Lucha Underground #3.20 - All Night Long...Again Review (31st May 2017)

On 31st May, Lucha Underground aired the 20th episode of their 3rd season, taped 24th April 2016 at the Lucha Underground Arena in Los Angeles, California, on El Rey. The show featured Johnny Mundo [John Morrison] defending the Lucha Underground Championship against The Mack [Willie Mack] in an All Night Long contest. But was it any good? Let's take a look. 

• #ICYMI - All the build towards towards The Mack challenging Johnny Mundo for the Lucha Underground Championship tonight in an Iron Man match. 

• Some live mariachi music before Vampiro and Matt Striker welcome us to the show and put over the match that's about to come.

Mundo and Mack battled to 3-3 draw, Mundo Retains Lucha Underground Championship

Gosh, if you're gonna do a mid-season break, you better come back with a bang and that's exactly what Lucha Underground did with as Johnny Mundo and The Mack went to war over the Lucha Underground Championship in an Iron Man match that went the entire length of the show. The match unfolded across fourty minutes of television time, twisting and turning, weaving a compelling story that built up Mundo as the villainous veteran willing to do anything to keep his title, whilst Mack was the talented underdog who didn't look like he could last the length of the show. The wrestling almost took a back seat to the epic storytelling, but when called upon both guys worked crisp and fast, with the first ten or twelves minutes was almost all in the ring and held it's own. 

Both men's character performances were terrific throughout, but the act Mundo has going at the moment with PJ Black [Justin Gabriel] also, is something else entirely. He just oozes pure dickhead in everything that he does and that makes it super easy to get behind whoever is against him. All of Mundo's falls played into this. The first saw him back out of some back and forth strikes on top of turnbuckle, holding onto the ringpost and leaning back, getting some good heat, before catching Mack, knocking him off the turnbuckle and hitting End of the World (Split Legged Corkscrew Moonsault) for the pin at around the 6 minute mark. Three minutes later and Mundo was at it again, grabbing hold of the ropes after slipping out of a Mack pin with roll-up to take a 2-0 lead. Then for his third, Mundo upped the game as he feigned an ankle injury after hitting a corkscrew plancha, only to kip up and DDT Mack onto a stretcher (that was bought in to take Mundo out of the match). Add the moment where he hid under the ring and then appeared to run away out of the other side, only to appear from under the ring after Mack had given chase to what turned out to be PJ Black, before both men took Mack down with kendo sticks, as well as asking the band to play a victory song with minutes left of the bout and you had an intensely dislikable character, who had cheated his way into the lead and who the audience wanted to see get the shit kicked out of them. 

The bout was chockful of massive spots, as Black, Son of Havoc [Matt Cross], Sexy Star and Ricky Mandel all got involved off the match, not just upping the drama as they caused the momentum to swing one way or another but also being part of some of the matches creative highspots. The first big big spot in the match involved Mack getting his revenge for the DDT on the stretcher by tying Mundo to the board and sending him down the Arena's steps, which was as visually thrilling as it sounds. Then the other lads started to arrive as Havoc countered Mundo and Black arriving with Kendo sticks and awoke a shattered Mack with some beer. Then in the aforementioned moment that saw Mundo implore the band to play a victory song, Star was revealed as the groups maraca player, leaping off the balcony onto Mundo and Black to a big pop. The way Mack equalled the scores at 3-3 was probably the most spectacular fall of the match as the Battle of the Bulls winner hit an over-the-shoulder piledriver off the apron through a pair of tables. There was so much woven into the fabric of the story that was told, with each spot coming at just the right time, building the excitement without taking away from what was about to come, that it never felt like the match was dragging and there was always something either happening or right around the corner. 

Ending a match like this with a draw is a brave decision, as there's always the chance that the viewer can feel let down by having spent 40 minutes plus with a match only to have it conclude with no decisive winner. However, the last two minutes of the match, made me desperate to see a rematch and even more desperate to see someone knock Mundo off his perch (what a mark, right?), that slippery bastard. It felt like pretty much everyone inside the temple felt the same way, as Mundo missed an End of the World onto a ladder and Mack slowly made the climb up the ladder after draping Mundo across the table. After Havoc and Star had dealt with Ricky Mandel's interference (with the clock still ticking away in the corner of the screen), Mack reached the top exhausted and splashed the Mayor of Slam Town through the table, only for time to run out just as he made the cover. Helped by the crowd's enthusiasm this was a captivating piece of television that pulled me in deeper as the story unfolded and by the end of the show I was hyped to see them go at it again on next week's episode. 

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 7.8/10 

There isn't much more to add in this part, the match was great, the whole episode was the match. Go and watch it and enjoy the silliness.

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 25th September 2013 Review

This week's Main Event was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Whilst the action in the ring was solid throughout the show, there wasn't really anything that made me sit up and take notice, and on paper there wasn't anything that anyone would particularly go out of their way to see.

Justin Gabriel 

vs. 

Intercontinental Champion 

Curtis Axel 

with Paul Heyman

This bout went on last and was by far the most interesting of any of the matches on the show. Justin Gabriel has been getting some what of a push recently, as part of the group of wrestlers standing up for Daniel Bryan. Even if that push has been mainly so he can used as fodder for The Shield he has been featured in main event slots on both Raw and Smackdown and has become prominent on both shows, a lot more than what he was getting a few months ago. Therefore, I was intrigued to see how competitive he was in this bout with Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel and how long the match got, as the show, has generally been used to test out talent before giving them a stronger role on the two main television show.

The match started slowly, with Axel dominating, I found it really hard to get into at this point. Whilst Axel's technical skills are sound, and it did make storyline sense for him to work over Gabriel, there was no interaction with the audience. Whilst Paul Heyman generates heat from just being at ringside, Axel himself really needs to start stepping things up with his crowd interaction, if he really wants to get taken seriously. The strongest part of the earlier part of the match was a nice series of roll ups and pin variations from Gabriel, which were well executed with Gabriel even managing to correct an earlier botch at one point, but it still wasn't enough to make me think Gabriel was going to pick up the win.

There was, however a really nice near fall for Gabriel heading towards the conclusion of the match. Axel attempted the Running One-Armed Swinging Neckbreaker, which Gabriel slipped out of delivering a swift Roundhouse Kick to the head, before hitting a springboard Moonsault off the top rope for a two count, the swiftness of the delivery felt like it could easily have finished off the match and was the first moment that really got me interested in what I was watching, with Paul Heyman's reaction on the outside really selling the moment for me. The finish saw Gabriel closing in on victory, attempting to get Axel to re-enter the ring, only for Axel to pull Gabriel into the ring ropes allowing the Intercontinental Champion to slide into the ring and hit the Hangman's Facebuster to pick up the pinfall victory. It was a decent enough finish, it wasn't anything special but it did it's job here, in allowing Axel to look credible in the ring.

So, how did Justin Gabriel do in this one? Given as this match was of a decent length, in fact if it's longest he's had on WWE television, with only a couple of NXT battles with Tyson Kidd coming close, so it's the best look we and WWE have had at Gabriel when the lights are on bright. I really like Gabriel in the ring, I think he's capable of putting on some really watchable and exciting matches, and at times we saw flashes off it in this one, with the false finish being really well worked by the Cape Town Werewolf. He could potentially be moved into a spot higher up on the card, possibly even have runs with the United States Championship (we've seen him get a couple of shots at that title on PPV), but I just can't see him moving further up than that, or past the “good little hand” stereotype. Maybe it's because he hasn't been in real feud since his day's in Nexus, but he just doesn't seem to have enough about him, the It Factor if you will, that would capapult him into a more important role for the company.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on the show, the number one contenders to the Tag Team Championships The Usos were put up against the bizarre pairing of Fandango and Big E Langston, who were accompanied by Summer Rae. On paper, the team of Fandango and Big E Langston sounds atrocious, but for this one match they were fairly entertaining. The story running throughout the match, was the way the two teams operated, with The Usos sticking to the team work that they have become known for, whilst Fandango & Langston would use blind tags with Langston doing the majority of the work on one of The Usos, before Fandango would tag back in. There was some nice spots, such as Langston catching an Usos in mid air on the outside, only to be taken out by another flying for inside the ring. At times, Fandango didn't look particularly interested in this one, and never really got going in the way we've come to expect of him, with a dodgy looking suplex that could have easily injured Uso.

The finish saw The Usos begin to get rolling, with Fandango feigning a leg injury on the outside of the ring, The Usos managed to get a tag before, Langston could gain any momentum from the distraction and the Superkick/Superfly Splash combination got them the win. I'm not too sure about this ending, whilst The Usos worked it well, seeing Langston go down in such a situation doesn't exactly help his monster character that has barely even got going, whilst Fandango's continued cowardly nature, isn't exactly making him look like a threat to anyone, so what is the reason we are supposed to care about him? It was the right decision to give The Usos the win and they are looking really good at the moment, after a strong showing on Raw in the Eleven-on-Three main event, I wouldn't be surprised to see The Usos snatching that tag team gold from around the waist of The Shield's Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns some time soon.

The other match on the show saw an angry Big Show take on World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner Damien Sandow. This was essentially a squash match, with Show pulling apart Sandow within a few minutes. Sandow did get some offence in, in terms of a David vs. Goliath style fight back, but seeing as Sandow was playing the heel it didn't really work. Big Show went on to win the match with a Knockout Punch for a pinfall victory. After the bout, Show removed Sandow's briefcase that was handcuffed to the ringpost and placed on Sandow's chest. I thought this was a nice touch to show how Big Show is being effected by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, but apart from that this match didn't really impress. 

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's Main Event.

1. Curtis Axel needs to up his game and start bringing the crowd into his matches.

2. Fandango & Big E Langston worked as a one off tag team, but I wouldn't want to see them team up on a regular basis.

3. When Big Show finally flips on Triple H it should be an epic standout moment.

WWE Raw 23rd September 2013 Review

We've been away a few days, but we're back with a review of this week's edition of WWE Raw. I thought this week's Raw was a fairly strong showing, which is surprising when you look at the card, which on paper was at best underwhelming and at worst nonsensical.

Eleven-on-Three Handicap Elimination Match: 

Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston, Rob Van Dam, Prime Time Players, Dolph Ziggler, The Usos, R-Truth, Justin Gabriel & Zack Ryder 

vs. 

The Shield

See what I mean? This match, on paper, should be an absolutely awful clusterf**k, luckily it wasn't, but we'll get into why a bit later on. Firstly, let's talk about how this match came about and the build up throughout the show. The opening segment featured Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in the ring, with Kofi Kingston, Rob Van Dam, Prime Time Players, Dolph Ziggler, The Usos, R-Truth, Justin Gabriel & Zack Ryder standing up on the stage. This was, of course, to do with those ten wrestlers saving Daniel Bryan last week on Raw. Triple H & McMahon were on top form as heels, really winding up the faces on the stage, claiming that they should be fighting for themselves and not Daniel Bryan, with the nice little touch of the pair finishing each others sentences. Triple H went on to book the eleven on three handicap elimination match for the night's main event, after Rob Van Dam had stepped up to speak for his colleagues with his usual laissez-faire promo style

Later in the night, in the build up to the contest, we got to hear what The Shield though about being put against eleven other men. I thought it was refreshing to see The Shield not backing down when the odds look to be stacked against, as we have seen time and time again from WWE heels, with Dean Ambrose delivering a very strong promo (back in The Shield's patent hand held style) outlining why the group work best when they are against the wall, with a metaphor that actually made sense! Seth Rollins still looks a little awkward having to follow an Ambrose promo, coming off as a little bit of a sidekick, whilst Reigns is at his best standing there as the muscle of the group. Daniel Bryan also got some mic time prior to the match, with another strong promo, talking pulling wholes in the idea that he and Scott Armstrong had a plan for him to win the WWE Championship at Night of Champions and that Bryan would be winning back the WWE title at Battleground on October 6. The passion that Bryan is bringing to his performances at the moment is something a lot of the WWE roster should be looking at, and looking to bring to their performances, he's clearly a man enjoying what he does and it shows.

After Bryan's promo, The Shield headed down to start the match early, only to be cut of at the pass by a returning Goldust and Cody Rhodes, in a moment that really made you sit and watch, even if it was little weird that Goldust was still wearing his face paint. That stroyline feels like it's about to catch fire and if it keeps going in the right direction WWE will have another star on their hands in Cody Rhodes. Once the match got started The Shield took control, with the idea being that most of the other wrestlers had already competed in match and some like Rob Van Dam had taken vicious beatings at the hands of Randy Orton and Alberto Del Rio (even if he couldn't be bothered to sell it) With The Shield ploughing through RVD, Kingston, Titus O'Neil of The Prime Time Players, Justin Gabriel and Zack Ryder, it quickly boiled down to three on six, with Kingston looking the most competitive after a nice sequence with Dean Ambrose, whilst Roman Reigns looked fantastic taking out O'Neil, Gabriel and Ryder in quick order.

With Daniel Bryan entering the match, the leader of WWE lockeroom changed the momentum in favour of his team, with his usual comeback taking out all three members, before tagging in the The Usos for a Superkick and Superfly Splash combination that allowed them to eliminated Reigns, giving that team strong momentum heading into a Tag Team Championship match down the line. With the Allstate Arena absolutely loving it, the match settled back down for a bit, with The Shield managing to eliminate Darren Young, with Young looking particularly impressive in action against Ambrose. To be quite honest, Ambrose was excellent throughout this match, including a great section with Dolph Ziggler that showed promise for their United States Championship match on Smackdown this Friday, with Ziggler eventually getting the better with a Zig Zag to eliminate Ambrose. Hopefully the two get a solid fifteen minutes on Smackdown to really impress, because they just didn't have enough time at Night of Champions to put on the bout we all know they are capable of. With Rollins the only man left for The Shield, it was clearly only a matter of time, but Rollins was still allowed to look a million dollars against Dolph Ziggler, before even managing to eliminate R-Truth (Truth literally did nothing all match). The four remaining faces then ganged up on Rollins, drawing the rest of The Shield. With Ziggler and The Usos taking out Ambrose and Reigns, and all five men ending up on the outside, Rollins tried to take advantage attacking Bryan from behind and setting him up for a superplex. However, Bryan reversed sending Rollins crashing to the mat, and hitting a Flying Headbutt, before finishing off Rollins with the Running High Knee to pick up the pinfall victory for his team. I really enjoyed this match, I thought it was a lot of fun throughout and did wonders for a number of competitors giving them the oppurtunity to really shine in the main event, long may it continue. 

CM Punk returns to Chicago

Anyone who has watched WWE television over the last few years will know the kind of reactions that CM Punk gets when he heads to his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. We saw it most recently at this year's Payback pay-per-view and perhaps most famously at Money in the Bank 2011, when he won his first WWE Championship. So here we were again on this week's Raw from the Allstate Arena, as soon as Punk's music hit the place erupted, with a pop that is rarely heard in today professional wrestling scene, especially for a regular performer. To top it off, Punk came out wearing, what I have been told was a Chicago Blackhawks jersey, as if Punk really needed extra help getting the pop.

Punk was out to cut a promo on losing to Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel in the Handicap elimination match at Night of Champions. Punk started off talking about not being able to bring the Stanley Cup out with him, which means very little to me at all, it is frustrating when WWE forgets that most North American sports, aren't played outside of North American and that Raw airs all over the world! It means that the cultural reference they are trying to make is completely lost on the majority of it's audience! Whilst the passion that Punk brought to his promo is something that you don't see too often on WWE television, I found it hard to get into what he was saying, because I simply don't have the knowledge of Ice Hockey to really care about the metaphors that he was trying to pull upon, Chicago of course absolutely loved it.

Punk was interupted by Paul Heyman, who is now comically riding around on a mobility scooter. The confrontation between the two was red hot and animosity between the two characters felt believable throughout. Heyman continued to bait Punk reminding him of Heyman victory at Night of Champions, as well as going for the cheap heat of insulting Chicago, with the city playing a massive part in the entire segment. I'm usually completely against cheap heat, but in this case, with the characters so clearly involved in the city that WWE happened to be in this week it worked incredibly well, and Heyman's a proved genius so I'll let him off. It was clear for all to see where the segment was leading, with Heyman placed precariously on the ramp and Punk in the ring, Heyman attempted to leave the arena, unfortunately, for Heyman, his mobility scooter broke down. I'm sure they could have come up with a better idea than this one, with Heyman messing with his scooter not really doing it for me. It didn't really suit the story they have been trying to tell, and I would have much rather seen Punk just launch himself at Heyman, without all the silliness.

Punk, of course, went after Heyman, only to be cut off by Heyman's clients Ryback and Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel. The brawl between the three was another very strong piece of work, reminscent of Punk's brawls with Brock Lesnar heading into this year's SummerSlam. Punk would continually fight back agaisnt the overwhelming odds, sending Axel into the video screen, before flying off the stage onto Ryback, in what was a spectacular visual. The numbers game was eventually too much for Punk, with Axel causing the distraction and allowing Ryback to gain the upperhand, and finish Punk off with a Gorilla Press Slam through off a production box through a table, in what looked like a really nasty bump for Punk. With Punk vs. Ryback booked for Battleground, I'm a lot more interested in how the storyline is going to play out, than I am about watching the two lock up in the ring again, after their previous encounters proved uninspiring, but I'm willing follow along to find out what happens with Punk and Heyman.

Rob Van Dam 

with Ricardo Rodriguez 

vs.

 Randy Orton

This match was set up in the opening segment, with Stephanie McMahon announcing that she would give the fans the oppurtunity to vote on who would face Randy Orton later in the show, with the options being Rob Van Dam, Dolph Ziggler or R-Truth. Of course, this could only be done via the WWE App, meaning we also received a few minutes of Michael Cole informing us of how to download the blasted thing. Personally, I would have prefered to have seen Dolph Ziggler get the nod from WWE fans, as whilst Orton vs. Ziggler was a regular occurrence between 2011 and 2012, it's been quite some time since we've seen the two lock up on WWE television, whilst Orton has had a number of high profile matches with Van Dam over the past few months and R-Truth has become utterly irrelevant in today's WWE. The rest of the voters on the WWE App, however decided it would Van Dam to step into the ring with Orton, with a strong majority of 57%.

As we've seen in the past between Orton and Van Dam, this was enjoyable bout with the two contrasting styles of both men meshing together nicely in the ring. Orton's slow methodical style allows for Van Dam's quick flurry of offence to stand out and really got the crowd involved from the outset. Van Dam's comebacks were short and impactful throughout with a number of strikes looking strong, alongside signature moves like Rolling Thunder. There was a slight awkward moment, when Orton seemed to get to his feet too early with Van Dam planning to hit a Five Star Frog Splash, luckily the veteran Van Dam was able to recover quickly and the match didn't really lose any of it's flow.

Things really interesting when Orton thwarted another Five Star Frog Splash attempt from Van Dam, and sent him crashing to the outside. From here, Orton returned to the more vicious side that we saw up against The Miz last week, really working over Van Dam on the outside, sending him into the barricade, with the referee counting both men out. Orton went on to beat the absolute crap in Van Dam, sending him into the steel steps and finishing him off with Rope Hung DDT off the top rope. This side off Orton is certainly one that has been missed over the past few years, and allows Orton to look capable on his own, rather than simply Triple H's lackey hiding behind The Shield that he had been dangerously close to becoming in the build up to Night of Champions.

With Orton leaving the ring, and Van Dam being helped to the back by WWE officials, World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio came down to the ring, attacking Van Dam and locking in the Cross Armbreaker. I thought this was another nice little touch for their rivalry, but I'm still not quite sure why they are feuding. WWE need to position the World Heavyweight Championship front and centre in that rivalry, to help build up the belts prestige a little more, as it's just getting lost in the mix at the moment, especially with so much focus on the WWE Championship on Raw and Smackdown. Another questions that bugged me whilst watching was where Ricardo Rodriguez had gone? He was definitely at ringside for the match, but couldn't be bothered to help out his supposed friend Rob Van Dam at any point. I thought the injury played nicely into the main event with Van Dam being part of the eleven man team to take on The Shield and gave the show a nice arc that was followable throughout the three hours.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

The aforementioned World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio was also in action on Raw, taking on Kofi Kingston. Now, a lot of the audience on Twitter was quick to jump on this match for whatever reason, with the Chicago crowd also deciding to chuck around your usual chants for “Randy Savage”, because that really encourages WWE to push new talent. I was myself a little sceptical about the contest going in, as we've seen Del Rio vs Kingston on a number of occasions, and whilst the bouts have always been technically sound, they've never exactly stood out as anything special, with Kingston representing a stepping stone for Del Rio to move onto an opponent higher up the card. Yes, this was the case again here, but the two did bring something extra to their match that by the end had grabbed the attention of Chicago, who were more than into the match by the finish.

Basically, for almost the entire match Del Rio was working over Kingston's arm, with the obvious story being Del Rio was building up for the Cross Armbreaker. With Kingston doing a fantastic job selling the arm injury, and being repeatedly brought up throughout the match thwarting a number of Kingston's comeback's this one built up really nicely, with a flow that felt natural and believable. There was superb spot with Kingston attempting Trouble in Paradise, only for Del Rio to reverse into a German Suplex that looked absolutely beautiful. The finish saw Kingston going for a Springboard attack from the apron to the inside, with Del Rio moving out of the way, before sending Kingston into the ringpost, of course shoulder first, before locking in the Cross Armbreaker to pick up the submission victory. A really strong opener for Raw, that again played into the main storyline of the show, whilst also allowing Del Rio to look great in control of the match.

Miz TV also returned to Raw, after Triple H had set up the segment backstage, saying that Chicago wanted to see Miz TV. Chicago truly is a bizarre place then. The Miz's guest for the segment was Big Show, with the segment geared toward continued the storyline between Big Show and The McMahon family, with The Miz asking Show about why he punched Dusty Rhodes in the face last week on Raw. With Show not saying anything, Stephanie McMahon came down to the ring and the segment picked up a little, with some great heel work from McMahon. McMahon ripped into Miz labelling him a utility player with a scathing promo. It's just a shame that The Miz still isn't working as a face, and looks out of place fighting against the machine.

With McMahon ordering Big Show to knock out Miz, luckily this week saw no crying from the World Largest Athelete, as he delivered a Knockout Punch to his former Show-Miz partner. I have been calling out for months for someone to just punch The Miz in the face, and it finally happened. It was certainly a refreshing change to having Big Show dealing with another moral dilemma, and it made sense for him to just punch the smarmy Miz in the face. I'm interested to see where this is going with Big Show, as surely there is only so long that the big man can take of being pushed around by the McMahon family before he snaps, but how long can WWE play this one out. I wouldn't be surprised if they ran a short programme between Miz and Show for a match at Battleground either.  

 There was also tag team action, with The Wyatt Family's Erick Rowan & Luke Harper teaming up to take on The Prime Time Players. It was a decent tag team match, with Harper and Rowan dominating Darren Young and looking pretty impressive in the process. Young eventually got the hot tag to Titus O'Neil who managed to get some offence in on Harper, before Rowan got involved and the bout headed towards the finish. Young took out Rowan with a clothesline sending both men to the outside, before O'Neil walked straight into a Discus Lariat from Harper to give The Wyatt Family the pinfall victory. It would seem that Prime Time Players push is ending now that the media storm that surrounded Darren Young has died down a little, and I'd expect to see Harper and Rowan competiting for the tag titles soon, possibly against The Usos who seem likely to end The Shield's reign. The Wyatt Family finished off the segment with Bray Wyatt hitting Sister Abigail on Darren Young, in what has become a familiar finish to their appearances on television.

Fandango was also in action this week, taking on Santino Marella, in a comedy encounter. There was some decent stuff in here, but it was difficult to find with the bout consisting mainly of rest holds, with a few comedy spots thrown in the mix, that unfortunately came across more goofy than actually funny. The finish came off the back of a comeback for Marella, with Summer Rae causing the distraction, allowing Fandango to attack him from behind, hitting a suplex before heading to the top rope to hit a Diving Leg Drop for the pinfall victory. It wasn't the worst match you'll see on television this year, and at times it was entertaining, but there really wasn't much point to it, with WWE not seeming to have any plans for either man going forward.

There was also women's action with a ridiculous ten woman tag team match pitting The Bella Twins, The Funkadactyls and Natalya against Diva's Champion AJ Lee, Alicia Fox, Aksana, Layla and Tamina Snuka. Prior to the bout there was segment between AJ Lee and Stephanie McMahon with the two clearly still not seeing eye to eye, and it just made the whole women's division look completely incorrehent. Who is a heel, who is a face? The match itself last less than two minutes, with only a few women getting involved, and saw Brie Bella pick up the pinfall victory over AJ Lee after a Bella Buster. I've got no idea what they were trying to get over here, but it just seemed like a complete waste of bringing out all those women, to only have them stand on the apron!  

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's Raw.

1. Don't judge a book by it's cover: the eleven on three match should have been awful, but it was booked really well and wrestled even better.

2. Ice Hockey references mean nothing to me.

3. Randy Orton is really coming back into his own, and looks to be enjoying himself back in his maniacal role

WWE Main Event 4th September 2013 Review

This week's WWE Main Event was a bit of a funny one for me, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the match that I was most interested in, wasn't place in what has been considered the “Main Event” slot on Main Event (the first match on the show), neither was it the longest match, it actually went on last. I'm not quite sure if I like the change of format for Main Event they used this, the old format is what made it stand out from other WWE programming and made me want to watch in the first place. It risks going the same way as WWE Superstars if they carry on this way.

Tag Team Match: 

The Prime Time Players 

vs. 

The Wyatt Family (Harper/Rowan) 

with Bray Wyatt

As I said in my opener, this was the match that really caught my attention when I noticed it was scheduled for this week's Main Event and for a number of reasons. Firstly, both of these teams have been a role as of late, with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan still undefeated as a Tag Team on main roster WWE television, and The Prime Time Players were on a decent run as well, with victories over The Real Americans and 3MB on Raw and Smackdown recently, so who would WWE chose to go over here. Secondly, I was interested to see how the two teams fitted together in the ring, with The Shield possibly dropping the Tag Team Championships at some point soon, it would seem logical that these two teams could end up feuding over the belts, I'm guessing that WWE might have been interested in that idea to, which might have been the reason for this bout in the first place.

The match was shorter than I imagined it would be, running at around three minutes, but it was probably the most competitive match we've seen someone have with Harper and Rowan. With Titus O'Neil and Rowan having a nice big man exchange to kick off the match, before it settled into you usual beat down from the heels, who worked over O'Neil pretty well. I was really impressed by Darren Young in this match, as he has really taken to his new role as a face, he worked the corner nicely, really helping to sell the need for the tag from O'Neil. Young certainly seems to be enjoying himself in the ring again, which was something that he seemed to miss during the later stages of The Prime Time Players heel run, which is understandable, seeing as they finally have some upward mobility in the tag team division again.

I thought the finish was also strong, with Rowan looking to interfere, during Young's frenzy off of the hot tag, only to be shoulder barged over the top rope by O'Neil. Just when it looked like The Prime Time Players might be going over, they pulled the switch with Harper hitting a big boot on Young and Rowan sending O'Neil into the barricade. Harper went on to hit a Discus Clothesline to get the pinfall victory for his team. I enjoyed the quickness of the switch they used here, really pulling the rug from underneath the viewer. The match was too short for either of these two teams to really show us what they could do, but they did the best with the time available. To close the show, Bray Wyatt entered the ring and hit Young with Sister Abigail before posing and reminding us to Follow The Buzzards! It's becoming a signature of The Wyatt Family's matches now to have Wyatt come in to take out the opponent again, I'm interested to see what happens when they lose.

So, it looks like The Wyatt Family is going to continue to roll on for now, but where exactly to. It would be difficult in their current state to have them go after the Tag Team Championships from The Shield, yes they could do heel team vs. heel team, it's been done before, but with The Shield so close to the Triple H/Randy Orton/Daniel Bryan storyline that's dominating WWE at the moment, I don't think it would really work right now. Yes, they could turn The Wyatt Family face, we've seen from their last appearance on NXT that it can work very well, but so soon after their debut, I just don't think it would feel right, especially with the feud with Kane still left open. I imagine they're going to be treading water for a while, until Kane is ready to return. The Prime Time Players on the other handed have been rumoured to be getting a Tag Title shot at Night of Champions, personally I think this match puts that match out of question, as if WWE were planning to have O'Neil and Young challenge for the titles, surely they wouldn't have them lose so close to the pay-per-view.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on Main Event, R-Truth took on World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner Damien Sandow. Before the match, Sandow cut a nice little promo about Cody Rhodes' firing on Raw, which I thought was a nice touch. We've seen this match a handful of times before, most recently on Raw in June, and unfortunately this felt like the pair going through the motions. It's something I've noticed a few times with Sandow, and it's even more frustrating because I know when he does turn up he can put on a very good match, and I'm sure with the time given here with R-Truth they could have done so. That's not saying the match was awful, it was a decent contest, with a nice series of roll-ups being the highlight for me, but it just didn't seem like the effort was being put in to elevate this match from a decent match to a good match. Josh Matthews and Alex Riley on commentary didn't help the match much either, spending most of the match talking about Big Show. 

The finish saw Sandow go for Terminus, with Truth pushing him into the ropes for a roll up for a near fall. Sandow then ran straight into a Little Jimmy to give R-Truth the pinfall victory. It was a nice finish, but I have absolutely no clue why they had R-Truth going over Sandow. They've done literally nothing with R-Truth on television for months, and it's obvious to anyone that R-Truth is going nowhere in WWE at the moment, and Sandow is holding the Money in the Bank briefcase and a possible future World Heavyweight Champion, so why would they have R-Truth win here? WWE seems intent on having Sandow lose to everyone on the roster before he cashes in his briefcase, and they'll have the same problem they had with Jack Swagger and Daniel Bryan when they were given similar runs with the briefcase. It would be nice if WWE would learn from their own mistakes in booking, and at least have Sandow looking competent in the ring. 


The match that took the usual “Main Event” slot was Fandango going up against Justin Gabriel. No offence to Gabriel, I think he's a terrific in-ring talent but he just doesn't have the name value some of the usual wrestlers that get put in this spot have, mainly due to the fact he usually loses on television. The match itself was pretty sloppy throughout, including a horrible looking bump where Gabriel somersaulted over the top rope and landed on the back of neck and head, Gabriel certainly didn't look the same after that moment and was favouring his head for the rest of the bout. The finish saw Fandango hit a Pele Kick for a near fall, before heading to the top rope to hit the Diving Leg Drop for the pinfall victory. Personally, I would have rather seen Fandango go straight from the kick to the Leg Drop to get the pin, but the finish was decent enough. These two have had better matches on television before, and seeing as they've worked a few house shows together as well I was expecting a little better, but I guess a lot of it has to do with the head injury Gabriel suffered pretty early on.

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's WWE Main Event.

1. The Prime Time Players are really growing on me as a face tag team.

2. Damien Sandow should be winning more matches, although continuing to go through the motions won't help him.

3. I really, really don't like Josh Matthews on commentary

WWE Main Event 21st August 2013 Review

This week's Main Event was a bit hit and miss, with some matches working extremly whilst others were simply thrown together and didn't really do much for anyone. The Shield reminded everyone that they're still the most consistent team in WWE, whilst Funkacactyl Naomi got a chance to show what she can do in singles action against Diva's Champion AJ Lee.

Six Man Tag Team Match: 

Kofi Kingston & The Usos

 vs. 

The Shield

This weeks main event saw new McMahon assoiciates The Shield taking on Kofi Kingston and The Usos. There is a fair amount of history between the two teams, after Dean Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston for the United States Championship at Extreme Rules, whilst The Usos challenged for Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns' Tag Team Championships at Money in the Bank. If I remember rightly, they've also had this exact same match a few months ago on Main Event, but Kingston and The Usos certainly weren't in the same positions they are in now, therefore this bout felt like it had a little more importance.

The bout was strong from the outset, with some good team work from the Usos and Kingston. The opening section was superb, flowing well and with some exciting spots, concluding with the three faces sending Rollins over the top rope into the arms of Ambrose and Reigns, before all three performed a spectacular dive over the top rope, even if Kingston over shot a little. It was a refreshing change to usual dynamic of The Shield's matches and really got the crowd involved in the contest. Of course, it didn't take long for The Shield to get back in control, with all three member doing a good job of working over an Uso, their psychology is always sound in these kind of matches, and coupled with good selling for Uso and Kingston and the other Uso working the crowd in the corner well, the match was coming together nicely.

The ending was so pacy and frenetic that there really was too much for me to cover here, Kofi Kingston's hot tag was great, Kofi's energy within a WWE ring over the last six years has been outstanding and this was much of the same, as he put on a good sequence with Ambrose, even making SOS look good! The ending saw Rollins throw an Uso into the ring, distracting the referee, allowing Rollins to push Kingston off the top rope and Ambrose to pick up the pinfall victory following a Headlock Driver. Whilst I'm not sure what the referee would have done if he hadn't been distracted, surely Rollins action wouldn't have resulted in disqualification, it was at least a creative finish and allowed The Shield to pick up a victory following their loss on Smackdown.

The Shield's association with the McMahon, Triple H and Randy Orton, could go one of two ways. Either The Shield will get pushed back into their previous role taking on some of WWE's top names before transitioning into singles competition seperatly, or they could end up being viewed simply as the McMahon's lackeys and struggling to recover, it all depends on if the WWE has any long term plans for the group. Kofi Kingston and The Usos on the other hand are once again in limbo, with WWE not having much for them at the moment. WWE has really dropped the ball with Kingston's return from injury, a feud with Ryback, the man who injured him a few months back, could have given both something to do over the last month.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere Diva's Champion AJ Lee, accompanied by Layla, took on Naomi, who was joined by Cameron in an average contest. Whilst the majority of the action was good and showed off the atleticism of Naomi well, the bout lack any coherent story or flow which was a shame. AJ Lee was also over reliant on the sleeper hold which she locked in twice and for a long time considering this bout was only a few minutes long. The ending saw Naomi look to have picked up the victory with Rear View (seriously? Her arse is big, but as finishing move?) but Layla caused the distraction, allowing Lee to lock in Black Widow to get the submission victory. I liked this ending mainly because of how beautifully Lee transitions into the submission hold, and the reason that a women finally has a recognisable finisher hold in WWE. This bout was simply there to allow Lee to pick up her victory after the loss in the tag team match on Raw.

So who will be AJ Lee's opponent at Night of Champions? It appeared that we might see one of The Funkadactyls get a shot after their victory on Raw, but this bout quickly dispelled any thoughts of that. Kaitlyn's time as Lee's opponent also seemed to come to a close at SummerSlam, and another match would certainly feel like overkill. That leaves the only other face woman on the roster, Natalya. Natalya holds victories over AJ in both singles and tag team action, as well as going over Brie Bella at SummerSlam, therefore she would seem like the perfect opponent for the Diva's Champion. Natalya's in ring skills, matched up against AJ Lee's could produce one of the most memorable women's matches in WWE, if the two are given enough time.

Bray Wyatt was also in action on Main Event, taking on Justin Gabriel. Similiar to Wyatt's match against R-Truth on Raw, this was simply a squash match to show off Wyatt's signature moves and make him look strong. Wyatt destroyed Gabriel in mere minutes, picking up the victory with Sister Abigail. I'd imagine that this will continue for sometime, with Wyatt running through WWE's undercard roster, expect matches against the likes of Zack Ryder and Yoshi Tatsu to come soon. They certainly need to build up Wyatt as singles performer, after pretty much having him destoryed by Kane in the Ring of Fire Match at SummerSlam.

The Great Khali also featured this week, taking on Jack Swagger of The Real Americans. The bout really was awful. With a minute or so of Swagger targeting Khali's knee (despite his finisher being an Ankle Lock), there was some cofuffle on the outside with Swagger throwing Hornswoggle in the wall, after Natalya had slapped Cesaro. With Khali waiting in the ring, hitting Swagger with a Brain Chop to pick up the victory. I've got absolutely no idea why Khali went over here, as his appearances are few and far between, whilst Swagger has been appearing on Raw regularly in tag team action. All this match really showed was how far Swagger's star has fallen since WrestleMania.

Finally...

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

1. WWE has nothing for Kofi Kingston and The Usos at the moment.

2. AJ Lee should be facing Natalya at Night of Champions.

3. Both The Miz and Josh Matthews are seriously annoying on commentary.

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.