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This past Saturday morning was a 180 for the company which once portrayed a character as having sexual relations with a “dead” woman.The WWE debuted its new kids program, WWE Saturday Morning Slam, this past weekend, a show which was as kid friendly as “violence” can be.
Kofi Kingston took on Heath Slater. The match took on characteristics you would see from two very inexperienced independent wrestlers who needed to fill 10 minutes. I'm not saying the match was bad. In fact, given the circumstances and the audience, it was right on par.
The two competitors used a lot of time to pose, invoke comedy and repeatedly went back to applying armbars. Again, all of these are acceptable to use at the right times in matches, but it was noticeably different from the quality of matches most WWE superstars are capable of giving.
As I reported earlier, the WWE has a rule regarding matches on the Saturday-morning program which mandates that they not feature any moves which take aim at wrestlers' necks. This match held true to that stipulation.
Arm drags, armbars and hip tosses composed the bulk of this match.
It was simple wrestling. The match started off hot, with the babyface, Kofi Kingston, on the upper hand. Then came the heat on the heel, who cheated behind the referee's back. Finally the babyface ate his spinach, "hulked up" or any other metaphor applicable, and finished strong, getting the win.
The most basic, simple formula of match progression in wrestling executed.
The comedian in the form of Santino Marella worked his comedy in while stressing the fans give Kofi strength and that Heath Slater was a cheater.
The show featured several cutaways as the superstars made their entrances to kids in the audience reacting. Shirts containing anything deemed inappropriate were blurred.
The match was about 10 minutes of television time. The rest of the show featured positive segments such as Brodus Clay dancing and superstars answering questions.
All in all, it wasn't for me, but it wasn't suppose to be. The WWE catered to the demographic it and the advertisers were aiming to reach perfectly.
What percentage of a chance is there that a heel ever wins a match on the show?
By the way, for those who were wondering, the match featured two hip tosses, five arm drags and more than three minutes combined time in armbars or abdominal-stretch submissions.
