WWE Superstars TV Report
February 4, 2010 - Week 43
Taped the Week of February 1
Report by James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

The WWE show started with Raw announcers Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler introducing the show and plugging the divas tag match from the Raw brand to start the show.

1 -- ALICIA FOX & KATIE LEA BURCHILL vs. EVE & KELLY KELLY

Eve had some early offense in the match, then the heels isolated her to build to Kelly taking a hot tag at 5:00. Kelly got in her trademark spots of a spinning head scissors and a running cartwheel into a handspring elbow in the corner on Alicia, who was legal. Kelly followed with a pin attempt out of the corner, but Burchill broke it up. Chaos ensued. Alicia then rolled through a top rope cross body splash attempt by Kelly and scored the pin for the heel win. Afterward, the heels gloated about the win as Eve tried to help Kelly collect herself in the ring.

WINNERS: Katie & Alicia in 6:00. Nice, long-form divas match. The Superstars format has given the divas a little breathing room to have some longer matches. The matches typically look the same and follow the same formula, but there are enough credible women on the roster to mix and match to create some interesting match-ups, especially when Gail Kim and Maryse are involved. (*1/4)

Main event to come: Six-man tag with Morrison & Hardy & Khali vs. IC champ McIntyre & Hart Dynasty from the Smackdown brand.

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: Evan Bourne came to the ring for the Raw brand's featured singles match on the show. It would be nice to get Bourne in a singles or tag match at the Elimination Chamber PPV, which will be emanating from his hometown of St. Louis and could help provide a hot undercard match on the PPV. Bourne's involvement on the PPV would have to come together quick, though, since he doesn't have a program.

[Q2]

2 -- EVAN BOURNE vs. CARLITO

Hot start to the match with Bourne blasting Carlito with early kick strikes before Carlito came back with a standing dropkick for a two count. Carlito slowed things down before hitting a fallaway elbow drop for another nearfall. Bourne then came back with a dropkick that cleared Carlito to the floor. Bourne teased a high-flying move, but Carlito shoved him away. Bourne stayed on his feet and ducked a clothesline, then hit a high knee smash beneath the chin that Carlito sold nicely. Back in the ring, Bourne teased the Shooting Star Press, but Carlito rolled out of the ring to the floor. The camera then zoomed in tight on Bourne as he remained perched on the top turnbuckle in control going to break.

[Commercial Break]

Back from break, Bourne landed a kick strike to the face, but Carlito responded right away with a big boot to the face that led to a nearfall. Nice exchange. Carlito then reset and proceeded to beat the crap out of Bourne in the corner with rapid-fire strikes before hitting a nice neck-snap slingshotting Bourne throat-first into the bottom rope. Carlito then stretched Bourne with mat holds targeting the neck and upper back. They fought back to their feet and Bourne nailed a double knee drop for a two count with Cole selling excitement on commentary.

Carlito then came back with a big running knee lift, but Bourne ducked a follow-up clothesline for a sweet wrap-around bridge pin for a nearfall. Carlito then came back with another powerful strike and scored another close two count. They fought to the ring apron where Bourne stunned Carlito with two knee strikes to the head before Carlito collapsed to the mat like a tree in the forest. Bourne tried to run up top for the Air Bourne, but Carlito crotched him to take the excitement out of the crowd. They fought up top and the audience rallied behind Bourne, who nailed a sunset flip powerbomb off the top rope. Bourne then picked himself up and went to the corner to nail Air Bourne perfectly in the corner for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Bourne in 13:00. That was an awesome match and both men came out looking better than when they came in. It's the best I've seen Carlito look in his current WWE run. He was the perfect heel to face Bourne, as Carlito's strikes and power offense looked impressive with Bourne bumping around for him. Meanwhile, Bourne was able to make good comebacks to build anticipation for that Air Bourne the audience wanted to see. This was easily one of the best Superstars matches I've seen since the show launched in April. (***)

[Q3]

[Commercial Break]

Superstars profile: Edge. They focused on Edge being the "ultimate opportunist" with a re-mixed version of his "You Think You Know Me" theme music. Nice soundtrack to the video clips on Edge's previous surprise victories before his big return at the Royal Rumble on Sunday. They even snazzed up the "PPV still shots" to sell his return. Great video.

Announcers: Todd Grisham and Matt Striker talked about the Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon leading to the Raw Rebound picking up the highlights from Hart's return on Monday and confronting McMahon again. They incorporated clips of Survivor Series 1997 and Hart's promo on McMahon being a liar. During the Stu Hart exchange, they included a brief clip of Stu Hart walking to the ring from old-school footage to plant the seed for the Hart DVD. The clip of McMahon spitting on Hart was mixed with the 1997 clip of Hart spitting on McMahon.

Tomorrow on Smackdown: Exclusive footage of what went on after Raw went off the air. The still graphic showed Batista about to powerbomb John Cena onto the ring steps. As I expected, WWE wouldn't have scripted Cena to take any type of bump like that for the live audience after going off the air unless it was going to be turned into an angle.

In-ring: John Morrison came to the ring for the TV main event.

NXT plug: Before going to break, they showed the first spot for "NXT" coming to Syfy replacing ECW. The logo was yellow letters for "NXT" surrounded by black trim. No real information provided, just the voice-over man saying it's a new, revolutionary show coming to Syfy.

[Commercial Break]

In-ring: Great Khali was lifting his arms for the camera back from break. He did his awkward dance before Matt Hardy joined in the festivities with Morrison. Hart Dynasty's music then hit to bring out Kidd, Smith, and Natalya. Drew McIntyre then came out to round out the six-man field.

3 -- JOHN MORRISON & MATT HARDY & GREAT KHALI (w/Ranjin Singh) vs. IC champion DREW MCINTYRE & HART DYNASTY (TYSON KIDD & D.H. SMITH w/Natalya)

Hardy and Kidd started off against each other before Morrison tagged in and executed double-team offense on Kidd with Hardy. The heels eventually got the best of Hardy momentarily and began working him over in their corner. They suddenly cut to commercial with Hardy "in trouble" with Smith working him over.

[Commercial Break]

Smackdown plug: A reminder for Taker on the Cutting Edge. ... Back to the match, Hardy was still being worked over by Smith. Morrison then tagged in at 9:00 and Kidd flung him off the top rope to the floor below. Hardy walked over to check on his fallen tag partner before Natalya landed a sudden strike to the gut behind the ref's back. McIntyre then officially tagged in and followed up by ramming Morrison into the ring apron. Back in the ring, McIntyre went to work on Morrison before HD started tagging in and out to continue the attack. Morrison then kicked Smith in the head to break free and tag in Hardy, who hit the Side Effect on Smith for a two count when the heels broke up a pin.

All three heels were in the ring, but Khali yanked Kidd and Mac out of the ring. The whole deal broke down before Morrison hit a running clothesline off the guardrail on the heels. Back in the ring, Hardy tagged in Khali, who hit the Punjabi Plunge on Smith and kinda leaned over Smith for the pin and the win. And everyone celebrates and dances. Khali, Hardy, and Morrison got their curtain call in the ring as the camera picked up some unsuspecting younger audience members dancing in the ring. Apparently WWE is trying to create a new dance craze with Khali's awkwardness. After a replay of the finish, they cut back to the babyfaces dancing awkwardly in the ring.

WINNERS: Team Khali in 12:00. Fine, but not particularly memorable multiple-man match. Kidd was lost in the shuffle without getting in much offense and Smith just hasn't developed an identity or personality in the ring. The babyfaces having a common ground of Khali awkwardness is fine for reaching the target demo and connecting with the kiddos like R-Truth's weekly rapping. (*1/2)

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