WWE Superstars Review – 5/27/16

Match #1

Summer Rae vs Natalya

So happy to see Summer back in action. She throws a kick at Nattie and Nattie catches it. Summer pleads with her but Nattie throws her leg back, sending Summer face first into the ground. Summer escapes out of the ring and complains to the ref. Summer takes control and the crowd chants “You can’t wrestle”. I’d complain but Summer heckling the heck out of the crowd for the next minute as she beats up Natalya makes it all worth it. “OH REALLY, I CAN’T?” “YES I CAN” “WATCH THIS”. Summer locks in an Indian Deathlock, turns and goes to choke Natalya with her leg but Nattie reverses it into a calf submission of some sort. Summer heckles Natalya and once again goes after the crowd. Summer locks back in the Indian Deathlock and turns facing Natalya. Summer chops the hell out of Nattie’s chest while taunting her. Summer tries to turn it into a roll-up but Natalya reverses into a sharpshooter and wins.

Thoughts

This was awesome. It’s like six minutes long but it’s exactly the kind of wrestling I like. When I read the spoilers and saw that Summer was getting “You can’t wrestle” chants, I was a bit annoyed that people apparently still can’t see what makes her great. But after the way she handled it, I want this every week. She was getting loud heat, on Superstars of all places. Give me this crowd every week. The way Summer literally took a heckling crowd and heckled them back and then some was awesome. She didn’t let the crowd forget it and she turned a snarky ass chant against the crowd and let it fuel the rest of the match. I’ve made it clear that I find Natalya a bit dull but Summer Rae and AJ Lee really bring out the best of her in terms of personality in the ring. Summer and Nattie’s feud is cool because it’s been going on for 3 years via TV, Total Divas, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. They’re constantly making snarky remarks at each other and despite them clearly being cool with each other out of the ring, the comments are filled with people being completely worked and it’s awesome. They play off each other so well. They’ve faced each other like 30 times on TV now (Summer has a generous two wins against her!) and I feel like they add something new every time.

If Summer Rae keeps up that level of heat, that level of crowd interaction and that level of ring psychology, I can’t see her not succeeding.

We get recaps of Seth Rollins’ promo on Raw along with Charlotte sending off her dad.

Match #2

Viktor vs Zack Ryder

I’m really interested in this because I really like Viktor as a wrestler and Zack is one of my favorites. Viktor’s new face paint is a whole new design now and it looks incredibly badass. Alright so Viktor and Ryder lock up in the corner. Viktor taunts Ryder a little and I can’t really tell what he said but it looks like Ryder is holding back a smirk. Ryder with an inverted atomic drop and neckbreaker. Viktor takes control for a short while with some stiff shots to Ryder. Viktor’s offense almost feels a little like 2011-2012 Cody Rhodes because of the methodicalness of it. I like it though. Ryder gets back and goes for the Broski Boot and Viktor rolls out. What I really like about this is the way Ryder sells his disappointment as if he just lost a big opportunity to get ahead in the match. Ryder baseball slides Viktor onto the ground but Viktor manages to toss Zack into the barricade right after. Ryder gets sent face first into the steel post. Back from the break and Viktor is slowly getting more and more intense with his attacks. Viktor with a sweet spinning uppercut. His offense is seriously nice so far here. Viktor messes around with Ryder’s ear and locks in a chokehold. Crowd gets behind Ryder real strong. Viktor keeps talking about smiles or something. Not sure if this is a weekly thing. He goes for a suplex and Ryder turns it into a neckbreaker. Ryder slaps himself to try and get back in the match. Big boot and a bunch of forearms from Ryder. Zack goes for the Broski Boot again but Viktor catches him with a knee to the head! Ryder tries to jump over the ropes and splash onto Viktor, but he gets his knees up. Huge clothesline from Viktor as Ryder is too busy tending to his ribs. Ryder evades a dive off the second rope from Viktor and sends him into the corner. Third time’s the charm and Ryder hits the Broski Boot! This time Ryder was intent on hitting it that he didn’t do his “Woo Woo Woo”. Zack climbs to the top and hits an elbow drop for the victory!

Thoughts

I really enjoyed that match. Ryder did some small things in this match that I really liked. Towards the end it felt like he had a real sense of urgency to end the match after Viktor reversed the Broski Boot for the 2nd time. Viktor also really impressed me. I’m not all that familiar with him as a singles competitor and he looked good. I wouldn’t mind seeing him get a shot to move up the midcard ranks. Also, Zack Ryder is a fantastic seller. Not just the way he bumps but the way he sells what his opponent is doing. I think he comes across incredibly sympathetic. I don’t think I’ve ever had trouble trying to stay engaged in a Zack Ryder match. I find it odd that there’s still rumblings of people saying he’s not a good wrestler. I don’t really get what else he’d have to do to prove it at this point.

Now neither match on this show was like Flair/Steamboat, HBK/Taker, Joe/Kobashi or anything, but does it really have to be to be enjoyable? Maybe I’m just easily entertained but I’ll take matches like this all day that tell little stories in them and let people show off what they can do. Got to see Summer pull off some fantastic character work, got to see some sweet reversals from Nattie and some more personality than usual. Then we got to see an intense Viktor up against a sympathetic Ryder. Very enjoyable way to spend 25-30 minutes of your time.