2011 Discussion

Discuss Superstars in 2011.

Daniel Bryan & Mark Henry vs Tyson Kidd & Ted DiBiase - Superstars 06.01.2011
Oh how I wish Danielson got main event matches on Superstars rather than 5 minute Raw matches. Besides the DiBiase control segments I thought this was really fun. The Danielson/TJ sequences were amazing. Short, infrequent but amazing. They do one sequence right at the start where Danielson reverses an arm bar or something like that, dont remember exactly, by shuffling on his bum through Tyson's legs, tossing him over and then knipping up. Looked much better than I just made it sound trust me. Really hoping these two get a PPV match, even more so after this because every time they got together it was brilliant. May be very likely given the finish too. Henry was pretty good too besides him having a FIP segment. DiBiase slapping Henry before getting destroyed for it was pretty great. The constant Maryse shots were tasty. Scott Standford may be the best commentator they have atm too. Sounds like he actually knows whats going on and he's easy to listen to without getting on your nerves. Him and Punk were a great combo. There was a match last week with DH Smith and Regal which was awesome and made ven more enjoyable by Standford's commentary I thought. Maryse is gorgeous btw. DiBiase is fucking awful. Like Roderick Strong without the wrestling ability. Not good. Loving Danielson's womanizer gimmick with the Bellas too. Did I mention Maryse is fucking gorgeous btw. Whats sad is that if this was on a bigger show it would have got half of the time and been fairly average.

Yoshi Tatsu, David Hart Smith, Primo & Darren Young vs William Regal, Zach Ryder & The Usos - Superstars 13.01.2011
There was no way I wasn't going to enjoy this at the least. Could have been better I guess but I'll more than take what they gave me. Stand out performances from Bulldog Jr. in this. Him and Regal had one of the best Superstars matches of last year right at the end and he also had a great match on Superstars with Kidd so he looks a great addition to the hopeless midcard guys who cant get past this show but end up doing much better for themselves on here than they ever could on Raw or SD. His offense segment came off great with Ryder and Regal both selling really well for him. Regal was great as the only veteran in the match. Didn't work a whole lot like some other guys did but he stood out whenever he was in there and you could evidently see the difference between him and someone like Young. Tatsu not coming in until the finish was a shame of sorts. Smith played a nice little FIP segment too. These 6/8 mans are so easy to put together on free TV I dont understand why we don't get more of them thrown together, especially on go home shows. The Lawler 6 man last month was a perfect example of how a simply thrown together match can be awesome for TV. Solid, enjoyable wrestling yet again on trusty old Superstars

Yoshi Tatsu vs Tyson Kidd - Superstars 20.01.2011
Really strong match here quality wise. Kidd played his cocky "I'm better than you and I'll back it up" characater really well here and Yoshi is just such a natural babyface it's awesome. Shame that he'll probably never get pushed hard enough to see the real benefits of that but I'll make do with this. Big fan of the opening chain wrestling sequences and then the transition spot into Kidd's offense was sweet. Scott Standford is such an awesome commentator btw. Tatsu was doing this bridge and Standford made it seem like the greatest feat of the year. He's so far ahead of all the other commentators it's unreal and also sad that he's only on Superstars. I'd go as far to say he's the best genuine commentator I've heard for 20 years, bar Mike Adamle obv. Kidd's offense segment working over Tatsu's leg was good and the benefits of it really came into play during Yoshi's comeback with some stellar selling, even when Tatsu was on offense which I liked. Loved the finish too with Tatsu realising he cant use his leg to win so he'll use Kidd's own offense against him for the cradle pin. Great match.

Daniel Bryan vs Ted DiBiase - Superstars 24.02.2011
This was a bunch of fun and had as little of DiBiase as possible and I'd say it was better than their Survivor Series and NXT matches, at least definitely more enjoyable. Danielson looked awesome, his offense looked crisp and innovative and the crowd got behind him. DiBiase's control segment was boring and killed the crowd flat but it was short so it didn't hinder the match too much. Yoshi came out at the end and legit bumped the match up a lot and the imaginary fun scale. They played the kiss cam segment with Yoshi & Maryse from last week and Yoshi comes out looking proper dappa in a full suit and tie with a massive loveable smile on his face. How the fuck can you not love this guy! He walks up to Maryse and pulls some flowers from behind his back for her and he plays the lovesick puppy perfectly. Maryse seems to save Ted's matches every single time. She's awesome. Anyway poor Yoshi gets ditched but it distracts Ted and he gets smacked in the face with the flowers for his troubles and falls right into the Lebell Lock. Fuck knows whats going on with Ted & Maryse. Maryse always comes off as thinking Ted's a joke and has no interest in his matches so I guess she's only with him for his money which makes total sense I guess. Tatsu's facials were unbelievably good after too. Hard to explain them but they were soooooooooo good. Good Danielson match with a super fun ending.

Daniel Bryan & Gail Kim vs Tyson Kidd & Melina - Superstars 24.03.2011
Fine little TV match. Bryan & Kim looked awesome as a little babyface duo and they had some really cool little double teams. Managed to look like a really cute little pair too and Gail looked really cute. Danielson/TJ segments were obviously really good but the Melina/Gail exchanges were also good, really good actually by diva segments. Basically they put 3 really good workers in there and let them have a good little TV match hoping that Melina wouldn't fuck too much up.

Yoshi Tatsu vs Tyson Kidd - Superstars 07.04.2011
These two are far too good athletically and in the ring to not have a good match given more than 5 minutes which they get here. Isn't to the high standard of their other Superstars match from this year but it's still really good

Tyson Kidd vs Trent Barretta - Superstars 28.04.2011
Tidy little match between these pair. Didn't think it was anywhere near the level that some people on WF seemed to be hyping it to be and I probably would have enjoyed it more going into it not expecting anything from it. First few minutes are kinda directionless but then Barretta takes an awesome transition bump and Kidd works over the ribs off it for a few minutes but they wasted too much time doing pointless stuff to be able to concentrate on the body of the match. Danielson vs McIntyre was the one match that I wanted from WWE the most this year but Danielson vs TJ is almost as high as it. Both are on SD now where they should have more freedom to have matches longer than 5 minutes and Kidd's on a heel run atm so it's possible. The teased it at the start of the year and then did nothing with it. Barretta is one of the most underrated guys in WWE atm too. Guys like Tatsu and Kidd are great and totally underused too but they still get loads of praise for being great in ring talent but Trent never seems to be included with those guys when he should be.

Evan Bourne vs Zack Ryder - Superstars 05.05.2011
Man this was really fantastic. Absolutely loved the counters that these guys kept pulling out on each other. Some really nice ones too and the opening minutes with the mat wrestling is up there with the best this year. Both guys looked Danielson levels of great chain wrestling. Transition spot is great too and it plays nicely with the theme of the match being the counters. Camera angle on the SSP made it looks incredible, absolutely phenomenal camera work. Top 5 for WWE so far this year for me.

***1/2

Trent Barreta vs Tyson Kidd - Superstars 12.05.2011
Interesting note - Kidd came out with Hayes in his corner. Seems a bit random but I guess it means they must like Kidd and it seems like he'll get a push now on SD which is potentially great at least. Really good back and forth match with both men pulling out plenty of awesome little "burst" spots and having a generally really good match. Barreta normally does a huge dive from the ring over the ropes to the outside which they build up as a massive spot and he hit it 2 weeks ago vs Kidd. Nice little callback when he goes for it again but Hayes' influence on the outside manages to allow Kidd to avoid it this time around.

Drew McIntyre vs Chris Masters - Superstars 12.05.2011
This was exactly what you'd expect. Masters sells a body part whilst Drew destroys it. Masters is obviously an awesome seller and a great FIP so it works. Only problem I have with Masters is that his style of working matches doesn't suit his size at all. Like if he was a small guy then he'd be made but yeah it's a tad annoying when you have this massive guy and he gets beat up every match. All the same this type of Masters match is normally better than a match where Masters controls it and looks like a monster. They had a match last year too on Superstars that I thought was slightly better than this and more enjoyable but this is a really strong match too. Sucks to be McIntyre atm though.

Tyson Kidd vs Yoshi Tatsu - Superstars 19.05.2011
Hayes is out with Kidd again for this and man he's a fucking KING Hayes is. A KING. He cuts this awesome promo pre match with is awesome and gets more relative heat than what the majority of the upper card guys manage to muster. Then he fucking works his butt of at ringside and it's a top notch manager performance. I much prefer this type of manager who doesn't get physically involved cause obviously Hayes isn't gonna be taking big bumps but it makes his role much more enjoyable to watch. Was never a huge fan of Freebird Hayes from what I've seen but I'd go out on a limb and say this is the most I've ever enjoyed watching Hayes. The guy fucking runs this show. I really could waffle on all day about how many great little shticks he pulls at ringside but yeah everyone should just watch this for Hayes' performance if nothing else. Match itself is pretty damn tasty too and isn't overshadowed by Hayes. If Kidd stays with Hayes and they keep giving him opponents like Tatsu and Barretta then he could quite easily be a shoe in for WWE WOTY. Tatsu is an awesome FIP, he's just got the best sympathetic look about him possible. The match is kinda like an extended squash at times with Yohsi teasing comebacks but Kidd always controlling the match. Really surprised they put Tatsu over Kidd seeing as he's done nothing for ages and he's not doing anything and Kidd has this new thing going with Hayes. They teased tension between them and Hayes slapped him for losing. 2 matches and they're teasing a turn already. Jesus. I really hope it's just part of the storyline to fire Kidd up after the slap because by god I need more of this Michael Hayes in my life. WWE are supposedly brining back more managers for the lower card guys to help them get over. Not so much specific manager made characters like Cornette was but basically the agents and vets that they have. There was a rumour floating around that they were thinking about putting Danielson with Arn Anderson which would be really cool. This is definitely up there for WWE MOTY right now for me. SD EC probably takes it right now but this and Bourne/Ryder are near the top.

Drew McIntyre vs Evan Bourne - Superstars 19.05.2011
Man I love this de-push that Drew is getting which means he gets Superstars matches every week. On paper this looks phenomenal and it is. Only goes like 6-7 minutes but I wouldn't say the the short time hurt it or held it back. Drew is a fucking boss on the attack and his offence is THE best. Bourne is an awesome compliment to him also and he's ideal for making Drew's moves look killer. Transition spot is incredible and Bourne takes an insane bump on the edge of the apron. Drew's control segment is really meaty and there's an incredible stalling suplex that Drew delivers from the top rope that got a really nice reaction too considering this is just dark match material. Bourne's transition spot into the finish is nice too, nowhere near as awesome as the other one but it's still better than most. Drew rolling out of the ring whilst Bourne was set for the SSP and led into Bourne just flying off the top rope to the outside anyway was just another awesome spot that they managed to fit into such a short space of time. Finish is killer too as you would have expected from everything leading into it.

Jack Swagger vs Chris Masters - Superstars 04.08.2011
Well at least Masters got to go out on a great match. I actually thought this was one of Master's best ever performances in this one. His selling is off the charts and he looks great on offense too. Early segment with Masters playing the power game to dominate made him look great. Before too long though you're just waiting for Swagger to hit the transition spot and start working over a body part that Masters can sell the fuck out of it and eventually it does come. Swagger's getting to the point where he's a real turn off for me. He's good in the ring and everything but I literally have no desire to watch him unless he's in there with someone like Masters who can hold my attention. Masters' teased comebacks were great too. The poor guy has one of the best solo performances of any WWE worker in 2011 and gets released by the end of the week. Incredible.

***1/4