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WWE Main Event / Superstars 2016 Thread


Charlie M.

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Figured I'd start this since I've been trying to watch stuff from both of these shows. Chime in with what you've seen! Superstars usually goes up pretty quick on the Network while Main Event is a few weeks behind but is easy to find elsewhere...

 

 

WWE Main Event 12/29 #170

Jack Swagger vs. Stardust

Swagger had some nice offense before the commercial break. The big spot when they come back is Swagger missing a corner charge and taking a massive bump over the top rope to the floor. Immediately made me sit up and pay closer attention. Stardust hits a clothesline on the floor and massive superplex. There's some nice payback for Swagger when he hits a clothesline on the floor. Finishing sequence was really well done to the point that the crowd totally bought a Swagger Bomb as the finish and started chanting his name. Swagger won with the Patriot Lock after about 10 minutes + the break. Loved this match. Probably the best Stardust match I've seen in ages and they really managed to hook the crowd in. Would be interested in seeing what other people thought.

 

 

WWE Superstars 1/1 #351

Jack Swagger and Mark Henry vs. The Ascension
This is the debut as a team for Swagger and Henry. Swagger literally worked the entire match until the hot tag. Mark Henry cleaned house for about a minute and won with the World's Strongest Slam in 7 minutes.

Main Event 1/6 #171

The Usos vs Social Outcasts (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas)

Shockingly fun little match here. Usos are over and they did a cool spot where they cut off the Outcasts victory lap with a double dive. Jimmy hit a dab showing that at least one person in WWE is aware of pop culture. They did a distraction roll up finish but it was countered and the Usos won.

 

Superstars 1/8 #352

Jack Swagger vs Tyler Breeze

They had a 10 minute match in about 3 minutes. Swagger posted himself and Breeze hit the Unprettier for the pin. It was good but too short.

 

Main Event 1/13 #172

Jack Swagger & Mark Henry vs The Ascension
They ran an angle to start the show where Mark Henry was cutting a promo about winning the Royal Rumble but the Ascension came out and attacked him. Swagger made the save to set up the tag match.

This was an extended version of their previous encounter where Mark Henry actually got in the match before the finish. Pretty basic stuff by the Ascension getting the heat on Swagger. Henry got the hot tag, slammed some guys, Jack hit the Swagger Bomb and Henry hit the World’s Strongest Slam for the pin. The Ascension are just bland but the formula works because Swagger sold well and Henry kicked some ass.

 

Superstars 1/15 #353

Jack Swagger vs Tyler Breeze

Rematch from the previous week and they get more time. Nice little sequence at the start where Breeze does his pose on the ropes and shakes his foot at Swagger in disdain. Swagger beats him up, clotheslines him out and does Breeze's pose on the ropes to mock him. Basic story of the match is Breeze working Swagger's knee. Good near fall with Swagger countering the Unprettier but his knee gives out and Breeze hits his kick for two. Swagger Bomb and the Patriot Lock gets Swagger the win in 7 minutes + the break. Simple, fun, easy to watch match.

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Main Event 1/20 #173

The Ascension vs. Mark Henry & Jack Swagger
Jerry Lawler explains that his New Year’s Resolution was basically to be a heel. Third time they’ve run this match recently. Henry and Konnor start out the match trash talking so Konnor chops him and the crowd laughs. Henry headbutts him and tags in Swagger. It’s all Swagger from here. Gets a couple hope spots including the Patriot Lock but Viktor hits him with a high knee behind the ref’s back. Finally there’s a double clothesline spot and Swagger gets the hot tag to Henry. He cleans house and hits the World’s Strongest Slam for the win in 11 minutes. The crowd really gets into Henry and Swagger but as I’ve mentioned before, the Ascension are just so dull.

Neville vs Tyler Breeze
You know they’re not getting much time because Breeze goes right to the eyes and hits a superkick for a near fall. Does a few more covers then gets in the ref’s face saying “I’m not trying to be out here all night! Count to three!” Breeze does the little things well. The finish is Breeze going up for a top rope hurricanrana but Neville blocks it and hits the Red Arrow for the win in about 5 minutes. Your typical C-show quick match but I enjoyed Breeze’s effort in it. Neville seemed a bit on auto-pilot.

The Dudley Boyz vs The Social Outcasts (Heath Slater & Curtis Axel)
“The older they get, the better they were. I never liked them to begin with in ECW. I never liked anyone in ECW!” Heel Jerry Lawler continues to re-emerge from a deep sleep. An extended shine for the Dudleys to start. The Outcasts only get some offense after Bo and Rose get a table from under the ring and distract the Dudleys. Slater and Axel attack from behind then join the “Bo Train” for a victory lap. Slater and Bubba do a funny bionic elbow spot. Bo and Rose stop D-Von from getting the table, Bubba is distracted and Axel rolls him up for the win in almost 15 minutes. My main takeaway is that I want to see Bully Ray vs Heath Slater at a house show. Don’t watch this match.

Superstars 1/22 #354

Jack Swagger vs Fandango
A back-and-forth type match where Fandango showed some nice offense including sending Swagger sternum first into the buckle and hitting a very nice dropkick. Fandango also did a nice spot where he hit a couple jabs, Swagger ducked and covered up but Fandango hit him with a DDT for a near fall. Fandango got caught coming off the top and Swagger hooked him in the Patriot Lock for the submission in 5 minutes. Fine match.

Dolph Ziggler vs The Miz
The match begins with Ziggler hitting a hip toss then doing his super quick elbow drops. The crowd chants along so he nails 10 of them. I’m sure that spot bothers some people. What I didn’t like was that Miz just took him down with a headlock right after like it was nothing. They ran through a couple “Royal Rumble preview” spots where Miz tossed Ziggler and he did the skin the cat spot. A few moments later Miz successfully threw Dolph out and they went to a break. A big portion of the match was Miz on offense. It was fine, pretty standard stuff. Then they tried to do this very intricate sequence of counters and reversals. I give them props for even trying this in a Superstars match but some of it was pretty sloppy. Ultimately Dolph caught Miz coming off the top with a superkick for the win in 10+ minutes. If you dislike Ziggler, avoid this match. If you’re a fan, you’ll probably want to check it out.

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Main Event 1/27 #174

Kevin Owens vs. Jack Swagger
Strong, simple match here between Owens and Swagger. Swagger outwrestled him early with his amateur advantage. A nice smart transition by Owens where he tried a waistlock takedown on Swagger but couldn't get it so he just elbows Swagger in the face instead. Owens had a couple funny taunts in the match. "WE ... ARE IDIOTS!" and "It's not 1987 anymore!" when the crowd started chanting 'USA!' Swagger hit a bunch of clotheslines for his comeback including his big one on the floor. Swagger took his big bump over the top into the steps. They teased their big moves well including Swagger grabbing the ropes to avoid the Pop Up Powerbomb. Owens finally dodged a charge into the corner, Swagger posted himself and Owens hit the power bomb for the win in about 11 minutes.

I know Owens got a lot of hype from those finisher kickout, big moves matches when he first got called up but I think he's far more effective working like this and will have much more longevity. His crowd work and heeling is above most guys in the company.

 

Skipped the Dudleys vs Ascension

Rusev (w/Lana) vs. Ryback
This was LONG, like 14 minutes or so. If you love big guys running the ropes, this early part of this match is for you. There was one awesome spot where they battled over a suplex with Ryback trying to suplex Rusev into the ring and Rusev trying to suplex Ryback out. Ryback doing a bunch of moves just doesn't connect with me. The crossbody, the thesz press, the missile dropkick, and the one where he falls on his ass are all meant to make him look impressive but he doesn't do them that well so he looks worse for trying to do more. Lana distracted Ryback on the apron but he managed to avoid the dreaded distraction roll up loss. He hit a superkick. Rusev hit one then applied the Accolade and Ryback passed out. Match was fine. Ryback is obviously trying to add to his repertoire so I feel bad criticizing him but these are not the moves for him.


Superstars 1/29 #355

Skipped Stardust vs Darren Young

Titus O’Neill vs. Tyler Breeze
Titus no sells a Breeze chop to the chest and delivers a hard one of his own. So hard that the crowd chants “ONE MORE TIME!” so he gives Breeze another one. Breeze took over during the break by posting Titus. I liked Breeze’s offense against a huge guy like Titus. Instead of just superkicking him, he kicked his knee to stun him and then hit the superkick. Titus got his usual comeback and hit the Clash of the Titus for the win in just under 10 minutes. Decent match.

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Titus vs Breeze was actually quite a good match, in its little way - far superior to the Stardust matches. Probably should have just hit his finish by llifting Tyler out of the Sunset Flip, but I still get the sense he has to halfheartedly hit the Clash to protect the Pop-Up Powerbomb - at least he uses the double-leg cover, guy used to drive me nuts with the slow cover he did for years, exhibit A:

 

 

I thought there was a nice story here though. Breeze tried to faze Titus, Titus laughed it off and whupped his ass leading to three backbreakers and the Cookie Toss. This hurt Breeze, but he finds the comeback and gets things going - but takes a bad fall off the corner punches and gets another whupping which he can't come back from.

 

Stardust vs Young was not good. Young hitting an apron suplex as part of his comeback was some foolishness, as was Stardust holding the inverted headlock for ages before hitting the CrossRhodes despite getting it against the run of play. The difference between a good Superstars match and a bad one was clear this week.

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Naomi's used it a few times before.  I think the official name is the (ugh) "Slayomission"; it's a move that was used by Mariko Yoshida in the past and known as the Spider Twist.

 

Dug Stardust vs. Ryder on Superstars this week; Ryder pulled a few different moves out of his arsenal.

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Considering Johnny Curtis was an outstandingly underrated character, I'm okay with this transition.  "Why DON'T I have chloroform?"

 

Really wanting Naomi to not be lost in the shuffle, but it's an uphill battle with all of the female talent on the payroll.

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Main Event 2/3 #175

The Usos & The Prime Time Players vs The Ascension & Stardust & Tyler Breeze

The Prime Time Players are back together! Nice Flair flop into a tag by Breeze early on. Lawler gives a shoutout to Lance Russell during the match since they're in Memphis. Jey Uso gets trapped in the ring and plays face-in-peril for much of the match and it's pretty fun. Lots of quick tags by the heel team and some good teases for the hot tag. Darren Young is the one who receives the hot tag and (good) chaos ensues. The finish is nice as Titus makes a blind tag, the Usos hit a double dive and Titus finally hits the Clash of the Titus on Stardust for the win in 13 minutes. It's hard to go wrong with a six or eight man tag if everyone's working hard.

 

Jack Swagger beat Fandango with the Patriot Lock in 3 minutes. Not much to it.

 

Paige & Natalya vs. Naomi & Tamina

As an overall match, I was disappointed by this but there were some individual parts that I really liked. Naomi definitely has something and would probably benefit greatly from going the Emma route of heading to NXT for 6 months and coming back fresh. Paige's knee based attacks all looked really good. Nattie's hot tag was solid. And Naomi's submission is cool and she was the right person to go over given the current direction. Those were all the positives. The negatives were a lot of the things in between the moves. Paige just grabbed a headlock and sat in it for no apparent reason so when Naomi came back with some flashy kicks it felt like a babyface spot. Tamina should never wrestle. Constantly out of position or slow to get in position and her power stuff doesn't even look all that good. I'd say replace her with Nia Jax but Nia might be just as bad as Tamina. Ultimately Naomi won clean with her submission move on Natalya in about 12 minutes.

 

Superstars 2/5 #356

Jack Swagger & Mark Henry vs. The Ascension

Is this a rib? We're doing this again? To everyone's credit, they actually did something different this time. Mark Henry looked to be hurting quite a bit while he was running and then he takes a damn bump over the top rope to the floor. WHY MARK WHY? Swagger is the one who gets the hot tag this time and gets the Patriot Lock on Viktor in about 4 minutes. Credit to them for mixing it up. If Mark really is retiring, it'd be great for them to build him and Swagger up to challenge New Day at Mania.

 

Stardust vs. Zack Ryder

Woo woo woo, the crowd still likes Zack. One of the things I like about C shows is when a guy like Zack gets 10+ minutes and is clearly fired up about it. He was hitting missile dropkicks and slingshot splashes and even a top rope frankensteiner! I've developed a pet peeve with Stardust because he'll create an opportunity to do some limb work and never follow up. I don't think every match needs to be focused on limb work but if you're going to do a sweet dragon screw leg whip using the ropes, you should follow up on it. Zack got to shine a lot in this match but Stardust pulled him off the top rope and hit the Queen's Crossbow for the win in 11 minutes.

 

 

I'll give the best match of the week to the 8 man tag from Main Event but these were all worth watching.

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It was actually a mistake - Zack loses to Heath Slater, though there's a lot of interference from Axel Rose.

 

I actually think that may have been Zack Ryder's best ever match. If he was a Diva, we'd be calling him improved. Slater's awesome when he's actually got something to do; The three-man #SocialOutcasts are pretty obviously 3MB2 but I don't think Bo quite fit in anyway so the Bo Rida diversion has been useful.

 

vs Stardust not as good, though better than some Stardust matches and the pop for Ryder's upset win was nice to hear, and you could tell he was pretty thrilled to actually win a match on TV.

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Highlight of this past week's commentary:  Lawler was talking about how Natalya and Alicia had different tastes in pets.

Lawler:  "Natalya's a cat person...and Alicia prefers puppies."
Rich:  "Oh no..."
Lawler:  "What?"

*awkward pause before they continue talking like the subject had never come up*

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This week we get a really good showing from both Paige and Naomi in their Main Event singles match. Naomi gets a much needed win, while Paige still looks strong in defeat. And Tamina continues to excel in her role. Good to see more use of the Slay-o-mission.

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Catching up with 3 weeks worth of shows so super long post below. Gonna toss some "gut feeling" letter grades on the matches mostly for future reference.

 

WWE Main Event 2/10 #176

 

Heath Slater vs. Zack Ryder

Slater is incredibly obnoxious early on as he gets a waistlock on Ryder and that's enough for him to do a victory lap around the ring. He hits a shoulderblock and takes a second victory lap but this time Zack dropkicks him on his way back. Zack shows some good fire. Rose distracts the ref and Slater knocks Ryder off the top to the floor. There's a pretty loud "Let's Go Ryder!" chant as Slater gets the heat on him. Zack starts his comeback but Slater cuts him off with a big kick for nice nearfall. Zack gets going again and sets up the Broski Boot but the Outcasts pull Slater out of the way and he gets a nearfall that I bought as the finish. Jerry Lawler is really loving this match on commentary and I'm imagining how awesome Heath Slater would have been in early 90's USWA. Zack hits a big dive to the Outcasts on a floor but on his way back in Slater kicks him and hits the Impaler DDT for the win in 13 minutes. Really good showing by both men. B+

 

Natalya vs. Alicia Fox

Didn't really care much for this at all. Just seemed to go through the motions and Nattie got the Sharpshooter in about 5 minutes. C

 

Darren Young & Mark Henry vs. Damien Sandow & Fandango

Sandow is wearing his scholar gimmick getup but acting like a face. Fandango is constantly trying to run in front of him and steal his spotlight. They do a few fun comedy spots where Young hurts his own back trying to whip Henry into Sandow. Henry mocks Fandango's hip swivel. The pre-match story continues as Fandango doesn't want to tag in Sandow which results in loud "WE WANT SANDOW!" chants. Sandow finally tags himself in but Fandango tags himself back in. Young shoves them into each other, makes the hot tag and Henry hits the World's Strongest Slam on Fandango in 5 minutes. Creative and fun little match. C+

 

 

 

WWE Superstars 2/12 #357

 

The Ascension vs. Damien Sandow & Fandango

Sandow gets another big reaction from the crowd but this time Fandango is playing face and they're working together. They do the smart thing as The Ascension get the heat on Fandango, the crowd chants "WE WANT SANDOW!" and they build to the hot tag. The fans love it but Konor flapjacks Sandow and Viktor hits the Fall of Man for the win in 5 minutes. Nothing special at all. C

 

Stardust vs. Zack Ryder

A rematch from the previous week where Stardust won a really good match. This one was kinda bland and the crowd really wasn't that into it during the middle section. They traded a couple nearfalls before Ryder dodged the Disaster Kick and hit the Rough Ryder for the win in 10 minutes. Ryder getting a win was a nice moment at least. C+

 

 

 

 

WWE Main Event 2/17 #177

 

Neville & Zack Ryder vs. Tyler Breeze & Stardust

The "CODY!" chants were very loud in this one. Ryder looked really good early. I feel like Breeze must love watching tag wrestling because he worked in a couple neat spots. One where he came in to try and help Stardust counter a sunset flip but Ryder broke it up. Another where he tried to break up a pin with a splash but Ryder moved and he hit Stardust instead. Just a couple small things but he always mixes something like that into his matches. Breeze and Stardust got the heat on Neville with a lot of quick tags. Neville wound up in the tree of woe but did a situp to avoid a dropkick and made the hot tag to Ryder. Zack makes his usual fiery comeback. The heels did that splash spot and Ryder tossed Breeze out but got caught with a reverse DDT by Stardust. Eventually Neville makes a blind tag, surprises Stardust with a superkick and hits the Red Arrow for the win in 10 minutes. Really loved this match more than I expected because it's just one of those "throw 4 guys together" tags. The crowd was really hot for it, Breeze and Stardust made for a fun tag team and the finishing stretch was well done. A

 

Paige vs Summer Rae

This is a rematch from RAW where Summer got the surprise pin on Paige. They get some mic time to start with Summer running down the Divas Revolution. Paige fires back using "dancing" as code for Summer sleeping around, I guess. Summer attacks her and the ref has to separate them to get the match going. Everything is very character-driven in the match. Summer does some stalling, Paige mocks her dancing, Summer does a cartwheel and the splits to celebrate after hitting some different moves. Summer's kicks are much better than Brie's. Paige blocks a spin kick, hits a superkick and locks in the PTO to get the win in about 4 minutes. Great selling by Paige, good personality shown by both and Summer came off as a wrestler instead of a diva playing wrestler as she's done in the past. Only knock was that it was pretty short. C+

 

The Social Outcasts came out to cut a promo about the New Day not defending the tag titles at Fastlane. Adam Rose suggested RadWolf as a team. Who? Heath figured out that RadWolf is himself and Rose because Rose is the Radical Mongoose and Slater is the Crimson Werewolf. Rose then dubs Axel and Bo as the Mad Happy Connection. Axel gets mad about being called mad. Enjoyed this little bit. New Day interrupted and Big E was walking like a penguin. They have a bit of a back and forth with New Day calling them booty and Bo saying, "No, you're A booty." Xavier corrects him with a British accent. This was all so weird and it led to our Main Event.

 

New Day vs. Social Outcasts (Rose, Axel, Slater)

Bo Dallas joined "The King & The Thing" on commentary. Kofi started out working babyface which I thought was the right choice and would have made for an interesting match but it didn't last. New Day got the heat on Adam Rose which just confused the crowd. Rose hit a spinebuster and got the "hot" tag to Axel. The crowd didn't care. Bo marked out on commentary when Axel hit a kick to the gut which was funny. Bo wound up distracting the ref so Rose could shove Kofi off the top. Axel rolled up Xavier but he reversed it and held the tights for the win in 14 minutes. They all worked hard but I was disappointed in how they laid out the match. I feel like New Day matches would be so much better with Kofi selling and Big E hitting his big power moves. C+

 

 

 

 

WWE Superstars 2/19 #358

 

Natalya vs. Alicia Fox

I felt like I'd seen this match a million times so I checked on CageMatch and these two have wrestled each other 208 times! To their credit they actually did something different this time. The whole thing was built around Alicia doing crowd work. Nattie got the better of the wrestling exchange to start so Alicia yelled, "I don't wanna play like this!" Nattie gets her in the Sharpshooter, Alicia gets the ropes to break it and yells back at the crowd, "Boo you! You don't know how it feels!" Now she calls a timeout and Nattie gets the crowd chanting "You suck!" at her. Alicia calms herself down, puts on a happy face and offers a handshake. Nattie takes it but pulls Alicia's hand to the mat and steps on her fingers. Alicia bails, manages to grab Nattie through the ropes and slam her head to the mat. She points out to the crowd that she paid 35 bucks for her manicure on the hand that Nattie stepped on. She winds up missing a flipping legdrop and Nattie locks on the Sharpsooter for the win in 5 minutes. There was very little action in this match but it was really entertaining. They must do this routine on the house shows. B

 

Jack Swagger vs. Fandango

This started out feeling like it was going to be a pretty standard Fandango match but it built really well throughout. Fandango targeted the chest of Swagger with some chops, uppercuts and the Bret Hart sternum first buckle bump. Swagger nearly hit a Swagger Bomb early but Fandango rolled out. They did a chase sequence leading to Fandango knocking Swagger off the apron into the barrier. Fandango did this nice spot where he pulled Swagger out halfway onto the apron, slammed him down chest first a few times then hit a running kneelift to the chest. Swagger fought back and sent Fandango into the ropes but he flipped himself over and managed to pull Swagger down chest first onto the ropes. Followed that up with a slingshot legdrop for a nearfall. They traded a couple nearfalls until Swagger missed a charge into the corner and went shoulder first. Fandango pinned him with his feet on the ropes but the ref saw it. Fandango argued with him, got flapjacked and put in the Patriot Lock for the submission in 10 minutes. Really good focus by Fandango on the upper body/chest of Swagger and he mixed in a couple spots that elevated it from his standard fare. B+

 

 

 

WWE Main Event 2/24 #178

 

 

The Social Outcasts opened the show with a promo. They rattle off some corny one liners about the ROAD to WrestleMania. Adam Rose figured out what they're missing as a stable ... BIKER JACKETS! That's what they need! Matching biker jackets! With their names on the back! Bo is thrilled at this development. Will the Social Outcasts get matching biker jackets? Tune in next time.

 

Bo Dallas vs. Darren Young

If only Darren had someone to back him up against the Outcasts! Bo does a high five line on the apron which ends up with him getting hip tossed in by Young. Everything Young does looks crisp and nice but Bo does nothing for me in the ring. There was one cool spot where Young backdropped Adam Rose into Curtis Axel on the floor. Young tried to sunset flip in on Bo but he grabbed the ropes and got the pin in 4 minutes. Nothing anyone needs to see here. C

 

Paige vs. Naomi

Naomi does some fun stalling to start on the outside by stretching and taunting Paige. It leads to Paige kicking her off the apron and mocking her. That gets the crowd solidly behind Paige. Paige controls the action early and wipes out both Naomi and Tamina with a Foley dive off the apron. That leads to a break. When we come back Tamina distracts Paige while she's on the top rope and Naomi hits her with a leaping kick. Amazing. Does Naomi have the highest vertical leap on the roster? Can they measure this for us? I like that after this Naomi reasserts her heelish nature by tossing Paige to the floor and trying to get a countout victory. Great selling by Paige here. Paige gets a couple hope spots with her headbutts and fallaway slam until she finally makes her comeback with a superkick, knee in the corner, and a running knee for a nearfall. She goes for the PTO but Naomi is in the ropes. Naomi does this nice headscissor thing where she spikes Paige on her head. Does it have a name? Naomi gets in the ref's face and gets rolled up for what easily could have been the finish. Paige hits the Rampaige but Tamina saves Naomi by putting her foot on the ropes. Paige goes outside and superkicks Tamina. Naomi hits her with the rear view on the way back in for another great nearfall. Naomi locks on the Spider Twist for the submission win in 14 minutes. Damn good and physical match that showed what they're both capable of. I doubt they had much notice that they'd be getting this much time and they had no trouble putting on a strong match. Naomi has figured out how to utilize her incredible athleticism while maintaining a heel persona. Paige sold really well and worked incredibly hard considering it appears her house right now is the WWE's doghouse. A

 

Tyler Breeze vs. Ryback

Breeze tries to run away from Ryback to start and catch him coming back in the ring but runs into a big boot. Ryback hits his CM Punk Tribute Knee in the corner and then hits another one and another one and another one and another one. Is he taking tips from Dolph now? Ryback waits around so long for the Meathook that he runs into a superkick like an idiot. Breeze lays into the big guy with some vicious elbows and a nice big jumping knee. Ultimately Breeze goes for a crossbody, gets caught and hit with the Shellshock in 4 minutes. Breeze tried his best here. I don't think poor Ryback is ever going to get it. C+

 

Braun Strowman squashed that plucky underdog face Fandango in a minute.

 

 

 

WWE Superstars 2/26 #359

 

Summer Rae vs. Alicia Fox

Foxy is a face this week. She and Fandango should get together since they go from face to heel depending on who they're jobbing to. Summer gets some mic time to start and mocks the Divas Revolution in a funny way. "What team am I on? Oh my god what should be our team name? Who should be the captain?" She claims that while this was going on she was creating real change for women in the company. They have a basic short match but Summer looked good again. Fox went for a sunset flip but Summer used the ropes to get the pin in 3 minutes. C+

 

Stardust cut a promo on Zack Ryder being a grown man who collects toys.

 

Stardust vs. Zack Ryder

It's the rubber match! The Cody chants are loud this week so he makes sure to take the time to remind everyone that he's Stardust. Zack starts out countering everything that Stardust is throwing at him and dominating the match. Nice way to switch things up. Finally Stardust is able to catch him on a corner charge and toss him out to the floor. Stardust works him over briefly before Zack gets his comeback. There's a nice sequence where Stardust counters the Broski Boot, backdrops Ryder out to the apron but Ryder counters that and kicks him in the head then hits the Broski Boot for a nearfall. Zack misses something in the corner and Stardust hits the Queen's Crossbow out of nowhere for the win in 9 minutes. Better than their second match but not at the level of their first one. Zack seems to have hurt his ankle during the match. Not sure if it was legit or not. B

 

 

TLDR: Watch Paige vs Naomi (Main Event #178), Neville/Ryder vs Stardust/Breeze (Main Event #177), Slater vs Ryder (Main Event #176), Alicia vs Natalya & Swagger vs Fandango (Superstars #358)

 

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Do you have the WWE Network proper through whichever TV provider you have or are you watching the US version via VPN? I'm deliberating if I should try the Canadian one. I know we don't have console app support yet (yay) but are we at least able to watch the archives on the website and on devices?

 

Also, thanks for these. I'm sure I'll spend a day going through these when I have the Network. As it is, I'm leeching off friends for NXT and PPVs.

 

And are the letter grades scaled for C-show expectations?

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I have the US version of the Network. I didn't go through VPN because I actually happened to be in the US for something and signed up. The Main Event archives on the US version of the Network are usually delayed a couple weeks but it airs on Sportsnet 360. Superstars is up to date.

 

I wouldn't say letter grades are scaled for C-show expectations but I do try to keep in mind there are certain things they just aren't allowed to do on these shows.

 

What helps a lot of your Ryder, Swagger, Stardust types on these shows is that the crowd is more willing to give them a chance because they recognize them and they haven't sat through a bunch of crappy finishes and bad booking.

 

That being said, I feel like if the Paige/Naomi match and the tag match happened on RAW or Smackdown, I would give them the same letter grade. There's nothing there that couldn't be replicated on any other show.

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