12/23 Shore's WWE Superstars Merry Christmas Live Coverage: David Hart Smith vs. Zack Ryder, The Uso Brothers vs. Yoshi Tatsu and Darren Young, and Michelle McCool and Layla vs. Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly

By Chris Shore

Superstars on WGN America
Taped in Austin and San Antonio, Texas.

[Q1] The opening video aired, followed by the pyro, and Scott Stamford and Jerry "The King" Lawler welcomed us to Superstars. Zack Ryder made his entrance. David Hart Smith was out next…

1. David Hart Smith defeated Zack Ryder at 12:05. Smith hit a shoulder block that spilled Ryder to the floor. Ryder grabbed the rope off a whip attempt and slapped Smith. Smith attacked him and hooked a single leg crab. Ryder made the ropes, but Smith kept control and worked the arm. He hit the stall suplex with one hand while waving for the other.

Ryder reversed a whip to the corner to a missile dropkick to take control. Ryder worked the back with rest holds. He hit a one man flapjack for two, and then a front suplex on the ropes for another near fall. Ryder slapped on a leg scissor…[C]

Back at 9:40, Ryder worked an abdominal stretch and cheated on the ropes. The ref caught him and forced the break, but Ryder kept control. Smith reversed a suplex and went on is attack. He hit a belly to belly suplex followed by a scoop slam for two.

[Q2] Smith ducked the Rough Ryder and hit a back suplex for the win…The NXT recap video aired…The announce team hyped the Diva main event…[C]

Shore's Slant: Decent match. I hate that Ryder is the jobber to the new stars all of a sudden, but we all have our part to play I guess. The words "Diva main event" make me sad.

2. The Usos defeated Yoshi Tatsu and Darren Young at 5:06. No Tamina with the boys tonight. Young and Jay started. My cable went out for about three minutes and then Tatsu and Jimmy were in the ring. Tatsu hit an insaguri kick and both men made hot tags. Young took out both Usos and hit a belly to belly throw for two. Jay got the blind tag and they hit the Alley Oose (double Samoan drop) for the win…[C]

Shore's Slant: I have the worst cable company on the planet. First they kill rasslin, now they can't even deliver sports entertainment. I have a feeling I didn't miss much.

[Q3] Jack Whatshisface and Matt Striker took over on commentary and setup the awful Vickie Guerrero video that included footage from Smackdown…[C]

[Q4] 3. Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix defeated LayCool at 12:22.McCool and Beth started. Beth slammed her and McCool sold the back. She tagged in Layla who did the same trick. Beth tossed Layla into McCool and both spilled to the floor. Both tried to climb back up and both were kicked down by Beth…[C]

Back at 6:38, Kelly hit her cartwheel elbow on Layla. Layla made a tag and Kelly hit a flying head scissor on McCool. McCool came right back and hit a belly to belly for two. McCool did pushups to punk Beth and the she and Layla worked in and out on Kelly. Kelly finally got the hot tag, and Beth hit the Glam Slam on Layla for the win…

Shore's Slant: Sigh, once again WWE doesn't get it. We don't want to see LayCool get beat up, we just don't want to see LayCool. Period. Standard women's match that just had too much time and not enough workers. Beth and Michelle can go. Not so much the other two. I'll have more to say tomorrow in the hitlist. Thanks for reading and I'll see you then.

Questions? Comments? Anyone, anyone? Let me hear from you. Email me at css3238@gmail.com with whatever is on your mind.