WWE Main Event - September 4, 2013
by Scrooge McSuck
- Last week on Main Event... I don't know what happened. I haven't watched Main Event since July 17th, because of burn-out from the weekly reviews and a lack of interest in the product slowly becoming the next Superstars. I'm not promising a return to covering the show on a regular basis, but I feel if I get started again, it will create momentum in me picking it up again. On a random note, it's nice to see the Main Event opening has updated, and there's plenty of Daniel Bryan spliced in.
- Originally taped on September 3rd, 2013 from Minneapolis, MN. Josh Mathews and Alex Riley are at ringside to call all the action, unless otherwise noted. I'd much rather have Michael Cole and JBL, but you got to figure they both do 5 hours of television together already, so making them do the C-Show is a bit of burn-out, no matter who you are.
Justin Gabriel vs. Fandango (w/ Summer Rae):
Umm... What the hell is this? I guess with the loss of Cody Rhodes, we lost a steady midcarder to give solid performances on a regular basis on this show. It's been 5-months and it's nice to see Summer Rae has yet to improve her "dancing" abilities. I didn't notice until now, but Fandango's Titantron has sing-a-long to his theme musics "Da-Da's". Fandango starts by showing off his dance moves. Gabriel with a headlock and shoulder tackle, sending Fandango to the floor. Back inside, Gabriel works the arm. Fandango counters with a drop toe hold, but can't hold onto a front facelock and it's back to the arm. Fandango with knees to the midsection, followed by chops. The match has played second fiddle the entire time so far to the commentary team discussing Triple H firing Cody Rhodes on the last episode of Raw. They do a nice back-and-forth before settling on a slugfest, won by Gabriel. Crowd chants "You Can't Dance" as Fandango stalls, again. Gabriel with a dropkick, sending him to the floor, AGAIN. That's really starting to annoy the canned crowd, so Gabriel follows him out this time with a suicide senton!Back from break, Gabriel is the one in pain on the floor. Back inside, Fandango targets the head and takes Gabriel over with a snap suplex for two. Gabriel fights out of a chinlock, but a sunset flip is blocked. Fandango with a hard whip to the corner for another two count. He goes back to the chinlock, but this time Gabriel escapes with a back suplex. He connects with a jumping heel kick, followed by a spinning version. Gabriel with a charge to the corner, followed by a springboard body press for two. Gabriel is off target on his Lionsault attempt, but lands on his feet and rolls Fandango up for two. Fandango comes out of the corner with his own jumping heel kick for two. Gabriel lands on his feet to counter a German Suplex, but Fandango levels him with a modified Trouble in Paradise, and comes off the top with the Alabama Jam for the three count at 10:24. Solid match, call it **3/4 (it wasn't quite good enough for 3-stars, but 2 1/2 seems unfair, so huzzah), but the commentary was more concerned with recapping Raw than getting over either man in the match. It's nice to see two guys in their position get more than 10-minutes (that's after a break is edited out), but it means nothing if you don't put them over on commentary. They displayed some solid back-and-forth chain wrestling to start and built up to a satisfying finish. Nice to see a heel go over clean, even if it was against Justin Gabriel.
- Raw Recap: The on-going war between Daniel Bryan, the Triple H version of the It's Good For Business Club, and everyone else being bullied into not standing up to the regime continues! Big Show is the most targeted member of the roster, being given a part-genuine, part-patronizing speech from Stephanie McMahon, and being forced into a match with Daniel Bryan, and ordered to KO him with his Knockout Punch. I don't get the Big Show involvement, but I'm loving this angle because I WANT TO SEE WHERE IT GOES. Daniel Bryan is ending every show on his back, but because he's fighting 3, 4, or 5-on-1 odds each time. The angle is only three weeks old, and I don't expect a blowoff any time soon. The day Daniel Bryan and/or the rest of the roster stands up and ends a show on a high note is the night everyone is going to go bananas. Kudos to whoever for coming up with a story that is actually interesting to see develop.
R-Truth vs. Damien Sandow:
Yeah, we're in Superstars Hell right now. Sandow is the Money in the Bank Holder for the World Heavyweight Title, but his feud partner is gone for the foreseeable future, and he had nothing else lined up. You would think Sandow having his briefcase handcuffed is no longer necessary. Truth has been doing NOTHING for the last year, so I expect Sandow to go over. Truth starts by grabbing a headlock. Whip and a shoulder tackle gets a one count. Truth works another chinlock and takes Sandow over with a backslide for two. Truth with an Oklahoma Roll for two. Sandow sweeps the legs and rolls him up for two. Truth with a small package for two, and it's time for a breather. Whip to the corner, Sandow misses a charge, but rolls to the floor to avoid any punishment. Truth follows, only to roll into some boots. Sandow with a snapmare and elbow drop for two. Truth with a hip toss, followed by an unnecessarily overly-choreographed leg drop. He sends Sandow to the floor with a clothesline, and us to a commercial break.Back from break, Sandow rams Truth into the ring apron, and drops an elbow across the throat. Sandow with a snap suplex for two. He pounds away on the midsection and locks on a body scissors. Truth offers a comeback, but Sandow side-steps a charge, flinging him to the floor in the process. Back inside, Sandow with the Russian leg sweep and Elbow of Disdain for two. Sandow with a back breaker, but a second rope moonsault (The Honor Roll!?) misses. Truth comes off the ropes with a pair of clotheslines, followed by a spinning head scissors. Jumping heel kick gets two. Sandow avoids the Scissors Kick and rolls him up for two. Boot to the midsection, but a snap neckbreaker misses. Truth with the Scissors Kick... FOR TWO! Sandow hooks the ropes to avoid some kind of face-buster, then snaps Truth back with a reverse DDT for two. Truth counters a neck breaker and rolls Sandow up for two. Truth with a modified Downward Spiral... FOR THREE AT 9:23?! What the hell is Sandow doing jobbing to a nothing like R-Truth?! You know how they could've salvaged this: establish in a pre-match promo that Truth and Cody Rhodes were good buddies and this is revenge for Sandow's comments on Twitter about being happy Rhodes was fired. At least it's something! Match was good, but uninteresting, so call it **, or as I would call it without stars, "Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling."
- Another Raw Recap... in case you haven't heard throughout the entire broadcast, Cody Rhodes had the balls to stand up to Triple H and Randy Orton, so he gets to face the WWE Champion in a non-Title Match, where if he loses, he's fired. Despite a valiant effort and a near 4-star performance, Rhodes was unsuccessful and has been dismissed from the WWE. I guess it's just a way to give him time off for his upcoming wedding, but Rhodes was a solid midcard performer and we're already seeing what happens when you lose too many guys to injuries or vacation (no Rhodes, no Sheamus, no Cena....). Triple H will actually be on Smackdown to have a "Town Hall Meeting." Just call him the Governor.
The PrimeTime Players vs. The Wyatt Family (w/ Bray Wyatt):
(Darren Young & Titus O'Neil vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan)Here's a fresh match for the Tag Team scene. Since the Wyatt Family debuted, Rowan and Harper have competed what seemed exclusively with Brodus Clay and Sweet T. I guess the PTP are babyfaces, despite never really doing anything that would make them faces. To be fair, they weren't do much as heels despite being classified as heels, so, you know, whatever. They have been on a pretty good winning streak lately, but I don't see them going over tonight. Rowan and Harper look like terrible wrestlers, but damn if they don't fit the characters perfectly. O'Neil slaps the mask off of Rowan and gets pounded on for it. He returns the favor and knocks Rowan down with a big boot. Whip to the corner is reversed and Rowan follows with a charge. He lays Titus out with headbutts, and Harper comes in with elbows. Riley's strategy for fighting these two monsters: Punch them in the face as hard as you can. That's almost as good as Paulie's advice in Rocky IV: "Hit the one in the middle." Young tags in and puts Harper down with a clothesline, followed by a belly-to-belly suplex. He charges into the corner with a clothesline, and Titus interrupts Rowan's interference with a shoulder tackle. They brawl on the floor with Rowan taking control. Meanwhile, inside the ring, Harper lays Young out with a big boot, and quickly finishes him off with a discuss Clothesline at 3:12. Post-match, Bray Wyatt comes in and gives Young the Sister Abigail (yet another Downward Spiral-type move). Match was short and all over the place, but fun. I wouldn't bother giving it a star rating, but it served its purpose.
Final Thoughts: No important matches took place, as in no titles on the line and no angles advanced. The opener was better than I was expecting, but after that, we have Sandow doing a clean job to someone who has either been exclusively featured on Superstars or jobbing in 2-minutes on Raw. Closing out the show is another short match with the Wyatt Family, which I won't complain about, but they need to find better direction than a lame duck feud with an absent Kane. The only problem with building Rowan and Harper as an unstoppable team is the fact the Shield own the belts, and heel vs. heel won't work. As a stand-alone episode, I wouldn't bother checking this out, but if you happen across it on another website, give the opener a look. Just turn on mute, since the commentary just ignores it.
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