I watched what I couldn't watch live on my DVR over the weekend. Here's what stood out:
Matches:
Goldust vs. William Regal on Superstars - This match was pimped to me by Dylan Hales as being a MOTY candidate, perhaps his WWE MOTY. While I couldn't see the uniqueness in it that he did, I thought it was a great match between two veterans who actually got a chance to shine, rather than being served as job fodder for Santino Marella on RAW. There was some really good stiffness, and I really liked Regal's wrist scrapes across Goldust's face. The finish was sick. That knee came out of nowhere and Dustin sold it really well.
Dudebusters vs. Vance Archer and Curt Hawkins on Superstars - This was a surprisingly decent tag match given that 1/4 of the competitors in it were Vance Archer. The tramp-stamped former Lance Hoyt aside, I was really impressed with the Dudebusters in this match. They may have had their best match of tag team cohesion and chemistry that I've seen since they came up. Hawkins was game too. I liked his one counter to a simple running of the ring ropes with a trip out. The funny thing, in FCW, Hawkins was aligned with the Dudebusters. Heh. Anyway, they sold this match as having title implications, and though it'll have less heat than Alaska in February, the Dudebusters and Hart Dynasty could be a fun program.
Chris Masters vs. Drew McIntyre on Superstars - You can see what I thought about this match here. All three matches from Superstars made it to the honor roll this week. It was that strong a show.
Motor City Machine Guns vs. Generation Me on Impact - For as shitty as TNA's storyline focus has been, they really deserve to get credit for giving the Guns a wide platform to perform and create. I liked their series with Beer Money. I didn't love it, but I liked it. I thought that this match was better than any of the other ones though. There was a lot of crisp offense in this. As blog-fan Andy Kent said on Twitter, there was some "Cirque du Soleil" BS from the Bucks in this match. I agree, sometimes they get too fancy for their own good. However, why I can tolerate it from them is because for the most part, they do the flippy shit away from the target if that makes sense. They don't rely on their opponents to help them hit their offense. Anyway, this was a great spotfest. These two teams seem to be at home against each other.
Kane vs. Rey Mysterio on Smackdown - This was a pretty decent hard-hitting brawl. The finish was a bit sloppy, but there was some nice bumping from Mysterio, especially when Kane threw him out of the ring in slide. Kane's offense looks much more brutal when applied to a guy like Mysterio than a bigger guy. It's not just Mysterio's selling, but Kane doesn't really seem to have the same zip as he does when against, say, Big Show. Again, the finish was kinda sloppy, especially the 619, which wasn't Rey's best. However, I liked the sequence.
Mentallo vs. El Azteco from Masked Warriors - Nice opener and good introduction to Mentallo, who's billed as being from Toronto, Canada. Interesting. Azteco had some nice high-flying stuff, while Mentallo played up the bully aspect while still coming with the agility.
Overall Shows:
NXT - Very weak go-home show going into the finale this coming Tuesday. Seriously, the show is supposed to showcase the rookies, and outside of a strong opening segment where the rookies were able to promo and Kaval confronted Dashing Cody Rhodes. After that, there was a trivia challenge, which was kinda lolwut inducing, and then the main match was... MVP vs. Rhodes? Especially given that we were teased with Rhodes against Kaval, this was a disappointment. The rookies seemed like an afterthought. I mean, Kaval's prize for winning the challenge was a WWE.com feature? Forget that. Hopefully though, the finale will give us a moment as epic as Regal pseudo-shooting on everyone at the last finale.
Superstars - Holy crap, this was definitely the strongest in-ring show of the weekend, and one of the best shows for pure wrestling all year. All three matches were really good and had a lot of drama behind them, even if none of them really had a story between the two parties going in. This is the pinnacle of what Superstars can be, and I'm glad I tuned in this week.
Impact - This show was a mixed-bag. Samoa Joe squashing Orlando Jordan was alright, and as I said, I loved the tag match between the Guns and the Bucks. However, that opening segment was the worst I've seen all year. For one, Dixie Carter is the worst on-screen character since Linda McMahon. I don't know who's worse. Then, Hogan coming out and pimping a group of four WWE ex-pats as "real TNA" over a group of six guys who for the most part have been with TNA for their entire history? Lame. As the dingleberry on the shit sundae, Dixie Carter's husband came rushing out of the crowd... why should I care about him if I don't care about Dixie? Christ. About the only storyline thing that worked for me was the reunion of the Original Beautiful People with Madison Rayne protesting. Everything else was kinda lame. The main event was sloppy too. Fuck, Jeff Hardy's fall from grace has been precipitous. He went from a serviceable spotfest guy to being a strung-out waste. He was totally sandbagging Doug Williams in that match. Frustrating show to watch.
Smackdown - This show was built upon the backs of strong heels. CM Punk, "Dashing" Cody Rhodes and especially Alberto del Rio all turned in strong performances. del Rio's beatdown of Mysterio and then his antics during the squash of the other-named Alex Kozlov was outstanding. I missed his debut last week, and I'm pretty sad about it now after seeing his awesomeness this week. I also love DCR's grooming tips. I'm pretty sad at the dissolution of the SES, but it's at least intriguing. I can't say the same about the main angle with Kane and Undertaker. I think the matches will be good, and I don't mind that they're rekindling the rivalry after years of it being dormant, but I just don't like the angle in which it's being done. It's boring.
Masked Warriors - I just realized this week that Aeroform = PR Powers. Holy crap. Also, a big LOL at them giving Carlito(s) "Burn It to the Ground" as his theme song. Anyway, this was more of the same as it was in weeks past. Lucha Libre USA isn't going to blow you away, but it will provide some good fast-food lucha action with outrageous storylines that always have a sense of humor about them. Take for example the running gag of the backstage announcer, Rebecca Reyes, being married to Pequeño Halloween. It's ludicrous and would be skewered if the WWE or especially TNA pulled it off, but in the context of Lucha Libre USA with the over-the-top comedy, it works. Again, it's not the best, but it's good junk food wrestling TV that's incredibly fun to watch. That being said, the wrestling was okay. The first match was good. RJ Brewer vs. Mascara Purpura was disappointing and disjointed. However, they recovered a little bit with the main event trios match, although I wasn't impressed enough for it to make the honor roll.
Photo Credit: WWE.com
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