TAKE PWTORCH
WITH YOU! Get our iPhone App (FREE!): Click Here Or enter "PWTorch.com" on your Blackberry or other Smart Phone browser for mobile-version of PWTorch.
The Specialists
6/25 WWE Superstars Hits & Misses: Bourne vs. Swagger, MVP vs. Hardy vs. Kingston Jun 25, 2009 - 11:58:47 PM
Bourne vs. Swagger: After getting squashed by Mark Henry, Evan Bourne has been looking better. Even in a loss to Jack Swagger, Bourne was given a chance to shine in the ring and remind us all about what makes him so special. Swagger was very good in the match also. There were a few sloppy spots early in the match, and they seemed to be a bit off in their chemistry, however they got it together after a few minutes and delivered a very good second half of the match. Bourne does so many amazing things in the ring. It only went 9 minutes, so I would love to see more of these two in the future.
MVP vs. Hardy vs. Kingston: Superstars has featured several very good matches since its debut and this was another. WWE has been going to the Triple Threat match way too often lately, but I won't complain in this case as Montel Vontavious Porter, Matt Hardy and Kofi Kingston all worked hard to put on a fun match with plenty of great wrestling action and some very nice nearfalls at the end. The match was well booked and the wrestlers executed well. Raw has been poor lately (lately = a long time). The roster doesn't stack up against Smackdown right now. The writing hasn't been nearly as good. However, here are three talented workers who all could be used better on Raw to make the show more worth watching every week. People have been raving about the talent on Smackdown and rightfully so. Well, maybe if Raw elevated some of these guys and featured them (and others like The Brian Kendrick for instance) more heavily in upper card roles instead of stale acts like Big Show, Raw would be a better show.
SUPERSTARS MISSES
Ziggler's Finisher: I like Dolph Ziggler. He has a lot of potential and is someone I can really cheer for (get it?). He has athleticism, charisma and ring skills. His gimmick is solid. But, he needs to come up with a better finisher. I have meant to mention this before, but as it is Superstars and I don't have as much to talk about on a one hour show, I thought I would take the time to mention it now. It is sort of a reverse of Shelton Benjamin's Paydirt, but it doesn't look nearly as good. In fact, I'm not a big fan of Benjamin's finisher either. It does look better than Ziggler's though. Ziggler just does a regular neck breaker while jumping. I'm not buying the fact that the jump adds much to the move.
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and Superstars each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.
For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.
Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business...
Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?
AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?
