12/9 Shore's WWE Superstars Live Coverage: Ezekiel Jackson vs. Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins vs. Trent Barreta, and Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox

By Chris Shore

Superstars on WGN America
Taped in Louisville, Kent. and Dayton, Ohio.

[Q1] The opening video aired, followed by the pyro, and Jack Korpela (?) and Matt Striker welcomed us to Superstars. They hyped Eve vs. Alicia Fox for the main event…JTG made his ring entrance, followed by Tyler Reks…

1. Tyler Reks defeated JTG at 3:33. Reks started out with early control and worked his power heel moves of clubbing blows and slams to the mat. Reks missed a knee drop and JTG fought back with his terrible moveset. He pulled a pair of fuzzy dice out of his pants and tossed them into the crowd before hitting the mugshot for two. He went back to the second rope, but Reks pulled him off and hit the Burning Hammer for the win…

The NXT highlight video aired…The announce team hyped Trent Barreta vs. Curt Hawkins for next…[C]

Shore's Slant: Weak opening match. Reks has a very good look and is very good in the ring. JTG sucks. The crowd didn’t even cheer when he took the fuzzy dice out of his pants. There's a ball joke in there somewhere but I'll leave it be. And what is up with all the backup announcers on Superstars? Isn’t FCW televised so these guys can learn? Why do they have to do it on my time?

Curt Hawkins made his ring entrance, followed by Trent Barreta, as the announce team tried to put over their "used to be brothers and now hate each other" storyline. The new ring Diva announcer is hot for what it's worth…

2. Trent Barreta defeated Curt Hawkins in 10:00. Hawkins mouthed off to Barreta and shoved his face. Barreta slapped him and went to work with side headlock takedowns.

[Q2] Barreta hit a scary hurricanranna for two (the new tool called it a Frankensteiner). Hawkins reversed a whip to the corner and tossed Barreta over the top rope and Barreta hit his head on the stairs…[C]

Back from commercial, Hawkins worked a headlock as a video recapped the stair shot before the break. Barreta escaped and hit a insaguri kick and went on the attack. He hit a springboard elbow in the corner, and followed with a springboard dropkick to the back for two. He went for the Gobstopper knee and Hawkins ducked and hit a clothesline for a near fall.

Hawkins tried for his weird leg behind the head slam, but Barreta landed on his feet and hit the Gobstopper knee for two. They battled near the ropes and Barreta flipped Hawkins to the floor and hit a sick springboard plancha on the floor. Barreta rolled Hawkins back in and scored a near fall. He tried for the Dudebuster DDT, but Hawkins pushed him off. Hawkins setup for the Taste of Pain neckbreaker, but Barreta pushed him off and hit the DDT for the win…The announce team hyped the Diva main event…[C]

Shore's Slant: Another excellent match between these two. I'm not sure that it's helping either guy since it seems to be exclusively on Superstars, but it sure has been a lot of fun to cover their matches.

Zack Ryder made his entrance as Scott Stamford and a visually annoyed CM Punk took over on commentary. Big Zeke was out next to a decent pop…

[Q3] 3. Ezekiel Jackson defeated Zack Ryder at 2:47. Punk said Zeke's head looks like a package of hot dogs. Zeke worked power moves to start. Ryder tried to work the legs, but Zeke hit a knee lift and picked up Ryder. Ryder raked the eyes and escaped. He hit a chop block and then a dropkick from the second rope for two. Ryder went back to the second rope, but Zeke clubbed him out of the air. Zeke hit the Book of Ezekiel for the win…The announce team hyped the main event again…[C]

Shore's Slant: Remember when everyone thought Ryder was going to be the shit? He just jobbed again to Zeke. And it wasn't even that good of a match. But Zeke has the best crowd reaction of the night so far, so good for him.

[Q4] A Kofi Kingston hype video aired…The announce team ran down the current TLC card and setup the Raw Rebound video…Eve made her ring entrance…[C]

Alicia Fox made her ring entrance as Punk coined a new phrase for the Divas: crazy, sexy, cool. Which works well with the next PPV you know…

4. Eve defeated Alicia Fox at 4:58. Eve his a couple of quick arm drags and worked an armbar. Alicia pulled the hair and went to work. Punk said some days he wanted to propose to Eve and other days he wanted to hit her in the face with a coal shovel. Wow. Eve hooked on a sleeper on Fox's back. Alicia reversed it into a rough backbreaker for two. They botched a bunch more moves until Eve hit a moonsault from the top for the win. Scott Stamford said this was a prime example of a beautiful, technical match. I shit you not…

Shore's Slant: Stamford should be fired for that last statement because this wasn't anything near a good technical match. These are probably the two most athletic Divas on roster, but they still look terrible in the ring. There was a Northern Lights suplex that was awful at one point, and they just seemed uncomfortable. I will say that it was better than some of the matches we have seen, but not by much. I'll have more to say 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.