A look at the three stars for this week’s WWE Network programs: 205 Live and NXT!

The Third Star:
Lince Dorado

Lince Dorado is one of the most underappreciated talents in all of WWE. But there’s a reason he’s almost always in the ring with the Lucha House Party is involved.

He does everything so well. He’s fluid in the ring, he’s over as a babyface, and he knows how to make his opponent look like a million bucks. I don’t know if he’ll ever ascend to certain heights in WWE, but as long as a cruiserweight is needed, Lince Dorado should have a job.

The Second Star:
Tommaso Ciampa

Tommaso Ciampa is the heel we need, and the heel we don’t deserve. He’s utterly amazing, and he keeps getting better with each outing. His segment with Johnny Gargano was highly effective, especially considering that Gargano is one of the two most over babyfaces in the company (the other being Daniel Bryan).

To be a great babyface, you need a great heel to work off of. Ciampa is that for Gargano. I have my own opinion as to what needs to happen at Takeover between these two, but I’ll save that for another article.

Others given consideration:
Hideo Itami, Adam Pearce, Danny Burch, Roderick Strong, Kairi Sane, Lacey Evans

And now…a distinction usually reserved for the top performer of the night…the first star!

The First Star:
Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali (TIE)

I am quite happy that Buddy Murphy is still figuring into the mix on 205 Live. I was worried that, after losing in his bid to unseat Cedric Alexander for the Cruiserweight Championship, Murphy could be headed to Raw, Smackdown, or even back to NXT. That seems not to be the case, at least for now.

He had a great dance partner in Mustafa Ali, necessitating the rare tie at the top. Hideo Itami may have “ruined” the match, but it was honestly the perfect chance for him to do so, and we seem to be set for what can be a highly entertaining triple threat match next week.

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Who are your three stars of the Network? Comment on social media @ChairshotGreg, @theCHAIRSHOTcom, and use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

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In hockey, a game’s “three stars” represent the top three performers of the night. For more clarification, I defer to this Pittsburgh Gazette explanation:

“The tradition dates to the 1936-37 season, when Imperial Oil became the principal sponsor of Hockey Night in Canada radio broadcasts and was seeking a way to promote one of its products, Three Star gasoline. The idea of doing so by selecting the top three performers in a particular game purportedly came from a Canadian advertising agency.

Many clubs do recognize the player with the most three-star selections with an award or trophy, usually in conjunction with a corporate sponsorship, at the end of the season (or sometimes, each month). All six Canadian franchises, for example, have an affiliation with a well-known brewery.

The NHL keeps track of its own three-stars-of-the-night selections, but that is done on a league-wide basis. The league employs a system that awards 30 points to a first star, 20 to a second star and 10 to a third – a running total can be found on the league’s website – but it does not present an award based on them.”

In hockey tradition, the first star represents the best of the three, but all three are considered to be receiving a high honor.