By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SUPERSTARS HITS

Phoenix vs. Layla: Last year I gave several Raw Divas matches Hits on Superstars for being so much better than the Divas matches actually appearing on Raw each week. Smackdown did a better job with the Divas. However, lately Smackdown has been just as bad as Raw, so I am once again giving something on Superstars a Hit, although it would have been nice to have this segment on Smackdown instead. I enjoyed the Simply Flawless team making fun of Beth Phoenix before the match. This was much better done than the whole Piggie James fiasco a few months ago. Michelle McCool and Layla have made a good team and are quite entertaining. The match itself was just a squash but it worked well in the context of what was said beforehand and as a set up for when we eventually will get to see Phoenix get her hands on McCool.

Tatsu & Bourne vs. Ryder & Guerrero: Part of me wished WWE would put on good tag team matches like this on Raw. However if they did, they wouldn't likely have them on Superstars and there wouldn't be much point in tuning in to this show. Yoshi Tatsu and Evan Bourne should be a tag team. They looked like they've been teaming together for a long time. They worked very well together. Zack Ryder and Chavo Guerrero also performed well in this match. It was exciting and featured good wrestling action. Bourne is on another level in terms of the amazing things he can do. I am always amazed when he does the leaping hurricanrana from the mat to his opponent on the top rope. That just shouldn't be possible. I also loved the ending with Tatsu holding Guerrero in place for Bourne to hit the Air Bourne for the win.

Carlito vs. MVP: This was another good Superstars match. It was the second two-segment match on the show and it too delivered well. I have complained a few times about NXT pros losing too many matches to be taken seriously as mentors for the rookies. However, in this case they seemed to be playing into a bit of a storyline with Michael Tarver being a screw up and accidentally costing Carlito the match. I'm not sure "screw up who complains" is a great character for Tarver to play, but at least it is something more than they've done with him on NXT so far. The match itself built nicely to that finish with a number of near falls and reversals.

SUPERSTARS MISSES

None: I still don't want to see Raw Rebounds on Superstars, but when the show is as good as it was this week, I don't mind as much. They made a good choice for the weekly Superstar highlight video in new World Champion Jack Swagger. The Extreme Makeover video featuring Big Show, R-Truth and the Bellas was a decent plug for their appearance on that show. There was nothing really to complain about this week.*

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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