE NXT Season Two Roster:

Husky Harris (with pro Cody Rhodes)

Eli Cottonwood (with pro John Morrison)

Percy Watson (with pro MVP)

Titus O'Neil (with pro Zack Ryder)

Kaval with pros Michelle McCool & Layla)

Lucky Cannon (with pro Mark Henry)

Michael McGillicutty (with pro Kofi Kingston)

Alex Riley (with pro The Miz)

A change from NXT season one will be the voting process. The Pro's will have 50% of the power in the voting while the WWE Universe will have the other 50%.

Rumor Mill - New Heel Faction

One of the creative ideas that has been discussed is to form a new heel faction on Raw consisting of Ted DiBiase Jr., his brother Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig, the son of the late WWE hall of famer "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, dubbed the Fortunate Sons, according to Dave Meltzer. Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig are currently training with Flordia Championship Wrestling in Tampa, FL.

source: wrestleview.com

Rumor Mill - Talent List for WWE NXT

Dave Scherer is reporting the following names are slated for WWE NXT which debuts next week on SyFy:

* Justin Angel
* Daniel Bryan
* Kaval
* Joe Hennig
* Skip Sheffield
* Brett DiBiase
* Darren Young
* Heath Slater
* Michael Tarver

The above rookies will be paired with a WWE veteran where they will compete to advance as a full-time member of either Raw or Smackdown. They will also be available to make crossover appearances on the main shows while competing. The original concept was to have eight teams but in this report there are nine listed.