Ted Dibiase vs. Chris Masters - Superstars 1/7/2010
I remember rolling my eyes when Chris Masters first turned into a pec-dancing babyface. Boy, was I wrong: his babyface run has rocked the big timez. First exchanges of this match are like a little preview of the awesomeness of 2010 Chris Masters. Ted targets the leg early, and Masters makes some average strikes look super effective. Ted takes Masters down and locks the leg up, only for Masters to come up with a cool counter to lock in the Masterlock early. Ted escapes; Masters sells the leg really well, shaking it off. So yeah, here's a guy who sells really well and works smart little matches with good crowd heat focused around a full nelson that he's gotten miraculously over in 2010. He's great. Rest of the match is good, though Ted's control stuff is somewhat pedestrian, which holds it back a bit. He does hit that cool clothesline spot he does, and though Masters obviously has no chance at making it look as good as Evan Bourne does, he takes it as well as a guy his size possibly could. And I mentioned that spot to point out that the second time Ted goes for it, Masters counters it into a Masterlock attempt, which led to a nice finishing stretch. I really dug Masters's counter there.
Mike Knox vs. Finlay - Superstars 1/7/2010
Here are two guys I miss on WWE TV. They had a few matches on Smackdown a year or two ago, and I'll need to track those down at some point to watch them again because this was awesome, even better than the Masters match from the same show. They open with good strikes and good selling. Both guys are big and tough and physical, which means they mesh well. It goes to the outside quickly, and Knox hits an awesome powerslam on the floor, which leads to Knox working Finlay's back and Finlay selling really well. I'm not remembering the match perfectly, but there's a great spot where Finlay catches Knox coming into the corner with his boot, and then he tries to come off the second rope only for Knox to catch him and hit a big slam. Sounds like a typical spot, but it looked really good here. Also, Knox hit his glorious cross-body. Striker yells a lot of ridiculous things, and I dislike a lot of them, but "flying bear" seems like a great thing to yell during a Mike Knox match. Finish was good and out-of-nowhere-ish, which I liked. Felt really sudden and surprising and convincing all at the same time.
Mike Knox vs. Rey Mysterio - Superstars 2/18/2010
I liked this even more than the Finlay match. Again, it's been a while since I watched all these, and my memory isn't the best, but I just remember gobs of great cutoffs from Knox. Rey would start to roll like Rey rolls, and the Knox would catch him with a boot or a clothesline, and it would just look absolutely vicious. Rey took them all like a champ. And there was a flying bear at some point. Great match.
Christian vs. Drew McIntyre - Smackdown 7/30/2010
Right, so I thoroughly loved the last two Christian/McIntyre matches. This was shockingly great on the first watch. Christian rocks Drew early, and Drew takes a great bump to the outside, and then he launches himself into the apron following a Christian dropkick. The transition spot to Drew's control segment is amazing: he crawls under the ring to draw Christian in, and then he smashes Christian's arm against the metal under the ring. You know that means? That means Christian sells arm work in this match. That means this match will be at worst really good. Turns out Drew's arm work is plenty good, which makes this match great. Really cool theme of metal vs. arm, as Drew repeatedly uses metal things around the ring to demolish Christian's arm. Shoulder breaker on the ring steps. Yeah. Christian gets good comeback spots in and all that, but it's all about him selling his ass off and making great faces and noises, which he does better than anyone. Finish was perfect and kept Drew looking strong even in defeat. Only a notch behind Rey/Punk for my TV MOTY.
Christian vs. Drew McIntyre - Smackdown 8/20/2010
I probably prefer their 7/30 match, but that doesn't mean this isn't great. It's a match where Christian takes an apron bump and sells arm work; of course it's great. Drew immediately works the arm, and Christian fights him off and hits a cool rana, which frustrates McIntyre. I really bought his frustration here, more than I usually do. Drew trips Christian on the apron to take control, and Christian makes the apron bump look nasty, like he always does. Then there's an awesome sequence outside around where the ring announcer sits that results in an awesome spot and Drew wrecks Christian's arm around a whole bunch of metal and shit. It's great. Drew's arm work is really good and Christian's selling is better. He gets some good comeback spots-- there's an awesome moment where he attempts a to mare his way out of a hammerlock, only for Drew to drop him right on his arm. There's another awesome jumping DDT spot that results in Drew taking a great DDT bump and Christian brilliantly selling his arm AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME. Might've been better than the 7/30 match. Finish is really smart, too, and reminded me of both their last match and Christian's 8/13 match with Rhodes. The Rhodes match is really good, too, and you should track that down. Not as good as the D Mac matches, but Cody works Christian's arm, so obviously it's good. Also, Cody does commentary, which is at times irritating because they cut to him instead of getting a close-up on Christian's great facial expressions, but if you haven't been exposed to the awesomeness of the "Dashing" Cody Rhodes gimmick, you're in for a treat. He gives Todd Grisham cotton swabs.
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