411’s WWE Superstars Report 07.12.12

Commentators: Scott Stanford & Matt Striker

Championship’s roll call: WWE Champion: CM Punk… World Champion: Sheamus… Intercontinental Champion: Christian… United States Champion: Santino Marella… Tag Team Champions: Kofi Kingston & R-Truth… Diva’s Champion: Layla

Justin Gabriel vs. Hunico (w/Camacho):   Hunico and Camacho have a tag title shot on the pre-show at Money in the Bank so I see him possibly winning here. They lock up and Gabriel grabs an armbar so Hunico retreats to the ropes. They exchange waistlocks and takedowns with head scissors reversals; Hunico retreats again. Hunico floors Gabriel with a shoulderblock but eats a monkey flips as he tries to run the ropes; Gabriel charges with another monkey flip. Hunico charges in the corner but Gabriel winds up on the apron where he hits a springboard crossbody, for two. Hunico takes a chance and nails Gabriel as he is trying to get up and it works; I love Hunico, he wears the wifebeater with his name on it so people know who he is. He chops Gabriel in the corner but it gets reversed and reversed again. More chopping. I swear I read somewhere that chopping in the corner Canadian Violence style was banned in the WWE. He charges but Gabriel catapults himself out of the corner and Hunico posts his shoulder and flies out to the floor. Camacho lends a hand but he inadvertently blocks Hunico’s vision and Gabriel leaps off the apron, over Camacho, and nails Hunico with a hurracanrana, wiping out the cameraman in the process. He tosses Hunico back into the ring and has a tense staredown with Camacho. Hunico tries to take advantage upon reentry but Gabriel sunset flips him; Hunico tries a Mysterio roll through but Gabriel ducks the kick. Gabriel tries a schoolboy but Hunico rolls through that and finally gets that buzzsaw kick. Chinlock time… as we head to break. Back from commercial, Gabriel scores with a crucifix sunset flip for two; Hunico kicks to take back over and muscles him down into a chinlock. Gabriel begins to rise so Hunico tries to backdrop him but he counters into a dropkick. Gabriel begins a kick comeback and a forearm; a spinning roundhouse kick gets two. Hunico tries a Saito suplex but Gabriel blocks and tosses him into the corner; Hunico blocks the force in the corner and schoolboys into a single-arm powerbomb, for two. Hunico is surprised at the nearfall. They trade waistlocks and Hunico winds up with a release back suplex, putting Gabriel on his face, for two. Justin comes back with a second-rope moonsault press but Hunico counters into a reverse DDT! It only gets two. Hunico heads to the top and tries the Swanton but Gabriel gets his knees up; he crucifixes him for two. Gabriel tries a top-rope moonsault but Camacho provides the distraction and Hunico crotches him; he looks for a top-rope back superplex but Gabriel shifts his weight… but Hunico rolls through with a handful of trunks for the pinfall. 7/10 I do not believe these two could put a match up that isn’t under a 7. Great matchup, Hunico and Gabriel have faced each other a bunch of times before and they mesh well together. Excellent opener this week.

Here is your winner… Hunico @ about 13:20 (broadcast) via backdrop superplex roll through pinfall.

Alicia Fox & Kaitlyn vs. Beth Phoenix & Natalya:   Nattie is back to being a heel, at least she’s not farting anymore. Alicia is wearing a unique combo of red, white and blue; Nattie waistlocks her down and sits on her for a nearfall. The kickout puts Natalya right on her ass. Nattie puts the badmouth on her so Foxy slaps her ass. Nice counter, I plan on using it often. Nattie slaps Alicia in the face, She tries to monkey flip Alicia out of the corner but she (sort of) lands on her feet; Fox comes back with a handstand hurracanrana, for two.  Kaitlyn tags in and hits a basement dropkick. Nattie immediately takes back over and tags in Phoenix. The Glamazon gets quick power moves but Kaitlyn surprises her with a crossbody off the ropes. Alicia tags back in and they hit a whip-assisted dropkick; Kaitlyn did the whipping, Fox handled the dropkicking. Natalya walks in so Fox hiptosses her onto Beth. The heels retreat and Fox baseball slides Beth; that serves to piss Beth off but her overaggressive nature is easily countered via Matrix move into another dropkick. Natalya tags back in and immediately gets caught in the babyface corner; Kaitlyn hits a backbreaker and a vertical suplex. Kaitlyn sells a sudden knee injury and Nattie zeros in on it; Beth tags and hits a leg DDT. The Divas of Doom double up on Kaitlyn in their corner and beat her up. Nattie misses a corner charge and almost gives up the hot tag but being the seed of a former two-time tag champion, she has the instinct to cut it off. Beth tags and applies a half-crab; Nattie knocks Alicia off the apron to draw her into the ring so the referee will pull her back but he completely ignores her and she spears Nattie down. Beth takes care of the situation by extricating Foxy from the ring but she turns right into a small package cradle for three! 5.5/10 Good to see the Sisters of Destruction right back where they left off… jobbing to every mismatch diva tag team in the WWE. This match was actually pretty entertaining. Diva tag matches are so much better than one-on-one divas matches. Perhaps the WWE should make everyone in the divas division a tag team?

Here are your winners… Alicia Fox & Kaitlyn @ about 8:40 via inside cradle pinfall.

The Raw rebound is, what else, revolves around the WWE Championship love triangle between AJ Lee, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. I never thought I would say this but I enjoyed this angle when Kane was still involved. For my full recap on that “show”, click here.

Alex Riley vs. Jinder Mahal:   Riley gets his traditional mega-pop for his entrance; I know he’s no Ric Flair or Randy Savage in the ring but he still elicits a major league pop, give this guy some wins or put him in a tag team with some other flailing babyface and let them work. Mahal got a buzz cut and now his beard is longer than his hair, he’s got some new spiffy SHINY purple ring gear. The fans prove my point on Alex, chanting “Riley” rather loudly. Riley applies a side headlock; Mahal backs him into the ropes and we get a clean break. Mahal shoves him a few times so Alex knocks him on his ass; Mahal gets an elbow in the opposite corner but charges right into a unique hiptoss into a neckbreaker by Riley. Mahal retreats to the floor. Riley gives chase and gets caught with a running knee as he is reentering; Mahal with a nice butterfly snap–suplex. Jinder slaps on a chinlock; Riley suplexes himself free, Mahal hits the ropes, and runs into a nice dropkick. Mahal flails wildly and Riley hits a nice basement dropkick. He tries the A-Bomb but Mahal pushes him off; he tries to go to the top again but Mahal pushes him off again and he tumbles to the floor where Jinder slams his back into the ring apron. Back from commercial, Mahal is stomping away on Riley and drops rope-assisted knees. Riley RAKES THE EYES to take over but runs into a boot in the corner; an elbow drop and chinlock follow. Riley uses the fans’ reaction to make a comeback but Mahal forces him to the floor; the referee keeps preventing Jinder from going out after him and when he finally does Alex nails him with the running one-boot dropkick onto the apron. A-Ry begins the real comeback with clotheslines and spinebuster. The crowd is alive as he heads to the top for a diving Hart Attack clothesline; Jinder kicks out at two. Mahal counters Riley Elevation into a Flatliner for two. Mahal looks for the Camel Clutch but Riley slips through and looks for Sudden Death (formerly You’re Dismissed, it was also called Hit the Showers, I preferred that name) but Mahal slips over his back and schoolboys him for two. Alex scores with Riley Elevation (implant DDT) for two. Mahal plants Riley with a bodyslam into an uranage slam. Mahal stamps in the corner and whips him cross-corner; Riley reverses and Mahal attempts a float-over but nearly gets caught in Sudden Death again. Jinder elbows free and looks for the high knee to the back of the head but Riley moves and Mahal lands on his back. Riley tries an enziguri but Mahal ducks and cleverly segues into the Camel Clutch to continue Riley’s losing streak. 7/10 Very good main event as these two were allowed to build to a finish; the last three minutes of this match were pretty intense as I thought Riley may pick up a win here, but it was not to be. That is proof that the match was good (especially with a jobber in there) that I did not know who was going to win until the last three seconds of the match; an entertaining main event that caps off a good show this week.

Here is your winner… Jinder Mahal @ about 15:50 (broadcast) via Camel Clutch submission.

OVERALL 7/10 Entertaining show this week with a stellar opening contest, a pretty good divas tag match and a perfectly fine main event; good show this week as we have gotten off the recent average/bad match schneid that has haunted this show for the past few weeks.

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