WWE Main Event 16/09/2014

Dolph Ziggler & R Ziggler vs The Miz & Damien Mizdow

Here, R-Truth is cosplaying as Ziggler to counteract the Miz/Mizdow duo. The face team is pretty unexciting in the early stages, so it’s nice when Mizdow breaks their momentum with a headbutt to Ziggler. Liked Miz ducking a superkick to protect his face, allowing Ziggler to roll him up for two. Ziggler briefly plays face in peril, but makes the tag with no real build up. Miz does a terrible job of selling the Fameasser, but Truth does manage to hit Ziggler’s leaping DDT without the need for to slap Miz’s back, making it much better looking. Truth hits a Lie Detector on Mizdow, but Miz is the legal man, and he hits the Skull Crushing Finale to win.

Brie Bella vs Cameron

Surprisingly decent, albeit not particularly long. Both women seem pretty aggressive to start, felt like they were actually battling over moves. Loved the rolling crab Brie gets as Cameron runs the ropes. Cameron gets a brief control that looks decent, hitting a standing splits legdrop and working over Brie’s back. Bella comes back with a diving clothesline and a facebuster to win. Genuinely decent stuff.

Big E vs Seth Rollins

They get a reasonable amount of time – just over fifteen minutes – but unfortunately they don’t make the most of it. A lot of this match sees Rollins in control, and he really drags it out. His beatdown is methodical and not especially interesting, and he fills more time with two long chinlocks. His standing enzuigiri looks nice, but it’s Big E who really impresses here. Aside from his attempt at press-slamming Rollins from the floor to the ring – where Rollins gets stuck in the ropes, and his eventual landing seems him fall not very far – his stuff looks great. He catches a Rollins crossbody to hit multiple backbreakers, he hits full-bodied corner charges, his overhead belly-to-belly and standing splash are both great looking moves, and his spear to the floor looks mental. In the end, Rollins throws him into the corner twice, and the Curb Stomp gives him the win. 

WWE Main Event 15/07/2014

Emma vs Cameron

Not a match I was looking forward to, but credit where it’s due I thought Cameron showed some nice aggression here. She looked like she really disliked Emma, and getting boots up on the corner cross body looked nicely timed. Emma takes a big bump to the floor when she gets dumped attempting a tarantula. Emma gets the win though, when she gets a small package after Cameron was distracted by taunting Naomi at ringside. Short, but surprisingly effective.

Rybaxel vs Big E & Kofi Kingston

This is pre-New Day, but I think only a week or two before they formed. This was really fun, Rybaxel had become a legit good team at this point. Love Axel grape-vining a free arm with his legs whilst holding Kofi in a side headlock. The inevitable Big E/Ryback big lads face off is great, both guys move really well and it’s a fast paced little segment filled with unlikely leapfrogs and nice rope running. Axel might well be the MVP of the bout though, loved his running knee to the face of Big E and the diving clothesline from the apron that makes E the face in peril. It leads to a hot finishing run and a great end as Big E just hurls Axel upwards, he bounces off the canvas and straight into Trouble In Paradise for the New Day win. Great stuff.

Sheamus vs The Miz

This is right after the Miz came back and was working the “money maker” defending his face schtick. Sheamus is a guy who’ll totally blast you in the face, so this was a fun pairing. Miz works a load of fun avoidance spots that lead to him taking more punishments, like not being able to stop the 10 blows to the chest due to covering his face. Sheamus happily works some meaty sounding body shots whilst Miz is concerned with his face. This plays nicely to the end too, as Sheamus goes for the Brogue Kick, Miz cowers with his face covers, and Sheamus locks in a really tight roll up to win. Fun stuff.

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 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 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.

WWF Main Event 18/2/2014

Reasonable edition of Main Event here. One very good match, one ok bout and one stinker is a worthwhile use of 50 minutes.

The Shield vs Sin Cara & Los Matadores

This is the logical follow-up to the Wyatts/Cara & Matadores bout from the last main event, with the Shield due to face the Wyatts at the next PPV. The Shield members aren’t as big as the Wyatt’s, so the face team doesn’t have to hit-and-run as much here, instead outsmarting Ambrose and Rollins in the early going. Loved the Total Elimination variant on Rollins by Los Matadores. The fans are well up for a bit of Roman Reigns here, and he’s the gamechanger in the match, making Fernando the face-in-peril by blasting through him. The heat section is brief, leading to a Sin Cara hot tag, but Cara soon becomes FIP, and they work a longer heat section on him. I’d forgotten how not-silly Dean Ambrose used to be on offence, as he grounds Cara with a chinlock, and hits a nasty sharp headbutt to prevent him from making a comeback. There’s a few nice teased tags before Cara tags Diego, and Ambrose is really portrayed as the weak link here (as per the upcoming PPV match), as Diego dominates and Ambrose needs saving on a few occasions. Reigns stops a double-dive by spearing Fernando and Cara, and I loved Ambrose holding Diego up for an elevated Superman punch. Curb stomp gets the win, and this was a fun trios bout, if not as good as the Wyatt’s bout the previous week.

Cameron vs Aksana

Oh fuck off! Aksana is still playing off her clumsy kneedrop to Naomi, and she drops an early knee to Cameron’s head, teasing an early countout victory. Sadly, we aren’t that lucky, as Cameron gets in and bumps around awkwardly for Aksana’s offence. Her offence is even worse, and you know things are bad if there’s a noticeable difference in quality between yourself and Aksana of all people. A roll-up gets 3 for Cameron, so at least it was quick.

Kofi Kingston vs Curtis Axel

I didn’t hate this, but that was almost entirely due to Axel. He bumps around nicely for some of Kofi’s suspect looking offence, including some big flip bumps as his leg gets taken out. Axel is accompanied by Ryback, so Mark Henry comes out midway through to even the sides, but this doesn’t become a tag match sadly. I realised here why I’m not a big Kingston fan – he’s clearly very athletic and gets a great height on all his moves, but his high-flying isn’t very impressive. He’ll get high in the air, but only to hit a sloppy legdrop or a weak looking chop. By contrast, Axel’s stuff looks really good, nice snug belly-to-back suplex. Ryback takes out Kingston on a dive attempt to draw the DQ, but Henry sends him outside for Kingston to hit a big flip dive anyway. Fine, but nothing worth going out of your way to see.