WWE Superstars
March 8, 2012
Report by: Jason Namako of Wrestleview.com
Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s WWE Superstars recap. If you all are ready, then since Adelitas Way is playing the intro, let’s get on with the show!
We kick things off with the Smackdown portion of this week’s show with announcers Josh Mathews & Matt Striker.
“The Cape Town Werewolf” Justin Gabriel vs. “The 1 Man Southern Rock Band” Heath Slater
Lock-up and Gabriel with a side headlock, but Slater takes him down. Another lock-up and Gabriel with an arm drag into an armbar, but Slater counters out again, this time with a fireman’s carry. Slater likes what he has done and taunts Gabriel. Both men go for a knucklelock, but instead, Gabriel locks in a wristlock. Slater shoves him off, but misses a clothesline and Gabriel drops down, tripping Slater. Slater misses another clothesline and Gabriel with a back elbow. Gabriel with a slam for a nearfall. Gabriel locks back in the wristlock and brings Slater down, locking in an armbar. Slater grabs onto Gabriel’s hair and hits a gut shot. Irish whip by Slater and he goes for a hiptoss, but Gabriel lands on his feet and hits a monkey flip. Gabriel then with an armdrag into another armbar. Slater reaches for the ropes and then grabs onto Gabriel’s hair again. Gabriel wrenches Slater’s arm, but Slater comes back with a right hand. Slater with another right hand that knocks Gabriel down. Slater with an elbow to the back of Gabriel’s head and then hits a series of shoulders to Gabriel’s ribs in the corner. Gabriel comes back with a chop to Slater’s face, followed by a forearm. Snapmare by Gabriel, followed by a crucifix and a backslide for a series of nearfalls. Gabriel then takes down Slater again with an armbar, while driving his forearm into the back of Slater’s head. Gabriel goes for a suplex, but Slater blocks it. Slater then goes for a suplex, but Gabriel blocks it. Slater then uses the ropes for leverage and finally suplexes Gabriel, crotch first across the ropes. Gabriel rolls out to the floor as Slater taunts the fans while we head to commercial.
-Commercial-
Back from commercial as Slater has Gabriel in a rear chinlock. Both men pull at each other’s hair as the crowd tries to get behind Gabriel. Gabriel gets up to his feet and nails Slater with a right hand. Gabriel goes off the ropes, but Slater catches him coming in with a back heel kick for a nearfall. Slater has words with the referee and then soccer kicks Gabriel multiple times in the ribs. Slater talks trash to Gabriel, but as he goes for another soccer kick, Gabriel counters by sweeping out Slater’s leg. Gabriel hits a series of kicks, followed by a sit-out jawbreaker. Gabriel then with a discus clothesline, followed by a spinning heel kick for a nearfall. Gabriel with a forearm, followed by an Irish whip, but Slater reverses it. Gabriel tries to go up and over, but Slater catches him and hits a spinning fallaway facebuster for a close nearfall. Slater can’t believe it, but then hits another right hand. Slater lifts up Gabriel for something, but Gabriel counters it with a version of the Eye of the Hurricane. Gabriel then hits a top rope Lionsault for another nearfall. Gabriel now can’t believe it as he hits a kick and a series of forearms. The referee pulls Gabriel back, but then Slater moves out of the way on Gabriel’s charge. Slater places Gabriel on the top turnbuckle facing the crowd and hits a hangman’s style neckbreaker for another close nearfall. Slater is in disbelief and has words with the official. Slater goes for a powerbomb, but Gabriel fights out and headscissors Slater into the ropes. Gabriel then hits a one–legged thrust kick from the middle rope and then heads up top.
Gabriel then hits the 450 Splash for the victory.
Winner: “The Cape Town Werewolf” Justin Gabriel by pinfall (450 Splash)
-Commercial-
Ted DiBiase vs. Jinder Mahal
Lock-up and Mahal with a side headlock, followed by a shoulder tackle. DiBiase then hits a dropkick, followed by a back elbow. DiBiase hits the 10 punches in the corner, followed by a suplex for a 1 count. Mahal comes back with boots to DiBiase’s knee and head and then hits 2 neckbreakers for a nearfall. Mahal with a back elbow, followed by Irish whipping DiBiase hard into the corner. Mahal with a knee drop, followed by choking DiBiase with his knee. Mahal then hits a series of knees to DiBiase’s chest. DiBiase tries to fight back with gut shots, but Mahal with a club to the back, followed by a shot to DiBiase’s injured wrist. Mahal with another shot to the wrist and then locks in a head and arm lock. DiBiase tries to fight out, but Mahal with another club to the back. Mahal then with a series of knees to the side of DiBiase’s head and then heads up to the middle ropes. Mahal taunts the crowd and then dives off, but DiBiase catches him coming off with a dropkick. DiBiase sidesteps Mahal in the corner and then hits a clothesline. DiBiase with a leg lariat, followed by a sit-out spinebuster for a nearfall. DiBiase goes for Dream Street, but Mahal gets out. Mahal goes for a clothesline, but DiBiase ducks and then hits Mahal with the blind clothesline. Mahal reverses DiBiase’s Irish whip, but DiBiase gets his boot up on Mahal’s charge in and heads up to the middle rope. DiBiase dives off, but Mahal catches him coming off with a knee to the ribs.
Mahal then locks in the Camel Clutch and DiBiase has no choice but to tapout.
Winner: Jinder Mahal by submission (Camel Clutch)
-Commercial-
Back from commercial, we see video highlighting what took place on RAW between the Rock & John Cena.
We then head to the lone RAW match of the week, with announcers Josh Mathews & Scott Stanford.
Kofi Kingston vs. “The Show-Off” Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero
Lock-up and Ziggler with a side headlock, followed by a shoulder tackle. Kingston goes for a leapfrog, but Ziggler puts on the brakes as he saw it coming. Ziggler then does a little strut to taunt Kingston. Kingston with an armbar, but Ziggler counters into a wristlock. Kingston then spins out and sweeps out Ziggler’s leg, followed by a splash for a 1 count. Kingston with a hammerlock, but Ziggler comes back with a back elbow. Ziggler goes for the sleeper, but Kingston counters with a rollup for a nearfall. Kingston then with another rollup for another nearfall. Ziggler then comes back with a kick to the gut. Ziggler with an elbow to the back of Kingston’s head and then takes Kingston down with a fireman’s carry for a 1 count. Ziggler pulls at Kingston’s hair, followed by a right hand. Ziggler goes back to the side headlock, followed by another shoulder tackle. Kingston then comes back with the 2 leapfrogs/back elbow combo. Kingston hits the Koronco Buster in the corner and rains in right hands, followed by an uppercut for a nearfall. Kingston goes back to the armbar, but Ziggler sends him to the corner. Ziggler goes to break, but then hits a right hand. Ziggler then stomps away at Kingston in the corner. Ziggler with a snapmare, then flicks the hair and hits the running neck snap as Vickie likes what she sees. Ziggler hits a neckbreaker and then mocks Kingston’s taunt. Both men then exchange right hands, but Ziggler comes back with a kick to the gut. Kingston then reverses Ziggler’s Irish whip and hits a monkey flip on him out of the corner with such velocity that Ziggler lands facefirst for a nearfall. Kingston Irish whips Ziggler, but Ziggler tries to back body drop Kingston over the ropes on Kingston’s charge in, however Kingston lands on the apron. Kingston goes for a springboard, but Ziggler hits his legs and sends Kingston crashing down to the mat. Ziggler then baseball slide dropkicks Kingston out to the outside. Ziggler does a headstand in the middle of the ring, followed by strutting as Vickie is beaming on the outside while we go to commercial.
-Commercial-
Back from commercial as Kingston is trying to fight back with a gut shot. Kingston with a right hand, but Ziggler comes back by kicking out Kingston’s leg. Kingston is grabbing his leg as Vickie is taunting him on the outside. Ziggler goes for another neckbreaker, but Kingston comes back with a backslide for a nearfall. Ziggler then comes right back with a flying lariat for a nearfall. Ziggler unloads on Kingston with a series of elbows to the side of Kingston’s head and then locks in an armbar with his knee driven into the side of Kingston’s head. The crowd tries to will on Kingston as he gets back to his feet. Kingston fights out with gut shots, followed by a rollup for a nearfall. Kingston then with an O’Connor Roll for another nearfall. Ziggler charges, but Kingston gets his boot up. Kingston comes in, but Ziggler catches him with a dropkick for a nearfall. Ziggler chokes Kingston in the ropes, followed by doing sit-ups. However, Ziggler does one too many and Kingston catches him with a kick to the head. Ziggler comes back with a kick to the gut, followed by an elbow to the back of Kingston’s head. Ziggler with another kick and a right hand, followed by an Irish whip. Ziggler taunts the crowd and then charges, but Kingston moves out of the way. Kingston with a clothesline and a back elbow, followed by a dropkick. Kingston goes for the leaping lariat, but Ziggler moves. Kingston then goes for the SOS, but Ziggler counters. Ziggler goes for a back suplex, but Kingston lands on his feet. Kingston then hits the SOS for a close nearfall. Kingston then hits the Boom Drop and starts the setup for Trouble in Paradise. Kingston goes for it, but Ziggler catches him and hits a reverse fireman’s carry slam for another nearfall. Ziggler charges, but Kingston nails him coming in with the Pendulum Kick. Kingston then heads up top, but Ziggler stops him. Ziggler goes up with him and rains in shots to the back of Kingston’s head. Ziggler goes for a superplex, but Kingston blocks it. Kingston then hits Ziggler with a series of headbutts and a right hand to knock Ziggler off the ropes. Kingston goes for the Froggy Crossbody, but Ziggler moves out of the way, followed by hitting the Fame Asser for a close nearfall. Ziggler goes for the sleeper again, but Kingston fights him off.
Ziggler charges in, but Kingston drills him with Trouble in Paradise for the victory.
Winner: Kofi Kingston by pinfall (Trouble in Paradise)
My Thoughts
I thought this a much better edition of Superstars than in recent weeks.
The opener was another good match between Slater and Gabriel. Slater is one of the best bumpers in the company with his stooginess, but has put together a nice little moveset in his control section, which I highly enjoyed. Gabriel did good on the FIP work, and was solid on the comeback. Very well done.
Mahal & DiBiase was what you would expect. so there is not much to comment on that. Didn’t see where the ankle injury to DiBiase occurred, but man he cannot catch a break. Feel really bad for the guy and hope he makes a quick, but safe recovery.
The main event between Ziggler & Kingston was another in a long line of very good matches from these two. Really love the show off stuff from Ziggler, who has really come into his own over the last year and has found himself with the great bumping, the flashy but toned down moveset, and the character work as the Show Off. Kingston’s selling was solid and his comebacks were not as bad than the norm from him. Didn’t understand Ziggler losing again, but they also need to bring up Kingston a notch with such a thin roster so it was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t booking decision. However, the match was very good and the beast thing on the show.
Overall, a much better show this week with the opening and closing matches I would highly recommend.
My Grade: B-
Well, that will do it for me this week, I want to thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy your weekend. But remember….
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See ya next week!