WWE Superstars Review – 6/17/16

Match #1

Summer Rae vs Sasha Banks

Yes! David Otunga is doing Superstars now too! However so is Dolph. And as much as I love Dolph, it feels like he couldn’t care less what’s going on in the ring. Summer comes out miming the words to her theme song. Sasha and Summer stare each other down before Summer aggressively shoves her hand into Sasha’s face over and over again. Sasha tackles her down. Sasha runs up the ropes and arm drags Summer, following it up with the double knees in the corner. Summer slams the back of Sasha’s head into the bottom turnbuckle and takes over. Summer chokes Sasha with her foot and follows it up with a big leg drop for two. Summer chokes Sasha with her foot in the corner. Sasha tries to escape but Summer big boots her into a seated position in the corner. Summer mocks and slaps around Sasha. Summer yells at a fan before being rolled up for two. Summer clotheslines Sasha down and tells the crowd that no ones like Sasha (at least I think, Summer talks fast sometimes), prompting a “Lets go Sasha” chant. Summer does Sasha’s taunt as Sasha struggles to recover. Summer locks in the Cobra Clutch and tells the crowd “no more Sasha”. Sasha starts to fight out but Summer spins her around into what kind of looks like a neckbreaker, while still holding onto the Cobra Clutch. Sasha fights out and hits a big knee to the face, followed by a clothesline and dropkick. Sasha lays Summer between the ropes for the double knees but Summer dodges and gets onto the apron. She headkicks Sasha and runs in the ring, hitting a kneeling DDT. Dolph is marking out. Dolph names Summer’s DDT the IMDB but I have no idea why. Summer kicks the rope in anger and goes over to Sasha, who tosses Summer into the turnbuckle and hits the Bankrupt, followed by locking the Bank Statement for the victory.

Thoughts

This goes about five minutes but in those five minutes, they wrestle a fantastic match. There’s so any little things I want to point out in this match. First off, I absolutely love the way Sasha sells, specifically during submissions. Every time Summer has her in a submission, Sasha looks like she’s constantly trying to adjust and use her arms to get out of it. This includes things like the chokes in the corner. I’ve noticed so many wrestlers are just lethargic during cool down submissions (Natalya is the worst with this) and I think the faces that actually struggle come off way more sympathetic here. And shout out to Summer for forcing the crowd to get involved. Two times in the middle of the match she mocks the crowd for claiming they don’t like Sasha, making the crowd show their affection for her. It’s just a smart thing to do and she’s been doing that since the early days of her NXT run. Make the crowd seem like they’re jerks for not cheering and they’ll cheer. And it’s pretty easy for a crowd to cheer Sasha regardless. There’s a clear chemistry between these two in the ring, and while I didn’t think it was as good as their Main Event match from a couple weeks ago, I thought it came across as a slightly smoother match. The snap DDT to a kneeling opponent fits Summer so well considering she’s pretty much female Miz anyway. Another thing I was a huge fan of was Sasha’s offense and Summer’s selling. Sasha’s knees look great and she moves around the ring extremely fast. Summer bumps and sells like a champ but what I really like is her post match selling. The crowd cuts outside the ring after the match and Summer looks like she’s on death’s door from the Bank Statement. Some people (cough, Charlotte, cough), act like nothing happened the second the match ends. This match and their previous one capitalizes on all the stuff that I feel the Charlotte/Natalya feud is severely lacking.

Recaps of the Corbin/Ziggler feud, the Jericho/Ambrose Raw main event, AJ Styles & Cena’s contract signing and The Shield video package.

Match #2

Baron Corbin vs Jack Swagger

We’ve still got Ziggler on commentary and Corbin can’t take his eyes off him. This might be the first bit of continuity on Superstars in years. Swagger out-maneuvers Corbin in the early going, taking him down with wrestling holds and going for the ankle a few times. Dolph actually comes in handy here, talking about what Swagger is doing thanks to him having a background in wrestling as well. Corbin elbows Swagger in the face a couple times and drags his head across the top rope. Swagger dodges a few attacks from Corbin and picks up steam on the ropes, hitting a shoulder block. Swagger pumps the crowd up with a “We The People”. Swagger runs at Corbin and Corbin sends him into the ropes and elbows him in the back of the head off the rebound. Corbin takes Swagger out of the ring and puts his head on the barricade before violently elbow it over and over again. Back from the break and Corbin has Swagger in a headlock submission. Swagger fights out and irish whips Corbin to the corner but Corbin uses the momentum and slides out of the ring. Corbin sprints back in from the other side and clotheslines Swagger down. Corbin taunts the crowd a bit while choking Swagger on the ropes. Corbin mocks and trash talks Swagger before locking the chinlock looking submission in. Swagger fights out and the two begin to trade strikes in the middle of the ring in a moment that I wish the crowd was a bit more alive for. Swagger dodges a splash in the corner and hits a clothesline of his own. Jack runs off the ropes and hits another one. Swagger gets fired up and hits the big takedown slam. Swagger fires up the crowd and really gets them to pop after being quiet for a bit. Swagger runs off the ropes and hits a mean clothesline. Swagger goes for the Swagger Bomb but Corbin gets his feet up. Baron goes towards Swagger but Swagger rolls him up for two. Swagger gets up but runs right into the Deep Six. Swagger just kicks out and Baron is pissed. Corbin elbows Swagger hard on the ground and rolls him out of the ring. Corbin has a long staredown with Ziggler before leaving the ring himself. He charges at Swagger but Swagger dives into the ring, sending Corbin straight into the steel steps. Corbin makes it back into the ring at nine but rolls right in position for Swagger to hit the Swagger Bomb, which he does. Swagger locks in the Patriot Lock and after a long struggle, Corbin makes the ropes. As Swagger stands over Corbin, Corbin hits him with a shot right to the throat and then a hard punch to the face. Corbin limps over to Swagger and hits the End of Days for the win.

Thoughts

What a fantastic match! Swagger’s selling was great as always and Corbin’s offense is really impressive. The spot here slides out and back into the ring was seamless and I never realized how quick Baron can be. Also loved the steel steps spot. Corbin really impressed me again with his heel work. And Swagger is great at pumping up a crowd, even if it’s probably just the patriotism in effect. It’s a shame that the crowd wasn’t too into this as a whole though. There was an awesome strike sequence between the two that was great but could have been even better with some “ooohs and ahhhs”. Corbin has some brutal looking moves though. The elbow he hit to the back of Swagger’s head looked nasty. And I’ll admit, Ziggler’s commentary grew on me during this match. He was much more focused on putting over both guys and hyping his match with Corbin a bit.

After this we end Superstars with a recap of the Ambrose Asylum segment featuring Rollins & Reigns.

Overall

Yet another great episode of Superstars. The Summer Rae vs Sasha Banks match was about as good as a five minute match can be and they did every little thing possible to make the most of their time. Summer’s ring awareness is fantastic. I know it’s a cliché thing to say these days but both of them really just get it. They understand the little things that can elevate a match. I’m going to have to update my top 10 Summer Rae matches soon because she’s had about 5 awesome ones in just the last month. Hoping to see her keep it up. She’s been the queen of Superstars and Main Event this year. And Sasha hasn’t lost a single step since her injury. As for Corbin and Swagger, this match rocked. Just two big dudes beating the hell out of each other. Corbin’s offense combined with Swagger’s selling made for a very compelling match. Also, David Otunga rocks on commentary. Dude has done really well for himself this week. I really enjoy watching these C shows because I feel like the wrestlers really get to display their characters in the ring.