James Caldwell, Torch Assistant Editor (7.0)

This was an 8.0 or 9.0 show until the final 20 minutes of the show. Absolutely nothing happened after the Christian-Henry match and I question why the Big Show vs. Hornswoggle circus freak show match was put in the main event slot. "Superstars" isn't Raw or Smackdown in terms of viewership or overall importance, but if people tuned in for the final 20 minutes of the show, they weren't given much reason to order the PPV. And I just don't think those repeat video packages are that effective, unless that's just a case of my brain shutting them out after watching so many of these over the years.

Prior to the wasted final 20 minutes, this was an excellent show. Even Christian vs. Mark Henry was a good TV match. I believe Henry works a better "big man slow-it-down" match than Big Show, who is notorious for "one move, walk around, one move, walk around" pacing. Henry has unique charisma while he's working his big-man style and he "creates movement" well to keep viewers attentive. Christian also deserves credit for working a good match too. They had good chemistry here and WWE sweetened the audio nicely to create a good atmosphere.

The opening match between Rey Mysterio and Shelton Benjamin was excellent. Solid 14 minutes of TV with a nice dose of athleticism and action. John Morrison didn't bring much to the commentary position as he got caught up watching the match, but he was fine. I just wonder if Morrison even knows what his babyface character is when he's still dressed and acting like the heel character from ECW.

Jon Mezzera, PWTorch.com Contributor (5.5)

This was a slightly above average episode of Superstars, which should have easily been a 7.5 at least after the first 40 minutes or so. However, Raw's portion of the show really brought down the quality. I haven't been enjoying Raw lately at all, so I don't want to be reminded of the poor booking in the Batista vs. Legacy feud by seeing a Raw Rebound, just like I saw on ECW. I also don't want to be reminded of the poor booking in the John Cena vs. Big Show feud by seeing a video package on the recent history between those two. I certainly didn't need to see the silly exhibition between Big Show and Hornswoggle. It was very boring. Ok. So it showed Show to be an ass and Vickie Guerrero to be a heel GM, but there have to be more entertaining ways to do that.

It is a shame that the show would be so bad for the final few segments, because it got off to a great start with a very good 13 minute match, Rey Mysterio vs. Shelton Benjamin. I love seeing Mysterio in the ring with a wrestler as athletic as Benjamin. It is so much more fun to watch than seeing him in the ring with bigger wrestlers like Mike Knox or Kane. I was disappointed with John Morrison on commentary. He added nothing and came across as bland. Something has to be done to make him an interesting babyface character, because everything that made him so great before was so heelish. I also enjoyed Christian vs. Mark Henry. That is as good a match from Henry as we should expect to get. It went 10 minutes and didn't drag as so many of his matches do. He looked good in showing off his power, while Christian looked good in fighting back and showing resilience.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (6.0)

The poor fans at the Smackdown tapings who had to watch Mark Henry wrestle twice. That was my first reaction to seeing Superstars this week. But his match with Christian was loads better than the one with Tommy Dreamer, as one would expect. And the opening contest of Rey Mysterio vs. Shelton Benjamin was more than solid as well. I just wish that with John Morrison on commentary, they would've made an attempt to have him explain a little more about his face turn.

The main event was odd for so many reasons. Goldust was among the least likely, I would've thought, to come stave off a Big Show attack. Yet it's nice to see they're doing something with him, perhaps pairing him with Hornswoggle. It's clear that Raw has no time for Horny, so WWE probably made this "match" (which didn't follow the same "exhibition match" rules as Cena vs. Miz- there was a ref and a bell for this one) to keep Hornswoggle in the public eye and perhaps this signals that they do have plans for him. Didn't do much for Big Show, though.

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