WWE Main Event 01/07/2014

Luke Harper & Erick Rowan vs Xavier Woods & R-Truth

Bit of a disappointment here, as not only is this an extended squash, but Woods and Truth look a bit off the pace here, awkward and hesitant in their movements. I did like the big boot to the face that Harper hit on Truth and Rowan’s match-winning sitout uranage on Woods was decent.

The Funkadactyls vs Nikki Bella & Alicia Fox

Another very short match, and this was mostly all angle. Nikki had lost a handicap match to the Funkadactyls on Raw (in the midst of her feud with Stephanie McMahon). Here, she’s been given Alicia as her tag partner, and we’re all just sat waiting for the moment that Fox turns on her. The bulk of this is Cameron “controlling” Nikki with a submission, before Nikki tries the hot tag…only for Fox to shockingly move out of the way and kick her in the head for the Cameron pinfall. Match was barely two minutes, thankfully.

Dolph Ziggler, Big E & Rob Van Dam vs Cesaro & Rybaxel

On the last Main Event, I waxed lyrical about how a six-man tag match is a pretty solid format, making it easier to hide the sins of the less capable performers in the match. Thus, it feels sad that just one episode later I’m pretty disappointed in this one. Cesaro is working an “injured eye” bit, complete with an eyepatch, so it makes it a bit more jarring when “babyface” shitbag Ziggler attacks his eye and rips off his eyepatch. What a cunt. There were a few bits I enjoyed here – Ryback blocking a Big E belly-to-belly with a few headbutts was nice, and the eventual overhead belly-to-belly by Big E was super impressive. But we get a lengthy RVD face-in-peril section that wasn’t very interesting. Ryback hits a snake eyes on him that has visible space between the turnbuckle and his head, and Cesaro works a long chinlock to the delight of no-one. Ryback at least commits fully to missing the top rope splash that leads to the hot tag. Ziggler runs through all his worst offence – the un-countalong corner punches, the back-slap DDT and the dreadful fameasser – before pinning Cesaro with a zig zag. Yeah, this was a bit of a shit episode.

WWE Main Event 13/05/2014

Damien Sandow vs Dolph Ziggler

This was better than I thought it was going to be, albeit not something I’d actually call good. Liked some of the things Sandow did, like the vicious little elbow he did on a rope break to take the advantage, which he sadly then followed with some weak blows. They did go to a chinlock very early, but Sandow at least made it fun with some shit-talking. Some bits were off – a drop toehold into the ropes saw Ziggler having to walk two or three paces before falling, but Sandow showed an aggressive side, which led to him dropping a few nasty kneedrops. The aggression proved his undoing, as he puts too much force into a back suplex, with Ziggler flipping to his feet and hitting a flash zig zag for the win. Surprisingly decent.

Emma vs Alicia Fox

The start of this is great, as Fox gets on the mic…and almost immediately hurls it at Emma’s face. She keeps attacking before the ref can ring the bell, then immediately hits a backbreaker when it does. She dumps Emma through the ropes to the floor, which looks nasty. Like Emma selling her wooziness at being beaten down, so she takes too long to hit her corner crossbody, meeting only knees. Suddenly, Emma pulls out a roll up from nowhere and wins. Real shitty ending to a fun match.

Sheamus vs Cesaro

Yeah, there’s no way these two were going to have a bad match, and they both put it all out there for Main Event. Love the aggression from both guys, both happy to take a blow and lay one out at the same time. I loved how evenly this was worked, but in a way that both guys were getting worn down by the beating they’d take. Neither guy gets a sustained advantage as they’re both hurting too much from the damage they’ve taken to fully capitalise. Some nice offensive spots by both guys, loved Cesaro’s draping DDT over the ropes to send Sheamus’ head into the apron, and Sheamus hit a rare top rope dive to the floor. Sheamus misses a Brouge Kick and before he’s got both feet on the floor, Cesaro deadlifts him for a swank German suplex. It felt like an odd time for them to fight – Cesaro just a few weeks into his Paul Heyman run and Sheamus only just winning the US belt – as neither guy felt right losing, so when they both head to the floor, you know we’re getting a double count-out. Really good bout though, as these two always have.

WWE Main Event 06/05/2014

Jack Swagger vs Dolph Ziggler

In typical Ziggler match fashion, there’s good parts of this (the parts where Ziggler doesn’t do much) and some fucking terrible parts (when Ziggler goes on offence). Loved the big Swagger takedowns early on, and there were even moments when you remember that Ziggler used to be a college wrestler, as he looks ok working reversals on the mat. Loved Swagger flinging Ziggler across the ring, sending him over the turnbuckles to the floor – big bump for Ziggler to take on Main Event. Swagger does some fun work on Ziggler’s arm, and I dug him putting Dolph’s hand over his (Swagger’s) chest to do the “We The People” chant. Then Dolph goes on offence…terrible you-can’t-count-along 10 punches in the corner, sloppy fameasser, that abysmal slap-on-the-back DDT. Just awful. Things further fall off a cliff, as Adam Rose comes out for no reason (Swagger has been wrestling cleanly throughout) to bully Zeb Colter on commentary. Literally, Rose and all his Rosebuds come out to swarm Colter, essentially just intimidating a senior citizen for no reason. Swagger, rightly concerned for his manager’s well-being, is distracted, and Ziggler hits the zig-zag to win. First half was decent, but this ended up as utter shit.

Natalya, Cameron & Naomi vs Tamina, Aksana & Alicia Fox

Cameron and Natalya have some tension at the start, based around Cameron losing Nattie’s cat on that week’s episode of Total Divas. Not much to this, though I did like Fox’s big boot to Natalya off a Tamina distraction. Aksana looks pretty bad here, though credit due for fully committing to her missed elbow drop. Naomi comes in with a weird pedigree/piledriver move, which begins with Aksana draped over the ropes, and finishes with a split-legged moonsault. Tamina and Cameron are wisely left out for most of this, but it’s still a bit rubbish.

Goldust vs Curtis Axel

This was the match of the show by some margin. Both guys showed some nice intensity, and I dug Axel’s big running knee. Both guys also seem to have their timing down, as Goldust gets a really convincing nearfall off a jackknife pin when Axel misses a dropkick. This was pretty short, but all enjoyable, and the end sees a nice bit of misdirection. Both were accompanied by their tag partners, and the previous weeks had seen some tension building between Goldust and Cody, based upon Goldust beating people that Cody couldn’t. Here, the action spills to the floor, and it looks like Cody is trying to hit his brother with a Disaster Kick off the barriers, but instead he takes out Ryback who is about to sneak attack Goldie. Back inside, and the Final Cut gives Goldust the win. Dug this.

WWE Main Event 29/04/2014

Goldust vs Alberto Del Rio

Quick little match, but a fun one. Goldust is fired up after ADR beat Cody on the previous Raw, but this costs him as the referee has to separate them in the corner, giving Del Rio an opening. Del Rio keeps control but maybe takes too long to set up a superkick (including taking down his kneepad, which I’m sure doesn’t help a superkick). Goldust blocks and hits a leg screw, before hitting the Final Cut for the unlikely win.

Paige vs Alicia Fox

Pretty heated to start, few nasty sounding strikes on the apron before Paige ranas Fox to the floor. Nice big boot to the face by Fox. Love the two of them really battling over a suplex before Paige turns it into the Rampaige for the win. This was pretty choice.

Bad News Barrett vs Kofi Kingston

Another really quick bout tonight. Loved the superkick to the midsection of Kofi, which lifts him into the air. Kingston is still a guy with floaty light offence that never looks particularly good. The match ends with them outside, with Kingston trying to leap off the steps, only to fly right into a Bullhammer. Barrett rolls him in for the academic pin.

Sheamus vs Bray Wyatt

Wyatt, for all his faults, is a guy unafraid to have a big fight with a guy, and Sheamus is always happy to oblige, so it’s no surprise that this is pretty good. Loved Sheamus just grabbing Wyatt by the beard and punching him in the face. Wyatt’s senton always looks crushing, and I loved him trying a second time, only to land on Sheamus’ knees. Sheamus was fired up here, with a running knee into the corner having so much momentum he flew out onto the apron. Sheamus gets a few close nearfalls from White Noise and the Irish Curse, but with Wyatt due to face Cena at the next PPV, he was always going to win here. The end sees Sheamus try to Brogue Kick an interfering Luke Harper from the apron, only to get caught up on the top rope and Sister Abigail finishes. Great match.

WWE Main Event 15/04/2014

The fun thing about watching old Main Events is coming across hidden gems that I never knew about. The Wyatts vs Los Matadores/Sin Cara, Ambrose vs Henry, just some good fun matches that had gone under the radar. The opposite side of this is that some episodes feature utterly skippable, pointless matches. This, unfortunately, is one of those weeks...

Los Matadores vs Jinder Mahal & Drew McIntyre

This really sums up what a weak episode of Main Event we have here. On paper, this could have been a really fun tag match, given the abilities of the matadors and McIntyre. Instead, this is more angle than match. Hornswoggle comes out as a member of 3MB to cancel out El Torito, and it’s his distraction that allows McIntyre to take control of a matador. However, El Torito gets involved straight away, leading to both outsiders fighting in the ring and the match ending in a double DQ. Waste of time.

Sin Cara vs Bad News Barrett

This was really short, but at least allowed for a few fun moments. I liked Cara’s suicide dive and Barrett was really good at beating his opponent down with nice looking blows. But the match is only a few minutes long so, after a shitty headscissors from Cara, Barrett avoids a Swanton and quickly hits Winds of Change and the Bullhammer to win.

Nikki Bella vs Naomi vs Cameron vs Emma vs Tamina vs Alicia Fox vs Aksana vs Eva Marie vs Layla vs Natalya

This is a battle royal, complete with shitty “going through the ropes elimination” rules, to become number one contender to the Divas title. Nothing her really worth watching, though I felt particularly sorry for Layla selling the super-slow, super-weak offence of Eva Marie, who thankfully is the first eliminated. The crack camera team totally miss Tamina nailing Nikki with a superkick. Tamina is put over really strongly here, throwing out both Funkadactyl, Nikki and Fox to leave her alone with Natalya, who she also bins off with a superkick. Very skippable.

Jack Swagger vs the Big Show

By default this is match of the night. It’s not great, but it’s perfectly fine and is at least logically worked. I like Swagger in the opening stages, using the ropes to build momentum to attack Show. Swagger grabbing a big boot attempt and attacking the leg makes total sense, both in terms of downing Show and also as he’s got a leg-based submission. Show only needing one smack to the chest of Swagger to start his comeback was great, especially with how much they put over his giant hands early in the match with his chops. Chokeslam is reversed (very slowly) to the Patriot Lock, but Show holds on and is able to land the KO punch to win.

WWE Main Event 25/03/2014

Pretty disappointing episode of Main Event here. Fuck knows what I did to deserve two Ziggler matches.

Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler

Christian had won a four-way on Raw to face Big E for the IC strap on this episode of Main Event, but had picked up his career ending concussion, so the other three from the match had this triple threat to see who got the match. Nice little one-show angle. The problem this match suffers from is that you’ve got two guys really laying in their blows, putting in a sense of struggle when trying to escape holds, and it clashes with the wrestling style of Ziggler, who’s offence looks milky in comparison and isn’t the kind of guy who puts in realistic touches. Compare Del Rio punching at Sheamus in a failed attempt to prevent the rolling senton with Ziggler hitting his “opponent holds me in the air until I slap his back to let him know it’s time for a DDT” DDT. With Del Rio being the only heel, he controls a good part of this match, working over Ziggler and keeping Sheamus on the outside (I appreciated ADR going back to make sure Sheamus couldn’t get back in, rather than Sheamus mysteriously vanishing for ages as in most triple threats). Sheamus’s comeback is great, he’s a terrific offensive wrestler and I love how he builds up momentum, hitting more and more moves from the ropes so he’s like a big block of muscle crashing into his opponents. The end sees a really hot sequence between ADR and Sheamus, before Sheamus misses a Brogue Kick and ends up stranded on the ropes. ADR hits the backstabber, but Ziggler comes in to hit the Zig Zag on him at the same time. Even though Del Rio landed in exactly the same way that he was going to, this earns the win for Ziggler. Dolph really was a subtraction by addition to this match.

Natalya, Naomi, Cameron, Emma & Eva Marie vs Layla, Alicia Fox, Tamina, Summer Rae & Aksana

AJ Lee is on commentary, as this is just a brief bout to showcase the entrants in the “AJ Lee vs the world” match at Mania. Being so short, no-one really gets the chance to stand out, bar Layla looking awesome as a stooging heel. She’s not afraid to look daft to put her opponent over, even doing a goofy version of the Robot to counter Emma’s terrible dance. Eva Marie becomes face-in-peril, and surprisingly working heat on the least popular and least sympathetic member of the face team doesn’t generate much reaction from the crowd. Naomi gets the hot tag and immediately hits a terrible rana on Tamina. She improved SO much on her heel turn. It all breaks down, leaving Tamina to nail a superkick on Naomi for the win.

Big E vs Dolph Ziggler

This match really doesn’t work, as both guys seem to have trouble clicking. They’re in a strange boat where the bigger face IC champ is taking on a smaller guy who wrestled a ten minute match earlier in the hour, so they need to find a way to make sure Big E doesn’t look like a bully. Seemingly the solution they choose is for Ziggler to sell zero exhaustion from his earlier match, which has the unfortunate side effect of making Big E look weak as he ends up selling more than Dolph in this match. There’s too many odd moments here that don’t work: Big E jams his shoulder on the ring post on a corner charge, but this doesn’t get worked over or sold again in the bout. Ziggler’s offence is reduced to just dropkicks, whilst Big E keeps on hitting clotheslines. It’s just not a very good match, though I liked the ending: Big E throws Ziggler up in the air, causing him to splat on the mat and grabs him as he bounces upwards to hit the Big Ending for the win.

WWE Main Event 18/03/2014

Cody Rhodes & Goldust vs The Real Americans

Really fun tag match, with all four guys adding little touches to make this more than just a run-of-the-mill tag match. Liked Cesaro at least trying to stop Cody hitting the Disaster Kick by making for the ropes as he hits it. Goldust was looking terrific at this point, leaping gracefully into the Code Red. A double dive to the floor by the Rhodes Brothers is as fun as it is unexpected. Cesaro’s strength allows him to easily correct spots that nearly go awry, using raw power to catch Goldust and hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Loved Swagger’s cocky bullying of Goldust, just shoving him across the mat to get him into place for the Swagger Bomb. The Real Americans work a fun heat section on Goldust, including a great near tag where Cesaro shoves Cody off the apron at the last second. Cody was hot fire on the eventual tag, loved his moonsault press to Swagger. The end was great as Swagger locked in the Patriot Lock on Cody, who tried to break the hold frantically with boots to the feet before escaping and hitting the CrossRhodes for the win. Great stuff.

The Funkadactyls vs Layla & Alicia Fox

Naomi still has her eyepatch on here, so of course Fox aims some early elbows to that eye. My notes state that Cameron hit a “wheelbarrow something”, which tells you how good that move looked. Layla looks great here, loved her fluid takeover into a pin, and she stooges about really well. As per usual, Fox’s Northern Lights suplex looks great. Naomi comes in on the hot tag, and though full of energy, she looks a little sloppy. Her heel turn has really helped her slow down and crispen up her moves. Cameron botches a move where she’s supposed to leap off Fox’s back, before Naomi hits the Rear View and a split-legged moonsault for the win. The heel team looked a lot more capable here.

The Big Show vs Titus O’Neill   

Pretty brief, but there was stuff to enjoy here. Titus shows Big Show no respect early on, earning himself an hilarious tour of chops by Show, who really milks the impact of each one. A chop block by Titus looks great, and is a realistic way for him to take over. Clash of the Titus gets two, despite looking super impressive but Show catches him on a corner splash with the KO punch for the win.

WWE Main Event 04/03/2014

Whether it's due to the (then) recent launch of the Network or the build to Wrestlemania, this episode of Main Event is positively star packed. But does having bigger names result in better matches?

Daniel Bryan vs Kane

Quite a big match for Main Event. Surprisingly good match here, best Kane match I’ve seen in a long time. Of course, being in there with Bryan helps, but it looks like Kane has upped his game knowing he’s in the ring with someone who’ll go all out. First indicator is when he whips Bryan to the buckle near the start, and immediately follows with a big clothesline. Just a noticeable burst of speed I don’t associate with Kane. Bryan’s comeback sees him work over the knee of Kane, who sells it superbly even on offence. It also adds an interesting element to their interactions with the size difference, as it gives Bryan a weak spot to concentrate on and an easy focal point for his comebacks. At the same time, one shot from Kane is enough to take Bryan down, so both are vulnerable even when on offence. Bryan goes on a kick blitz that sees Kane positively wilt. Bryan lands on the back of his head following a failed top rope rana, which is a bit cringeworthy knowing what we do now. Kane tries a chokeslam, but Bryan hoists himself over for a sunset flip for the victory. Pleasant surprise.

Nikki Bella vs Alicia Fox

Also interesting to see Nikki slumming it on the C-show. Fox is on point throughout the match, hurling herself with gusto into Nikki’s slightly weak offence. Nikki got to be really good as a heel later this year, but as a face she’s a bit too lightweight. Not as much fun as the Nikki Bella who beasts women with massive forearm shots to the face. Fox is great on offence – her Northern Lights suplex is always terrific, and I liked her choking Nikki over the ropes whilst dismissively slapping her head. Nikki makes an uninspired comeback and hits the Rack Attack from nowhere for the win.

The Usos vs Los Matadores

This is the Usos first title defence, and is due to be against the New Age Outlaws, but the NAO claim injury and are replaced by Fernando and Diego. To be honest, it most likely resulted in a better match. A really fluid and fun opening ends with a dive series, before the matadors take control with a nice dropkick/legsweep combo. Los Matadores continue to work over the isolated Uso and, barring a sloppy two-man monkey flip, incorporate a nice mix of double teams. Fernando gets a real shine spot, hitting a springboard twisting Swanton and landing on his feet when an Uso avoided the second. The Usos helpfully don’t fill this match with a thousand superkicks, so it’s acceptable when they hit just the one and win the match with a top rope splash. Fun bout.

WWE Main Event 25/02/2014

Decided I'm going to concentrate on Main Event for my C-show watching, Superstars is too much recapping and not enough wrassling for my tastes. Really fun show this week,

Cody Rhodes, Goldust, El Torito & Los Matadores vs Curtis Axel, Ryback & 3MB

This was a real blast. Face Cody was so much fun here, really nice run of offence before Ryback catches the Disaster Kick and plants him with a powerbomb to make him face-in-peril. Loved the spot where Drew tagged out to Mahal, who tagged out right away to Slater, which meant all three were in the ring to quickly each hit a move on Cody before the ref could remove the non-legal men. Ryback hit a great press-slam into a powerslam. The heels attack the faces on the apron, which leaves Cody no choice but to tag El Torito. Really fun offensive run by Torito before everything breaks down with the faces flying out of the ring onto their opponents. This leaves Torito with Slater, which is won by the bull with a flying headscissors that rams Heath’s head into the canvas. Lots of fun.

Natalya & Eva Marie vs Alicia Fox & Aksana

Ha, and to think I was complaining about watching Cameron vs Aksana on the last episode. Natalya and Fox work a pretty good sequence to start, with Fox hitting this great goofy flying headscissors, but you just know we’re killing time until the inevitable Eva/Aksana showdown. Eva comes in and poor Fox hurls herself around for some arm wringers. Fox takes control before Aksana comes in, and goes to hit her eye-busting knee on Eva, but hilariously Eva totally no-sells her beating and starts crawling for her corner right away. Poor Aksana is forced to try and hit a diving missed knee just to keep some forced sense of drama. Natalya comes in and tries a Sharpshooter on Aksana, but gets shoved into the ropes, hitting Eva on the apron and Aksana rolls her up for the pin. Well, three of the four looked competent.

Darren Young vs Titus O’Neill

PPV rematch here, now relegated to semi-main on Main Event. Nice quick tempo to start before Titus takes control. Love the look of disgust on Titus’ face as he looks at his chest after taking control following a few chops from Young. Titus has some great cocky swagger here, and he beasts Young in a really fun way. Sadly, it’s over pretty quick, and Young escapes a slam to roll up Titus for the win.

Sin Cara vs Damien Sandow

This has Sin Cara’s shitty mood lighting, which doesn’t help the viewing experience. Sandow is really aggressive throughout this, and just wails away at Cara with some stiff looking knees to the gut. Even with the Elbow of Disdain, he does the pose, swiftly goes to the mat to repeatedly punch Cara in the head, then drop the elbow. Was there a Cara/Sandow feud I’d forgotten about, because this is pretty heated for the C-show. Cara comes back with some slightly slow-mo lumpy looking highflying, and gets a very close 2 count from a one-armed powerbomb. The swanton gets three for Cara, and this was a pretty fun change of pace, Sandow’s aggression really helped the match.