WWE Superstars
February 23, 2012
Report by: Jason Namako of Wrestleview.com
Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s WWE Superstars recap. If you all are ready, then since Adelitas Way is playing the intro, let’s get on with the show!
We kick things off with the RAW portion of this week’s show, with announcers Josh Mathews & Scott Stanford.
Alex Riley vs. Michael McGillicutty
Lock-up and McGillicutty tries to send Riley to the corner, but Riley spins around and sends McGillicutty to the corner before breaking clean. Another lock-up and this time McGillicutty does send Riley to the corner. McGillicutty goes to break, but instead piefaces Riley. McGillicutty taunts Riley, who then proceeds to shove McGillicutty down. Another lock-up and Riley with a side headlock takedown. McGillicutty gets up to his feet, but Riley spins around into a hammerlock. McGillicutty gets out with a back elbow and hits a right hand. McGillicutty with a stomp to Riley in the corner now, followed by another right hand. Irish whip by McGillicutty, reversed by Riley, who sends McGillicutty to the corner. Riley charges, and hits an avalanche in the corner. Riley goes up to the middle turnbuckle and hits the 10 punches, followed by the A-Bomb for a nearfall. Riley measures McGillicutty and grabs a hold of a wristlock, followed by wrenching the arm. Riley with a kick to the gut and then scores with a unique version of a hiptoss for another nearfall. McGillicutty goes out onto the apron as Riley goes after him. McGillicutty then grabs a hold of Riley’s leg and takes Riley down. McGillicutty proceeds to pull Riley’s leg out onto the apron and drives the leg across it. McGillicutty with a right hand and then pulls Riley out onto the outside, sending him crashing out as we go to commercial.
-Commercial-
Back from commercial as McGillicutty has Riley in a reverse chinlock as the crowd tries to get Riley back into the match. Riley gets up to his feet and breaks McGillicutty’s grip with a series of gut shots and a headbutt. Irish whip by Riley, reversed by McGillicutty, but as McGillicutty tries to catch Riley coming in with a dropkick, Riley holds onto the ropes and McGillicutty goes crashing to the mat. Riley then floats over into a jackknife pin for a nearfall. But then, McGillicutty comes right back with a clothesline for a nearfall. McGillicutty with a snapmare takeover and then does his father’s classic running neck whip for another nearfall. McGillicutty hits a series of elbows to the shoulders and then goes back to the reverse chinlock. Crowd tries to get Riley back in the match as he gets back to his feet. Riley breaks out with a forearm, but McGillicutty comes right back with a knee to the gut. McGillicutty hits a back elbow to Riley in the corner and then sends Riley headfirst off the top turnbuckle. McGillicutty hits a series of right hands, then goes off the ropes and hits a running back elbow for another nearfall. McGillicutty goes right back to the reverse chinlock as the crowd once again tries to get behind Riley. Riley gets up to his feet and breaks out with a headbutt and a gut shot. Riley with another gut shot, followed by the Game Changer.
McGillicutty misses a clothesline, and Riley goes off the ropes, hitting a flying cross chop. Riley hits a clothesline, followed by ducking under a McGillicutty clothesline attempt and then catches him coming in with a spinebuster. Riley is fired up as he hits the Implant DDT for a close nearfall. Irish whip by Riley, reversed by McGillicutty, who then drills Riley with a Saito Suplex for a close nearfall. McGillicutty heads up top, but Riley falls into the ropes to crotch him. Riley then goes up top, and scores with a Top Rope Hiptoss for another close nearfall. Riley lifts up McGillicutty for the Final Score, but McGillicutty breaks out with back elbows and then nails Riley with a forearm to the back of the head.
McGillicutty then hits the Turning Heads for the victory.
Winner: Michael McGillicutty by pinfall (Turning Heads)
-Commercial-
Mason Ryan vs. Tyler Reks w/Curt Hawkins
Reks with a waistlock into a side headlock to start things off. Ryan quickly throws him off and motions for Reks to come after him. Reks goes for an overhand wristlock, but Ryan muscles him over the ropes to the outside. Back in the ring, Reks hits a kick to the gut, followed by a series of right hands. Reks goes for a front chancery, but Ryan quickly drives him into the corner. Ryan hits a series of right hands of his own, followed by a kick to the gut. Irish whip by Ryan sends Reks to the corner, but Reks gets the boot up on Ryan’s charge in. Reks goes off the ropes, but Ryan knocks him down with a shoulder tackle. Ryan then scores with a delayed vertical suplex for a nearfall. Ryan lifts up Reks for a slam, but Reks rolls off the back and takes out Ryan’s leg with a chopblock.
Reks then hits a running front dropkick that sends Ryan into the corner. Reks hits a series of stomps and sledges in the corner, followed by a series of knees. Reks with another knee to the side of the head, followed by a right hand. Reks drives his weight across Ryan’s back multiple times, then hits another series of right hands. Ryan fights back with gut shots, then shoves Reks off the ropes, but Reks sidesteps him on a back body drop attempt. Reks goes off the ropes, but Ryan catches him and plants him with a flapjack.
Ryan hits a series of clotheslines, then charges at Reks in the corner and hits a running shoulder to the ribs. Ryan then goes off the ropes and hits a big boot. Ryan lifts up Reks and hits a big powerslam for a nearfall. Ryan goes back after Reks, who kicks away at him and then hits a Flatliner, sending Ryan facefirst off the middle turnbuckles.
The referee pulls Reks back and that allows Hawkins to nail Ryan in the arm and ribs with his cane. Reks then lifts up Ryan and hits a version of Chuck Palumbo’s Full Throttle for the victory.
Winner: Tyler Reks by pinfall (Full Throttle)
-Commercial-
Back from commercial, we go to a video highlighting the Triple H-Undertaker confrontation from RAW before our main event.
To close the show, we go to the lone Smackdown match this week, with announcers Josh Mathews & Matt Striker.
Justin Gabriel vs. Jinder Mahal
Lock-up and Gabriel with a takedown into a side headlock. Mahal gets up to his feet and tries to takedown Gabriel to break out, but Gabriel maintains a hold of the side headlock. Mahal again gets up to his feet and tries to Irish whip out, but again Gabriel keeps a hold of the headlock. Mahal finally breaks out with gut shots, then Irish whips Gabriel and catches him coming in with a shoulder tackle. Mahal goes to the side headlock, but Gabriel Irish whips out. Gabriel leapfrogs over Mahal, but Mahal blocks a hiptoss attempt. Gabriel ducks a clothesline from Mahal and hits another takedown into a side headlock. Mahal gets up to his feet, but Gabriel wrenches the arm. However, Mahal comes back with a forearm. Mahal stomps away at Gabriel in the corner, then hits a club to the back. Irish whip by Mahal, but Gabriel goes up and over. Gabriel ducks another clothesline and goes up to the middle turnbuckle, hitting a 2nd rope rana on Mahal. Gabriel again wrenches the arm and Irish whips Mahal. Mahal then sidesteps Gabriel’s back body drop attempt with a kick to the head. Mahal goes off the ropes, but Gabriel catches him coming in with a back heel kick, sending Mahal through the ropes to the outside. Gabriel goes for a springboard, but sees Mahal ready to move away and springs back into the ring, landing on his feet. Gabriel then goes for a baseball slide, but Mahal sidesteps him and then drills him with a clothesline on the outside as we go to commercial.
-Commercial-
Back from commercial as Gabriel tries to fight back with right hands, then goes off the ropes, but Mahal catches him coming in with a knee to the gut for a nearfall. Mahal locks in a cravate as the crowd tries to get behind Gabriel. Gabriel breaks out with forearms, then hits a monkey flip on Mahal. Gabriel blocks Mahal’s clothesline and takes him over with a backslide for a nearfall, but then Mahal comes right back with a kick to the leg of Gabriel, followed by a neckbreaker for another nearfall. Mahal chokes Gabriel on the ropes with his knee as the crowd chants “USA”. Mahal then chokes Gabriel with his boot. Mahal takes down Gabriel with a back heel trip, then hits a series of knees to Gabriel’s chest while using the ropes as a springboard. Mahal taunts the crowd, then pulls Gabriel towards the middle of the ring, gaining a nearfall. Hard Irish whip by Mahal sends Gabriel bouncing off the corner and the velocity of the whip sends Gabriel crashing down to the mat. Mahal slaps Gabriel. then Irish whips him and catches him coming in with a back elbow for another nearfall. Mahal then locks in a half nelson facelock as the crowd tries to will on Gabriel. Gabriel gets up to his feet and tries to break out with gut shots, but Mahal comes right back with a club to the back. Now in the corner, Mahal charges at Gabriel, but Gabriel moves out of the way and Mahal’s knee hits nothing but turnbuckle.
Gabriel hits a jawbreaker, followed by a right hand and a spin kick. Gabriel goes for a back suplex, but Mahal breaks free with a right hand. Mahal charges again, but Gabriel gets his boot up. Gabriel gets onto the apron and springboards, connecting with a crossbody for a nearfall. Irish whip by Gabriel sends Mahal to the corner. Gabriel charges and hits a running forearm, followed by a series of forearms in the corner. Gabriel then scores with the Blue Thunder Bomb. Gabriel goes for a Springboard Moonsault, but Mahal gets the knees up. Mahal measures Gabriel and hits a running knee to the back of the head.
Mahal then locks in the Camel Clutch and Gabriel has no choice but to tapout.
Winner: Jinder Mahal by submission (Camel Clutch)
Mahal celebrates his win as we go to credits.
My Thoughts
I thought it was an OK episode of Superstars this week.
The opener between Riley & McGillicutty was the best thing on the show. McGillicutty has really improved in the ring since becoming a singles competitor and has shown a lot of intensity and skill in his matches. Riley, on the other hand, has really regressed and while he still gets a reaction and shows nice babyface fire, his comeback does go way too fast and his selling leaves something to be desired. So, while it was a good match and both put on a nice effort, I thought McGillicutty was by far the better of the two on this show.
Mason Ryan & Tyler Reks was another in a long list of not good efforts by Ryan. His selling may be the worst on the main roster, and that is covering a lot of ground. He did show nice babyface fire, but the selling really hindered his performance. Reks was actually very good here, especially on his control segment. Really good effort by Reks, but Ryan is still very underwhelming and borderline bad in the ring. OK match.
The main event to me was pretty decent and to me, one of Jinder Mahal’s better performances. Good on the bumping, really good at garnering heat and putting sympathy on Gabriel, nicely done effort by Mahal. Gabriel was again good on the FIP work, and I liked the aggression he showed on his comeback as it brought out a new side to him that I enjoyed. Not the best thing on the show but in terms of an effort standpoint, my hats off to both guys, especially to Mahal on a solid match. Let’s hope Mahal finally turns the corner and can improve even more from this match.
Overall, OK show this week but nothing you need to go out of your way to see.
My Grade: C
Well, that will do it for me this week, I want to thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy your weekend. But remember….
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See ya next week!