Apologies for this being late, but when your lady friend wants to take you to Atlantic City for your birthday, pro wrestling sometimes has to take a back seat.
Damien Sandow defeats Kofi Kingston
in approximately eight minutes via pinfall
Not going to rage against the machine that has the Money in the Bank briefcase holder for the World Heavyweight Championship (WHC) curtain jerker Superstars, but I would like for Ron Simmons to walk into this bullet point to deliver his catch phrase. Sandow delivers his typically entertaining speech as he strolls to the ring, ending with the incredibly ironic statement about the fans' opinions being irrelvant because the only thing that is relevant is the contract in his leather appointed case.
I don't know if they're new or not, but the Bane mask superimposed over Kofi's logo on his trunks is pretty freaking sweet.
Alex Riley, on commentary with Tom Phillips, talks about Sandow's briefcase and says that he'll have a great opportunity to cash in on the new WHC at Hell in a Cell, before he catches himself and says "if we have one". Hmmmm
There are a number of frenetic, innovative sequences in this contest. The first is a riff on the floor spot as a means of going to commercial. Kofi pops up after being whipped to the corner and hurricanranas Damien to the floor, the clips him with a drop kick that sends him into the announce table. He rolls back in and out of the ring; Kingston starts to go for a suicide dive on the other side but catches himself on the ropes when he sees the Intellectual Savior move to dodge. The face chases his opponent around the ring and back in, where you expect the heel to get the drop on him, but the Wildcat pulls back from an elbow drop and hits a springboard clothesline. Sandow trips him on a subsequent charge and sends him throat first into the bottom rope. So the bad guy ends up in charge before we go to break, but it was a fun, different way to get there.
Just when I was praising A-Ry for mixing up his repertoire of anecdotes, he spends several minutes of this one talking about college football.
Crazy fun match that gives me a lot of hope for the Duke of Decency's ability to have a long upper mid-card career. His mic skills have never been in question, but I have at time wondered about his ability to work longer matches with varied opponents. I still don't know if he could carry Khali for ten minutes or anything, but he and Kofi look like they're having a blast and so am I.
After several minutes of counters and two-counts, the high flier connects with SOS, but he's too close to the ropes and Sandow grabs the bottom one. He rolls out, and when Kingston tries to bring him back in by his head, the Lord of Literacy snaps his neck over the top rope. He looks to be going for Terminus (he's still using it - yay!) but Kofi does a cartwheel roll-up counter for a nearfall. When they separate, Damien kicks out the knee and delivers his full nelson slam for the win.
Match Footage below via WWE.com's Official YouTube Channel:
Recaps from the October 14th Raw include Randy Orton confronting Shawn Michaels, and a loooong rebroadcast of the Big Show/HHH saga, The Game's promo, Daniel Bryan against WHC Alberto Del Rio and the Viper's trickery involving Brie Bella.
Dolph Ziggler defeats Big E Langston
in approximately three and a half minutes via pinfall
Phillips and Riley talk up the history between these two, but it only makes me sad. This probably should have been an epic feud. Maybe someday...
You can sum this one up really quickly - it's a showcase for E that Dolph wins out of nowhere so that bad guys (this is before the turn on the October 18th Smackdown) don't win both matches on Superstars.
But it's better than that. These guys work really well together, at least partially because the Show Off's exaggerated selling fits when it's done for offense as impressive looking as Langston's.
Highlights include: deadlifting Ziggler from the ground for a slam, the elevation Big gets when he catches him for a belly-to-belly and the impact that results, holding on through a series of rib breakers and this:
The Master (in exile) of the Five Count holds on to taunt the crowd with the set-up for the Big Ending, allowing his nemesis to slip out the back. One dodged splash latter, a Zig-Zagged Langston eats the pin.
Match Footage below via WWE.com's Official YouTube Channel:
They air the very special episode of John Cena is the greatest man who ever lived, and give us the Raw Rebound version of the tag titles changing hands.
Don't know if it's the NXT withdrawl or what, but I thought this episode was well worth my time. Two really good matches featuring guys I wish I saw more of on the main shows.
Grade: A-
Anybody else watch it? Or know what's up with this week's NXT?
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