Superstars Scrapheap

First off, anybody out there actually watch Superstars?

*crickets followed by tumbleweed*

Right so, on with the article then. . .

I noticed lately that the ratings for the show in question has been getting lower and lower every week, bit by bit. Of course, I ended up coming to the conclusion that Superstars has become just like Heat and Velocity before it.

What set it apart from those now defunct shows is that, at first, storylines with mid-carders such as Dolph Ziggler were teased out in the ring. Now that isn't the case anymore, but at least it gave people half a reason to tune in. Superstars is also more concentrated on the actual matches, whereas Heat was more of a Raw highlight show with meaningless matches in between that usually involved low carders like Val Venis or just complete jobbers who we'd never see again. Notwithstanding that, Chris Jericho has appeared on it several times as well.

The choice of commentators is also different. Whereas they used to put the likes of Todd Grisham, Josh Matthews, Jonathan Coachman (remember him?) and Jack Korpela (oh god) on the announce desk, WWE actually puts Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Matt Striker on commentary for this Thursday night programme. It's only a small thing, but it does matter to wrestling fans.

So on the basis of that evidence, it would seem as if WWE did put some stock in it at the beginning. But when I tune into it on Friday evenings (when it airs in Ireland) I don't get the feeling that anyone cares about this slot anymore (that is, of course, if anybody cared about it in the first place).

In all honesty, it's a bit of a black hole for any talent who are unfortunate enough to end up on it these days. Many of the wrestlers who now appear on Superstars, seem to be perpetually affixed to it. Chris Masters, for instance, returned a few short months ago to Raw, but ever since has wrestled solely on Superstars. Maybe that's a bad example, because I actually don't want Masters anywhere near my television screen to begin with.

If we take, say, Chavo Guerrero, who has been out of the loop since his feud with Rey Mysterio really. In the last month or two, however, Chavo has been missing from Smackdown! and is now on a "winning streak" on Superstars according to Grisham. I actually like Chavo, I've always been a fan of his. I've watched a few matches he had back in WCW and I think WWE have really missed the ball with this guy. He's so good, and yet he hasn't been used in the right way on so many occasions. I just don't see how the Santino and Kozlov double act makes it onto Raw, supposedly your flagship wrestling show for the week, when Chavo should at least have a good spot on Smackdown! instead of doing this crap.

Just as we see weekly in NXT, where Rookies are made to do idiotic tasks, it is yet another example of WWE misusing their talent.