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3/18 WWE Superstars Hits & Misses: Kane vs. Benjamin, WrestleMania Recall, Christian, Tatsu, Henry vs. Swagger, Regal, Ryder
Mar 19, 2010 - 2:22:32 PM
By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist
SUPERSTARS HITS
Kane vs. Benjamin: I just really enjoyed this match. This was one of Kane's best recent singles matches. He and Shelton Benjamin worked very well together to put on a good match. I liked how early on Matt Striker said that this was a chance to scout each other before Money in the Bank at WrestleMania. That was a short and simple yet effective way to give a match meaning. The match was built around Kane's chokeslam as he attempted it multiple times during the match and Benjamin countered several of them until the end. Benjamin showed his great athleticism particularly when he hit the split legged moonsault to Kane on the outside of the ring. Striker also did a nice job of selling MIB when reminding the audience what moves like that would be like if ladders were involved.
Six Man Tag: The wrestling action on Superstars this week was quite good. In addition to the Hit above, there was a solid Divas tag match and this good six man tag main event. With the exception of Mark Henry (who I like, but is at the level on the card where he belongs), I would like to see all five of the others in this match given a bigger role after WrestleMania. Sure, Christian has had a decent role on Raw since coming from ECW, is on NXT and is in MIB, and sure Jack Swagger is in MIB too, but they haven't had much focus on Raw. William Regal is too good to not be better utilized. I fear that Yoshi Tatsu and Zack Ryder are going to be totally lost in the shuffle. I understand that it is hard to do. You can't elevate the entire card at the same time. If you elevate Tatsu or Ryder, who do you demote in the process? I get all of that. But, when you see these guys all working hard in a 15 minute long tag match on Superstars to entertain the fans, you see their skills and talent and want to see more of it.
SUPERSTARS MISSES
WrestleMania Recall: This is something that WWE used much more in recent years than this year. Until last week, it seemed like we would go without WrestleMania moments like Pete Rose being tombstoned by Kane. That was fine with me as they have done them so many times in the past (especially last year) that taking a few years off before doing them again would make them seem more special when they return. It isn't a big deal that they have brought them back at the last minute, but in each case, they were really only there to promote the following week's Raw guest host. For that reason, instead of showing a different Recall on each show, they showed the same one of Stone Cold Steve Austin from WM 20 last week. This week they are showing the same one of Rose and by the third time on Superstars, I was sick and tired of seeing it. Part of it is that I am going to be at Raw on Monday and don't particularly want to be reminded that Rose will be the guest host (I really hoped the rumors awhile back were true and that Austin would be the final guest host. Plus Rose has no connection to the Bay Area and if we have to have a guest host, it would have been nice to have a local connection).
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, NXT, 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.
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