• Tuesday night's WWE NXT was not one of the series' better episodes. The rookies' challenge was an obstacle course, which, for some reason, included drinking a large cup of soda. Watching Daniel Bryan and Michael Tarver drink soda for more than 60 seconds did not make for great TV. The challenge was so lackluster that I actually forgot who won (it was Justin Gabriel).
• Bryan, of course, failed miserably in the obstacle course. He was selling his ribs from his match with Batista on Raw, so that was his excuse. If his poor showing in the challenge wasn't bad enough, he did a job to the previously winless and completely underwhelming Tarver in a match. Yep, one night after being somewhat competitive against Batista, he jobs to Tarver. Daniel is now 0-10 and hasn't performed well in any of the challenges (although it's pretty obvious at this point that he is being scripted to fail in those). Still, it's almost a certainty that he'll make it to the final four and he may still win the competition, but from a logic standpoint, how can he not be the first one eliminated?
• Wade Barrett has been a standout on NXT, but failing to conquer the monkey bars at the start of the obstacle course was not one of his finer moments. After falling twice, he gave up and walked off.
• The R-Truth/David Otunga match (which was won by R-Truth) was too short to really judge Otunga's performance.
• The scuffle between Barrett and Darren Young at the end of the show was realistic. I'm not suggesting it was; just saying that it looked good.
• Josh Matthews had the line of the night. When Michael Cole said that Matthews must spend a lot of time at playgrounds, Matthews replied: "Cole, this is Tuesdays, not Mondays. You have me mixed up with your other broadcast partner."
• The first elimination takes place on next week's show. The smart money is on Tarver.
• Here are my updated rankings. I based them on the rookies' potential to make an impact in WWE and did not factor in their win-loss records on NXT:
1. Wade Barrett
2. David Otunga
3. Daniel Bryan
4. Heath Slater
5. Darren Young
6. Justin Gabriel
7. Skip Sheffield
8. Michael Tarver