WWE Superstars on WGN America
Taped in Atlanta, Ga., and Knoxville, Tenn.

[Q1]The opening video aired, followed by the pyro, and Jim Ross and Todd Grisham welcomed us to Superstars. They hyped the Shane McMahon vs. Cody Rhodes match for later…

Shore’s Slant: First blush: Jason will hate the opening theme.

Hell’s bells rang and The Undertaker made his entrance. He didn’t seem to care that it’s an hour show and made his standard entrance. Matt Hardy made his ring entrance. A video recapped the stretcher match last week…

1. The Undertaker defeated Matt Hardy by countout at 10:32 Take started out in control. Matt rolled out of the ring to escape and Taker tried to drag him in by his hair. Hardy grabbed Taker’s legs and pulled him out of the ring. Taker reversed a whip, sending Hardy to the retaining wall. Back in the ring, Taker worked the arm and went Old School. He clotheslined Matt over the top rope and paced in the ring…[C]

Back at the 4:54 mark and Taker dropped his patented leg drop on the apron for two. Taker followed up with headbuts in the corner and a choke hold before punking the ref and making him fall down in fear. Matt ducked a clothesline attempt and got caught in a choke hold. Taker picked Hardy up, but Hardy escaped and hit a neck breaker. The announce team put over Taker’s accidental spike in his match against HBK at Mania. Matt continued to work the neck and locked in a front headlock. Taker picked him up and set him over the ropes to the apron, but Hardy dropped down, giving Taker a hot shot on the top rope.

[Q2]Matt covered for two and locked in another front headlock. He held on as Taker stood up. Matt jumped up and wrapped his legs around Taker. Taker slammed into the corner to get Matt off. Matt slammed Taker and climbed to the top. He jumped off, but Taker raised his foot and caught Matt in the face. He whipped Matt to the corner and hit his corner splash. He caught Hardy coming out of the corner and hit Snake Eyes and the big boot. He followed with a leg drop for two. He teased the chokeslam, but Hardy escaped to ringside again. He got a chair, but walked away and took the count out. The Undertaker was announced as the winner and Jeff Hardy’s music played. Matt watched as Jeff ran 40 feet to club him. Jeff beat on Matt and tossed him back in the ring. Taker hit a chokeslam and went to one knee to celebrate in the blacklight…

A split screen showed Finlay and Christian walking backstage. The announce team hyped that match as next…A video hyped Backlash by hyping the Edge/Cena match…[C]

Shore’s Slant: Fun match from these two. I hope Jeff gets a feud somehow with Taker before he retires. I hated the ending, of course, but it plays well. Especially with the announcement tomorrow night on Smackdown. Spoilers are already on the site.

Back from commercial, Josh Matthews and Matt Stryker introed a video that showed still photos from Wrestlemania 25…Back ringside, Christian made his ring entrance. The announce team explained that the winner goes on to face Jack Swagger at Backlash for the ECW Championship. Finlay and Horney were out next…

2. Christian defeated Finaly w/Hornswoggle with the winner facing Jack Swagger for the ECW title at Backlashat 4:30. Collar and elbow tie up went to the corner were Finlay had to be forced to break. They tied up again and ran a short bit of mat wrestling. A little more back and forth ended when Christian hit a sunset flip for two. Horny was laughing at ringside and that distracted Christian. Finlay took control and worked power on Christian. He slammed Christian and climbed to the top. He jumped off, but Christian kicked him in the face.

Christian went of offense and hit a drop toe hold on Finlay and jumped over the top rope to punch him. Christian climbed to the top and hit a flying cross body, but Finlay rolled through for two. Christian went back to the top. Finlay fought him for a minute, and Christian suddenly hit a DDT from the top. Christian picked up Finlay and he tossed Christian through the turnbuckle into the post. Finlay picked up Christian for the Celtic Cross, but Christian slipped out and hit the Killswitch for the win.

[Q3] Finlay shook Christian’s hand after the match…The announce team hyped Rhodes vs. Super Shane for next…A commercial plugged the Greatest Star of the 90’s DVD…[C]

Shore’s Slant: It’s nice to see ECW get some love after looking ever weaker after the draft. I want Christian on Smackdown with Edge, but I’ll have to wait. So far this show is pretty good. I’m impressed. But Super Shane is next. Ugh.

Back from commercial and Jerry “The King” Lawler and Michael Cole hyped the Triple H vs. Randy Orton match on Monday…Backstage, Eve and her tits interviewed Shane. He said he was wrestling Rhodes because he realized if Orton didn’t have Rhodes and DiBiase, Orton wouldn’t have been able to do the things he did…Rhodes made his entrance first…[C]

3. Cody Rhodes defeated Shane McMahon at 14:05. Shane pushed Rhodes at the bell. He ducked a Rhodes clothesline and punched Rhodes in the face. They squared off as boxers and Shane ducked a right hand and punched Rhodes into the corner. The ref pulled him off and Rhodes hit a knee when Shane ran in. Shane got the best of him and locked in an arm bar. Rhodes fought out and they faced off again. Rhodes rolled out of the ring. Shane slid out and Rhodes tried to slide back in, but Shane grabbed him and pulled him out. He punched Rhodes and drove him into the ring post. Shane rolled him back in and locked in another arm bar.

[Q4] Rhodes got to the ropes and slid out on the break. Shane slid out the other side, ran around the ring, and hit a diving clothesline. They brawled ringside, and Cody tried to drive Shane into wall, but the king of agility slid out and drove Rhodes into the wall. He rolled Rhodes back in, but when he tried to get back in, Rhodes knocked him off the apron and Shane hit the retaining wall hard…[C]

Back at 8:30 and Rhodes had Shane in a submission hold. Rhodes stood him up and hard whipped him into the corner and covered for two. He punched Shane and then hit a body slam. He hit a sliding drop kick for two. He rolled Shane’s arm up and locked in a Camel Clutch. Super Shane stood up and backed into the corner to cause Rhodes to break. Rhodes hit a diving bulldog from the second rope for two. Rhodes stomped Shane a la Orton, and then placed him on the top turnbuckle. He tried for a superplex, but Shane fought out and knocked Rhodes to the mat. He tired for a double axe handle from the second rope, but Rhodes drop kicked him out of the air for another near fall.

Rhodes went ringside and got a chair. He and the ref fought about it for a minute before the ref won and tossed the chair. Rhodes started dancing around and teeing off on Shane. He did Shane’s little dance and went for the knockout, but Shane blocked it and went nuts. He beat Rhodes back into the corner and had to be pulled off twice by the ref. When he went to get Rhodes, Rhodes tossed him through the ropes. Rhodes reached over the ropes and grabbed Shane. Shane hit him with the chair, causing the DQ. Shane got in the ring with the chair and hit Rhodes three times.

The third shot set Rhodes in the corner. Shane reached under the ring and got a trashcan, the live crowd went nuts. He placed it on Rhodes and did the dropkick. At least I think he did. The camera cut at the last second and the trashcan was still pristine after the “impact.” Shane celebrated as the show ended…[C]

Shore’s Slant: What do you say after that? No seriously, what do you say? I have no clue. To all of the people who cheered when Shane got that trashcan: I hope you get hit by a bus before you have a chance to reproduce because you are not adding to the gene pool. I have to say, if the format stays the same, I will like this show. A solid hour of wrestling and very little filler. Very nice job WWE. Now if only that main event hadn’t stunk. Thanks for reading and I will see you tomorrow.

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