Today on WWE Superstars, the United States Champion faces the former Intercontinental Champion. Can Jack Swagger avoid the Cobra or is the All-American American in for an Italian beatdown? Following that will be the final episode of Impact Wrestling before Against All Odds, and we've got a Star Wars theme in London. Who will make their marks going into Sunday's big showdowns (which include a four-way World Title match with Bobby Roode, James Storm, Jeff Hardy, and Bully Ray)? Read on for my thoughts on the shows as they happen.
Nice reaction for Gabriel coming to the ring. I can see the Twilight werewolf comparisons.
Damnit, really? I think there's a point when people can face off one too many times and it's meaningless.
I like the commentary here, actually talking about the match and competitors.
Gabriel's got some impressive maneuvers. If they want to keep Kofi in the tag division but don't want to give Bourne another chance, I think Gabriel would fit the bill nicely.
It's weird: when I get the references, I like Striker's tangents. But the country western stuff is not working for me.
Didn't see that submission coming from Gabriel.
If that story about the fans giving the number isn't real, it was a pretty clever improv to get over Gabriel.
I think sometimes fans clap in the "babyface in a submission move" spot because they know the match won't continue otherwise. It gets really formulaic.
Impressive moves near the ropes.
Nice "digging down deep" and fighting as opposed to flying around the ring from Gabriel.
Wow. These two seem to be evolving and being able to work longer matches.
I definitely wouldn't have expected this from Slater and Gabriel in the NXT Season 1 days.
Nice match! I hope WWE Management is as impressed as I am.
It's like NXT on Superstars!
Impressive stuff early. If you want to see good wrestling with a minimum of BS, WWE's online shows are for you.
Curtis seems like a "thinking man's wrestler". I wish we saw more of this guy before NXT: Redemption started.
Yoshi seems kind of like a fish out of water at times working the Japanese style in WWE.
Meh. Not a bad match, but I was more impressed with Curtis than Tatsu.
WWE's focus on the part-timers continues to be concerning. I'd think HHH/Taker would pretty much sell itself but their theory is that someone might catch Superstars and not Raw one week, and ads for the casual fans would draw them into Raw.
Now that's an odd tag team. Wow.
I like the selling of the tag titles as getting prestige.
I guess McGillicutty and JTG are the de facto faces here.
Nice double-teams by the Colons. Glad we're getting to see this trio together.
Now that's going to worry me. Were they on backwards?
I guess they were just fodder for the tag team champs. I wouldn't expect another pairing of these two.
It's a shame it doesn't look like we'll end up with Primo and Epico vs. the former Kings of Wrestling any time soon.
The odds are 1 out of 6 you say? I'd have never guessed.
I just got flashbacks to Vickie's feud with Santino and his "sister" Santina. That was umm... unique.
Swagger's got nice athletic ability. If he could improve enough on the mic, he could really be someone in the company. He's got pretty much everything else going for him.
Cobra status = over as #%@&. If a guy from a boiler room in a torn white T-shirt and tie can get over with a sock on his hand, I wouldn't count out Santino.
Solid ending sequence. Keep an eye on these two.
This Impact Wrestling opening is Sting-Robocop levels of simultaneously terrible and hilariously awesome.
Garett's Luke and Eric Bischoff's Vader. It all makes sense now.
It doesn't get much more antagonistic heel than Bully Ray.
Wow. They're getting right into the big issue.
Sting's pretty over here, and Hardy couldn't be there, so Sting was the logical choice to step in there. Hopefully things don't become all about Sting in the weeks and months to come.
I think we might all need a drink after that commercial.
AJ Styles and Daniels have been facing off since at least 2000.
A flip dive that early in the match means they really have to do a lot to build things from there.
How many times have these guys "settled it once and for all" now?
When did wrestling become more about the fans supporting both competitors and appreciating their moves instead of the good guy trying to overcome the bad guy?
While all these moves are impressive. I think I've seen these two just about everything they can do to each other. Including pretty much these exact signature moves. When the story doesn't go much of anywhere (Kazarian might as well be a broom), all you have is what goes on between the ropes. And that's getting kind of stale.
From a technical standpoint, that was a pretty good match. But it definitely didn't make me care much about Styles/Kazarian. Where can this story go that's new or interesting? Styles/Daniels has been done plenty of times, and Kazarian's not an interesting enough character to make a feud with either man particularly exciting. It's like they're just killing time here and keeping people on TV.
I was hoping that that was all setting up for Magnus and Joe heeling the crowd. While Magnus did pretty well on the mic, they're supposed to be the heels here (or so I thought).
I might be ok with a tag title switch on Sunday based on those performances. It's all a matter of where the characters go from there.
We're supposed to pay to see Shelley vs. Aries on Sunday, but they're in a triple threat tonight? I hope they know what they're doing. At least in a tag match there are more opportunities to avoid giving away too much between the PPV opponents.
Looks like we're in for a popcorn match showing off moves more than building angles.
Wow. Yeah. This is more Harlem Globetrotters than NBA.
Glad that one's over for the most part. Impressive athleticism, but if I wanted to see crazy flippy moves, I'd watch something like Cirque du Soleil.
Not a segment I was particularly thrilled with. I'm pretty burned out on Hogan, and of course there werethe camera shenanigans.
Somewhat entertained by the crazy Direct ad.
That was "so-so". Because of how they emphasize the camera, they're pretty much expecting us to buy that Gail just happened to be there then. (WWE pretends the camera doesn't exist as part of the story for the most part, so they don't need to explain why it's there. It's a TV show. No one asks why soap opera and movie characters don't see cameras, so their logic is that they're on the same wavelength.) TNA presents itself as more of a documentary, and they have camera people who are actual characters by virtue of them making themselves known.
I guess if I grew up a Hulkamaniac and hadn't seen him for 18 years, I'd be a lot more into this segment.
Didn't care much about any of that at all.
Fun back-and-forth from Roode and Bully Ray in its own weird way. I could see any of the four men walking out of the title.
Oh, joy. More Hogan and Bischoff at the PPV. Though casual fans will be more likely to buy to see what they'll do.
I hope the "pigeons" talk is over, because I'm getting really tired of hearing it.
This commentary is awful. AWFUL.
They're not selling that like a heel turn, so I'm guessing this might just be a one-night thing so there's a clear person to cheer for in what would otherwise be a babyface vs. babyface match.
This match is kind of clunky in places.
That had its moments, but the commentary dragged it down to being less than particularly enjoyable.
Good promos from the contenders.
The backstage promos are kind of lame to me. They try way too hard to make things seem "real" and like a sport.
Odd facepaint from Sting.
Crazy outfit from the Icon.
The World Champion was just taken to being in a possible tapping position by a semi-retired, 50+ authority figure. That's great for Sting, but what about the guy they're headlining in-ring action with?
Good back and forth with Storm and Bully Ray.
We might be in for a Bully Ray title reign with this commentary.
Bully Ray is unquestionably a bad guy. I like that.
Again, the part-time wrestler's outdoing the World Champion and a top contender.
Good story for Roode and Bully Ray. I think I'd have preferred Storm getting the win, though. Maybe he could have used a Deathlock of his own in tribute?
That's all for Thursday's wrestling. I'll be back for Smackdown tomorrow. A news post will be up later tonight. Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment