WWE Main Event 31st July 2013 Review

For the second week in a row, Main Event didn’t really deliver a main event that I was particularly excited to see. I’m a big fan of Wade Barrett, and think R-Truth can go when he wants to, but WWE have made it clear in recent weeks they don’t really have any plans for either of these wrestlers, so there was very little reason to care. The other contests, saw the 1000^th meeting of The Usos  and The Prime Time Players, whilst Mark Henry was in full bulldozer mode against Drew McIntyre. After the previous months worth of Main Event was very strong, the last two week have been incredibly disappointing with WWE picking some uninspiring combinations of wrestlers, hopefully this will change once the tours of Australia and South Africa are over, and WWE returns to it’s regular schedule.

R-Truth

 vs. 

Wade Barrett

Now the reason I wasn’t as hyped for this match, as I was for say Christian vs. Damien Sandow or Chris Jericho vs. Cody Rhodes a few weeks ago, was because both Barrett and Truth have been made to look fairly rubbish in the last couple of months. We barely see R-Truth on either Raw or Smackdown, and when we do he’s getting his shoulders pinned to the mat, like this week’s Raw against Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel (okay he didn’t actually get pinned in that match, but as good as). I’m pretty sure Wade Barrett hadn’t won a match since he dropped the same title to Axel at Payback, and for some reason is not in favour with WWE higher ups at the moment.

The match itself took a long time to get going, probably because Barrett and Truth hardly ever wrestle matches this long on television and are used to the simpler four minute format that most WWE matches take. Therefore when it came to building a coherent story for this match, there simply wasn’t one. When there isn’t a story to follow with a match, it makes it much easier to zone out of what you’re watching, which I kept finding myself doing. It didn’t help that the in ring action at this point wasn’t particularly exciting either.

The match got a lot better as it went on, with Truth and Barrett string together some interesting sequence and it became a much better fight. The ending saw Barrett setting up for the Bullhammer Elbow, only for Truth to side step and hit Lil’ Jimmy (Remember that?) instead. Barrett managed to get out of the ring before a pinfall, and with Truth looking to dive between the ropes, Barrett awoke hitting the Bullhamer Elbow for a pinfall victory. The last five minutes or so of the match was actually pretty good, with some face paced action in a style that Barrett is comfortable with.

I wouldn’t imagine we will be seeing Truth on WWE television for much longer, WWE has done nothing with him for almost six months now, with him only rarely appearing on Raw to lose to whoever is flavour of the month. In the current WWE climate, where we are seeing a lot of younger talent getting moved up the card, I can’t really see a space for R-Truth anymore. Barrett on the other hand I’m sure WWE will come up with something new for him, whether it will work, or be another failed push that sends him back into mid-card obscurity is yet to be seen.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

The Usos were also on action on Main Event this week, as they faced off against old rivals The Prime Time Players. Now we’ve seen Jimmy, Jey, Darren and Titus squared off on numerous episodes of WWE Television over the last year, and whilst the contest is usually technically sound and tells a good tag team story, it’s difficult to get excited for something you’ve already seen multiple times, especially with no real storyline or anything new there to drive the match in a different direction and that’s how I felt when watching this bout.

It was good solid tag team action, with a strong babyface team in The Usos, against a strong heel team in The Prime Time Players, with both doing their jobs well in producing a good quality contest. The teams compliment each other well, with The Usos speed, being matched by Titus O’Neil’s power and Darren Young’s precision. That’s probably why these two teams have been placed together so many teams, including numerous house show circuits, because WWE knows it works so well. The Usos went on to pick up the victory this time, and continue their recent push towards the top of the tag team division, sending Darren Young over the top rope, before hitting Titus with Stereo Superkicks and finishing him off with a Superfly Splash from Jey. Will this victory gain The Usos another tag team title shot against The Shield’s Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins at SummerSlam? With no other tag teams around at the moment, it would certainly look so.

The Usos have been teaming with Mark Henry to face the Shield as of late, and The World’s Strongest Man was also in action on Main Event as he faced off against 3MB’s Drew McIntyre in what was essentially a squash match. With Henry throwing McIntyre around the ring, Henry certainly looked very impressive in this kind of atmosphere. Drew did get a little offense in, but it wasn’t for long as Henry finished him off with a World’s Strongest Slam, within a few minutes. Henry seems to be enjoying his face run at the moment, and so am I. It’s miles better than his run as a comedic face a few years back, but I’m still sceptical on how long WWE can keep it going before he reverts to that smiling babyface prototype. 

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's Main Event?

1. Wade Barrett vs. R-Truth is not a Main Event!

2. The Usos vs. The Prime Time Players might have been done to death, but it's still worth watching.

3. JBL seems to legitimately dislike Josh Matthews.