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 Smackdown 2nd August 2013 Review

WWE have done the seemingly impossible and made Smackdown actually feel important again! With three top matches that had been well promoted and featured some of WWE’s top stars, Smackdown was great watch this week. This is definitely the route WWE should be going with the show and I’d like more of the same in the coming weeks and months.

World Heavyweight Championship Number One Contenders Match: 

Rob Van Dam 

vs. 

Christian 

vs.

 WWE Championship Money in the Bank Winner Randy Orton

The show kicked off this week with World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio heading to the ring to announce his decision on who he would pick to face him for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. It was pretty obvious that Del Rio would be choosing someone not quite up to the standard of a real number one contender, as he eventually went on to choose Ricardo Rodriguez, in a decent heel promo. He was interrupted by Smackdown General Manager Vickie Guerrero, who wasn’t too happy with Del Rio making a mockery of her SummerSlam match. She announced that instead of Del Rio facing Rodriguez or his second choice of the Brooklyn Brawler, Del Rio would face the winner of a triple threat later on in the evening. The triple threat would include Rob Van Dam, Christian and WWE Championship Money in the Bank winner Randy Orton. It was pretty much the guys I had been talking about in regards to Del Rio’s challenger. The only thing that let this segment down was Guerrero attempting to play a face, against Del Rio’s heel, which didn’t quite work, because Guerrero is able to get a lot more heat than Del Rio.

In build up to the match there were a few backstage segments, firstly with Alberto Del Rio visiting Vickie Guerrero in her office, to complain about her decision. Guerrero accused Del Rio of being scared of competition, before Brad Maddox came in, agreeing with Guerrero and reminding Del Rio who was in charge on Monday Night’s. I’m not quite sure what the segment was trying to achieve, other than to make the World Heavyweight Champion look a bit rubbish. Later on in the night, Renee Young interview with Rob Van Dam, was interrupted by Christian and Randy Orton, as they each put forward their case to why they would win the triple threat later on in the evening. Whilst Van Dam’s promo was puzzling, Christian and Orton both delivered strong attempts, with Orton really impressing me, bringing an edge to his character that hasn’t been seen for sometime.

The match itself was a pretty exciting triple threat and worked well as television main event. It didn’t really use the triple threat concept to it’s advantage for most of the match, as we saw different combinations of the three men involved, which was helped by each man having history with the other two. As with a lot of WWE triple threats, there were a number of good spots throughout, which were strung together well and the match had a really nice flow to it, a highlight for me saw Van Dam somersault over the top rope onto Christian and Orton on the outside. For me the best work of the match came between Orton and Van Dam, who had an excellent sequence of reversals which ended with Orton reversing Rolling Thunder in a spinning powerslam, which was visually impressive.

The end sequence saw Orton building up for an RKO on Christian, but with Van Dam attempting to take advantage, Mr Friday Night ended up getting an RKO of his own. However, with Orton going for another RKO on Christian, Captain Charisma reversed into a backslide to pick up a victory and the chance to face Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. I really enjoyed the finish here as it looked like anyone could win up until the final moments, keeping me guessing who would get the title shot. With Orton and Van Dam shaking Christian’s hand after the match, Alberto Del Rio who was at ringside, took advantage of Josh Matthew’s interviewing his new number one contender, knocking Christian over with a punch to the back of the head and finishing him off with a Superkick. With SummerSlam having a number of well-built up rivalries and feud going into the show, Christian and Del Rio have a lot of ground to make up.

CM Punk 

vs. 

Fandango 

with Summer Rae

After Fandango interrupted CM Punk last week, leading to the Ball Room Dancer receiving a GTS, it was nice to see WWE use some continuity, and bring us a match between the two this week on Smackdown. It was also nice to take a bit of a break from CM Punk’s rivalry with Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. Whilst the story has been fantastically well crated and a pleasure to watch throughout, it is important that WWE don’t over expose the characters and ideas of the feud, which has been going on for almost two months, and has a further two weeks until Punk and Lesnar finally clash at SummerSlam.

I said a few weeks ago, that CM Punk needed to stop the talking and pick up a strong convincing victory, to help him look like the arse kicker he needs to be to look convincing against Lesnar. This match certainly brought that as CM Punk looked very impressive throughout. With Fandango, who was accompanied by Summer Rae, just getting in enough offence to make the match seem competitive, it was clear that this was the CM Punk show.  Fandango played his role well, using enough classic heel tactics to get the fans even further behind Punk, and keeping him grounded with a headlock, allowing Punk to build to a come back.

Punk eventually picked up the win, with Punk hitting a Superplex and immediately locking in an Anaconda Vise to get the submission victory. It was a well-paced ending, and an original one, as Punk showed he meant business heading into SummerSlam. It wasn’t a particularly long match, but it didn’t need to be, it did its job of making Punk look impressive, whilst also allowing Fandango another opportunity to work with another of WWE’s top names and not look completely out of place. Punk could do with one more match like this to really help to push the idea home that he is in a different mindset to what we’re used to and make him look like a legitimately threat to Brock Lesnar.

So, Punk and Lesnar is only two weeks away now, and it will be interesting to see if WWE can keep the momentum of the story continuing into SummerSlam, personally I think they will, as Punk and Heyman seem to be heavily involved in the crafting of the storyline and I’m pretty sure two of modern wrestling’s greatest minds will have come up with how the next couple of weeks will run months ago. Fandango on the other hand looks like he is going to miss out on the SummerSlam card this year, however it would seem that WWE has a long term plan for him as they keep putting up against top talents, even protecting him on Raw against Rob Van Dam. Personally, I think the gimmick can only go so far, but time will tell. 

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere this week Diva’s Champion AJ Lee defended her championship against long time rival Kaitlyn. Before the match, Renee Young interviewed Kaitlyn and friend Layla about their friendship, with Layla spouting some awkward speech about Kaitlyn being the most dedicated Diva she had ever seen. It kind of sign posted what was going to happen later on in the evening, mainly because we hadn’t seen Layla for a few weeks, and therefore her randomly turning up this week made instantly think that something was going to go down.

The action in the match was good, with Kaitlyn’s aggression having an opportunity to shine through as she really took it AJ Lee. It wasn’t long before the action spilled to the outside with Kaitlyn throwing AJ into the barricade. It was here that Layla made her presence felt, when stepping in front of AJ Lee with Kaitlyn about to hit a spear. With Kaitlyn distracted AJ took advantage, throwing Kaitlyn into the ring and locking in the Black Widow to retain her title via submission. The Layla turn was fairly obvious, but I’m glad she’s back as a heel, as she skipped away with AJ, as her face run has been pretty forgettable. This match could have done with another five minutes to really build to the ending moment, but the girls did well with the time they were given.

Cody Rhodes’ face run also continued this week on Smackdown, as he faced Jack Swagger. After knocking the microphone away from Zeb Colter, Cody really went after Swagger looking fairly impressive in the process. Cody picked up a quick victory after a reversing a Gut Wrench Power bomb attempt into a sunset flip variation for the pinfall. It was decent television match, but obviously these two could have done a lot better given some more time to develop. Time is something that Cody needs at the moment to develop his face character, but with SummerSlam just around the corner he might not have time to do so. Talking of SummerSlam, Cody’s SummerSlam opponent Damien Sandow attacked him during a post-match interview with Renee Young, it was a vicious side of Sandow that we rarely see, and I have to say I am very much looking forward to their SummerSlam bout.

Big E Langston was also in action this week, as he ploughed throw Sin Cara. Big E looked impressive as he methodically tore apart Sin Cara with a number of impressive power moves. Big E picked up a quick victory, after catching Sin Cara from a springboard crossbody attempt and hitting the Big Ending for the pinfall. After watching Langston in NXT for so long, I know we’ve only just scraped the surface of what Big E can do for WWE. Personally, I think that Big E is a much better face than he is a heel, as he seems like a naturally good natured and humorous person, whilst his heel portrayl has been limited to almost a generic big guy at times. I’d also like to see him given more time in the ring sometime soon, hopefully his match at SummerSlam will provide that opportunity, whether it’s one on one with Dolph Ziggler, or teaming with AJ Lee to take on Ziggler and Kaitlyn. 

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's Smackdown?

1. Christian and Del Rio have a lot of ground to make up to make their rivalry SummerSlam ready.

2. Even when something is as good as Punk/Heyman/Lesnar, it's still good to have a break sometimes.

3. Alex Riley is work in progress on commentary, but looks promising.

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.