WWE Main Event 09/09/2014

Jack Swagger vs Seth Rollins

Liked the opening stages of this, with Swagger overpowering Rollins, sending him from the ring with a shoulderblock and slamming him into the barricades. Rollins takes over, including an odd spot where Swagger was perfectly in place for a curb stomp, but Rollins opted to dropkick him in the face instead. We get a decent spot where Swagger tries breaking a chinlock by twice ramming Rollins backwards into the corner, only for Rollins to side step the third attempt, sending Swagger crashing into the turnbuckle. The Rollins control is pretty uninspiring, but things pick up with Swagger back in control – nice big boot to the face and a huge overhead slam. Liked Swagger countering an enzuigiri by catching it into the Patriot Lock, but Rollins blocks a superplex by hitting a diving knee from the top and hits the curb stomp to win. Pretty impressive Swagger performance, he looked good in there.

Cesaro vs Zack Ryder

Short, but decent match. Ryder hurts his leg early, so Cesaro focuses his early offence on the knee, slamming it into the concrete floor and working a kneebar in the ring. Cesaro misses a corner dropkick and hits the post instead, which not only looks nasty, but also puts him in place for the Broski Boot in the corner. Ryder does a good job balancing selling the leg and trying to hit some big offence, tilting his dive slightly on a pescado so as not to land as heavily on the leg. However, inside he leaps into a Cesaro swing and an inverted cloverleaf causes Ryder to tap. Really good stuff from both guys.

Titus O’Neill vs Adam Rose

This is a waste of time really, and a waste of Titus. Titus looks really good here, nice big boot and a decent dropdown  backbreaker, but then Rose’s bunny comes down, distracts Titus by bouncing on the ropes, beats up Heath Slater and Rose gets the pin by ramming O’Neill into Slater during an O’Connor roll. Only goes two minutes, hard to find Rose and the bunny at all likable.

Los Matadores vs The Ascension

The Ascension are still NXT tag champs here, and it’s odd to hear them talked about as so dominant when they’re barely a factor 5 years later. I like Los Matadores a lot, but this is mainly them selling for the Ascension, and it’s not very exciting. The Ascension cut off the ring on Fernando, and I liked the crossarm clothesline they hit on him, but that’s it. Diego at least looks good on the hot tag (that the crowd barely react to), hitting a clothesline with more meat than anything the Ascension hit, before missing a top rope dive and getting finished off with the Fall of Man. The least exciting Matadores match on 2014 Main Event, and I guess that shows why the Ascension fell by the wayside – if you’re having less interesting matches with a team than Slater Gator are, you probably aren’t deserving of a decent push.

WWE Main Event 19/08/2014

Sheamus vs Curtis Axel

Really good match, worked within their hierarchy. Sheamus lets Axel look really good here, whilst ultimately ending up the comfortable winner. Sheamus is very giving here, letting Axel power out of the 10 Beats, before Axel takes over after sending Sheamus throat first into the ropes. Lovely running knee to the head sends Sheamus out of the ring. Loved Axel putting Sheamus in the tree of woe, then hitting a running boot to the head from the floor. Looked nasty. Even when Sheamus tries a comeback with a slingshot shoulderblock, he gets caught by an Axel forearm to the face. In the end, Axel makes the mistake of slapping Sheamus repeatedly in the face, firing him up for a comeback. Sheamus basically rolls through him from that point, culminating with the rolling senton and a Brogue Kick for three. Well worked to give Axel the shine, but when Sheamus took control, Axel had no answer.

Nikki Bella vs Emma

This was Nikki’s first match after turning heel on Brie. Short, but effective as she runs through Emma pretty easily. Cranks in a front-facelock, rams Emma’s face into her knee then, after Emma misses a crossbody, just whacks her with the forearm and the Rack Attack gets the academic three. Effective.

Los Matadores vs Slater Gator

The Matadores are accompanied by Hornswoggle in a cow outfit as well as El Torito, for reasons unknown. This is fun stuff, with Slater in particular stooging about amusingly for the Matadores offence. Los Matadores make everything look so smooth, just a fluidity to their movement. Titus O’Neill coming in is the gamechanger, as he’s able to overpower Fernando, and send him flying with a big hurling slam. Slater gets taken down with an enormous flapjack, but after escaping a series of roll-ups, he nails a big implant DDT for the win.

The Big Show vs Erick Rowan

Exactly what you’d hope for from these two, nothing pretty, just two big boys battering each other. There’s a small run of Rowan working the Big Show’s leg after a chopblock to the knee, but they wisely decide that the crowd aren’t here for Erick Rowan’s limbwork, they want to see some big boy shit, and that’s what they get. Big clotheslines from both men, massive sounding chops by Show, running corner splashes from Rowan at full speed, even a side Russian legsweep by Show…just full on collision from both guys. Really good fun. Rowan even gets to slam Show for two, but as he tries raising Big Show to his feet, he gets caught with a sudden KO punch for the win.

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.

WWE Main Event 29/07/2014

Rybaxel vs the Usos

Starting to feel like Rybaxel are one of those great lost teams, really been enjoying their Main Event run. Good match here, really enjoyed the opening with Jimmy laying into Ryback with meaty chops. Meaty enough that you buy them doing damage to a man the size of Ryback. The heat gets worked on Jey, with Rybaxel simultaneously dropping these jackhammer-like kneedrops. Liked Ryback stopping a comeback by just grabbing Jey and hitting a huge spinebuster. Jimmy gets the hot tag after Ryback misses a top rope elbow, landing HARD. Jimmy runs riot, surviving a perfectplex to hit a huge dive on Ryback, and Jey hits Axel with a splash for three.

Slater Gator vs Zack Ryder & Tyson Kidd

Slater bumps like a madman in the early going of this one, going up high on a flapjack, taking a big spill to the floor then eating a Kidd cannonball from the apron. There’s brief heat worked on Ryder, before Kidd is tagged back in with some nice fire. Kidd hits a nice kick combo on Slater, then heads up top. However, Titus hurls Ryder into the ringside barricade and this allows Slater time to hit a top rope powerslam on Kidd for the win. Short, but fun little bout.

Dean Ambrose vs Alberto Del Rio

How good did Dean Ambrose used to be? He’s so fired up here, actually showing some aggression. He’s almost like a one man swarm, moving quickly and never giving Del Rio a chance to rest. He misses a corner charge, however, and Del Rio hits a leaping enzuigiri from the floor to send Dean’s head into the ringpost. Really nice spot. Ambrose is almost feral here, blocking a top rope back suplex by clawing at Del Rio’s face, and trying to block holds by scrabbling at his hands. Love the sequence where Del Rio ends up taking the Fuerza bump and Ambrose quickly follows with a suicide dive. Del Rio evades the rebound lariat and hits a fast German suplex in another nice spot. Lame ending sees Rollins come out for the DQ, but this was a surprisingly hot match. Really good stuff.

WWE Main Event 22/07/2014

Seth Rollins vs Fandango

Perfectly fine match, with the up-and-coming main eventer getting a clean win over the lower midcarder. Rollins’ kneeling flatliner in the corner looked a bit weak, despite Fandango trying his best to save it with a big sell, but the rest of this was competent professional wrestling. Fandango shows nice fire on his comeback, but gets planted with a buckle bomb and a curb stomp for a quick win

Jey Uso vs Ryback

Decent stuff here, as they work a nice speed vs power section at the start. Uso throws some really nice right hands before using his speed to get two counts from a roll-up and a crucifix. Ryback catches him from the second rope with a huge spinebuster that looked great. Meathook clothesline gets reverse to a big Samoan Drop, but a Curtis Axel distraction allows Ryback to hit a second attempt to win.

Slater Gator vs Big E & Kofi Kingston

Bit of a curio here, as the proto-New Day are accompanied by Xavier Woods in glasses and Brother Love’s clothes, barking orders at them throughout the match. Titus does get to chuck around Kofi at the beginning, but he soon tags out after Slater and O’Neill start bickering. Big E blitzes them both, the New Day hit their own twist on Demolition Decapitation to both (with a Kofi top rope stomp replacing the elbow, looked a bit shit to be honest) and Xavier yells at them to stack Slater Gator on top of each other for the win. Interesting glimpse into what might have been, but I think their current direction was a better choice.

Jack Swagger vs Rusev

Both come into this nursing wounds from their previous matches – Rusev has a bad ankle, that Swagger tries for from the opening bell, whilst Swagger has a suspected concussion from hitting his head on a ring post. We get a break, with Rusev fully in control on the return, kicking Swagger repeatedly in the head and using it as a focal point. Loved Rusev stomping and standing on Swagger’s head whilst holding onto his arm for leverage. Swagger’s comeback is nice, huge overhead bodyslam and he hooks the ankle lock after grabbing the foot on an attempted block of the Swagger Bomb. Ending is a bit disappointing, as they head outside and Rusev uses the Russian flag to draw a DQ, but the meat of this was really fun

WWE Main Event 21/04/2014

Proper good episode of Main Event. Four matches, all worth a watch. Good use of an hour.

Big E vs Alberto Del Rio

Pretty decent little sprint here. Both move pretty quickly to start, with Del Rio showing a vicious side as he tries to wear down the bigger man. Loved Del Rio headbutting his way out of a belly-to-belly attempt, followed by a vicious kick to the head. Also loved a really nice sequence where Alberto escaped the Big Ending, shoved Big E into the corner and immediately followed with an enzuigiri. Big E makes a comeback and, in a rather slick sequence, catches Del Rio on a tornado DDT attempt and hoists him onto his shoulder for the Big Ending. Dug this.

El Torito vs Hornswoggle

The commentary team only play this for comedy, which is a shame, as the match is pretty fun. El Torito in particular is pretty good on the mat, tying Hornwoggle up in a leglock. Torito looked great with a nice top rope crossbody, but Hornwoggle had some surprisingly nice bits too. Loved his vicious running kick to the skull. Torito goes for a moonsault, but is distracted by Heath Slater, causing him to miss and letting Hornswoggle hit the Tadpole Splash to win. Fun stuff.

Sheamus vs Titus O’Neill

This was pretty boss. Considering their respective place on the card at the time, Sheamus was especially giving to make Titus look like a beast. Right away, Sheamus takes a big pinball bump out of the ring to put over O’Neill’s strength. Loved how these two guys were both happy to lay in the blows, with the body shots from both making a lovely thwacking sound. Sheamus takes a big bump, as he tries to hit the slingshot shoulderblock into the ring, but meets a big forearm and tumbles to the floor. Really nice show of strength as Titus catches a top rope crossbody to hit a fallaway slam, which looked great. Even the end helped keep Titus strong, as he spends too long shit-talking Sheamus, holding him by the face, only to meet a quick headbutt and a Brogue Kick for the win. This basically ruled.

Ryback vs Jimmy Uso

Ryback and Jimmy also seem happy to lay in the blows on this match, so we’ve got quite a fun episode of Main Event this week. Really enjoyed Uso going for a big out of control dive early, knowing he’s got to take it to the Big Guy early. It’s slightly disappointing that we go to a break with Ryback out on the floor, and return to find Uso in the same position, takes away from the match a bit. Ryback’s control is pretty standard, punctuated with some really nice bits. Loved his massive spinebuster and the meathook clothesline always looks devastating. Uso kickstarting his comeback by powering out of a Ryback powerbomb attempt feels unlikely. The end sees Ryback hit the Shellshock after Curtis Axel distracts Uso, and this was a perfectly fine match.

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 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.