James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (7.0)

Good hour of TV. Again, the show isn't meant to blow anyone away or create new storylines. That's the purpose of Raw and Smackdown. Superstars is merely an enhancement show and WWE used the show just fine to build up the Backlash PPV card and put some top stars in a position to look strong on an easy hour of TV. Not rocket science here. Just good, clean wrestling action.

John Cena's promo to hype his Backlash title match against Edge was very good. One of his best career promos, as he painted a picture of what's on the line between himself and Edge on Sunday. The imagery of having one final chance and what both men will risk to win that one final match should have inspired some people to find $39.99 in the budget for Sunday's event. No poopy jokes, no silly over-scripted humor, just a straightforward promo to sell a PPV. Well done from Cena, who has the ability to deliver money promos if the writers aren't scripting him to come across like a jerk.

Edge vs. Kofi main event was stellar TV wrestling. Good nearfalls, nice dose of athleticism with time in between each move to make the match mean something, and Kofi received plenty of offense to still look strong coming out of the loss. Edge was solid as the veteran heel "leading the dance" in the ring to deliver ten minutes of good wrestling action. Nice conclusion to the show.

Jon Mezzera, PWTorch.com Contributor (4.5)

The second episode of Superstars was not nearly as good as the first. In fact, it got off to a very poor start, before having a good final 15 minutes or so. The opening tag match, CM Punk & Rey Mysterio vs. The Big Show & Kane was decent, but I really disagree with how weak Mysterio has looked in getting squashed by Show on Raw and taking a very prolonged beating in this match. Since I'm not 9 years old, I didn't enjoy the antics of Finlay and Hornswoggle. They had plenty of fun moments in their early history together, but have been a very stale team and I look forward to the draft taking full effect next week and having them split up. I also preferred last week's lack of any video recaps to this week when they played back to back videos recapping events from Raw.

On the positive side, John Cena gave one of his better promos as he dropped the silliness and poopy humor and stayed calm and gave a serious promo. He was very effective in putting his feud with Edge into proper context and how this Last Man Standing match fits into that feud. They bring out the best in each other, but it is time to put the feud to rest. I also greatly enjoyed the main event, Edge vs. Kofi Kingston. It was a very fun 13 minute match. Kofi had a good showing and has a chance to become a star. I also liked the announce team of Jim Ross and Todd Grisham working together more than I have on Smackdown so far.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (5.5)

The opening tag match was OK, but nothing special. I'm not sure how CM Punk vs. Kane was able to make it onto a PPV card, unless they wanted Punk on there in a match because he'll be cashing in his briefcase later on in the evening. The mixed tag match was actually a let-down based on the hype it was given on ECW a few nights before. Finlay's goodbye to Hornswoggle was kinda cute I guess.

While John Cena's promo was good, again, I think there's something wrong with his delivery that makes it feel like he's reading lines in a movie (I know he's reading lines, but...) rather than saying something spontaneous and coming from within himself. Edge vs. Kofi was about as good as their Smackdown match a few weeks ago. A fine wrestling show that I hope becomes a little more like Velocity or Heat where it showcases some guys you may not see on Raw or Smackdown (instead of seeing the same guys EVERY show).

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