WWE Superstars
March 22, 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.
WWE Tag Team Champions Epico & Primo w/Rosa Mendes vs. Alex Riley & Mason Ryan
Epico & Riley will start things off for their respective teams. Epico with a kick to the gut, followed by locking in a side headlock. Irish whip by Riley and he catches Epico coming in, knocking him down with a shoulder tackle. Riley goes off the ropes, but as Epico tries to hip toss him coming in, Riley counters that with a hiptoss style suplex, followed by a back suplex for a nearfall. Riley wrenches Epico’s arm, but Epico comes back with a gut shot and then tags in Primo. Riley greets him with a kick to the leg, followed by a running low dropkick for a nearfall. Primo comes back with a knee to the gut, followed by firing away with gut shots and left hands in the corner. Riley spins Primo around and hits a gut shot of his own, followed by an Irish whip. However, Primo reverses it but Riley moves out of the way on Primo’s charge in. Riley then goes off the ropes and hits a flying clothesline. Riley with an avalanche in the corner, followed by going up on the middle rope. Riley motions for the A-Bomb and connects with it for another nearfall. Epico then distracts Riley on the apron and that allows Primo to come in from behind and take out Riley’s leg with a chopblock.
Primo chokes Riley in the ropes and then Epico gets a shot in from the apron while the referee was with Primo. Primo stomps away at Riley, followed by choking him with his boot. Primo with a hard chop that knocks Riley down and then tags in Epico. Epico stomps away at Riley in the corner, followed by knocking him down with a left hand for a nearfall. Epico taunts Riley and then delivers more stomps. Snapmare takeover by Epico into a reverse chinlock. Crowd tries to get Riley back into the match as he gets to his feet. Riley breaks the grip with gut shots and a right hand, followed by an Irish whip. However, Epico sidesteps Riley’s back body drop attempt and then drills him with a DDT. Epico then hits a baseball slide kick that sends Riley out to the outside as we go to commercial.
-Commercial-
Back from commercial as Primo lays in a kick to Riley’s ribs, followed by a leg sweep and a leg drop for a nearfall. Primo then applies a Camel Clutch as the crowd tries to will Riley back in the match. Riley gets to his feet, but Primo nails him with another kick and goes off the ropes. However, Riley catches him and connects with a spinebuster and both men are down. Ryan tries to will on his tag partner as Epico does the same. Primo grabs on to Riley’s ankle to prevent the tag being made, but then Ryan and Epico get the respective tags in.
Ryan with a back body drop to Epico, followed by a series of clotheslines and finally a big boot. Ryan is all fired up as he lifts up Epico, connecting with a delayed vertical suplex. Ryan goes for a cover, but Primo breaks up the pin attempt. This brings Riley charging in, but Primo drops down the top rope and that sends Riley flying over the ropes to the outside. Ryan then nails Primo with a clothesline, sending him over the ropes to the outside. Ryan charges at Epico, but Epico gets his boots up. Epico charges in, but Ryan lifts him up in a gorilla press and then drops him down over his head. Ryan lifts up Epico for a slam, but Rosa gets on the apron.
While the referee is with Rosa, Primo comes back in and the cousins Colon hit a double team Backstabber on Ryan for the victory.
Winners: Epico & Primo by pinfall (Double Backstabber)
The champs celebrate as we go to commercial.
-Commercial-
WWE Divas Champion “The Glamazon” Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres vs. Natalya & Tamina Snuka
Beth & Natalya start for their respective teams. Natalya wants a handshake, but Beth just wants her to leave the ring. Natalya goes to leave, but then rolls up Beth, surprising her for a 1 count. Natalya applies a side headlock, but Beth Irish whips her. Natalya comes in and catches Beth with a crucifix into another roll-up for barely a 1 count. Natalya with a kip-up as Beth is not happy at all. Beth goes for a tag, but Natalya grabs her in a waistlock. However, Beth counters and then throws Natalya through the ropes to the outside.
Tag into Eve, who goes off the apron and stomps away at Natalya. Back in the ring, Eve gets a nearfall. Eve with a forearm, followed by an Irish whip. Eve with another stomp and then heads up top, locking in a chinlock. Eve then drops her weight across Natalya’s back for another nearfall. Eve locks in a strangle hold with her knee driven into Natalya’s back. Natalya gets to her feet, but Eve nails her with a knee to the back. Eve with a knee to the gut, followed by a club to the back. Eve goes off the ropes, but Natalya catches her coming in, nailing her with the Natty by Nature (Discus Clothesline). Both women are down as they crawl to make the tag.
Tamina tags in and nails Eve with a clothesline, followed by a back chop. Beth comes in, but Tamina catches her with a Samoan Drop. Tamina then goes off the ropes and nails Eve with a flying headbutt. Tamina is all fired up as she hits Eve with a kick to the ribs, followed by connecting with a slam. Tamina motions that she is heading up top, but Beth tries to get involved. Tamina kicks Beth off the apron and down to the outside, but that distraction allows Eve to come in and slam Tamina off the ropes.
Eve then heads up top and hits the moonsault for the victory.
Winners: “The Glamazon” Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres by pinfall (Moonsault)
-Commercial-
Back from commercial, we move to the Smackdown portion of this week’s show, with announcers Josh Mathews & Matt Striker.
Titus O’Neil vs. Yoshi Tatsu
Lock-up and Titus sends Yoshi to the corner and then breaks, but not before piefacing him. Yoshi goes for a waistlock, but Titus counters with a back elbow. Irish whip by Titus, but Yoshi slides under his legs and nails Titus with a series of chops. Irish whip by Yoshi, reversed by Titus. Titus charges, but Yoshi headscissors him and nails him with a boot. Yoshi goes up to the middle rope and connects with a chop, followed by a dropkick. Titus retreats to the ropes to collect himself as Yoshi is fired up. Yoshi with an Irish whip, but Titus reverses it and nails Yoshi with a backbreaker, followed by maneuvering him around into a slam.
Titus then hits a fallaway slam and then does some of his barking to taunt Yoshi. Titus with a series of forearms to Yoshi’s kidneys in the corner, followed by a club to the back. Titus then throws Yoshi across the ring and taunts the crowd. Titus with a suplex for a nearfall. Titus hits a series of elbow drops to the lower back of Yoshi, followed by a kick to the ribs and finally chokes him with his boot. Titus mocks the crowd and then lifts Yoshi up in a bearhug. Yoshi fights out with elbows, but Titus then shoves him into the corner. Titus charges, but Yoshi moves out of the way.
Yoshi with a series of chops, followed by a combination of kicks to Titus’s ribs. Yoshi charges and connects with a running Yakuza kick, followed by going off the ropes and nailing Titus with a spinning heel kick for a nearfall. Yoshi goes for the Roundhouse kick, but Titus ducks.
Titus then drills Yoshi with the Clash of the Titus for the victory.
Winner: Titus O’Neil by pinfall (Clash of the Titus)
-Commercial-
Back from commercial, we go to this week’s “RAW Rebound”, looking at the end to RAW involving the Undertaker, Triple H & Shawn Michaels before our main event.
Drew McIntyre vs. Ezekiel Jackson
Lock-up and Zeke throws McIntyre back into the corner. Zeke poses as McIntyre is frustrated. McIntyre with a front chancery, but Zeke arm whips out of it. McIntyre goes to the ropes to collect himself as the referee has to move Zeke back. Both men go for a knucklelock, but McIntyre with a kick to the gut. McIntyre with a side headlock, followed by a back elbow as Zeke whipped him off the ropes. McIntyre is happy with himself as he goes off the ropes. However, Zeke catches him coming in and hits a slam, followed by an elbow drop for a nearfall. Zeke with a gut shot and club to the back in the corner. Zeke with an Irish whip, but McIntyre moves out of the way on Zeke’s charge in. McIntyre charges, but Zeke tries to back body drop him over the ropes, however McIntyre lands on the apron. McIntyre goes up top, but Zeke stops him and slams him off the ropes. McIntyre gets into the ropes to get away as the referee gets in between him and Zeke. That distraction then allows McIntyre to drill Zeke with a big boot to knock him down.
McIntyre chokes Zeke in the ropes, followed by a club to the back. McIntyre then scores with a neckbreaker for a nearfall. McIntyre locks in a head and arm submission as the crowd tries to get behind Zeke. Zeke fights out with gut shots, but as he goes for a slam, McIntyre rolls off his back and sends Zeke into the corner facefirst. McIntyre then hits a clothesline to the back of Zeke’s head for another nearfall. McIntyre with a right hand, followed by a series of short clotheslines in the corner. However, as McIntyre goes for a short-arm clothesline, Zeke counters and connects with a back suplex.
Zeke fires himself up and hits the running clothesline in the corner, followed by an avalanche. Zeke with an Irish whip that sends McIntyre sternum first into the corner. Zeke then charges and connects with another avalanche, this time to McIntyre’s back. Zeke with a side slam and is all fired up. Zeke lifts up McIntyre for the Torture Rack, but McIntyre rolls off and then dropkicks Zeke in the legs.
McIntyre then hooks Zeke and hits the Future Shock DDT for the victory.
Winner: Drew McIntyre by pinfall (Future Shock DDT)
McIntyre celebrates his win as we go to credits.
My Thoughts
I thought this was a solid episode of Superstars, but no match really stood out.
The opening tag was the best worked match on the show, but not by much. Epico & Primo continue to work very well as a team and I like that they kept Ryan to a minimum here with just coming in off the hot tag, Ryan kept to small doses has good power spots, but anything where he is in for a long time does not work. Riley was good on the sell, but still has problems with his speed and I don’t think that will ever be resolved. All in all though, a decent match.
The Divas match was actually pretty solid. Liked that they somewhat kept Beth & Natalya away from each other as it’s smart to do that to build to a bigger match down the line. Tamina was good off the hot tag, but the botched finish somewhat hindered the match to me. Decent to get over Beth & Eve heading into Mania and Natalya & Tamina put on a good effort to get them over.
Titus & Yoshi was OK, but Titus is just really uninteresting and forced as a heel. I don’t buy his heel mannerisms as it just doesn’t seem to suit him. Yoshi was good on the sell and showed decent babyface fire. but the forced heel work from Titus hurt this match.
The main event was a way to get McIntyre back on the winning side of things, but Zeke I thought, was a little sloppy on the comeback. McIntyre was good on the control, but Zeke is also not a good seller and the sloppiness of his comebacks also put a damper on the match overall.
All in all, a solid show, but a couple of mishaps took the overall grade down a peg or two to me.
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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