Notable Matches From 2010 - Day One

This will be a reoccurring feature here as I pour over match of the year candidates or other interesting matches from the 2010. I decided to start off with a match from Superstars, as the quantity of the quality on that show can be so overwhelming that it is easy to forget just how awesome some of it really is.

Yoshi Tatsu/Christian/Mark Henry v. Zack Ryder/William Regal/Jack Swagger - WWE Superstars 3/18/10

This is a perfect example of why Superstars exists. Here you have a featured main event with some of the most talented mid-card acts on the roster working in tandem and opposite some of the young up-and-comers on the roster all of whom have upsides. The match goes well over ten minutes (though a big chunk sadly was eaten up by a commercial) and is broken up where everyone gets a chance to show what they can do.

-Henry was awesome as the big man enforcer. His taunts of Swagger when Christian tagged him in were great. As usual he showed a little bit of vulnerability so the heels foolishly try and over power him. This builds to an awesome reversal into a double suplex on the heels from Henry and eventually a press slam from the ring to the floor of Ryder onto Swagger.

-Tatsu was a very good face in peril. He got in some flashy offense early, but mostly he took a beating here and a massive one at that.

-Christian really delivered again against Ryder working some tight exchanges, some really fun misdirection spots, hitting his big spots and delivering a great definitive finish.

for the heels

-Swagger's cockiness worked well in this and he was a good foil for Yoshi's comeback.

-Ryder was really good here, maybe the best he's ever looked. Usually you get the feeling Christian is just carrying this guy, but here he did a great job getting into place for some of the big spots, taking some big bumps and even seemed really comfortable on offense for once. His segment with Yoshi was way better than could have been expected and kept the match from going off the rails at a time when it easily could have.

-Regal took a nasty tight knee from Christian early, but his big contribution here was brutally mauling Yoshi with stiff strikes and throws. I mean we are talking a real ass beating, with the strike flurry looking so vicious that you start to really feel for Tatsu which of course is the whole point.

I don't want to hype this too much, because it's not the sort of match that you watch and think "Holy Fuck that was awesome!" But it is the kind of match you would hope WWE would run more often as everyone looked really good and the longer the match went on the more you felt like you were watching something really fucking good.