TV Review: WWE Smackdown Live #887 - Alberto Del Rio v John Cena 12

The last Smackdown Live before SummerSlam and we've got matches with John Cena, Randy Orton and World Champion Dean Ambrose, this was gonna be a great episode...right?

Yes siree, the main event of the evening was the TWELFTH collision between John Cena and Alberto Del Rio in everyone's favourite match-type the "forgone conclusion" match. ADR and Cena put on a decent contest, that had some nice near falls for ADR, especially off the same superkick that beat Cena back in October on ADR's return match, but the whole thing lacked any urgency, threat or most all importance. The hook of Cena facing the man that put him out of action in October, wasn't strong enough, and ADR's booking over the last few months meant it was very difficult to get invested in the action. This was not helped by the early portion of the match being more than a little sloppy, especially when it came to strikes, on behalf of both men. Cena would pick up the victory with an Attitude Adjustment, after surviving ADR's Cross Armbreaker. 

The significant moment would come after the match, with AJ Styles rising from the commentary table to launch an attack on Cena. Styles cut a fierce promo on Cena that added that extra bit of spice that their SummerSlam clash needed. The conclusion of the segment and indeed the show was an intriguing one, as Cena would overcome The Phenomenal One hitting him with two Attitude Adjustments, one of which was through the announce table. Cena looked dominant after comeback from a sustained beatdown from Styles and a lengthy match with ADR and again this added an extra layer of drama to the 21st August clash between the two. After having Cena look so strong at the end of Smackdown Live, I'm wondering if Styles has to win at the supercard.

Randy Orton's contest was opposite Heath Slater, with The One Man Band picking up his first victory over The Viper at the fourth time of asking. Okay, so that win was by disqualification after about a minute, because Orton got carried away beating the shit into Slater, but a win is a win, right? As we build to Orton's match with Brock Lesnar on Sunday, it was a unique case of "Everything you can do, I can do better" as Orton tried to out Lesnar Lesnar's destruction of Slater on this week's RAW. For me, The Legend Killer was much better when he was doing his own thing, brawling on the outside and aggressively throwing Slater in the ring posts, as opposed to when he was hitting German suplexes, which both looked a little odd. The "15 Years in the Making" hype video for Orton v Lesnar at SummerSlam aired once again as well

Dolph Ziggler's rivalry with Dean Ambrose over the World Championship continued to try to find it's groove with an appearance from the pair on the show-opening Miz TV. Like the majority of this feud, the first six or seven minutes kind of plodded along and lacked any real direction with The Miz randomly getting involved at various points to compare Ziggler to Ghostbusters re-boot and Ambrose still looking to find what his role with this whole thing is, talking about Ziggler starring shit films or something. Where things did finally seem to click was when Ambrose put a point on his promo with the line "You've never wanted it bad enough and you're never going to get it" as the reply from Ziggler was superb, drawing the crowd in and making the upcoming match feel can't miss as he talked about Ambrose having to dig deep and scrap for everything on Sunday night. The Show Off brought the passion that made him so entertaining to watch when he initially fought his way to the top and the exclamation point of a superkick to Ambrose, finishing off his storytelling, should hopefully lead in a brilliant match on 21st August.  

The World Champion was also in action on the episode, facing off with The Wyatt Family's Erick Rowan in a well-crafted TV bout. This contest was much better than I had expected it to be and I ended up getting quite into it, thanks to the psychology that the pair brought to it. After initially going straight for Dirty Deeds, Ambrose would use the bigger man's power against him, causing him to fall out of the ring and miss a big boot in the corner, it was simple but the two guys made it extremely watchable. The wacky line spot where Ambrose escaped a powerbomb from Rowan was perhaps the best use of Ambrose's pendulum clothesline I've seen. The finish could have been a bit slicker, but it gave The Lunatic Fringe his heat back after the superkick from Ziggler earlier in the night and allowed him to head into SummerSlam with some strong momentum. The angle that followed with Bray Wyatt appearing to walk out on Rowan was a thought-provoking development, that we'll most likely produce a strong upper mid-card bout from Smackdown Live's first solo PPV, Backlash on 11th September.

A twelve man tag team bout, with American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan), The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso) and The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder) going over The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch), The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) and Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango), was a fun showcase of Smackdown Live's tag division, that seemed to plant the seeds for a couple of future tag feuds. The interaction between The Usos and American Alpha has to be the most captivating of any of those, as those two teams could steal a show some day, especially if Jimmy & Jey were turned heel. The conflict came thick and fast with a couple of sequences that saw everyone get involved, en route to Gable getting the pin on Gotch after he and Jordan had nailed Grand Amplitude. 

Just like the tag team scene, Smackdown Live's Women's division seems to be having to squeeze an awful lot into a minimal amount of time. That might be a negative in some aspects, but it does mean that every woman on the roster is getting the chance to showcase themselves in some way or another and once things settle no one can argue that they haven't had the opportunity. This week's women's bout had a number of storylines to play with as Natalya teamed with Alexa Bliss in a losing effort to Becky Lynch and Carmella. The wrestling content was fine from the four, but the clash was all about the finish, as Eva Marie finally arrived in the building, got chased around the ring by Naomi, causing the distraction that would eventually lead to Lynch out-wrestling Natalya and gaining a submission victory with the Disarmer. There's six women fighting for time on the brand at the moment, I feel like the week's following SummerSlam and heading towards Backlash we'll get to see who deserves that time most.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.29/10

A slight victory for Smackdown Live this week over Monday Night RAW (2-2, if you're keeping track) although that's mainly down to not having much deadweight (maybe down to having an hour less time to fill) than having anything that was especially good. Just like the World title feud, the show is still attempting to find it's feet and to work out the best way to showcase it's wrestlers and build towards multiple PPVs. The match booking could do with a bit more excitement and tension, Alberto Del Rio coming out of nowhere to main event two week's in a row meant that those matches were difficult to buy into, especially against top guys like John Cena and Randy Orton, despite being mostly solid bouts. The Women's and Tag Team divisions continue to feature interesting characters, but lack direction, whilst the Intercontinental title feud was relegated to happening in the commercial break, which screams a lack of time management. 

Once again WWE's main programming continues to be watchable, but with very little to get excited about.

All content - James Marston

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1212 - Roman Reigns v Rusev 8

Roman Reigns taking up over half an hour of TV time, more than Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Sheamus, Sami Zayn and more was always going to get certain fans backs up, wasn't it? But that's not how these reviews work, as you well know. Was the show any good? It was the last RAW before SummerSlam, so it had to be, right?

Roman Reigns' feud with Rusev over the United States Championship was the main focus of this week's Monday Night RAW taking up almost a quarter of the show's 2 hour 15 minute run time, which when you take out the little nuggets like SummerSlam promo vids and what have you is probably much closer to a third. That's a fuck load of time to fill with just three performers (let's not forget Lana who played a vital part). Whether that is too much I suppose depends on how big a fan of either guy you are and if not, how much those guys did to keep you watching. If you're still watching by the end of the show and feel some kind of emotion too it, then I suppose they did their jobs. It's difficult as a wrestling reviewer to say if a segment is ever a 100% successful because I'm not planning on changing the channel and sit down to watch with perhaps a different mindset to that of a wrestling fan just watching for pleasure and certainly a different mindset to a casual fan or channel hopper. 

There were three elements to the storyline this week, we'll begin with the opening segment that involved Rusev planning to takeover the show until he had an apology from Reigns for causing Lana to get covered in wedding cake on #1211. Parts of this I enjoyed and parts didn't quite work for me. Rusev's time in the ring was cool, he's an entertaining guy to watch and has some nice heat with the live audience, but I'd have liked to have seen his planned takeover of RAW taken up a notch, arguing with General Manager Mick Foley and wanting to speak to Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, whilst threatening to jump to Smackdown Live was a good piece of television, but I'd have liked to have seen his frustration boil over a bit more and for the character to across as much more threatening, leading to Reigns finally coming out. Reigns came across as a bit of a schoolyard bully, claiming that Rusev and Lana would have ugly children. The pair don't have much chemistry on the mic, meaning that things felt a little forced. Foley would eventually make a singles match between the two as the main event, with "Lana's honour" being on the line as opposed to Rusev's United States title belt. 

The second part would be Rusev attacking Reigns backstage, before things would come to a peak at the close of the show. The bout between the two was notably long for a RAW main event, with some interesting storytelling and dramatic choices throughout. For me, even though Reigns would collect the win, Rusev was the one made to look like a star as he dished out a shit load of punishment on his rival and looked like a damn bad ass in the process. He took his time and allowed the crowd to soak in each move, selling his frustration perfectly with Lana adding to this at ringside. Reigns for the most-part performed well, but forgetting to sell the arm that The Bulgarian Brute had worked in the first half of the bout, meant that it was difficult to buy into his character's story and also removed a number of potential moments involving an injured arm and the majority of Reigns' power based offence. I've been outspoken in the past about how Reigns gets too much shit from the majority of fans, but by the end of the match for one reason or another I was rooting for Rusev to pull out the victory. The two battle over the US title at SummerSlam and wrestling booking 101 would have us believe that Rusev will retain the belt on the biggest stages Summer has to offer. 

The next biggest story of the evening came in the form of Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman's appearance on the show, hyping Lesnar's match with Randy Orton on 21st August and the sidetrack that came in the form of Heath Slater. The Heath Slater stuff was an entertaining way to showcase The Beast's power and dominance, but also take a minor storyline that's been running across WWE programming since the Draft and elevate it, putting a spotlight on Slater and his free agent gimmick. Fair play to Slater, who has taken a fairly shitty gimmick and turned it into something that people are excited to see each week, thanks to his timing and self-referential rhetoric. Having him call out Lesnar, a man who has been put over no end as a force to be reckoned with, also raises the value of what it means to be on the WWE roster. If Slater is willing to knowingly get his arse kicked, then what must being a Superstar mean to the 33 year old from West Virginia. 

Strapped around Heath Slater's shenanigans, Paul Heyman was crafting another brilliant promo to push Lesnar's match with Randy Orton, whilst the camera was focused solely only The Conqueror's seething face. It really was a piece of poetry and a lesson in how to build a big match without even having the other man present on the show. Talking about what Lesnar was going to do to Orton, saying The Viper wasn't a threat, whilst simultaneously listing his achievements and strengths in the business was a clever way of subverting general wrestling promo rules of building up your opponent as a challenge. Personally, I wish that this segment and the one where Orton RKO'd Lesnar on #1210 had swapped places as the two invading each other's respected brands would have meant for a much more satisfying exclamation point to bring the feud to it's peak before the big match. 

Seth Rollins and Finn Balor's build to their bout over the vacant Universal Championship has intriguingly been downplayed after Balor initially won the opportunity to face Rollins on #1209, but has always remained intriguing and different television. This week we had The Architecht calling out the "Demon King" version of Balor, initially walking around the arena before Foley and McMahon suggest he headed out to the arena. What followed was a fairly paint by numbers situation, with Balor heading out in his paint and besting Rollins in a back and forth scrap. It was a slick sneak peek at what the two could produce at SummerSlam, but again I felt the Demon character was being underutilised. The initial appearance of Balor with the lights changing on Rollins as he cut a killer promo and strange voices being heard was exciting and different, I'd have liked to see this continued with a more mind-games based segment.  

Rounding off the top of the card we had Sami Zayn picking up a victory of Sheamus in a decent, but disappointingly brief scrap of a bout. The Celtic Warrior was allowed to dominate the contest, which suits The Underdog from the Underground character of Zayn, as he clawed from underneath with a number of hope spots, whilst Sheamus was picking up near falls off White Noise and the Irish Curse Backbreaker. The reversal for the aforementioned backbreaker (which is very dangerous and could have broken Zayn's back) out of a Helluva Kick from Zayn was the slickest action of the contest. The finish would be used to continue Sheamus' feud with Cesaro with Swiss Superman leaving the commentary table and distracting Sheamus as he set up for the Brogue Kick, allowing Zayn to come racing in with a Helluva Kick for a big victory. Mick Foley would set up a Best of 7 Series between The Celtic Warrior and Swiss Superman later in the show, despite Cesaro winning two previous matches over Sheamus on RAW since the brand split. 

Big Cass and Kevin Owens put together some solid action in a fight that was always going to be used to build for the 21st August tag bout between with Cass & Enzo Amore facing Owens & Chris Jericho. Fair play to both guys for putting the effort into the match that really could have became a going through the motions type affair, and whilst it wasn't a blow away contest it did it's job well. Owens taking a big bump on the outside after attempting to powerbomb Cass on the apron upped the stakes of feud for me also. Jericho would cause the DQ attacking Cass on the outside, before Owens and Jericho dismantled their SummerSlam opponents, in a powerful beatdown. The new team have quickly gelled as an entertaining duo and this display made them look a legitimate threat to the more experienced tag team of Enzo & Cass. All good stuff.

Ya gotta feel for the Dudley Boyz just a tad, as they put over the The New Day's Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods in under two minutes. As one and a half minute matches got this was an okay contest, with D-Von accidentally clotheslining BRD before Kingston picked up the pin with a flying crossbody and Trouble in Paradise. However, the match was all about building extra to the New Day's match with The Club on 21st August with both teams cutting promos before and after the match. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows pulled out all manner of testicle based puns in reference to them injured Big E by pulling his dick into the ringpost, whilst a serious reply from Kingston and Woods also had a balls based pun as an exclamation point. 

Another short match saw Charlotte overcome Alicia Fox with Natural Selection, as a lead in for an angle with Women's Champion Sasha Banks. It would have been nice to have seen the women get more time, as Charlotte and Fox are capable of putting on a quality wrestling match, so to see them get less than two minutes was again a disappointment. However, the angle between Banks and Charlotte at the conclusion was a much more interesting prospect and much more important with SummerSlam just around the corner. Charlotte would goad Banks into coming down from the announce table, only for Dana Brooke (who had supposedly had a falling out with Charlotte earlier in the show) to jump the Boss allowing Charlotte to deliver a brutal beatdown, locking in the Figure Eight for a extended time. The angle was well worked with Banks selling the hold well, whilst the crowd was super hot for The Genetically Superior Athelete and her protege. Hopefully we'll see this play into the Charlotte v Banks title match at SummerSlam also. 

Yet another squash bout saw Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in action against The Golden Truth. Two minutes worth of tag wrestling concluded with The Club hitting Magic Killer for the victory. Like a lot of the matches in the night, they were merely a way of getting the performers in place for a bit of a fight with their SummerSlam opponents, as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were back out to jump Gallows & Anderson post-match. The storyline continued to be ball-centric as Kingston & Woods attempted to give Gallows the same move that put Big E on the shelf, only for Anderson to make the save. Personally, I felt like this extra segment for New Day and The Club's feud was a bit of overkill after the New Day v Dudley Boyz match earlier in the night and didn't add all that much to the storyline. 

Neville continued his re-introduction to WWE with a victory over Jinder Mahal, taking the Geordie lad to 4-0 since his return on #1209. A fairly straight-forward victory for Neville who got to showcase some of his funkier moves with a lovely corkscrew senton to the outside and the ever popular Red Arrow earning the victory. It has to be expected that Neville is being positioned as the jewel in the crown of the new Cruiserweight Divsion, that continues to be trailered as coming soon on RAW. Mahal remains without a victory since he his return win on #1210. 

Best of the Rest 

• The Shining Stars (Epico & Primo) picked up a victory over The Prime Time Players (Darren Young & Titus O'Neil) after O'Neil turned on Young hitting Clash of the Titus.
• Nia Jax picked up another squash victory, this time over Rachel Levy. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.13/10

Pretty much ever segment on the show this week was used to push the SummerSlam event, which is what RAW and especially the last one before the PPV should be. It perhaps doesn't make for the strongest three hours of television, but it does add depth to upcoming PPV. Because of the amount of time that the Reigns v Rusev feud took it, then your enjoyment of the show will probably come down to how receptive you are to those two guys. I personally thought the match was good, but the lead-in could have been stronger. That was how I felt about a lot of the show to be honest, there were a lot of cool ideas and most of what was on offer was watchable stuff, but there were a lot of opportunities left on the table.

Not a classic episode, but one that should make SummerSlam a more enjoyable show.

All content - James Marston

TV Review: WWE Smackdown Live #886 - Dolph Ziggler & Dean Ambrose v The Wyatt Family

With World Champion Dean Ambrose teaming with Dolph Ziggler against The Wyatt Family and Alberto Del Rio taking on Randy Orton providing two marquee matches for Tuesday night, would the penultimate Smackdown Live before SummerSlam be affected by the absence of AJ Styles and John Cena?

Opening and closing Smackdown Live this week, we had the on-going feud involving World Champion Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler and Wyatt Family members, Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan. The curtain up was arguably the strongest part of the show, starting with an intense promo from Wyatt covering Ziggler's victory over him on #885, as well as his desire to make Smackdown Live "his show". The Eater of World's looked like he believed everyone of his words and built the promo towards a crescendo, for Ambrose to interrupted him. The difference that are being show between The Lunatic Fringe and The Show-Off, like Ambrose being reluctant to fight Wyatt Family, whilst Ziggler rushed into the action, are what's keeping their feud interesting. The segment concluded with Wyatt standing tall after throwing Ambrose into a superkick from Ziggler, before finishing off the #1 Contender with Sister Abigail. Having Wyatt show intelligence to use the two World title rivals against each other in the scrap added an extra depth to their tag match that was later booked by Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan. 

The tag match between the two was a simple tag bout, again used to showcase the relationship between Ziggler and Ambrose and the capabilities of Wyatt. Ambrose worked the lunatic in peril role, taking a prolonged beating from Wyatt and Rowan, but the best action of the contest actually came in a sequence between Ziggler and Big Red following the hot tag. The #1 Contender attempting to knock Rowan off his feet was a cool twist on two wrestling cliches and carried the contest towards it's finish well. Ziggler would pick up the pin on Rowan following a superkick, but the closing sequence was damaged by Ambrose slipping when hitting Wyatt with a suicide dive. A respectable main event, but nothing that's worth seeking out. Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds on Ziggler following the bell felt a little tacked on, but I'll reserve judgement completely until next week's show and wait to see how the storyline plays out.

Randy Orton's disqualification victory over Alberto Del Rio was the strongest match this week, but like the main event, hardly pulled up any trees. It was weird seeing ADR placed in such a high profile match, after the first two week's of the re-formatted Smackdown Live, have seen him exit a Battle Royal early and then not even feature on last week's outing. He did, however, put in a strong enough performance for him to be considered for a more prominent role on the show going forward. He produced a spirited and technically sound approach to the match, targeting Orton's arm and bringing a concentration to the contest that has been too few and far between since his WWE return last October. It was the first time he'd got to work a TV match with Orton in over three years, so perhaps getting to face a formerly familiar opponent, as well as the jump up the card motivated him to bring a little more to his game here. 

The finish felt a little out of place, as ADR took a chair to Orton's arm (which he'd sold terrifically all match) after being thrown into the time keeper's area, causing the DQ. Perhaps it was to show how much of a beating that The Viper can take and still manage to spring up for an RKO, ahead of his 21st August match with Brock Lesnar. However, considering how ADR has been presented on programming over the last month and half, with only four singles matches since June, with only one victory and losing to Cesaro and Darren Young, it felt odd for WWE to protect him from the pinfall victory, against an Orton who has a major match coming up on the companies second biggest show of 2016. Perhaps it was to set up a bigger No DQ bout between the two on next week's episode, which I'd look forward too, especially with the prospect of a much cleaner finish than this. 

In the lower half of the card, Alexa Bliss would take advantage of Eva Marie's distraction to upset Becky Lynch in a brief but well-worked debut. Bliss didn't have much time to make an impression on the new audience in the ring, but got her character over nicely in short promo when accepting Lynch's open challenge. The main storyline however, was Marie initially being unable to compete for the second week running, because the straps on her top came untied, which got one of the biggest pops on the show, because yanno breasts. I'm feeling like Marie's various excuses to not compete are going to become my favourite part of Tuesday nights, as it's only going to make portions of the audience hate her even more. It also means that when Marie finally ties it up with someone in the ring that the match will be a much bigger contest than it would have been last week or this week. Lynch presents a nice juxtaposition to Marie and extenuated this well with her promo issuing the open challenge. 

Also in the Women's division, Carmella got revenge on Natalya with another short but solid debut clash. Rabobank Arena seemed to quickly warm to The Princess of Staten Island and began to get behind her, as she battled against her rival, who has taken on the role of a cocky veteran bully. I feel like Natalya's performance had a lot to do with keeping the crowd warm, as she was constantly posturing, mouthing off to the fans whilst locking in wear down holds and putting on purposefully lackadaisical pins. Whilst it gives Carmella some huge momentum straight off the bat, I was disappointed to see her pick up a four minutes submission victory with the Code of Silence, as I was hoping that the contest would go for another five minutes or so and such a conclusive finish seems to put to bed any momentum that the feud itself could have picked up after just two weeks.  

Rounding off the most notable action, Rhyno picked up his first (non-NXT) WWE singles win since a victory over Simon Dean on Sunday Night Heat in February 2005, to deny Heath Slater a Smackdown Live contract. The Bakersfield crowd was pretty mild for another short encounter, which lacked urgency and any of the entertaining antics that Slater brings to his mic work. It's an odd storyline to expect an audience to get behind, Slater is working as a comedy heel trying to earn a job, are the crowd supposed to be against him being hired by anyone and cheer for his opponent (a guy who has only just returned to WWE) to keep him out of the company? It was a strange decision to have Rhyno reveal that he'd already been given a contract in a backstage skit beforehand, as if both had been fighting for a contract then we might have had an interesting contest that the crowd could have got behind.

Best of the Rest 

• American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) picked up a squash victory over California duo Mike Vega and Mikey O'Shea, before fending off The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch), The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder) and The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor).
• A preview for AJ Styles v John Cena at SummerSlam on 21st August aired.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.29/10

Watchable is probably the word I'd use to describe this week's edition of Smackdown Live. The two top matches were both decent encounter, offering storyline development in the main event and solid action in the Orton v ADR match (which admittedly seemed to be just treading water for Orton before SummerSlam). In mid-card was entertaining again for the most part, expanding a couple of storylines (especially in the women's division) but not giving enough time or space for the action to develop into anything significant. Putting on match on Smackdown and the other on Main Event would have allowed for them both to be much more satisfying encounters. 

With just one more episode til SummerSlam, I'd be expecting next week's go-home edition to have a lot more to offer.

All content - James Marston

WWE Superstar Collection - Daniel Bryan DVD Review

WWE Superstar Collection - Daniel Bryan is out now on DVD as an www.amazon.co.uk exclusive, currently priced at £5.45. This single disc set looks at the WWE career of Daniel Bryan between February 2010 and January 2012, expect to see Sheamus go up against some of WWE's best around that time, including Chris Jericho, Kane, Sin Cara, Wade Barrett and Big Show!

Content Listing

Singles Match

Daniel Bryan with The Miz vs. World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho with Wade Barrett

WWE NXT #1.01, 23rd Febuary 2010

Daniel Bryan & The Miz history

United States Championship Match

Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz (C) with Alex Riley

WWE Night of Champions, 19th September 2010

Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Heath Slater vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Kane vs. Sheamus vs. Sin Cara vs. Wade Barrett

WWE Money in the Bank, 17th July 2011

Singles Match

World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Holder Daniel Bryan with Big Show vs. World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry

WWE Friday Night Smackdown #637, 4th November 2011

World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Triple Threat Match

Daniel Bryan (C) vs. Big Show vs. Mark Henry

WWE Royal Rumble, 29th January 2012

Review

Imagine a time before entire arena chanted "YES! YES! YES!", it feels like such a long time ago, but that's what this DVD presents, as we take a look at the early WWE career of Daniel Bryan. 

We kick off the set with Bryan's debut on the main roster as he took on Chris Jericho on the very first episode of NXT. The match is wrestled to crickets and it really isn't that interesting. Jericho seems intent of sand bagging Bryan at every turn, leading to Bryan taking a nasty bump into the announce table. Following, this we get a nice video package detailing Bryan's feud with The Miz, making the feud look awesome, which to be fair, it was. Bryan then get's a shot at the United States Championship against the aforementioned Miz. An enjoyable match, which builds the then LeBell Lock as a terrifying manoevre, with The Miz playing his role down to a tee. I miss heel Miz, there I said it! 

2011's World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match is next, with Cody Rhodes, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Wade Barrett, Kane, Sheamus and Sin Cara joining Bryan for an exhilarating battle with all the spots and excitement that the fans have come to expect from these kinds of matches. A Friday Night Smackdown encounter with Mark Henry looks promising, until Big Show decides to get involved and the bout is cut short. The final match on the disc see's Bryan beginning his heel turn, defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Big Show and Mark Henry in a Steel Cage Triple Threat bout. This one is alright, nothing special. It's shorter than you'd expect from a World title bout on one of the big four, but that's probably just enough to get over what was needed. 

This another decent outing for the Superstar Collection, surprisingly I didn't enjoy this disc as much as the one looking at Sheamus, mainly because Bryan was never presented as a star at any point. There's a lot of fun to be had especially with the bout with The Miz and the Money in the Bank Ladder match, and even if the bout with Chris Jericho isn't that great, I bet it won't be released on any other DVD set, so for a couple of quid this isn't a bad purchase at all.

Top Three Matches on Superstar Collection - Daniel Bryan

1. Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Heath Slater vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Kane vs. Sheamus vs. Sin Cara vs. Wade Barrett

WWE Money in the Bank, 17th July 2011

2. United States Championship Match

Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz (C) with Alex Riley

WWE Night of Champions, 19th September 2010

3. World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Triple Threat Match

Daniel Bryan (C) vs. Big Show vs. Mark Henry

WWE Royal Rumble, 29th January 2012

WWE Main Event 11th September 2013 Review

This week's main event seemed like a return to form for the show, with a strong card of matches, with enough variety to keep me interested throughout the hour. Antonio Cesaro continues to leave WWE fans scratching their heads wondering why the organisation doesn't seem to notice the talent they have, with a top notch bout with Kofi Kingston, but I've chosen to focus this week's review on another match, and I'll explain why...

R-Truth 

vs. 

Big E Langston

The reason this match is in the main slot for this review, is because I was really intrigued by Big E Langston appearance on the show. We haven't seen Langston for a fair amount of time on television after Langston lost to Dolph Ziggler in the blow off match of their feud on the 20^th August edition of Smackdown, and I was half expecting for Langston to take some time off television, before returning as a face, with a couple of matches against Damien Sandow at house shows recently, pointing towards that. So I was quite surprised to see him lined up to face R-Truth here. Truth has really been struggling to hold my attention with a stale gimmick and some so-so performance.

The match itself was decent enough to keep my attention and entertain me to some degree, but really lacked any proper structure or flow which let it down. Langston looked impressive when incontrol of Truth and his signature moves such as the Big Splash he did, looked very impressive. R-Truth's offense were mainly limited to strikes, but they came at such random moments, that when Truth launched into what should have been his comeback, it didn't really have much of an impact as Langston had spent to much time on top. What could have been the big spot that helped this match, was unfortunately botched, with Truth cannon-balling over the top rope on Langston on the outside and landing awkwardly on his, this was mainly down to Langston being in the wrong position and not being able to properly catch Truth, so the fault has to lie with the big man on this one.

The finish saw R-Truth miss his Corkscrew Scissors Kick, allowing Langston to hit a clothesline, before pulling down the straps and hitting The Big Ending to pick up the pinfall victory. The finish was simple, but effective using both men's signature moves well, it's just a shame that what preceded it hadn't quite flowed so well. It makes sense to give Langston the win here, as he is someone WWE does seem to have some sort of plan for, even if they aren't quite sure what it is yet, but it does make Truth's victory over World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank holder Damien Sandow even more random and perplexing. It certainly wasn't the strongest performance I've seen from either man in a WWE ring.

So, what should WWE do with Big E Langston? I've been saying this for quite some time...turn him face! Simply do replays of what Langston did in NXT, running over heels opponents, whilst asking for a five count instead of a three count. It got him over on NXT, and I'm pretty certain it would get him over on Raw. He's certainly most comfortable as a face, and is entertain enough on the mic to really get some fan support behind him. From there give the guy a run with the United States Championship with an entertaining rivalry, with any of a number of WWE's heels, and then see how it goes. As for R-Truth, I'm struggling to see what he offers WWE in 2013, although I'm beginning to wonder if they could partner him up with someone and give him a run in the tag team division, which could be an interesting move for Truth, maybe someone like NXT's Xavier Woods could work with Truth.

Best of the Rest

Elsewhere on the show, Kofi Kingston and The Real American's Antonio Cesaro particpated in the match of the night, and arguably the best match to ever grave and episode of Main Event. Cesaro spent much of the match in control, which is a role that suits him down to the ground, as we saw in his battles with Sami Zayn from NXT. Kingston worked well fighting underneath and the two built a good foundation of solid technical wrestling, with a few highflying moves from Kingston thrown in as well. There were also a number of exciting spots that really lifted the match and got the fans to sit up and take notice, including Kingston using the steel steps in a similar spot from this week's Raw, although the cannonball certainly looked by than the forearm strike used on Monday, and of course Cesaro's extra long Giant Swing, which would seem to be becoming a regular part of his offence going forward.

The finish saw Cesaro go for a Neutralizer, with Kingston reversing in a roll up for a near fall, that saw Cesaro show off his strength once again bridging out of the pin and going for a backslide, Kingston slipped free and hit Trouble in Paradise to the pinfall victory. I thought this was a strong finish that allowed both me to continue looking good, with Cesaro bridge out of Kingston's pin being an outstanding show of strength, and Kingston's finisher happening so quickly that you could easily make a case for a rematch. It's baffling that either of these competitors has never been pushed strongly by WWE, whilst many have argued that Kingston lacks the mic skills to move past the mid card, Cesaro certainly does.

There was also tag team action on the show, with Prime Time Players taking on Heath Slater & Jinder Mahal of 3MB. Darren Young & Titus O'Neil were in control for most of the match, with O'Neil's power keeping Mahal & Slater in check in the early going. The best section of the match for me was a nice series of reversal between Young and Slater, with the two former Nexus stablemates showing a familiarity, with their section flowing nicely. The finish saw Slater break up a pinfall by O'Neil, with Young and Slater going on to battle on the outside, ending with Slater sending Young crashing hard into the announce table. With O'Neil taking out Slater with a shoulder barge, Mahal attempted a roll up for a near fall, with O'Neil escaping and finishing Mahal off with Clash of the Titus for the pinfall victory. I thought the finish had some good ideas, but a lot of it didn't flow particularly well, but it was good to see The Prime Time Players back on top after last week's defeat to The Wyatt Family.

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's Main Event.

1. Big E Langston probably still isn't ready for a big push, but seeing him in more matches on television will get him ready quickly.

2. Antonio Cesaro deserves to be higher up the card in WWE. 

3. The Tag Team Turmoil bout on Night of Champions could be a very interesting contest indeed. 

WWE Main Event 14th August 2013 Review

It’s been a good few weeks since I’ve enjoyed an episode of Main Event, after a series of unimaginative or uninspiring main event contests, this week’s show returned to the pattern that had made me a fan of the show to start with. With established main eventer World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, taking on future main eventer Cody Rhodes, there was a lot of get excited about this week.

Cody Rhodes 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion

 Alberto Del Rio

Going into this match there were a few things that needed to happen. Firstly, Alberto Del Rio needed to pick up the victory. After weeks of the World Heavyweight Champion coming up short against the likes of Randy Orton, Rob Van Dam and Christian, his victory over Kofi Kingston on Raw felt like a step in the right direction for the Mexican Aristocrat. Cody Rhodes also needed to have a strong, competitive outing to continue his new face run and keep him looking strong heading into his bout with Damien Sandow at this weekend’s SummerSlam.

As has been a trend during Del Rio’s matches as of late, the face got in a hell of a lot of offense in on the World Heavyweight Champion. Cody Rhodes’ move set alone is capable of getting him over as a face, as he pulled off a string of exciting and crowd pleasing moves, really putting his body on the line, the highlight for me would have to be the top rope moonsault, with Cody performs beautifully. It’s clear Cody is still getting use to his face role though, and he needs to remember to work the crowd more often to get them on his side, especially during this transition period. What little offense Del Rio was getting in however was focused on Cody’s arm as he attempted to soften it up for the Cross Arm Breaker. It was an interesting dynamic between the two and a refreshing change from your average WWE bout.

The bout built up well towards the end, with a number of reversals from both men before Cody managed to hit Cross Rhodes and it looked like he might pull of an upset victory. However, with Cody taking too long to make the cover, Del Rio ended up sending him into the second turnbuckle, before, after some struggle, locking in the Cross Armbreaker for the submission victory. In terms of an ending for the bout, I couldn’t have really asked for much more here, as it kept Cody looking super strong as he fought the Cross Armbreaker and really should have got the victory, whilst Del Rio’s underhanded tactics gave him the victory.

Personally, I think the match could have been given an extra five minutes that was given over to highlight packages of what happened on Raw. It felt like the ending with Cody too exhausted to get the cover, would have benefitted from having seen a longer match, as it was only just over ten minutes of television time. Either way, each goes into SummerSlam with a solid performance under their belts, which can only be a good thing come Sunday. With Cody currently feuding with World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank winner Damien Sandow, could we be seeing these two face off against each other with World Heavyweight Championship on the line within the next couple of months? If given enough time it’s certainly a bout I’d like to see. 

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Big E Langston was also in action on Main Event as he took on Justin Gabriel. Now this bout went a lot longer than I had expected with Gabriel getting in a surprising amount of offence in on the bigger Langston. Whilst this did make the match an enjoyable bout, with Gabriel’s quick kicks and exciting offence, I’m not sure if a quicker victory for Big E would have given him more momentum heading into his SummerSlam mixed tag team bout against Dolph Ziggler & Kaitlyn. Langston’s moveset seemed limited as he twice attempted his Big Splash (a move that is already overused in WWE), hitting it first time and missing it the second, which is strange because during his run as NXT Champion Langston was capable of having much longer matches than this one without the need to repeat moves. With Big E’s power had eventually overcame Gabriel’s speed, hitting the Big Ending for the pinfall victory, Big E was at least back on track after a disappointing saw that saw him dominated by The Great Khali.

WWE has been fairly hit and miss with Langston since bringing him up to the main roster. His matches have been few and far between, which has made it difficult for the WWE fans to really understand what he brings to the table. Personally, I don’t think he suits the heel role, and seemed much more comfortable as the top face in NXT. WWE has teased that he may turn face in the future, as it’s clear at times he is frustrated with friend Divas Champion AJ Lee. I could see Big E possibly turning face at SummerSlam, after AJ loses her cool once more. Big E could make a good opponent for Dean Ambrose over the United States Championship, if turned face, and I could see the two doing some good work together.

Elsewhere, The Usos built on their victory over The Real Americans on Raw, as they took on 3MB’s Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre, who were accompanied by Jinder Mahal. It was a solid tag team bout, with Slater and McIntyre doing a good job of working over Jimmy Uso, working quick tags, it seemed to be over pretty quickly with the hot tag being made. However, that wasn’t to be the case, as in a nice use of the numbers game, Mahal’s distraction allowed McIntyre to hit a big boot sending Jey off the apron. The action for the most part was quick and exciting, and when Jey finally made that second hot tag and took out Mahal and McIntyre on the outside with suicide dive, allowing Jimmy to hit the Superfly Splash on Slater, it felt like we’d seen some quality tag team action. We’ve seen what the Usos can do in recent weeks and months, but it was nice to see 3MB get a bit of the spotlight here, with Slater and McIntyre looking good as a pairing, personally I prefer these two to Mahal, but Mahal could work in a managerial role if they choose to push Slater & McIntyre as a duo. 

Finally...

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

1. Cody Rhodes still has some work to do on his face character, but his in ring talent is undeniable.

2. WWE doesn't seem to know what they're doing with Big E Langston.

3. Josh Matthews is my least favourite commentator in professional wrestling today. 

WWE Main Event 24th July 2013 Review

This week’s Main Event was the first episode in a while that didn’t feature a top notch main event, with Sheamus and Jack Swagger not quite being able to live up to previous weeks. Main Event seems to be there to give wrestlers a chance to show what they can do when given the time and the spotlight, and this did happen elsewhere in the show with Damien Sandow, Sin Cara, Justin Gabriel and Drew McIntyre all getting more time than they would usually be afford on Raw or Smackdown, but with the Main Event of the show focusing on two wrestlers whose stars seem to be fading as of current, it didn’t feel like the show lived up to its potential this time round.

Sheamus 

vs. 

Jack Swagger with Zeb Colter

Before the match, we got another promo from Zeb Colter. Now, when these promos started I was a big fan of Colter and his character, but having him perform one before every single one of Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro’s match is beginning to get a little tiresome. Zeb seems to go over the same ground time and time again, and has resorted more and more to simply attempting to garner cheap heat, which is a shame for a character that showed so much promise just six months ago. I simply find myself zoning out every time Zeb begins to speak, as I’ve heard it all before, and rarely does it bring anything that is going to be particularly relevant to the match I’m about to watch.

The match in question here pitted Colter’s charge Jack Swagger, against The Celtic Warrior, Sheamus. Both were involved in losing efforts on Raw, against Daniel Bryan and Alberto Del Rio respectively, so neither could really afford another defeat here if they wanted to stay within the upper echelon of talent in WWE. Similar to Sheamus’ match with Del Rio on Raw, this bout focussed heavily on Sheamus’ injured leg, with Swagger performing a number of attacks and holds in it, including wrapping the leg around the ringpost, throughout the match. In this sense the match told a decent story, with each time Sheamus attempted a comeback his leg would let him down allowing Swagger to get back in control. However, it was stretched out to almost tedium, with the match lasting over fifteen minutes of television time, about five or six more than it actually needed.

The ending saw Sheamus fight back, as Swagger was attempting to wrap his leg around the ring post, Sheamus pulled Swagger into the post. When Swagger recovered and got back into the ring, he received a swift Brogue Kick at Sheamus picked up the victory. A solid ending to a long contest for these two, with Sheamus being the logical winner, as it seems like they have absolutely nothing for Swagger right now, and only vaguely more for Sheamus. I found this match difficult to get into, because it was pretty slow throughout, with nothing really to latch onto, whilst there was strong moments, like Swagger taking an impressive back body drop to the outside, they were few and far between in this stretched out bout.

Sheamus and Swagger both seem to be in career ruts at the moment, with neither really going anywhere. Swagger’s may be self-inflicted with his extracurricular activity certainly causing harm to his status post-Wrestlemania and I wouldn’t expect him to be moving any higher up the roster than this, at the moment. The best he can hope for is to be teamed with Antonio Cesaro for a run at the Tag Team Championship, but I’d much rather see Cesaro break out on his own, than to stuck with someone who WWE clearly is no longer high on (pardon the pun) Sheamus on the other hand is simply in the position because his character has failed to evolve and is no ultra-stale, we’ve seen these routines before, we’ve heard the Irish Jokes, Sheamus can truly go in the ring when he has the opportunity but without a believable and coherent character we won’t see him move back to former glories any time soon.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere, World Heavyweight Championship Mr. Money in the Bank Damien Sandow was in action against Justin Gabriel. Sandow also got the pre-match promo treatment, and did a pretty good job of it.  Sandow’s tone draws you in to what he has to say, even if what he has to say is insulting you, and the Money in the Bank briefcase has given him a new set of material to play with, keeping his spiel fresh. Justin Gabriel was a good opponent to have Sandow face here, as Gabriel of putting on good short matches and does a lot to help his opponent, whilst also being able to produce those high-flying moments that “Wow” a live crowd.

The match was a decent television bout with Damien Sandow getting the majority of the offence in, with Gabriel working mainly in shorts bursts of high octane action, before being grounded once again by Sandow. The action wasn’t exactly enthralling, and I’d probably say I was a little disappointed, given the time that Sandow and Gabriel were afforded the could have done a lot better, with the sections with Sandow in control being very slow and mainly involving rest holds. The end saw Gabriel miss a Stinger Splash in the corner, allowing Sandow to hit another new finishing move, a Full Nelson Slam for the pinfall victory. I’m not sure why WWE insists on give Sandow new finishing moves, we’ve seen him use a version of Matt Hardy’s Side Effect recently, when his Terminus Neckbreaker was a solid move in the first place.

The other match of the evening saw Sin Cara face off against Ayr’s Drew McIntyre, who was accompanied by 3MB teammates Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal. For a short three minutes match, this was an entertaining contest, with a number of decent spots, and Sin Cara even managed to show some personality as he mimicked Drew! Sin Cara was actually pretty crisp throughout the bout, hit his moves with a precision that has become rare during his run with WWE. Sin Cara ended up picking up the victory, with a Hurricanrana Driver, that didn’t quite look right. I know that’s how the move is supposed to look, but it looks like a botch. Either way the contest was a solid television contest with plenty to keep the attention off the viewer, whether it was the antics of 3MB, the jumping acrobatics of Sin Cara or the fact that Drew McIntyre used to be Vince McMahon’s Chosen One. 

Finally...

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

1. WWE don't seem to have any plans for Sheamus or Jack Swagger.

2. Even Damien Sandow is capable of phoning in what should be a straight forward contest.

3. Josh Matthews reads the same facts about a wrestler in every match they are in.

WWE Main Event 17th July 2013 Review

This week saw another highly enjoyable episode of Main Event, with a featured contest that stuck to the formula that has been developed, as well as some storyline progression at the end of the show, helping to build towards a major match at this year’s Summerslam.

Christian 

vs. 

Fandango with Summer Rae

After Fandango’s impressive performance in the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder match, as well as a competitive contest with Randy Orton on this week’s Raw, it’s been a busy few days for the Ballroom Dancer. Christian has also been busy, taking a number of major bumps in the All Stars Money in the Bank Ladder Match, before defeating Damien Sandow on Raw. Therefore, I was intrigued to see how these two would clash together in the ring, which to my knowledge was their first bout. This also saw continuation of the formula that has been used for Main Event over the last few months, with an experienced main event player, taking on someone making their way up the WWE ranks, it’s concept that seems to be working well allowing both Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow to seemingly end up positioned higher up the card not soon after, it will interesting to see if Fandango is next in line for that kind of treatment.

The match was a good solid contest, which gave both Christian and Fandango spells in control of the action, similar to what we’ve seen on previous episodes of Main Event. Fandango looked impressive throughout, bringing a lot of speed which worked well against Christian, and his delivery was fairly crisp for the majority of the contest. However, the real revelation of this match for me was Summer Rae. Summer has become increasingly involved in Fandango’s matches as of late, becoming more than just a dancer, she distracted Christian a number of times in the match, but it was her facial expressions during this contest that really sold the match to me, showing peril when Fandango was in trouble and joy when he began to take control.

Recently, various commentators in WWE have been describing Christian as a late game player and this was certainly the case during this match, as the match built up well towards the closing moments. There were a number of false finishes, including the classic crossbody reversal from Fandango, who also went onto miss a top rope leg drop. The ending saw Christian attempt a spear only to run straight into a Fandango knee, but as Fandango went for a suplex, Christian caught him in a small package to pick up the pinfall victory. It was a good ending, that allowed Fandango to remain looking fairly strong and possibly left the door open for a return contest further down the line.

Now, will this match help Fandango move up the ranks in WWE anytime soon? If I’m honest probably not. It was decent contest, with some very watchable action, but there could have been a lot more go into it, in terms of psychology that didn’t really factor into the contest. I happen to someone who enjoys the Fandango gimmick, as a heel it works, and the Ballroom Dancer is sound in the ring and manages to make his promos fairly interesting even with the silly voice. However, I can’t really see the Fandango character fitting into the main event scene, he could easily have a lengthy run as Intercontinental Champion, but anything else, might just be beyond him. I’m going to stick my neck on the line here, and say Fandango is the Honky Tonk Man of his generation.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere, former tag team partner Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater faced off for the umpteenth time. Not that I’m complaining Gabriel and Slater always manage to string together an interesting contest, that are quickly paced and full of good action. This was once again the case with the added elements of Slater’s 3MB cohorts Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre being a ringside. The two managed to move quickly between the more serious action and comedy spots like both Gabriel and Slater performing their signature “Woo” taunts, which did slightly remove from the pace off the contest, but when performed convincingly it doesn’t really matter. The match followed a regular pattern for these two, with Slater controlling most of the match, with some high flying spots thrown in from Gabriel, before he eventually mounted his comeback.

It was surprised then when just as Gabriel was about to start his comeback, The Wyatt Family appeared on screen, before making their way down to the ring. With lights coming up on the ring, showing Luke Harper and Eric Rowan, whilst Bray Wyatt sat in his rocking chair on the ramp, Harper and Rowan took out Justin Gabriel, before turning their attention to 3MB, destroying both Mahal and McIntyre. Slater attempting to escape up the entrance ramp but was of course cut off by Bray Wyatt, before Rowan and Harper took him out as well. Wyatt finished off Slater, with a Sister Abigail in the middle of the ring. As Harper & Rowan piled up their victims, Wyatt cut another creepy promo aimed at Kane, which was much calmer and better delivered than the promo he gave on Raw last Monday. Overall, this was a good segment to close the show, and I’m never going to complain about another opportunity to see the Wyatt Family.

There was also a throwaway Divas Tag Team Match, pitting Natalya & Layla against Alicia Fox & Aksana. It wasn’t a particularly bad match, with the best of the action coming when Natalya and Alicia Fox were in the ring against each other, but I really had little reason to buy into it, as the majority of the Divas are shown so little in any segment of any meaning with their character so poorly underdeveloped that it makes it difficult for my mind not to wander onto something a little more interesting during their matches. Aksana is pretty dreadful in the ring as well, she’s been on the main roster a while now and has shown little sign of improvement, with some terrible ring positioning at points, including calling for a time out in a neutral corner. Eventually, Layla and Natalya picked up the victory after Aksana walked into a Roundhouse Kick from Layla. 

Finally...

What have I learnt from this week's Main Event? 

1. Summer Rae is becoming even more important to Fandango's act.

2. The Wyatt Family can turn up anywhere.

3. The Miz and Josh Matthews make for an awkward commentary team.

WWE Main Event 10th July 2013 Review

This week’s Main Event featured another big match in the spotlight, that allowed a lengthy match to a superstar who would not usually get it, in Antonio Cesaro, and allowed a superstar struggling to find his feet as a face get an opportunity to continue to work on the persona in Dolph Ziggler. It was a shame however that we only got two matches this week, with a number of recaps from Monday’s Raw, hurting the shows feel.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Antonio Cesaro with Zeb Colter & Jack Swagger

As of late, Dolph Ziggler has struggled to find a definitive character that suits his new face role within WWE, he has not been helped by some strange booking decision such as involving Chris Jericho in Ziggler’s feud with World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, the cloudy situation with Ziggler and heel girlfriend Diva’s Champion AJ Lee and a duo of matches with member of 3MB. However, in Cesaro he had an opponent who is a strong heel who is also receiving a big push at the moment. Before the contest, Zeb Colter of course got on the microphone to tell us about the state of America. Zeb seems to be back on form with these pre-match talks, using a metaphor based around ladders to talk about how America has changed, calling the fans lazy, which of course never goes down well.

The match allowed Ziggler to fight from underneath, displaying his superb selling technique, whilst also displaying the power of Cesaro well, these was seen best with Cesaro holding Ziggler in a painful looking submission which stretched Ziggler and looked legitimately painful. Cesaro controlled for most of the match, with minor come backs from Ziggler throughout on for Cesaro to quash any attempt with a well placed uppercut or similar manoeuvre. With Zeb Colter shouting advice for Cesaro at ringside, the relationship between them seems to finally have clicked into place, with Colter spurring Cesaro on to be even more vicious in his attack and Swagger there for when things don’t quite end up going Cesaro’s way.

This was seen in the ending of the match, with Ziggler on another comeback taking out Jack Swagger with a drop kick, before getting hit with a thunderous uppercut from Cesaro for a near fall. Cesaro then went for a suplex attempt only for Ziggler to escape over the top and hit a Zig Zag. With Ziggler looking to have the victory in the bag, Swagger pulled him out of the ring, resulting in a Disqualification for Cesaro and giving Ziggler the win. I was intrigued by this ending as I had fully expected Ziggler to pick up a clean pinfall here, however having the match end in disqualification could suggest that WWE has major plans for Cesaro going forward. After the match, Ziggler managed to out do all three opponents, escaping Swagger’s Patriot Lock, dumping Cesaro over the top rope with a back body drop, before leap frogging Zeb Colter, which helped keep Ziggler in line with his Show Off gimmick.

I think now Ziggler has found an in ring formula as a face, fighing from underneath, using his selling ability, and making flashy hard-fought comebacks, he could become someone the WWE Universe could really get behind. However, there is still work for Ziggler to do on his character to get the fans fully on his side, and we’ll see if Ziggler can manage this on Sunday at Money in the Bank and going forward. Cesaro on the other hand also seems on the up, and hopefully WWE officials took notice of this match, as this could easily have featured on a PPV on it’s own, possibly even main evented with a good enough story going into the bout.

 Best of the Rest (In The World)

The other match on the show was a bizarre six man tag team match. It was bizarre for a number of reason, firstly the competitors chosen to take part. Okay, the face team of Tons of Funk and The Great Khali kind of makes sense to pair together, they’re all big men, who should be booked as monster but instead choose to spend their time dancing. Now when I saw 3MB head towards the ring, I automatically decided that Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal would be their opponents, which I think most people would have done. Instead they were joined by Team Rhodes Scholars who would be teaming with Heath Slater. Rhodes and Sandow did some more pre-match talking about how they are a complete unit, it’s becoming a bit too obvious what is about to happen at Money in the Bank, yes it’s always good to hear Sandow on the mic, but maybe this is too much of a good thing.

The match itself took a strange pattern with the face team controlling most of the match due to their size. Khali stayed on the apron with Tons of Funk doing the lions share of the work in the match. The heels finally got the upperhand when a confrontation broke out between 3MB’s Jinder Mahal  & Drew McIntyre and The Funkadactyls and Natalya who were all at ringside, with the distraction allowing the heels to take advantage. It wasn’t long however before Brodus Clay began to get the better of Sandow, leading Sandow to tag in Heath Slater and Team Rhodes Scholars to leave ringside. Cue Great Khali to enter the match, hitting Slater with a Brain Chop to pick up the victory for his team. All in all, this wasn’t a particularly bad match, and everyone did the best they could in the match (including Khali, who is definitely best used when being kept to a minimum), but it’s not exactly going to go down in the books as an all-time classic. For some reason it reminded me of a match you'd see on WCW Worldwide on Channel 5 back in the day.

Finally...

 

What have learned from this week's edition of Main Event?

1. Dolph Ziggler is beginning to find his feet with the face role, doing a much better job than The Miz who was on commentary.

2. Team Rhodes Scholars are going to split at Money in the Bank. If they don't I will eat my shoes.

3. Main Event doesn't need three different recaps of Raw.