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TV Reports
WWE SUPERSTARS ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 6/25: Caldwell, Donofrio, Parks rate and review Jun 26, 2009 - 1:15:16 PM
Great episode of TV. WWE has moved away from featuring the top tier of stars such as John Cena and Chris Jericho the past two weeks, but this was a great showcase of second tier stars on the verge of becoming top tier stars. The main event showcase for the Raw brand was a great three-star TV match. Kofi, Hardy, and MVP all worked very hard and kept a nice pace to their 15-minute title match. Hardy played a great mid-sized heel who controlled the pace to set up Kofi's offensive display. Great action to conclude the show.
The opening match between Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne was terrific as well. WWE book-ended the show with two great athletes in Bourne and Kofi and two power/striking heels in Jack Swagger and Matt Hardy. Bourne might have taken the loss to Swagger, but WWE needed to establish Swagger for the ECW Title match on Sunday. Bourne didn't lose anything here, as he had plenty of offense to look good in the match.
Dolph Ziggler has been all over the TV the past two weeks. Nice to see him pick up a win, but I agree with Jon Mezerra that he needs a new finisher. I replayed the finish on the DVR five times and I still can't figure out what he was trying to do with that move. Nice try at being unique, but I'd scratch that one from the playbook. Still, though, good showcase for Dolph, who WWE is investing a considerable amount of time into lately.
Tony Donofrio, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.0)
This was a tough show to judge because nothing really stood out. However, it wasn't a bad show either. Each match was solid but none of them had me jumping with excitement as well. So, in terms of being a solid one hour wrestling program, it did deliver.
Raw's non-existent mid-card delivered a decent match. It's a shame what has become of MVP since his initial night on Raw a few months back after the draft. He has been completely buried but still continues to put on good matches when called upon. It is nice to see the US Title defended on a somewhat regular basis now since it has come to Raw. Since the draft, it seems that WWE has actually put forth and effort to elevate both the IC and US Titles and that's a good thing.
Having Dolph Ziggler win going into The Bash vs. The Great Khali was a no-brainer. However, Jimmy Wang Yang looked good tonight too and gave Ziggler someone that he could have a solid match with. It's a shame that Yang is this generation's Brooklyn Brawler because he can deliver in the ring when he's actually on the shows.
I would have liked to see more of the guys involved in the scramble match involved in the ECW portion of the show, but the match was still solid and there really isn't any complaints with it. Evan Bourne still looked strong and was moments away from pulling out the upset. Having Jack Swagger win this match was another no-brainer but the back and forth did help put that thought in doubt, which was good. It's good to see that Bourne didn't look weak while putting over Swagger in the process since both of these guys should have big time futures with the WWE.
Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.5)
The opening ECW match feels like a match we're going to see main eventing PPV's one day. If not that, it'll be at least in the upper card. Both Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger have very bright futures in WWE. Ziggler vs. Wang was just to get Ziggler another win and to give the announcers a background to announce the Khali vs. Ziggler match at The Bash. It doesn't feel like a PPV match, but at least they're putting a mid-card angle, that has gotten ample TV time, a spot on the card.
I liked the triple-threat U.S. Title match. I didn't see where Matt Hardy was possibly injured (though he did come up holding his mid-section on the crossbody by Kofi). I was also pleased the match got a lot of time to develop, something a match like this wouldn't get on Raw.
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