By Chris Shore

Superstars on WGN America
Taped in Long Island, N.Y. and Bridgeport, Conn.

[Q1] The opening video aired, followed by the pyro, and Todd Grisham and Matt Striker welcomed us to Superstars…

Shore’s Slant: Great to be back in the saddle again after a disappointing loss for my candidate Tuesday night. We fought a good fight and 2012 is just around the corner. Thanks for not killing Marv while I was gone.

1. Jack Swagger (w/Swagger’s Soaring Eagle) defeated Kaval at 12:59. Swagger took the early control and tossed Kaval to the floor. Swagger jumped out and Kaval jumped in and hit a dropkick through the ropes. Kaval hit a springboard plancha onto Swagger on the floor and went to work. Swagger came back with a knee and drove Kaval into the wall. He scored a near fall in the ring and worked a double underhook.

Swagger drove Kaval back to the floor again with a kick and the crowd just could not care less. Swagger hit a huge backbreaker in the corner. He hit his springboard corner splash for two as the show went to commercial…[C]

Back at 9:06, worked an abdominal stretch. He lifted Kaval who flipped around and scored a near fall. Kaval went to work and hit several kicks. Kaval jumped off the top rope, but Swagger ducked and hit a belly to back release toss for two. Kaval came back and hooked a rollup for two, and a West Coast Pop to the back of the head for two.

[Q2] Swagger tried to toss Kaval over the top, but Kaval hung on and kicked Swagger. The ref checked on him and the Eagle swept the legs, sending Kaval crashing onto the apron. Swagger hooked in the Ankle Lock for the submission win…The NXT recap video aired…[C]

Shore’s Slant: A decent match that suffered greatly from the dead crowd. That was the Smackdown crowd in Connecticut. They must have learned their new Senator was named Dick before this match. I kid, but the crowd was incredibly dead. Kaval continues to job out, and that confuses the hell out of me. I hope they know what they are doing with him. Swagger seems mired in midcard hell for now. I hope he breaks out again soon because the Eagle is a riot. I should hate it, but I can’t. Oh, and do you have any idea how happy I am Twilling has to cover NXT?

Back from commercial, Luke Gallows made his ring entrance. Vance Archer was out next. Oh look, the battle of the cast offs…

[Q3] 2. Luke Gallows defeated Vance Archer at 3:09. Archer took early control after trading some shots and hit a leg drop from the second rope for two. He hit a Side Effect type move for two and climbed the ropes. Gallows pulled him off and went to work with clotheslines and big boots. He hit the big splash for two and followed with the Gallows Pole for the win…The announce team hyped the Usos vs. Mark Henry…

Shore’s Slant: Slow big man match that had all the big power spots you would expect. For those new to the industry, this is what we call a throwaway match because it meant absolutely nothing in the long term. By the way, is anybody else disturbed by the fact that a guy with a tramp stamp got hit with Gallows’s Pole? No? Just me?

Back from commercial, Alicia Fox made her ring entrance as Jerry “The King” Lawler and Scott Stanford took over on commentary. Gail Kim was out next…

3. Gail Kim defeated Alicia Fox at 5:01. The only thing worse than this match was Stanford’s miss calls on names. Fox hit a Northern Lights Suplex that he called a Tilt a Whirl Backbreaker. Fox did finally hit that backbreaker, but Kim hit a powerslam that was called a body to body flip. This guy needs serious work. Fox tried for another Northern Lights Suplex, but Kim reversed into Eat Defeat for the win…The announce team hyped the main event…

Shore’s Slant: OK, that match wasn’t as bad as many of the Divas matches I have seen. Both of these women are pretty athletic, and it showed here. It’s just hard to get up for a division that’s more boring than a taco salad. It’s a double entendre folks. Look it up. At any rate, somebody get Stanford on Wikipedia to learn those move names ASAP.

[Q4] An Edge hype video aired…The announce team hyped Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio for tomorrow night on Smackdown and then hyped Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton at Survivor Series…Mark Henry Made his ring entrance…[C]

Back from commercial, a video recapped the Usos run in with Henry from last week. The Usos made their ring entrance…

4. The Usos (w/Tamina) defeated Mark Henry in a handicap match at 3:12. Jay started as this will be a tag in and our handicap match. Henry begged Jimmy to get in the ring, but Jay attacked. Henry crushed Jay and dragged him to the corner for a tag. Jimmy dropped to the floor, but scored a blind tag when Henry turned around. He clipped Henry when Henry picked up Jay and went to work.

Jimmy worked high impact strikes and tagged in Jay. Jay worked a rest hold and Henry broke it with force. Lawler made a joke about how black Henry was. What the hell was that? Henry missed the big splash. Tamina kissed him in the face, followed by a kick to the face from Jay. Jimmy tagged in and hit the big splash for the win…

Shore’s Slant: Meh, an OK match to close the show. It was very short, but high impact and the Usos can fly around. Henry is a good anchor for that, and he played it well here. I hate Superstars feuds because they almost happen in a parallel universe, but I guess at least these guys are doing something. A pretty good show tonight. I’ll have more to say tomorrow in the hitlist. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you then.

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