WWE Superstars 11.19.09 Recap:
After the pyro went off, Josh Matthews and Byron Saxton of ECW hyped up Sunday's Survivor Series PPV, as well as tonight's main event when Raw's Cody Rhodes faces Mark Henry. ECW opened the show with Shelton Benjamin heading to the ring.
Shelton Benjamin vs. Zack Ryder
They rolled footage of Shelton and Ryder's in ring confrontation from Tuesday's ECW on SyFy where Rosa Mendes got in Shelton's face allowing Ryder to throw a cheap shot.
Ryder brought Rosa along with him for tonight's matchup. He escaped the ring early as the bell rang and Shelton rushed at him. Shelton tossed Ryder in from the apron to start things off, then went at him in the corner. Ryder was punched down, then clotheslined down and finally suplexed for a near fall. Shelton escaped a suplex from the air to land on his feet and connect with a neckbreaker.
At one point after Ryder seemed in control, he tossed Shelton over the ropes. Shelton skinned the cat and was able to toss Ryder outside. He went for the baseball slide dropkick with Ryder moving away. Ryder shoved Shelton hard into the steel steps to regain control as the show took a commercial break.
Superstars returned with Rosa watching as Ryder had control of things. He used a variety of holds down on the mat until Shelton stood up to elbow out of it. Ryder caught Shelton with a knee to the gut as he ran from against the ropes. Shelton finally was able to jump backwards from off the corner to take Ryder down. Shelton stayed in control but was favoring his left arm. Both guys went for a flying bodypress and fell to the mat as they collided. Rosa suddenly got a call on her cell phone and ran to ringside yelling "baby, baby!" She tossed the phone in the ring by accident, then got in the ring to fetch it. The ref ordered Ryder to get his girl out of there. Shelton came jumping at Ryder who was with Rosa in the corner. Ryder moved and Rosa screamed as Shelton stopped himself on the corner in front of her. Ryder was able to slam Shelton down with Rosa cowering in the corner.
Winner: Zack Ryder wins via pinfall over Shelton Benjamin."Ask the Divas" was next with tonight's questions "Do you believe in love at first sight?" and "Best way to break the ice on a date?". Featured in the segment were The Bella Twins, Melina, Alicia Fox and Beth Phoenix.
Backstage in a locker room, Ted Dibiase was prepping Cody Rhodes with strategy for his main event match against Mark Henry later.
Matt Striker and Todd Grisham from Smackdown were now on hand to discuss Survivor Series with the Batista-Rey Mysterio feud featured in highlight footage. It all started back at Bragging Rights when Batista lost the Fatal Fourway match for the World Heavyweight title. He blamed his pal Mysterio for costing him the title and destroyed him after the match. They had an in-ring confrontation on Smackdown where Rey agreed to put differences aside and forgive Batista, but The Animal refused. Now they will clash at Survivor Series 2009.
Vickie Guerrero was introduced to the crowd who gave her their usual booing treatment while she screamed "Excuse me!" several times at them. Vickie introduced her boyfriend Eric Escobar for the next match.
Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Eric Escobar
Yang used an impressive offense early on, escaping Escobar's attempts to take him down. Escobar finally tripped him into the corner to start pummeling Yang. Escobar clotheslined Yang hard in the corner then did a face forward slam move. Escobar kept a submission hold locked in on Yang down on the mat. Eric kept bashing away on Yang in the corner to Vicky's delight. Yang started to make a comeback as Grisham discussed how Escobar was nearly a baseball star. Yang hit a flying bodypress from the corner, but couldn't complete the pinfall. Yang went to the opposite corner for his moonsault, but Escobar rolled to the outside. As Yang went on the apron, Vickie was there to distract him, allowing Escobar to swipe Yang's leg out. Back in the ring, Escobar sized up Yang then hit a running dropkick to take Yang down for a pinfall. He celebrated by kissing Vickie in the ring after the bell.
Winner: Eric Escobar wins via pinfall over Jimmy Wang Yang.
Superstars returned with a video montage about Smackdown's Drew McIntyre who Vince McMahon personally signed. McIntyre has already done damage to R-Truth, Jimmy Wang Yang and his latest victim, Finlay. Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole were now available for commentary. Lawler said he's been better since his recent attack from Sheamus. They thanked Jay-Z for his song "Empire State of Mind" featuring Alicia Keys again, which was the background music for the WWE's MSG highlights video. They rolled the video out again that was seen this past week already on Raw & ECW, only this time they had added footage from the big Triple Threat tag match on Raw.
Cole and Lawler ran down this Sunday's Survivor Series PPV card featuring the two Triple Threat matches and the Team Morrison vs. Team Miz traditional elimination match.
Cody Rhodes vs. Mark Henry
Rhodes surprisingly came out to the ring on his own without Ted Dibiase. This match appeared to have been taped in MSG before or after Raw. Last week on Superstars, Rhodes was at ringside for Dibiase's match against MVP. Rhodes got on the apron to try to argue with the ref, which wound up costing Dibiase the match as MVP rolled him up for a pinfall.
Rhodes went for an early Bear hug which didn't work so he tried to punch away. Henry absorbed the punches and Rhodes rolled to the corner to regroup. Rhodes tried for a kick with Henry grabbing his foot and shoving Rhodes down to the mat. Henry got Rhodes up for a press, but Rhdoes gave a thumb to the eye. From there, Rhodes tried to gain momentum as he hit Henry and got up on the corner. Henry threw him down then rushed him with a clothesline. Rhodes backed out of the ring and up the ramp a bit. The crowd started to get hyped up with Henry as Superstars went to a break.
As the show returned, Rhodes ducked two clotheslines but was leveled by the third move. He went outside again to rest on the steps, with Henry going to get him. Rhodes wisely dropkicked the steps into Henry's legs, but couldn't push him back in the ring. Henry got on the apron to headbutt Rhodes away. As Henry got in, Rhodes dove at his leg to chop block him, but Henry fell on Rhodes too. Rhodes hobbled over to work on Henry's hurt leg. Rhodes had a near fall but Henry threw him off. Rhodes remained in control using knee drops and other attacks inside or outside the ring. He kept a leg hold locked in on Henry back in the ring.
Henry finally recovered enough to build momentum, hitting a huge backdrop on Rhodes. He whipped him hard to the corner then tried to put him on his shoulder but his hurt leg couldn't handle the weight. Rhodes slid off and went at Henry but was shoved down. Henry signaled for his finisher, then picked Rhodes up off the mat for World's Strongest Slam to end it.
Winner: Mark Henry wins via pinfall over Cody Rhodes.
Labels: Cody Rhodes, Eric Escobar, Mark Henry, Shelton Benjamin, Survivor Series, WWE Recap, WWE Recaps, WWE Superstars, Zack Ryder
