The show kicked off with everyone's favourite wrestling talk show... MIZ TV! Essentially, this was just THE MIZ cutting a promo with a special set as it didn't appear like he would be having a guest. Miz's new self-obsessed Hollywood star gimmick is a million times better than anything he ever during his ill-fated babyface run. Miz has changed up his promo style and takes a lot more time with his delivery and actually managed to get a decent reaction out of the Fayetteville crowd. The idea of Miz reading out a letter he had written about himself was a nice idea on paper, that seemed to lose a little in it's delivery.
Miz was, of course, interupted by his opponent for the evening Sheamus and the two had some back and forth on the microphone, mainly focused around Miz calling his face his "moneymaker" and Sheamus threatening to kick it. Eventually, Sheamus went for the Brogue Kick, with Miz once again escaping and fleeing up the entrance ramp. An enjoyable opening segment that set up the main event nicely, laying out the storyline clearly and setting up an issue between the two opponents, it really couldn't have done much more.
Match 1 - EMMA vs CAMERON
YIPPEE-KAY-EH, Emma is back! She must have begged, borrowed and stole to get a place on the show.
Her opponent Cameron is currently embroiled in a feud with former Funkadactyls partner NAOMI who joined Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton on commentary. I found the commentary to be very frustrated throughout this match, as whilst it did push the feud hard and Naomi offered some nice insights into her relationship with Cameron there was no real effort to call the match and tell the story of the match embroiling in front of them. For the time they were given I thought the girls did well, incorpating a nice story where Cameron continued to escape a number of Emma's signature moves, including the DilEmma, which unfortunately wasn't picked up on by the commentary team. The finish saw Cameron to focused on taunting Naomi and walking into an inside cradle that allowed Emma to steal the victory. It was surprising to see Emma pick up the victory here for a number of reasons, but it did make sense in the continuing storyline with the former Funkadactyls pair.
Following the match a frustrated Cameron attacked Emma, with Naomi quickly making the save, chasing off her former partner. Am I particularly interested in watching the match between the the Naomi and Cameron on the Battleground Kick Off show? Hmmmm...not really.
Match 2 - RYBAXEL vs BIG E and KOFI KINGSTON
Billed as a look at four participants in the Intercontinetal Championship Battle Royal, this was an decent slice of tag team action, with all four men pulling out some nice looking offence. Big E again looked impressive against a similar sized man, in the shape of Ryback, before launching Kingston over the top rope onto RybAxel in a nicely worked highspot to send the match into the break. The momentum changer of Curtis Axel leaping off the apron onto E was looking solid and the use of repeated knee drives in the corner by RybAxel was also well done. The booking of the match was good enough to get a "We Want Kofi" chant out of the game crowd, as RybAxel worked off E for an extended period. Following the hot tag the match headed to it's conclussion with a flurry of action seeing all four men get involved, ending with Kingston delivering Trouble in Paradise to Axel for the pinfall victory. An enjoyable finish to an enjoyable match, although I would've liked to have seen more tension between the teams to remind us of the ever man for himself aspect of the upcoming battle royal.
Backstage, RENEE YOUNG interviewed Miz in a segment that really wasn't needed. That's not to say Miz using phrases describing himself as "WWE's most valuable asset" or a "1000 watt megastar" weren't good lines, it just felt like after the opening segment set up the main event this was a little bit of overkill.
Chris Jericho vs Luke Harper for Friday's Smackdown was hyped, that has potential to be a very good match and add a little extra spice to Jericho's battle with Bray Wyatt at Battleground on Sunday.
Match 3 - THE MIZ vs United States Champion SHEAMUS
This was the match that the Raw bout should have been. The story was much more focused than we saw Monday night, as Miz attempted to protect his face and avoid Sheamus' Brogue Kick. Whilst the match was slow to get going and at times felt a little awkward, the final few minutes were pretty entertaining with the two putting together a good sequence of reversals and quick pins that go the crowd into the match. The finish was cleverly done as Sheamus attempted a Brogue Kick with Miz quick to protect his face, allowing Sheamus to get the victory with a School Boy roll up. Not only did this call back to the finish of their match the previous night, but it also set up a potential rematch for next week's Raw with Sheamus still to hit Miz with the Brogue Kick. I would have like to have seen this match be for the United States Championship, as Miz holding a victory over the champion should have earned him a shot and if Sheamus was going to win this one anyway it would've meant the match could remain the same, yet feel a little more important.
This episode of Main Event was an enjoyable watch, the matches were all passable, whilst also furthering some storylines and adding something to match-ups occuring on this Sunday's Battleground. It wasn't must see WWE television however, and you won't really have missed out on anything if you didn't watch the show, but it was still decent piece of action to pass an hour away with.
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