The Number Two Contenders called, and Josh Petrie answered. Josh, the owner of a separate and arguably far superior blog in his own right (realworldchamp.com) engages in some cross-promotion, cluing you in on 15 of the most entertaining minutes of wrestling you're likely not watching each week.
Thanks for joining us, Josh. Everybody go check out his amazing work.
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Let me guess: RAW has you down. Cena
nuff of this, Cena nuff of that. Seen enough of the
Bellas bickering. Heard enough CM Punk
chants to just hit mute — if Michael Cole and JBL
weren’t the last straw already. Not
to mention the fact that SmackDown’s even worse most of
the time.
Well, here with Number 2 Contenders,
it’s all about #PromotingPositivity. So let’s eliminate the
negative and find a way to accentuate
the positive. So how do we do that?
By encouraging you to watch WWE
Superstars with me.
*crickets*
“You mean the show with all the
RAW replays?”
Yes, that one! But here’s the thing:
There are a couple matches mixed in, and they’ve been
pretty good lately. Other basic
benefits include:
• The quickness: If you know
the format and watch it on-demand, you can get through the fresh
stuff in about 15 minutes. The show
always leads off with a match, then has another in the
second-to-last segment. If you click
forward to about 22 minutes left, you’re either catching the
start of the main event or the
entrances. If you watch it live, catch the first match, do a quick
chore and be back around 10:30 p.m. ET
and you won’t miss anything.
• The basics: Do you ever want
people to just stop talking and throw down? Well you’re in luck!
Superstars doesn’t even bother with
promos; the competitors get down the ramp and get to it.
Plus, the matches aren’t overly long,
with even the main events usually taking 6 to 9 minutes.
• The talent: Wonder where
Kofi Kingston has been? Justin Gabriel? Sin Cara?
They’re here.
Want to see Erick Rowan and Luke
Harper beat two unassuming jobbers? They’re here. Want
to see Stardust show off his
singles skills against a single Uso? They’re here. Wonder
where
Alicia Fox went? SHE WAS HERE
TWO WEEKS AGO!
• The matches: A whole lot
better than you’d think.
Gabriel and Sin Cara provided not one,
but three great reminders of the old cruiserweight days
to start September in a series to
“determine the top high-flyer” in WWE. Gabriel was impressive
enough, and ubiquitous enough on
Superstars and the immediately preceding NXT, to earn the
“Thursday Night Delight” moniker
from at least one fan. Try
it on. See if it fits for you. Sin Cara
was a far cry from the botchy punchline
the character was, especially when the former Mistico
was under the mask. Hunico is
well-versed in the WWE style, and he still provides enough lucha
libre elements to put on solid matches
with other cruiserweight/junior-heavyweight types. Also,
with the success of the Lucha Dragons
(Sin Cara and Kalisto) as NXT Tag Team Champions,
he’s a two-time regular on Thursdays,
too. We’ll call him “El Rey Del Jueves” until further notice.
When their miniseries ended, Kofi threw
his Boom Drop into the mix. Being the more
established star, he obviously beat
Gabriel and Cara in back-to-back weeks, but made both
men look strong in the process in
high-caliber (for WWE) matches.
That triad carried an actual narrative
through the past month. But others also received some
shine along the way.
In the past four weeks, we’ve seen
Naomi beat Summer Rae in a match that showed just how
much work Summer still needs, then beat
Alicia Fox in one of the best told, most athletic 5-
minute Divas stories you’ll ever see;
The Wyatt Family beat Los Matadores in a quick match
that actually showed elements of
competition; and Jimmy Uso get one over on Stardust in a
clean 1-on-1 match. It’s why when
people lament the lack of midcard development, I just figure
they don’t know where to find it.
A lot of it is Tuesdays on Main Event,
but a fair share is on Thursdays, too. Bring an open mind
and your ability to navigate a time
bar, and you shouldn’t be disappointed.
Even if you are, you’ve only lost 15
minutes or so. That’s about 3 hours less than you’re losing
on Monday night.
Josh Petrie is the writer and
editor (and whatever other titles a one-man operation carries) of
realworldchamp.com. He
writes weekly reviews of Ring of Honor, Main Event, NXT and, of
course, Superstars, along with
the occasional 1990s WCW pay-per-view.
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