Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu vs. The Usos - Superstars 8/12
Not something I'd pimp as a great tag, or anything that anybody needs to go crazy in an attempt to hunt it down, but it's good, and really fun. Goldust looks like a monster here in a really fun and surprisingly lengthy babyface shine period, and Yoshi looked good, too. They busted out some nifty double-team spots, including a slick-looking inverted atomic drop/spinning heel kick combo. I don't think much of the Usos as a tag team, but they looked game here, bumping around and eating YoshiDust's offense well. Yoshi gets a fine FIP section, and then Dustin has a really awesome section where he sprints around and cleans house, and then he gets a shockingly huge pop when he sets up for his finisher. Sort of amazes me how much heat the dude gets for his matches despite working such a limited amount, and almost never winning. Finish is fine, too, though I wish they'd give YoshiDust a string of wins and a run with the belts. Goldust has been on such a roll lately, and I'd really like to see him in a role where he can shine.
Chris Masters vs. Chavo Guerrero - Superstars 8/12
If you told me this match happened in 09, I would've assumed it'd be a garbage comedy match engineered to embarrass Chavo, and it would've ended in Hornswoggle grunting and hopping and whatever. The times they are a-changin'. People who haven't been paying attention might not have expected much from this match, but those who have been watching open-mindedly probably expected awesomeness, and this match completely delivered. Masters establishes his size advantage early and goes for the Masterlock-- he always reminds everyone of what a threat that move is. So Chavo goes to the outside and runs around and catches Masters coming back into the ring and takes over, and Masters takes a nice bump to the floor, and then Chavo hits a really sweet rolling senton off the apron onto Masters's ribs, setting up the body part work.
Chavo works over the ribs well, following the senton up with a hilo. Masters's selling is really great throughout the match, as you'd expect. Really awesome spot where he rolls out of Chavo's bodyscissor into his guard so he can LEVEL him with some forearms and then launch him into the turnbuckle with his fantastic slingshot spot. If you haven't seen a slingshot spot from Masters, go watch this match. Now. Or you suck. I can't think of another guy with a slingshot spot that's even half as good as his. Also, Masters busts out a sweet Jackhammer at one point, and he sells his ribs after hitting it. Finish is great and plays back into the rib work. Whole match is great, as it focuses on smart and credible-looking work from Chavo and incredible selling from Masters, with a few blowaway spots sprinkled in.
Goldust vs. William Regal - Superstars 8/26
Shit, I loved this. Totally different from anything else we're seeing these days, which is awesome. For the majority of the match, these two just really beat the heck out of each other. Look at the names, and you know that'll produce 7 minutes of greatness. Not really much need to talk about it because the match speaks for itself, but yeah: nifty match exchanges early on, disgusting arm work from Regal, stiff shots from Dustin, really incredible missed crossbody spot from Dustin where he goes full-fucking blast and completely whiffs and flies through the ropes to the floor, and it's goddam beautiful. Best spot of the match: Dustin starts a comeback, so Regal kneels and begs off. Dustin STOMPS on his hand, and the Regal sells it beautifully. You can talk about Regal's offensive brutality all you want, but this is what he's best at: selling whacky little shit like that. Someone, I think over at Segunda Caida, said they'd love to see Regal sell a stubbed toe. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Finish is fantastic, too. Like, it's one of those things that made me yell, "Holy shit!" Awesome match.
And to anyone who says WWE is too "vanilla" or generic or whatever... Well, sure, maybe the creative direction of the company is at a low point (though the Nexus angle was really good in theory), but they're putting on such an impressive number of quality tv matches, and there's so much great variety among those matches. In just a couple weeks, they put on this match, plus a tremendous juniors-style sprint between Yoshi and Primo, plus some a McIntyre/Christian match focused around body part selling, plus the really good Kofi/Dolph series, plus good little man/big man stuff between Rey and Kane.
Chris Masters vs. Drew McIntyre - Superstars 8/26
Hard to believe this match and Goldust/Regal happened on the same show. And a large portion of the WWE Universe probably didn't even notice. McIntyre works over Masters's leg, and Masters sells his ass off, and the match is awesome. Probably a notch below Masters/Chavo and McIntyre/Christian, but who cares. And, frankly, I could see a case for this being actually better than those matches even though I didn't prefer it. But yeah, Masters gets his little moment to flex early on, but then McIntyre goes to the outside and launches Masters face-first into the ring post. Striker tries to convince everyone Masters hit his shoulder, but that dude's full of shit half the time (<3 you, Matt!). McIntyre follows up with a nasty boot to the face and an even nastier spot where he smashes Masters's leg into the ring post. McIntyre looks vicious on offense throughout, but Masters is still the better guy here, with tremendous selling and awesome comebacks. He manages to dump McIntyre to the outside, and then he catches him coming back in with a Samoan drop. Normally, a Samoan drop should be a "meh" spot, but it was awesome here, totally catching me off guard (which means it probably surprised the bad guy, too-- good work, Chris!) and looking slick. Plus, Masters sells the leg immediately after hitting it. Ditto for after he hits a spinebuster. Seems like someone noticed the effectiveness of Christian selling his ass off in matches. Seriously, I'm quasi-in-love with Christian, and after this match, I have to admit that Chris Masters is nearly as good as he is. Go back to this time last year and try to get me to say that and mean. I'll call you a tardball.
I was the tardball. Chris Masters rules. Still think Christian is better (slightly better seller, slightly better facial expressions. I'd probably take Christian as a bumper, too, though if you take into account how well Masters bumps for a guy his size, that's not even a fair comparison. Still, Christian can take bigger and crazier shit and make it look better than anyone. Offensively, I'd say it's a wash, but they're really not too comparable in that area-- it's really just a choice between power moves and aerial moves, but they're about as good as each other with their respective types of offense).
Finishing stretch is great. Like, really great. Plays into the injury, the Masterlock, and McIntyre mastery of his environment. I saw someone compare McIntyre to Finlay a little while back, and I thought that was kinda crazy, but now I see McIntyre working these really brutal matches with nasty offense and intelligent use of his environment, and it totally seems like he's been working with Finlay quite a bit. Awesome, awesome match here. Stellar performances from both guys.
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