WWE Main Event 02/09/2014

Dolph Ziggler vs Damien Sandow

This is JIP after a Miz TV segment goes awry. I remember these two matching up surprisingly well earlier in the year, and there’s another decent Sandow performance here. He’s got some decent aggression going on, liked his elbows to the neck of a downed Ziggler, as well as stopping him dead with a short back elbow to the face. Sandow does some token arm work before Ziggler comes back with some poor punches, clear air showing between his fists and Sandow’s torso. Sandow tries a figure four, gets kicked off into the turnbuckle, and eats a Zig Zag for the three count in a nice little sequence. Essentially harmless, but unmemorable.

Natalya & Rosa Mendes vs Summer Rae & Layla

God bless Summer Rae, she tries her hardest to make it look like Rosa is doing some damage to her, flying all over for some entry-level armdrags. I think this is the match that was shown on Total Divas where Rosa tried to manufacture a wardrobe malfunction to gain some notoriety, as Layla grabs her by the trunks to prevent her getting in the ring, with the camera suddenly switching angles to avoid showing a full moon. Summer and Layla are a lot of fun on offence, showing some meanness towards Rosa, including an Irish Whip into a neat Summer Rae clothesline. Natalya comes in after a missed Summer legdrop, and runs through her usual offence in a pretty straightforward manner. However, Rosa blind tags back in, and eats a big Layla superkick for the loss. Watchable, almost entirely due to the heel team.

Goldust & Stardust vs Los Matadores

This kind of match is why you sit through the previous stuff, the chance to see 15 minutes of Goldust and the Colons going at it. El Torrito isn’t there, due to a previous post match assault by the Rhodes’, and Los Matadores are suitably aggressive in the opening stages, plastering Stardust. Los Matadores in fact control a lot of the early going on both Rhodes brothers, loved Fernando blocking a sunset flip and stomping on Goldust’s arm to give them a focal point. Ferndando backdrops Diego to the floor onto the Rhodes’, with the heel team unable to get into second gear. Eventually, Stardust pulls Goldust out of the way of a cornersplash to give his team a prolonged advantage. Goldust looks good in control, even dropping a sarcastic “Ole” along the way, before the hot tag to Diego. Looks great coming in too, hitting a neat elbow to the head of Stardust to stun him, before rolling him up for two. Nice top rope cannonball, but Goldust distracts from the apron and Diego turns round into a STO to give them the win. Not quite the tag masterclass you’d hope for, but a nice bit of storytelling with the aggression of the Matadores making them more dominant than usual and controlling of the match.

WWE Main Event 26/08/2014

Rob Van Dam vs Seth Rollins

This isn’t particularly good, but it ends up being much better than the nightmare that it looks like on paper. The early signs aren’t good, with Van Dam rolling into the world’s slowest dropdown on a rope running exchange, but he hits a great sudden kick in the corner, and a pescado that looks more impactful because of how ungraceful it looks. It’s just RVD hurling his body at Rollins without any concerns about it looking good. Both guys do some token arm work, with both throwing their opponent shoulder first into the corner, though this focus doesn’t get paid off by either guy. RVD gets pushed from the top to the floor, bumping huge, whilst a half-hearted (and very untrue) “This is awesome” chant starts. Rollins chucks RVD into the barricades, but Van Dam reverses an attempt to send him into the timekeeper area, sending Rollins instead, and RVD wins via count out. Functional stuff.

Curtis Axel vs Adam Rose

This was actually pretty decent, almost entirely due to Axel. You’d never build a promotion round the guy, but he’s able to make six minute C-show matches against questionable talent seem interesting. Here, he hits some nice punches, a great boomerang clothesline, and really works in a deep chinlock, making Rose carry his weight, working the hold. Rose hits a decent spinbuster to comeback, as well as a sloppy leaping rana, and Axel fully commits to a missed corner splash to set up the Party Foul for the Rose win.

Los Matadores vs Stardust & Goldust

This will have been filmed before the Raw where the Rhodes’ turned heel on the Usos, so this is ostensibly fought as face-vs-face, with both teams getting hot tags. This is a fun sprint, with a great performance by Goldust running thoughout. He looks terrific as the hot tag after the Matadors control Stardust with some nice double-teams. Goldust hits a great bunch of fired up clotheslines, his lovely scoop slam, and an elbow from the corner, where it feels like he really whips back into his opponents face.  Stardust does a corny exaggerated sell of a chinbreaker to let Diego tag in, and he’s great, full of energy, until he misses a top rope cannonball. A Stardust flatliner gets the win, neat little tag sprint.

WWE Main Event 05/08/2014

Slater Gator vs Goldust & Stardust

Two really fun teams colliding here, making for a match that’s really enjoyable, even if it’s not technically great. I mean, Goldust IS great here, probably the quickest guy in the match and still blessed with a lovely punch. The chemistry with him and Stardust is palpable, and I love the little touches like Stardust aping the drop-down punch of his brother, but hitting a Pele kick instead. The mismatched Slater Gator team would surely have been turned face by the audience if they’d had a longer run, there’s something ultimately endearing about Slater’s earnest love of the team clashing with Titus actively disliking his partner. O’Neill shows nice strength hitting two backbreakers on Stardust and chucking him, and I like Stardust managing to land on his feet the second time it’s attempted. Goldust is great as the hot tag, hitting a beautiful powerslam, but the ref gets distracted by Stardust as Heath tries a sunset flip, and Titus boots Goldust in the head for the upset win.

AJ Lee vs Summer Rae

This is short and ultimately pointless. It starts with AJ hitting two swinging neckbreakers that both have Summer going down so early that it looks like her giving the move. AJ sells her ongoing neck injury, which does see Summer attack the neck nastily, but this lasts less than a minute before AJ reverses a neck crank to the Black Widow for the tap.

Jack Swagger vs Alberto Del Rio

Del Rio is a guy who always works curiously hard on C-show matches, and this is no exception. The show is in Texas, right next to the Mexican border, so Del Rio plays face with Swagger as the All-American heel. Del Rio bumps big for Swagger, taking a big spill to the floor then getting hurled into the barricades. Swagger has taped ribs from his recent matches with Rusev, and he twice misses corner charges to give Del Rio comebacks, with Byron Saxton highlighting that the injured ribs are causing Swagger pain on deep breaths, slowing him down and causing the misses. Del Rio does some nice work on the arm, including a draped armbreaker over the ropes. Both guys do some nice work here, massive slam by Swagger looks deadly and I loved Del Rio’s kicks to the ribs to launch comebacks. There’s a really nice battle over the cross-armbreaker at the end, and Swagger manages to break it into the Patriot Lock really nicely, getting the tap as he drags Del Rio from the ropes. Nice, competitive bout.