WWE Superstars
November 19, 2009
Philadelphia, PA/New York City, NY
Report by: Mike Tedesco of WrestleView.com
?Yes, sir, we promised you a great main event?? The WWE video leads us into the show.
The Superstars video plays and we?re brought into the arena to a great fireworks display. Josh Mathews and Byron Saxton welcome us to the show. Our Main Event will be Cody Rhodes taking on Mark Henry. We?re then ?treated? to the shrill voice of Lauren Mayhew. It’s time for her to go. She’s horrible.
Shelton Benjamin vs. Zack Ryder
The bell rings and Ryder immediately gets out of the ring to be by Rosa Mendes. Ryder eventually gets on the apron and Benjamin brings him into the ring the hard way. Ryder cowers in the corner so Benjamin brings him out by a leg and clotheslines him down. Benjamin hits a short-arm clothesline followed by a snap suplex for a one count. Ryder hits a knee to the midsection and punches. Ryder attempts a suplex but Benjamin lands on his feet and hits a neckbreaker. Benjamin puts a chin lock on him. Ryder fights up and punches out. Ryder goes into the ropes and gets dropped by a Samoan Drop that gives Benjamin a two count. Benjamin immediately locks on an inverted arm bar. Ryder gets to his feet and gets to the ropes. The referee tries to separate them so Ryder gets a cheap shot in over the ref’s head.
Ryder works over Benjamin with some punches before taking him down for a one count. Benjamin comes back with some punches and knees. Benjamin goes for a powerbomb but he’s too close to the ropes as Ryder back body drops him over. Benjamin, however, hangs on and skins the cat. Ryder angrily charges and gets back body dropped over the top rope. Benjamin goes for a baseball slide but Ryder moves and shoves him into the steel steps. Ryder smiles as we go to commercial.
-Commercial Break-
We come back from the break to see Ryder choking Benjamin on the second rope. Ryder backs up and jumps on Benjamin, getting him a near fall. Rosa Mendes is seen looking on happily. Ryder drops a knee on the ribs and locks on a grounded abdominal stretch. Benjamin fights up and elbows out. Benjamin goes into the ropes and runs right into a knee to the midsection for a two count. Ryder goes back to work with an inverted chin lock. Benjamin knees out and buys some time to recover.
Benjamin comes back with some punches but Ryder knees him in the midsection. Ryder sends him to the corner but Benjamin leaps to the top rope and dives off with a forearm smash to the face. Benjamin hits a solid punch and whips him to the opposite corner. Benjamin hits a stinger splash. Benjamin sends him into the ropes but Ryder ducks the clothesline. They then hit a double cross-body block and they?re both down. All of a sudden we hear a ringing phone at ringside and Rosa Mendes answers. She gets in the ring to give it to Ryder but he backs her to the corner, reminding her that there is a match going on. All of a sudden Rosa screams so Ryder moves and Benjamin jumps to the second rope right in front of her. Ryder slams him off and covers him for the win. Yup, just like that.
Winner by Pinfall: Zack Ryder
Match Rating: * ?
Another pointless ?Ask the Divas? segment airs. It’s just some more bad advice.
Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes are seen talking backstage. Cody Rhodes will fight Mark Henry in the Main Event.
-Commercial Break-
Todd Grisham and Matt Striker welcome us back to the show. They lead us into a video package hyping up Batista vs. Rey Mysterio at Survivor Series. I?m interested in this match.
EXCUSE ME! Vickie Guerrero makes her way to the stage to massive heat. She introduces her boyfriend Eric Escobar and immediately there’s deafening SILENCE. There’s nothing exciting about this guy.
Eric Escobar vs. Jimmy Wang Yang
They quickly lock up and Escobar quickly hits some forearms. Escobar attempts a short-arm clothesline but Yang ducks it, blocks a hip toss, and hits a kick to the leg. Yang hits a big kick to the head but Escobar quickly regains control but driving him face first into the turnbuckle. Escobar bounces his face on the turnbuckle and forearms him. Escobar clotheslines him in the corner and hits a reverse Russian Leg Sweep for a two count. Escobar locks on a dragon sleeper. Yang knees out of it but Escobar hits him with some backbreakers and a clothesline for a two count.
Escobar hits some punches in the corner until the referee backs him up. Escobar charges into a back elbow and Yang drops him with a missile dropkick. Yang hits some punches and kicks. Yang whips him to the corner and hits a big roundhouse to the face. Yang hits a cross-body off the top rope for a two count. Yang gets shoved into the corner but he’s able to kick him down. Yang goes for Yang Time but Escobar rolls out of the ring. Vickie distracts him so Escobar hits a chop block. Escobar hits a front dropkick for the win. This guy isn?t getting it done.
Winner by Pinfall: Eric Escobar
Match Rating: ? *
Eric Escobar and Vickie Guerrero kiss in the center of the ring. This guy is no Edge.
Still to come tonight is the exciting Main Event of Mark Henry versus Cody Rhodes.
-Commercial Break-
Did you know that despite the World Series and the baseball playoffs, WWE.com still delivered more page views than MLB.com during the month of October?
A Drew McIntyre Superstars hype video plays. It’s another good one.
Michael Cole and Jerry ?The King? Lawler welcome us back to the show. A video hyping all of WWE’s best moments in Madison Square Garden plays followed by the Raw Rebound. They?re trying to build it up as another spectacular moment. They then run down the Survivor Series card. Remember there’s a Pay Per View on Sunday?
Cody Rhodes makes his entrance to the ring. He?ll face Mark Henry next.
-Commercial Break-
Cody Rhodes vs. Mark Henry
The bell rings and they circle the ring. Rhodes gets a waist lock and punches Henry but he no-sells. Rhodes then quickly retreats to the ropes. Rhodes goes for a kick but it’s blocked and Henry pushes him over. Rhodes gets up looking intimidated. Rhodes hits a quick forearm shiver which doesn?t affect Henry. Henry gorilla presses him but Rhodes rakes the eyes. Rhodes goes into the ropes and gets flattened by a shoulder block. Rhodes gets up in the corner so Henry charges into some boots. Rhodes goes to the top rope and Henry slams him off. Henry hits a clothesline and Rhodes rolls out of the ring to recover. Henry gets the crowd into it as we go to the break.
-Commercial Break-
We come back from the break to see Rhodes duck a pair of clotheslines and get flattened by a big boot. Rhodes goes outside to recover. Henry goes outside to get him and Rhodes dropkicks the steel steps into his knee. Rhodes can?t roll him into the ring so Henry head-butts him. As Henry gets in the ring Rhodes chop blocks him. Henry falls right on top of him in what looks like an unscripted and scary moment. The dude is 400 pounds and Rhodes probably barely weighs 200. Rhodes shakes it off and grabs the leg but Henry kicks him away. Rhodes works on the knee and covers for a two count. Henry pressed him off. Rhodes locks on a heel lock. Henry eventually kicks him away. Henry gets up so Rhodes dropkicks him in the knee. Rhodes comes off the top rope with a knee drop. Henry gets out of the ring to recover.
Rhodes goes outside and clubs Henry a bit. Henry pushes him away with one hand and gets back in the ring. Rhodes continues working on the knee, dropping elbows and stretching it. For all that Rhodes barely gets a two count. Rhodes DDTs the leg and hits a grounded cross-body block for a two count. Rhodes locks on a toe hold until Henry kicks him away and out of the ring. Henry comes back with some forearms and head-butts. Henry sends him into the ropes and hits a big back body drop. Henry whips him to the corner hard and goes for a powerslam but his knee buckles. Rhodes runs right into a forearm shiver. Henry then picks him up and hits the World’s Strongest Slam for the win.
Winner by Pinfall: Mark Henry
Match Rating: * ?
Mark Henry celebrates with the crowd as Superstars comes to an end.
Quick Match Results
Zack Ryder def. Shelton Benjamin
Eric Escobar def. Jimmy Wang Yang
Mark Henry def. Cody Rhodes
Bump of the Night: Zack Ryder being back body dropped over the top rope
Match of the Night: Zack Ryder vs. Shelton Benjamin * ?
Mike’s Thoughts
This was a pretty average episode of Superstars. We had three matches with two of them given some time but it feels like nothing happened tonight. I really don?t have many thoughts other than I thought the ending to the Ryder/Benjamin match was weird but strangely creative. Hey, it’s something. That’s the first match I?ve seen where interference was caused by a cell phone.
Final Rating: * ?
E-Mail ? MikeyT817@hotmail.com
Be sure to check out tomorrow’s Smackdown recap.
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