James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (7.5)

Let's start with a question for the debut episode of WWE Superstars. What is the purpose of this show? I believe the purpose is to simply be another vehicle to promote the main storylines leading to a pay event, which in this case, happens to be the Backlash PPV on April 26. Another question...did WWE achieve the purpose? I believe they did, for the most part.

The opening match was useful for providing another set of eyeballs with some information on the Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy feud, with a match taking place at Backlash. Perhaps a Raw-only viewer tuned into Superstars and saw the next layer of the feud and is intrigued to order Backlash to see the next step of Jeff vs. Matt. Mission acomplished.

The second match was Christian vs. Finlay in a #1 Contender match for the ECW Title. Now, this is where I docked WWE points because there was no sign of Jack Swagger, the ECW champion. Raw-only viewers remember Swagger's stand-out performance against John Cena on Monday. Perhaps seeing Swagger on the show along with the #1 contender match between Christian and Finlay would have increased the potential a viewer would have considered ordering the PPV to see Swagger vs. Christian because they remembered Swagger.

The third match was effective for building up the McMahon vs. Legacy storyline. Shane was still given way too much offense, but he held his own in the ring and WWE effectively played up the DQ stipulation for Backlash where Triple H could lose the WWE Title to Randy Orton if Shane, Batista, or he earn a DQ during the course of the match. Showing Shane fly off the handle against Cody put Hunter in peril of losing the title. Intrigue for Backlash enhanced.

Jon Mezzera, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.0)

This was a solid debut for Superstars. I really like the concept and hope WWE doesn't tweak it too much. I like the idea of giving one match each for the three brands every week to advance storylines, give more ring time to mid card wrestlers and help establish newer wrestlers. This debut episode furthered the Hardy brothers feud, featured the ECW Elimination Chase finals (which is good in that it gives Christian and Jack Swagger a weak on ECW to hype their Backlash match that they wouldn't have had otherwise) and furthered the top feud on Raw.

The match quality was solid to good. I enjoyed Matt Hardy vs. The Undertaker. It had a bit of a copout finish, but that played into Hardy's role as a cowardly heel, while allowing Jeff Hardy to get some revenge. It wasn't a great match, but it was good. I was disappointed in the short time for Christian vs. Finlay after two weeks of build on ECW. Despite liking the quality of the wrestling in Shane McMahon vs. Cody Rhodes, that match didn't have to be 12 minutes long. It could have been half that length and still accomplished its main purpose, of establishing the fact that Shane could snap during Backlash and cost Triple H the WWE Championship. I would have cut that match in half (taking away time from Super Shane) and given it to the ECW match instead.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (7.0)

Hard to argue with the amount of wrestling on this show. I'm just glad Shane didn't beat Cody. The fact that the match was so long and Rhodes still couldn't beat a non-wrestlers doesn't say much for him. I liked how they had something to plug for this show, that being the Christian vs. Finlay match that was plugged at the end of ECW Tuesday night. The right man went over in that match too.

Undertaker leading off the show was memorable, with him being the winner of the first Superstars match. I would've preferred some follow-up to the HBK angle with some mic work or something, but still, he put on an entertaining with Matt Hardy.

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