WWE Main Event Clips for January 21st, 2015

Due to contractual issues between WWE and U.K. programming, Main Event will not be airing on the WWE Network for the time being. This won’t rock too many people’s worlds but if you’re like me and you want to at least see what happened on the show then you’re out of luck.

Luckily, WWE is still putting highlight videos of the show on their Youtube channel. Here are the final moments of the three matches from yesterday’s episode. (It will still air in international markets, but if you’re a red-blooded American like me you are out of luck.)

Nattie seemed to like Summer Rae’s work in this match and Tweeted this bit of praise for her competitor…

Had my ups & downs with @RealSummerWWE in the past…But want to thank her for the competitive match tonight in #WWEAustin. She BROUGHT it.

— Nattie (@NatbyNature) January 21, 2015

Wyatt and Swagger seemed to bring a good amount of physicality in this one. It had a ‘house show’ feel to it and nobody seemed to buy that Jack had a chance at winning. Both guys seemed to hit their signature spots and put on a decent bout regardless.

It’s the same bits from Miz and Mizdow that we’ve been seeing for months but dang it, it’s still funny! Hopefully WWE begins the breakup of this duo this Sunday at the Rumble. We need a Wrestlemania match between these guys. They have definitely earned their spot on that card.

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@MitchNickelson
Listen to my podcast, Curb Stomp Radio!

 

WWE TLCS 2014 Quick Picks

Is TLCS the correct abbreviation? Probably not; that just looks odd. But regardless of what letters are the right combination, WWE will be bringing its annual Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (and now Stairs!) event to the city of Cleveland on Sunday, December 14th, 2014.

After an amazing NXT Takeover: R Evolution show took place mere days before, these main roster-ers have a bar before them that has been raised pretty darn high. Will they rise to the occasion? Maybe. There are definitely a few matches that could come together for something magical. I will be tuning in on the WWE Network to see the event.

As far as predictions go, well, that’s what I’m doing right now. Here are my picks with some brief thoughts along with them. I wasn’t too good on my NXT predictions so hopefully I’m a little luckier this time around.

The New Day vs. Gold & Stardust (Pre-Show)

This should be one of the easier calls of the night. New Day will win. I’m still rooting for the Rhodes boys to self-destruct and then they can  get their singles match against each other at Wrestlemania 31.

The Miz & Damien Mizdow (c) vs. The Usos
(WWE Tag Team Championship)

The Miz  & his stunt double have been one of the best things in WWE right now and I’m hoping that they still have legs under their run as tag champs. I like the Naomi stuff mildly as it’s brought out some Jimmy Uso aggression that I’ve not really seen before. But Miz and Mizdow are my picks.

Ryback vs. Kane
(Chairs Match)

While I find The Big Guy highly amusing (especially on social media), I don’t have much hope that this will be entertaining. Maybe they’ll prove me wrong but I’m rooting that the total minutes in this match doesn’t go into double digits. Ryback will win.

Erick Rowan vs. The Big Show
(Stairs Match)

I’m not sure what can be done with Stairs that we haven’t already seen before but since this is a new gimmick match for this event, maybe they’ve been brainstorming extra hard to think up something good. Erick Rowan is the newer singles guy that could use a W against a veteran, so he should win.

Rusev (c) vs. Jack Swagger
(United States Championship)

It’s hard to see this match-up and not point out that it’s a rerun. This was such a great angle from the summer but it’s pretty blah at this point. Rusev wins and Putin stays happy.

Nikki Bella vs. AJ Lee
(Diva’s Championship)

This one does feel like a toss up to me. Depending on if any of those ‘AJ is leaving WWE soon’ rumors are true then that could sway some people’s call in this match. I haven’t been paying attention much to this feud since Nikki won the title so I’m just going to pick Nikki without giving any reasoning behind it.

Luke Harper (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
(Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match)

THIS is a match to get excited about. Mixing the danger of a ladder with Ziggler’s ability to sell with Harper’s creepy presence might be a recipe for an awesome match. I think that the period between this past Summerslam and the upcoming Wrestlemania could be Dolph Ziggler‘s Intercontinental Championship era, so I’m calling him to win. The Luke Harper reign will just be a roadblock in Dolph’s reign much like Miz’s one night takeaway of the IC strap.

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt
(TLC Match)

This is another potential show stealer. Their match last month was just a preview for this match so I’m hoping they go full throttle on this night. The truly sad thing is that one of them has to lose. They’re both young stars who could use a big win like this to establish themselves in the top tier of the company. Dean Ambrose has been selling quite a lot of merchandise lately so I’m picking him to win. That way, WWE can tell their stockholders that they’re interested in the bottom line.

John Cena vs. Seth Rollins
(Tables Match)

I hope the Ambrose/Wyatt match goes on last but this one might instead. There’s a stipulation that if John Cena loses then he’s no longer the #1 Contender to Brock Lesnar’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I don’t really care about the stipulation because I don’t believe it. John Cena is perpetually in line for a title shot so even if he loses I can expect him to be back in the hunt within two weeks. I want to be optimistic and all call Seth Rollins to win but I’ll be safe and give the pick to John Cena. Although Randy Orton should be returning and interfering or something.

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Well, there are my picks for the shows. I wasn’t as brief as I thought I’d be.

While you’re here feel free to catch up on my most recent episode of Mitch Nickelson Radio. Sgt Damage joined me as we discussed recent UFC happenings. Also, the mind-blowingly hot Rosie Piper helped me make picks for WWE TLC later in the podcast. I don’t remember what I picked on the podcast so I hope I didn’t contradict myself. But the bottom line is that you should click PLAY below and listen for yourself…

http://traffic.libsyn.com/mitchnickelson/MitchRadio_20141210.m

Main Event Review for December 2nd, 2014

Welcome to this week’s edition of WWE Main Event! The show is broadcast out of Oklahoma City and Michael Cole and Byron Saxton are our announcers. This is one piece of wrestling commentary that you’ll read today that in no way mentions CM Punk. Unless you count right now, in which I’ve failed.

Like every week, I’m going to highlight all of the important happenings of the show and throw in my opinion whenever I feel like it. I won’t go into too much play-by-play but you will walk away informed. At the end I’ll wrap things up with a handy Final Thoughts section. Let’s get to this.

Jack Swagger vs. Titus O’Neil

Swagger is from Oklahoma so he gets a little extra love tonight. The Rusev attack on Zeb and then Jack’s retaliation from Raw is shown before the match. Swagger does seem a little more fired up at the beginning and throws around Titus at the start of it. Titus regains control and tosses Jack to the outside. He whips Swagger into the barrier as Cole reminds us that the Slammy Awards are coming up.

Titus keeps control and mounts a slight comeback that Titus halts with a fallaway slam. He never actually “falls away” when he does it, but that’s what’s cool about it. The two battle to the outside again and Swagger celebrates after a clothesline. Back in the ring, Swagger fails with a Swagger Bomb because Titus lifts his knees.

Titus eventually loses after Swagger applies his Patriot Lock in the middle of the ring. Titus doesn’t have much choice but to tap out. Cole calls this an emotional win for Jack Swagger.

Winner by submission: Jack Swagger

Renee Young asks Jack about Zeb in the ring after the match. Jack says that Zeb is like a father to him and if he has a problem with you, he’ll address it to you straight to your face. He calls Rusev a coward and says that he’s unworthy of this country and the title that he wears around waist. He vows to take the title from Rusev before leading the Oklahoma crowd in a hometown version of the “We The People” chant.

Adam Rose, The Bunny, and the Rosebuds are backstage and are walking/partying on their way to the ring.

Adam Rose & The Bunny vs. Gold & Stardust

A clip of New Day beating the Dusts on Raw only to lose later in Tag Team Turmoil because of interference by them is played. It’s good that the Kingston, Woods, and Langston faction is finally here because of how stale much of the tag division seems right now.

The Bunny is seen doing the Ric Flair strut early in this match. Nothing terribly exciting happens during this. Cole and Saxton mainly talk about the Slammy’s instead of what’s going on in the ring. I’d be tempted to complain about how they should be calling the match but I can’t say I blame them on this occasion. Unmask The Bunny and move on. Stardust connects with Dark Matter on Adam Rose to seal the pinfall.

Winner by pinfall: Gold & Stardust

The Bunny was tending to the hurt Rose after the match and Goldust stomped him to take him out. Very heelish, Goldy. I at least like that a little.

More Raw recap as the drama between Naomi, Miz, and Jimmy Uso is replayed. Jimmy will be facing off against Miz later tonight. I’m interested in this new rivalry and kind of like the wife drama thrown in the mix.

Tom Phillips is backstage with The Usos and Jimmy looks ticked while Jey is his usual happy self. Jey tries to calm Jimmy down about the Miz situation but Jimmy is fired up. I’ve never really seen an Uso with this much anger and I really am entertained by it. I’ve never been an Uso fan (promo-wise, I recognize that they’re great in ring) but this is something I can get behind.

Fandango (w/Rosa) vs. R-Truth

R-Truth was given his full rap entrance and Oklahoma seemed to mark out for it. Every time the camera focused on the crowd there were at least a couple of people going bananas as they said “What’s up?” No wonder R-Truth’s career keeps on going.

Rosa seems to be earning her paycheck on the outside. I’m not sure how to describe what she’s doing but I can guarantee you that a teenage version of me would’ve LOVED it. She’s earning her paycheck, I guess. Fandango beat Truth fairly quick with a top rope leg drop.

Winner by pinfall: Fandango

While Rosa celebrated with Fandango in the ring after the match Byron Saxton said that he might need to have a cold shower after this.

A big recap segment is shown featuring the stuff relating to the Anonymous GM from Raw. Cena got Powerbombed through a table by Seth Rollins and his allies. Cena faces Rollins in a Tables Match at TLC. Apparently Erick Rowan and Big Show are facing off at TLC in a “Stairs Match,” whatever that is.

The Miz vs. Jimmy Uso

The Usos are the Number One Contenders to Miz and Mizdow’s Tag Team Championships.  The Miz starts with a promo at the top of the ramp while Jimmy looks at him from the ring with rage in his eyes. Miz says that he wants to apologize to Jimmy. He says that his actions were taken the wrong way and that he thinks Naomi is extremely talented. Since he’s shown interest in Jimmy’s wife, Miz claims that many top Hollywood agents have been in contact with him.

“Help me help you,” he says to Jimmy. “Or are you just upset that I could do more for your wife’s career than you ever could?” Great promo by Miz. He’s not pursuing Naomi with sexual motivations and quite honestly he’s innocent from that standpoint. But questioning Jimmy’s manhood and his role as Naomi’s husband is where he turns into the scumbag.

Jimmy charges at Miz and pummels him. There’s a short brawl before the match even starts. When the match does start, Jimmy relies on punches and take-downs to really hammer in how intense this is to him. As the match goes on I find myself really into the story between these two, so much that Damien Mizdow’s antics are truly secondary to what’s going on in the ring. Kudos to Miz and Jimmy, this is enjoyable.

After Miz controlled the pacing for a bit, Jimmy began mounting his comeback. He still kept up with his intensity as he screamed something that sounding like, “Are you going to say something about my wife?!” before slapping Miz across the face. He tossed Miz outside and took to the air for the first time in this match with the Flying Uso dive to the outside.

Jimmy threw Miz into the barricade a couple of times. Mizdow made sure to mimic Miz the second time and dove into the barricade as well. Later in the match, Miz is chasing after Jimmy and gets stopped by a Superkick right on the Moneymaker. Jimmy climbed to the top rope and watched as Mizdow ran into the ring to sell a phantom Superkick as well. Jimmy waved for his brother to climb a turnbuckle with him and The Usos completed a tandem top rope Splash onto the Tag Team Champions. Jimmy stayed on Miz for the cover and win.

Winner by pinfall: Jimmy Uso

Naomi was backstage, watching a monitor and visibly happy that her husband won. As The Usos made their way out of the ring, Michael Cole stated that maybe The Miz will think twice about messing with another man’s wife. Miz and Mizdow were still lying in the ring, holding their jaws to continue selling their Superkicks as the show came to a close.

Mitch’s Final Thoughts:

While I’ll only peg this episode as an average edition of Main Event, I will go out of my way to put over how much I’m into the Usos/Miz and Mizdow storyline. The Miz is attacking Jimmy’s manhood and it’s bringing out a side of The Usos that I’m highly enjoying. Their match was entertaining and I hopefully that this can add a little depth to the Tag Championship match between these two teams at TLC.

Everything else was just kind of blah for me. Jack Swagger is an alright performer but that doesn’t change that this rivalry with Rusev is a rerun from just a few months ago. I look forward to Gold & Stardust putting over the New Day faction but that doesn’t make me want to see them in action with The Bunny in the meantime. Fandango is new and improved with a hyper-sexualized dance partner but if it doesn’t lead to anything meaningful in the ring then I’m going to assume that his shelf life will be shorter than Fandango version 1.

That about does it for me this week. Have any thoughts about the show? If so, go ahead and drop me a comment below and I’ll chat with you. If you’d like to find me on Twitter then look me up @MitchNickelson. Also, check out my podcast by clicking HERE. I got the chance to chat for a while with the NXT guy here at TJRWrestling, Brandon Lasher. We talked about the upcoming Takeover: R Evolution event, . Take care.

 

Main Event Review for November 18th, 2014

Welcome to my weekly review of WWE Main Event. The show is live every Tuesday on the WWE Network, which I assume millions and millions of people are tuning in because of the super low price of free for the the month of November.

This week’s show is broadcast out of Knoxville, Tennessee. Our announcers are non other than Michael Cole and Byron Saxton. Will this show add any fire to a less than lackluster build to this this Sunday’s Survivor Series? I sure hope so because I’m feeling ho-hum about the WWE product as of late.

Gold & Stardust vs. The Usos

The Miz, Damien Mizdow, both Matadores, and Torito joined in on commentary for this match. Los Matadores are extremely caricature-ish; it’s hard to buy them as legitimate contenders to the tag titles.

The match itself was good enough but it is a match that WWE has done a billion times recently. It’s hard to get too excited about it again and again. The commentary was distracting as well with seven people at the table.  After a Superkick by Jey, Jimmy Uso did a top rope splash onto Stardust to score the win.

Winner by pinfall: The Usos

While the Usos celebrated their win in the ring, Stardust looked frustrated with his belt on the outside. Goldust also had his belt and showed it off to the teams surrounding Cole and Saxton.

Paige vs. Alicia Fox

While Paige was coming to the ring, Cole alerted fans of a match that was announced earlier on Tuesday. There will be a traditional Survivor Series elimination match between eight Divas. Natalya, Alicia Fox, Emma, and Noami are on one team and Paige, Cameron, Summer Rae, and Layla are on the other team. I hope it’s good but I’m not holding my breath.

Paige and Alicia used to be BFFs, now they’re not. It’s an incredibly simple motivator for a wrestling feud but I’ll take it. Midway through the match, Paige has her legs wrapped around Alicia’s torso and is squeezing away. While in the hold, she yells this to the announcers, “No one loves Alicia, Michael. No one!” Cole commented how odd that was.

Fox was pretty lifeless on the mat at the end of the match and Paige decided to pin her in the most seductive way possible. She slowly crawled up her body from her toes to her head and a 15-year old version of me wants to high-five someone. However, I’m grown and married now so I’m good. The odd pin attempt gave Alicia the time that she needed to regroup and she countered into a pin attempt of her own that gave her the three count.

Winner by pinfall: Alicia Fox

Paige looked upset and shrieked over her loss.

Renee Young Interviews Adam Rose, The Bunny, and The Rosebuds

Rose is reshown the clip where he got Bunny-humped on Raw. Rose isn’t too happy about it. Young said something about tonight being the first “inter-species tag match” and I absolutely cannot defend this. Just unmask that Bunny already and get on with it. Rose reminds his hare friend that there will be no humping tonight. Rose calls himself a god and then says that “Naughty Nattie” is a lemon. “They are ALL lemons,” says Rose to The Bunny.

Tyson Kidd & Natalya vs. Adam Rose & The Bunny

Michael Cole points out that this is in fact not the first inter-species tag match because of the bull and the gator. Kudos on the journalism, Cole. The Bunny tried to do the stage dive in place of Rose like he did on Raw. Rose stopped him and rightfully took what was his.

The Bunny got a good bit of in-ring time. Considering his face is covered, he does do a fairly good job of using his body language to show the audience his emotions. The Bunny is a little too helpful at one point when he holds the ropes so that Tyson can re-enter the ring and Kidd kicks him straight to the head. Kidd then follows it up with a Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring. Rose acts like he’s going to enter the ring to break the hold, pauses a second to think about it, then exits the ring as The Bunny taps out.

Winner by submission: Tyson Kidd & Natalya

The Rosebuds were aghast because of the outcome of the match and Natalya looked a little upset as well. She showed concern for The Bunny and Tyson stomped him after the match was over. Is his marriage is seriously in jeopardy over a Bunny? Again…please unmask him so we can move on.

The only big recap segment of the night happened at this point. It’s a hype video for the Team Cena vs. Team Authority match this Sunday. It has that Nickelback song playing in the background. A Nickelback joke might be cliche at this point so I’ll simply say that I’m not a fan. I’m not sure who I’m picking to win that match on Sunday but I’m leaning with Team Cena.

Michael Cole updates us with an injury update on Sheamus. He will not be in action this Sunday due to “narrowing of the nerve canal” in his neck, among other things. I like Sheamus, it sucks that he’s written out of the Sunday show.

Bray Wyatt vs. Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Colter)

Bray starts out with a microphone and asks Dean Ambrose if he can understand the repercussions of rejecting the gifts of a god. He says that he offered Dean an escape from a dismal past and redemption from a lifetime of sin. Not only did Dean turn his back on Bray, he made a mockery of him, according to Bray. When Bray had his back turned, Ambrose attacked him. Bray says that he and Dean could’ve ruled the world together…they could’ve been brothers. He offered him all of the gifts the “she” offered for Bray’s saving. But now it appears that this game that these two are playing must come to an end. But tonight is special…Bray has a gift for Dean and all of the fans. His gift is the sacrifice of Jack Swagger. And on Sunday, Dean will meet the same fate. “Follow the buzzards.”

Cole and Saxton talk about how Swagger was one of the first wrestlers to declare himself a member of Team Cena before he was taken out by a curb stomp by Seth Rollins. I try to not let it hurt my head too bad that Cole is explaining this situation WHILE JACK SWAGGER IS WRESTLING RIGHT NOW. If was ‘taken out,’ why is he perfectly fine at this moment? And why didn’t he come out to help out Cena last night? Can I assume that he was fine on Raw? Did he decide that he no longer cares about the Cena/Authority feud? I have a lot of questions that I’d like to ask Mr. Swagger.

Swagger got a nice “We The People” chant near the end before hitting Bray with his Swagger Bomb. He pinned him to follow but only got a two count. Swagger then applies his Patriot Lock but Bray kicks out of it. Bray takes out Swagger with a running elbow. Bray set up the Sister Abigail and screamed these words, “This is your fate Dean Ambrose! This is for you, it was always for you.” He covered Swagger after the move for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Bray Wyatt

Bray held his arms outstretched while his music played to close out the show.

Mitch’s Final Thoughts:

Maybe I’m a little more negative than normal today but this was a below average edition of Main Event. The tag team division is stale. Either let these guys have 20 minute matches because they really are good or move some new faces into the scene. There’s only so many times that I want to see a mediocre Usos/Dust Brothers match. The Bunny nonsense is bad and I’m usually someone that cuts way more slack than someone should for this kind of side-story. Please reveal who’s under the bunny suit so we can stop pretending that we’re having “inter-species” matches. The Jack Swagger situation isn’t that big of a bother for me. It’s better that he’s not on Team Cena, I guess.

What did I like about the show? Paige and Alicia Fox put on an enjoyable match. Tyson Kidd & Natalya are still doing well with their marital struggles. The Bray Wyatt promo was good as well. It wasn’t all bad this week but I did have trouble picking out the good stuff.

That about does it for me this week. Was I too hard on the show? Please comment below and tell me if you can make sense out of Jack Swagger’s appearance. In the meantime, please follow me on Twitter @MitchNickelson. Also, check out my most recent edition of Mitch Nickelson Radio. I recorded an interview with TNANews.com lead editor Alex Barie and we discussed the future of TNA as a company. We talked on Tuesday and I remember joking with him that hopefully TNA can hold off with any TV deal announcements for one day so I can post up my podcast. Oh well, good for TNA and Destination America. Our interview will be up by the end of Wednesday. Take care.

Main Event Review For October 21st, 2014

Welcome to WWE’s Tuesday night subscription spectacular, Main Event! This week’s show is broadcast out of Wichita, Kansas. The next Pay-Per-View, Hell In A Cell, is this weekend so I should expect tonight’s show to be a boat that doesn’t get too rocked.

While Michael Cole and Byron Saxton are your announcers, I am your show reviewer. I don’t get too thorough with recapping, but I’ll make sure you leave here informed of everything that went down. I throw in my opinion where I want to and wrap things up with a snazzy Final Thoughts section at the end. I have fun, I hope you do too. Let’s get to it.

“How Well Do you Know Your Bro?”

What an incredibly odd segment to start the show. This was a game show where both sets of brothers answered questions to find out who knew their brother better. JBL was the host of this show and he seemed to take the gig pretty seriously.

In the first round, JBL asked both sets of brothers what they’d be doing if they weren’t WWE Superstars. Jey Uso wrote that he’d be a football player, which Jimmy guessed. Goldust wrote that he’d be Stardust, which Stardust guessed. Next, JBL asked the teams who the biggest influences were in their lives. Jimmy Uso said his biggest influence was his dad and Jey got it right. Stardust’s answer was Yo, which Goldust got right. When JBL pressed him on the non-answer of Yo, the Dusts explained that it meant Yo-Mama. They laughed and celebrated the burn and I died laughing as well.

The final round was a ‘Password’ round, which worked like the old game show. Jey Uso had to guess the word ‘nasty,’ which Jimmy got him to say by asking him about JBL’s mom. Poor Mrs. Layfield. Goldust was supposed to guess the word ‘milkshake’ and at first Stardust gave him a bunch of nonsense facts about stars and the galaxy. Finally, Stardust gave him a clue about bringing all the boys to the yard. Stardust acted terribly appalled when Goldust fired back with ‘Uranus.’ Goldust tried to explain that he was talking about the planet, but time expired and the Dusts lost the game before Stardust could give any more clues.

After the game was over, a brawl erupted with The Usos clearing the ring. The whole segment was strange and the crowd didn’t really know what to make of it all. I liked it, but I’m more likely to dig WWE humor than the average viewer.

R-Truth vs. Tyson Kidd (w/Natalya)

This is a rematch from last week’s Main Event. R-Truth won last week after Tyson became distracted by Natalya.

At one point in this match, R-Truth came out and did a little dance next to Natalya. Natalya giggled a little over this just like she did when Truth pulled the same stunt last week. It seems like Ron Killings might have a thing for the married ladies.

Tyson seemed to tweak his knee at one point and the action stopped while he favored it. He used this all as a distraction to grab Truth by the waist and pull him toward the ropes where Natalya was perched. Truth narrowly avoided a collision, reminiscent of when Tyson actually collided with her last week. Still cautious from almost taking out Natalya, Truth slowly turned around and got dropped by a Swinging Neckbreaker. That was enough for a successful pin.

Winner by pinfall: Tyson Kidd

A creepy Wyatt video aired. I hope those Soska twins convince someone at WWE to make a Wyatt Family movie. There’s so much of a story that could be told.

Bo Dallas vs. Big E

Bo rightfully bragged about his three consecutive wins against Mark Henry and said that that makes him the new World Strongest Man. Sure thing, Bo.

Bo controlled most of this match and the crowd didn’t really respond to him much. It’s an uneventful matchup, so it’s not Wichita’s fault. But as Big E started to mount his comeback, the crowd rallied with him. Bo tried to do his Running Bodog but Big E was able to counter by raising him up onto his shoulders and dropping the Big Ending. He pinned the new World’s Strongest Man and that was it.

Winner by pinfall: Big E

Michael cole called this a pivotal win for Big E after his loss to Rusev on Monday night.

During the Raw Rebound segment the stuff on Raw concerning the two Hell In A Cell matches this Sunday were recapped. I’ve found myself marking out over every Randy Orton match for the past few months so I’m rooting for him to become the Number One Contender.

Seth Rollins (w/J & J Security) vs. Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Colter)

John Canton has been using the J & J Security name for Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury. It’s catchy, so I’ll do my part to help it stick. The Mick Foley Raw appearance with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose is briefly played before the match.

While it didn’t amount to much, there was a pretty cool stare-down between Rollins, Noble, and Mercury on one side and Swagger and Colter on the other. The Real American side of the face-off did a “We The People” chant before the two wrestlers battled back into the ring.

While the Kansas crowd does get behind Swagger in this match a little, it suffered because nobody believes that Swagger will defeat Rollins when he’s in a main event match on Pay-Per-View this Sunday.

Swagger had Rollins in his Patriot Lock near the end of the match and Rollins was able to get to a rope to break the hold. Swagger was reluctant to break the hold and Jamie Noble was yelling into the ring. He was near Zeb and Joey Mercury was also nearby. It was a little tense and Swagger noticed. This caused a little bit of a distraction that became his downfall. Several kicks to Swagger by Rollins led to his Curb Stomp and a pin.

Winner by pinfall: Seth Rollins

Zeb and Swagger are still in the ring as Seth clutches his briefcase while being escorted by his two cohorts up the ramp.

Mitch’s Final Thoughts:

This was merely an average night of Main Event. I will give some credit to the opening segment for it’s overall weirdness. Much of the humor missed its mark but I like that something so different was on the show. As long as they don’t bring it back anytime soon, that is. That is definitely a one and done segment.

None of the three matches really wowed me, but they were still decent. I like the Tyson Kidd presence on Main Event but I hope that the R-Truth chapter in his story is over. Although I do find the times that Nattie giggles at R-Truth to be funny. And I like Bo Dallas and Big E, but both are stuck in a creative rut where they just don’t do a whole lot. I’m not sure how to tell WWE that I’d like to see a real go with the Smart Athletic Friends but I do want it. I’m starting to wonder if it’s a silly thing to hope for because it’s just not going to ever happen. Rollins and Swagger are both good in-ring but like I mentioned earlier, no one is buying the idea that Swagger will win on this night. Decent match, though.

That about does it for me. I’ll keep the plugs simple by asking everyone to follow me on Twitter and to please check out the latest episode of Mitch And Al Radio by clicking Play below…

https://soundcloud.com/matthew-pack/mitch-al-radio-ep-6102214

Main Event Review For October 7th, 2014

Live on the WWE Network, this is WWE Main Event! Well, this is actually Mitch Nickelson’s review of Main Event, but you get the point. The show comes to us this week from Philadelphia, PA. Michael Cole and Byron Saxton are our announcers, like usual.

An Intercontinental Championship match has been announced ahead of time, pitting champion Dolph Ziggler against challenger Bo Dallas. Dallas has beaten The World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry several times recently and, fluke or not, it’s nice to see that beating a former World Champion grants you at least a mid-card title opportunity.

As I watch the show, I’ll summarize all of the happenings while placing my opinion in as I see fit. I’ll wrap everything up at the end with a fancy Final Thoughts section. And be sure to read the plugs at the very end so you can find out how not to miss my interview with Amazing Kong that should be out in the next day or so.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Bo Dallas (Intercontinental Championship)

Cesaro is joining our announcers for this match. He gets annoyed with Byron because Byron wanted to give him a fist bump. According to Cesaro, real men shake hands.

The crowd booed Bo pretty strongly as he came out. He had a microphone and told a story of a young Bo-liever who offered him a cheesesteak. He said he threw it in the trash because that thing is a heart attack waiting to happen. Then, according to him, Mark Henry dug that cheesesteak out of the trash and ate it. Funny guy. He reminded us that he’s defeated Henry three times in a row and says he’ll win against Ziggler right now.

Cesaro is pretty awesome on commentary. His defense of why Bo Dallas deserves this title shot is well stated and makes me believe that he’s a legitimate contender rather than someone who got a string of fluke wins.

Dolph built solid momentum later in the match and seemed to get the crowd behind him. He missed a Fameasser attempt and Dallas followed it up with a hip toss he fell with and turned into a slam. It looked like a good move, but wasn’t enough to secure the pinfall that he tried afterward.

Ziggler planted Dallas with that pretty DDT that he does. Bo landed a double-underhook DDT later as well. While on the outside of the ropes, Dolph did a sunset flip over Bo into the ring, but Bo sat on him to begin a pin attempt. He held the ropes right in front of the ref’s face and was able to get to a count of two with it. Bo argued with the ref and Dolph Zig-Zagged him while he was distracted. He went for the pin and successfully retained his Intercontinental Championship.

Winner by pinfall: Dolph Ziggler

After the match, Ziggler held his belt up high and seemed to do a “Just Bring It” hand gesture toward Cesaro. Cesaro is so good on commentary. He put over both competitors well and reminded everyone of his interest in the IC title.

The Adam Rose skit with the Kathie Lee and Hoda is replayed. Thankfully, it was a really short recap. The faceoff with Rusev and The Rock will be replayed later in the show. I wouldn’t mind watching that in its entirety again when they recap it.

Tyson Kidd Asks Kane For A Match

Kane is looking all business-like backstage when Tyson Kidd approaches him. He tells Kane that he’s his own man and that he demands a match tonight. Kane tells him that everyone knows that Natalya wears the pants in the family and the he already has a match tonight. Natalya requested it and it’s against Jack Swagger.  “Tyson, try not to tap out to Swagger…like you do your wife.” Dang Kane, go easy on him.

Brie Bella vs. Nikki Bella & Cameron & Summer Rae & Layla

Clips of Raw where Brie had to fight Summer Rae with one hand tied behind her back was shown. Now, she’s in a 4 on 1 match. Poor Brie, can she overcome those odds? She shouldn’t, but she seems to anyway much of time.

Cameron seemed to get the most amount of in-ring time between the four Diva teammates. Cameron even got heat from the crowd by mockingly doing the “Yes!” chants. Brie mounted her comeback against her, but eventually the numbers game proved too much for her. The finish came via Backbreaker Rack courtesy of Nikki. She pinned Brie for the win.

Winners by pinfall: Nikki Bella & Cameron & Summer Rae & Layla

The Rusev/Rock showdown from Raw is replayed now. It’s just highlights, which is a shame because this is a clip they could’ve gotten away with showing in its entirety. Good for Rusev and Lana. Whether or not this was intended to lead to a match, WWE would be foolish to not see the dollar signs in it now.

Zeb Colter is seen backstage, giving some tips to Jack Swagger. Swagger is sporting a pretty nice shiner beneath his right eye. His match with Tyson Kidd is up next.

Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Colter) vs. Tyson Kidd (w/Natalya)

Tyson and Natalya are already in the ring; no fancy entrance for them. Tyson has his headphones around his neck while Nattie is looking pretty in a pink dress. Zeb comes out with Jack Swagger and a microphone. Zeb tells Tyson that this isn’t an American thing or a Canadian thing. This is a manhood thing. He tells Tyson that he keeps his manhood in Natalya’s purse. And from what Zeb hears, it’s not even that big of a purse. These Tyson burns are awesome and the crowd responded well to them. Zeb and Jack lead the crowd in a “We the People” chant.

Cole reminds the people that this Thursday is the 15th anniversary of Smackdown as the match begins. The announcers talk plenty of the problems between Tyson and Natalya. Apparently Tyson forgot Nattie’s birthday and tried to make up for it by buying her a treadmill. I usually mention how I don’t watch Total Divas and don’t plan on starting, but that sounds pretty funny.

The match is surprisingly short. Swagger defeated Tyson on Raw, but Tyson got the win tonight by a unique roll-up that he did with his legs after jumping over the top rope.

Winner by pinfall: Tyson Kidd

Natalya went for a high-five after the win, but Tyson just brushed by her like a jerk. Nattie then tried to raise his hand in victory at the top of the ramp, but he wouldn’t let her.

Highlights of the Joan Lunden segment from Raw were shown at this point. The Raw crowd was pretty rowdy Monday night but they did right and gave her a ton of respect.

All of the drama between John Cena, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose was replayed now. I personally hope we get Ambrose vs. Rollins in the main event of Hell In A Cell.

Stardust (w/Goldust) vs. Jey Uso (w/Jimmy Uso)

Stardust came out first before a break. As they’re cutting to the break, Michael Cole says that Stardust will be in action against “one of the Usos.” I guess he gets them confused, too. Back from the break and there’s a pre-taped promo with the Dusts. Stardust says that the Usos are mere brothers in blood, but he and Goldust are brothers of the cosmos. They both said that the key to immortality is made of Gold and Stardust.

The Usos make their way to the ring with much fanfare. A clip is shown of the Dusts getting intentionally disqualified a couple of weeks ago when they faced off against The Usos on Smackdown for the Tag Team Championship. Then, that awesome Triple Superkick with Ziggler from Raw is shown as well. At this point, the bell rings and Jey Uso is announced by Michael Cole as the participant in this match. It shocks me that Cole seriously didn’t know which one was fighting before the match started. Do they not give him notes?

Stardust seemed to be the aggressor early on in the match. He ripped off the shirt of Jey Uso for that nice heel touch. He even squeezed that necklace thing of Jey Uso to choke him a bit. Stardust stomped on his opponent on the ground and at one point sticks his head out of the ropes to growl at his brother.

While charging toward Jey in the corner, the tides get turned as Stardust’s face meets Jey’s lifted boot. This was followed by a top rope Cross-body and a pin, but he only got two. There was a back and forth of strikes before Jey dropped Stardust with a Samoan Drop.

Jey leads the crowd in chanting his last name and charges his back side into the corner where Stardust is seated. Jey climbed the ropes but took a nasty spill to the outside when Stardust shoved him down. Jey favored his knee because of this. Despite the hurt knee, he kicked Stardust in the face on his way back up the ropes. He does a big Splash from the top and rolled Stardust up into a pin for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Jey Uso

All four of these guys are great in the ring, so I’m glad The Usos are still in the hunt for the Tag Titles. The Usos celebrated in the ring as Goldust looked a little irate on the outside. He held up his belt to remind them that they’re still the champs. The show ended at this point.

Mitch’s Final Thoughts:

While none of the matches were show-stealers by any means, I’d consider this an above average episode of Main Event. There was enough in-ring action with wrestlers that I like, so that works for me. I wouldn’t consider any of the matches or segments to be duds, either.

I really enjoyed having Cesaro at the announce table. He put over both guys well and also himself. The women’s match wasn’t anything special, but I was pleased that they didn’t find some way for Brie to win. Having her win in handicap matches and with one arm tied behind her back was getting a little ridiculous.

The Tyson Kidd/Jack Swagger match was decent enough, but the insults from Kane and Zeb Colter were funny. I don’t watch Total Diva’s and I just catch small amounts of NXT, so this storyline of Tyson being a douche of a husband is a new, entertaining plot for me.

I wish the Stardust/Jey Uso match could’ve gotten more time. I think it only got about 6 minutes, which is way too short for them. This is only an hour show, but they should find more time. Stardust is great as an aggressive villain and I’m always looking forward to a Pay-Per-View match with these duos.

So the show was good for me but did you like it? Comment below and shoot me your thoughts. If you’d like to also banter with me on Twitter, look me up and follow me @MitchNickelson.

Lastly, be sure to check out all the cool stuff I post at MitchNickelson.com. I’ve been really into podcasting lately and I’ve got a fantastic interview with Amazing Kong that should be posted on Thursday for SBP Wrestling. I talked with her on Tuesday and I can’t stress enough how she came across as just a great person. Thanks again for reading. Take care.

Main Event Review For September 30th, 2014

Welcome back to WWE’s Tuesday night specialty, WWE Main Event. Tonight’s show comes to us from the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Advertised for the show is a Raw rematch between Mark Henry and Bo Dallas. Can lightning strike twice for the under-matched Dallas?

Like usual, I write a recap of everything, throwing in my opinion along the way. At the end of it all I wrap everything up with a cool little Final Thoughts section. Let’s get to this show.

Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Colter) vs. Cesaro

A pre-recorded interview airs during the intros where Zeb Colter says that Cesaro is a candidate for deportation based on his recent performance. Cesaro also has a pre-recorded interview in which he asks what the difference is between a battery and The Real Americans. “At least a battery has a positive side.” Byron Saxton thinks the joke was funny. Cesaro then says that he’ll be the next Intercontinental Champion.

The crowd seems eager to want to get behind Swagger as plenty of “We The People” chants are heard in the beginning. The match is slow starting out, but not boring by any means. Cesaro is able to toss Swagger over the ropes to the outside and follows up with a double ax handle onto him. He taunts Swagger as the show cuts to a break.

Back from the break and Cesaro is still in control. Cesaro drops a couple of forearms off the ropes, but Swagger stops him from a third. After a little bit of a struggle on the top turnbuckle, Swagger is able to do an overhead throw onto Cesaro that launches him three quarters of the way across the ring. Comeback time!

Swagger leads the crowd in a “We The People” chant before hitting Cesaro with his Swagger Bomb. He goes for a pin but only gets a two count. Swagger attempts a gut-wrench suplex shortly after, but Cesaro counters with a back-body drop.  As Cesaro slowly walks back to him Swagger grabs him by the ankle and goes for the Patriot Lock. Cesaro scrambles out of that quickly. This match is really good so far.

Cesaro goes for his Neutralizer finisher, but as he’s cracking his neck to set up the move Swagger back body drops him. Impressively, Cesaro rolls him up as he’s going over and turns into a sunset flip. He rolls him up for a pinfall but Jack Swagger grabs him by the ankle and counters that pin into a Patriot Lock! Everything from the Neutralizer attempt until now has been a series of counters, I don’t know if I made that point clear enough.

Cesaro claws his way to any rope he can find and eventually finds one to break the hold. Swagger tries to drag him away from the ropes anyway and Cesaro pulls up most of the ring apron in the process. This was a well-calculated move as he thumbs Swagger right in the eye while the ref fixes the apron.

Cesaro hits an uppercut onto Swagger and rolls him up for a successful pinfall. He’s also grabbing his leg during the pin, because of the Patriot Lock and all. What a great match. I try not to do so much play-by-play during my write-ups on these matches, but this one was too good not to. I didn’t want to leave out the good counters and well-thought out psychology of it.

Winner by pinfall: Cesaro

Cesaro hops out of the ring in victory. Swagger sells the eye poke and Colter signals it to show that he was robbed in this one.

A graphic is shown to remind us of the Mark Henry/Bo Dallas rematch later. Kane is seen on his phone backstage. Natalya then shows up to suggest that her husband, Tyson Kidd, should be in a  match on Main Event. Tyson then shows up to to argue about how she drug him to a Rosa match the night before on Raw. As the two banter, Kane looks frustrated and finally yells to tell them that Tyson has a match, up next. Tyson Kidd on Main Event? Sounds fantastic to me.

Michael and Byron tell us from their announce seats that WWE is teaming with Susan G. Komen for the third straight year. The Hulk Hogan in pink stuff from Raw is recapped.

Tyson Kidd (w/Natalya) vs. Kofi Kingston

Byron Saxton says that Tyson is stuck between a rock and his wife. I’m not a viewer of Total Divas, but if that stuff leads to Tyson getting TV time, then I’m all for it.

At one point in the match, Tyson has Kofi hung up in a Tree of Woe in the corner ropes. He distracts the ref, hoping that Natalya will move in and choke him or something. When Nattie passes on the opportunity to cheat, Tyson scolds her.

This was a really athletic match, like you’d expect between these two.  Kofi brought things like top rope Cross-bodies and Tyson did an elbow drop off of the middle of the top ropes. The finish came via Sharpshooter by Tyson, who had to viciously stomp the life out of Kofi to get it locked in.

Winner by submission: Tyson Kidd

Natalya seemed giddy about her husband’s win. She came into the ring to celebrate with Tyson, but Tyson seemed more interested in celebrating solo. Natalya walked out of the ring, distraught. Byron Saxton, the heel commentator, had been defending Tyson the entire time. Cole told him that there’s a reason he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Oh, the delightful banter between those two.

It’s Raw Rebound time and we get to watch all of the Cena/Ambrose/Rollins stuff. This is followed by one of those Luke Harper promos with Bray Wyatt. “Peekaboo…you’re doomed!”

Renee Young Interviews Mark Henry Backstage

Renee shows Henry the footage of his loss to Bo Dallas, then his attack of the Inspirational One backstage. She asks Mark how he feels going into this match. He talks about his losses to Rusev and the Bo upset. Even more than that, he’s had an emotional breakdown. He says it’s a new day and promises to throw Bo like a lawn dart because that’s what he does.

On this Friday’s Smackdown, Sheamus and Ziggler will team up to take on The Miz and Damien Mizdow in a tag team match, according to Byron Saxton.

Summer Rae & Layla vs. Brie Bella

Footage is shown of Brie’s handicap match against Eva Marie & Cameron from Raw the night before. On a side note, I really don’t like Brie’s theme music. I’ve been waiting to see if it grows on me, but it hasn’t. Nikki is shown backstage, looking on.

While Byron is doing his best to defend the actions of the evil twin Nikki, Michael Cole asks him if he listens to the words he says. “Well, yes, I have a headset.” That line by Byron stuck me as funny.

Loud “Yes!” chants started rumbling in the crowd as Layla connected with a cross body off of the middle rope. Layla pinned and only got a one count. Both girls stood up and Brie connected with an X-Factor (didn’t I just give Sean Waltman a shout out last week?) and followed up with a pinfall for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Brie Bella

The crowd is fully behind Brie’s win with plenty of hands up doing the “Yes!” chants. Nikki is still watching from backstage, not happy with her sister’s win. The big match between Bo Dallas and Mark Henry is up next. Will Bo become a lawn dart as promised?

Back from a break and Michael Cole talks about the serious issue of The Big Show desecrating the Russian Flag. I didn’t hear of any actual outrage by any actual Russians, but WWE is doing a fairly good job at playing this off like an international incident. Next Monday, Roman Reigns will be giving an exclusive interview on Raw to discuss his health.

Bo Dallas vs. Mark Henry

Bo comes out first and he gets a pretty strong chorus of boos. Bo Dallas, to the tune of “What?” chants, explains how his body is sore. but it’s not nearly as sore as that sore loser, Mark Henry. Bo says that he knows that Mark Henry is mad, but he needs to find ways to channel that anger, possibly by finding a hobby. “You obviously like eating, why not take some cooking classes?” HA. He mentions a few other hobbies before mentioning his favorite hobby of all…”All you have to do is Bo-L…” Mark’s music cuts in before he can finish the sentence.

This match was a straight up beat down. Henry clobbered Dallas and taunted him in that awesome Henry way throughout the process. Henry had Dallas in the corner and was stomping on him, ignoring the ref who was imploring him to stop. Since Henry refused to leave the corner, the ref counted to five. Henry didn’t seem concerned about the count, so that lead to a disqualification.

Winner by disqualification: Bo Dallas.

Henry was pretty upset about the loss, so he charged Bo and did two World Strongest Slams to him. The crowd seemed pretty in favor of this, even chanting “One More Time.” Henry grabbed a mic and said this to his opponent…”You best believe me, that is what I do!” Bo was lifeless in the ring as the angry Mark Henry walked away from the ring. The ref tended to Bo as the show closed.

Mitch’s Final Thoughts:

What a great hour of WWE programming. There was so much to enjoy in the ring this week. The Swagger/Cesaro opener was stellar. Thinking of this match along with the triple threat IC Title match from Raw and the US Championship match from Night Of Champions, it’s safe to say that Cesaro is currently having a fantastic run right now. Give the guy a solid ten minutes or more and he will deliver. Hopefully the higher-ups at WWE notice how well he’s been delivering.

The Kidd/Kingston match was another great match. Both guys have complementary styles and help fill a gap that used to be filled by the Rey Mysterio types on the roster. It doesn’t seem like I see this style much beyond NXT these days. The marital strife story was the point of it all, but I’ll take the reality TV nonsense if it allows for talented wrestlers to get televised matches. Along with the Divas match, these two were more of the filler of the show, but both were more solid than not.

I wasn’t expecting too much from the Henry/Dallas match. I thought it might serve the purpose of getting Henry his win back, but I like the angle they took instead. The World’s Strongest Man performed an incredibly angry beat down on the inferior Dallas and it was ugly. Because of the DQ ending, Dallas now has back-to-back wins against the former World Champion.

Great show for me, I’ll definitely call this an above average edition of Main Event. Solid wrestling is always a good formula for me to put a show over and I think this episode delivered.

That about does it for me this week. Like usual, this is where I remind you to keep up with all that I do by simply following me on Twitter @MitchNickelson. Also, check out the MitchNickelson.com for my latest podcast endeavors.

Main Event Review For September 9th, 2014

Welcome to the weekly review of WWE Main Event. I’m Mitch Nickelson and I’m here to walk you through all the happenings of this live hour of wrestling on the WWE Network.

Tonight’s show is broadcasted out of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. I am unaware of anything that is advertised for this show. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. Regardless, I’m a blank slate going into this.

Like usual, I recap the show as a watch it, adding in my opinions whenever I feel like it. I wrap it all up at the end in a nifty Final Thoughts section. Let’s get to the show.

Micheal Cole and Byron Saxton are our announcers and they kick us off with some breaking news. Officially announced for Night Of Champions, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns will face off in a match. Also, Chris Jericho and Randy Orton will compete as well.

Seth Rollins Asks “Where Are They Now?”

Seth Rollins, briefcase in hand, makes his way to the ring. He grabs a microphone as his music fades and pauses for a moment to let the crowd yell at him. It takes a second, but “You Sold Out” chants can be heard. He welcomes the crowd to a segment that he calls “Where Are They Now?”

A graphic showing all three members of The Shield is shown and Seth talks of their dominance. Where are they now? He first talks about Dean Ambrose. Dean made a fatal, critical error when he faced off against Seth. They replayed his last appearance from Raw a few weeks back that ended with his head getting Curb-Stomped through a cinder block.

Seth laughs at the footage that just aired. He doesn’t know where Dean is now. He says that Dean was a feral animal that needed put down. He now moves on to the brawn of the Shield, Roman Reigns.

Rollins talks about how Reigns was regarded at the future of the company when The Shield was intact. Seth says that he created the group and Seth is responsible for all of Roman’s success. When Roman put a target on Seth’s back, his future became obsolete. The end of Raw was replayed at this point. I do like getting to see Rollins dive off of the top of that cage again.

Now Seth asks about himself in the “Where Are They Now” segment. He sings his own praises. He says he’s the only man still left standing from the remnants of The Shield. He calls himself the future of this company then, oddly, Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter interrupt him. I wouldn’t have called this to happen.

Zeb asks Seth if he’s claiming credit for The Shield. When Zeb thinks of great strategists, he thinks of great men like George Washington, Douglas MacArthur, and General Westmoreland.  Zeb didn’t see Seth Rollins’ name mentioned in that bunch. He does see Seth’s name mentioned among those who like talk about their enemies long distance but are too scared when they’re head to head. Seth’s not an architect, he’s an opportunist and a sellout.

Zeb says that Seth has a match against Jack Swagger that night. Cool, I’m looking forward to that. Zeb leads the crowd in a “We The People” chant to close out the segment. Jack waves his American flag proudly and Seth removes his shirt. Looks like this match is right now.

Seth Rollins vs. Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Colter)

Seth Rollins always does a good job selling and he helps Swagger look like the hoss that he his. Seth, the sly heel, ran in and out of the ring frequently near the beginning of the match until he finally caught Jack off guard and gained the advantage. He chop-blocked Swagger below the knee as well.

Swagger would regain control later with a belly to belly suplex. He was able to connect with the Swagger Bomb that led to a pinfall, but he only got the two count. Rollins was able to kick Swagger in the head after he wiggled out of a belly to back tie up.

Swagger would try to apply the Patriot Lock as Rollins scrambled desperately toward the ropes. Swagger pulled him away from the ropes and he twisted in mid-air, landing on his feet. Seth went for a kick to the head again, but Swagger caught his ankle in the process and now he successfully has the Patriot Lock applied.

Swagger sold it like he was getting his ankle snapped, but he made it to the ropes for the break. Swagger put Seth on the top corner turnbuckle as the crowd chanted “USA.” Seth battled him off and then dove off the top, driving his knee into Jack’s head. Seth favored the leg, selling the damage done by the Patriot Lock earlier. Seth was still able to bounce off of the ropes and hit Jack with the Curb Stomp.

Winner by pinfall: Seth Rollins

Zeb looked upset at the loss and Rollins went to grab his briefcase.  He held it high at the top of the ramp to celebrate.

Holy cow, Heath Slater is on my screen. He’s backstage asking about a drawing on a whiteboard that Titus O’Neil was holding. It had the word “Wabbit” written on the top. Titus explained that they were going “Wabbit Hunting.” Heath pondered the word “Wabbit” and Titus asked him if he still watched cartoons. Titus told him to “Hop To It” and Heath bunny hops off the screen. Titus calls him stupid as he follows after him. It only lasted about 30 seconds. I like Slater Gator, so I put up with this stuff.

Raw Recap time. The excellent promo with Paul Heyman and John Cena aired. Heyman is utterly amazing, but you knew that already. Cena and Lesnar will meet “Face To Face” on next Monday’s Raw.

Cesaro is shown walking backstage. He faces Sheamus at Night Of Champions and looks to have a match in just a few moments.

Cesaro vs. Zach Ryder

As Cesaro makes his way to the ring, Raw clips are shown of Cesaro distracted Sheamus in his match against Rollins. Cesaro used the Neutralizer against Sheamus after that match.

Ryder got a little bit of offense with a dropkick in the beginning. Cesaro roughed him up on the outside, then did a big jumping stomp in the middle of the ring. Cesaro went for a kick onto Ryder in the corner, but Zach moved out of the way. Cesaro was injured and hung up, giving Ryder the chance to set up the Broski Boot. He sold his already injured leg while executing his signature maneuver.

Ryder went over the top rope to the outside and took out Cesaro. Back in the ring and Ryder tried to jump off of the middle turnbuckle, but landed into the Cesaro Swing. It feels like I haven’t seen that in forever. Cesaro rolls him over into what looked like a Cloverleaf-type finisher and Ryder submitted.

Winner by submission: Cesaro

Regarding Ryder, The rumor mills have said that Zach Ryder has been shown on TV getting squashed as a punishment for negative tweets. While this was hardly a squash tonight, I would recommend reading Mike Holland’s Quick Hits article from Sunday. He rightfully argues that any TV time, even squash time, is better than the zero amount of on-screen time that Ryder was getting before.

Post match, Renee Young enters the ring to interview Cesaro. She tells Cesaro that his win was impressive against Zach Ryder, slightly laughing when she says Ryder’s name. Cesaro does an awesome job of pointing out that his win was against a former United States Champion. “Who are you to doubt Zach Ryder?”

When asked about his match with Sheamus at Night Of Champions, Cesaro talks about how he’s better than him in so many ways, especially in this ring. Everyone knows it. He’ll prove to the whole world that he’s not just the King of Swing, he’s the King of Wrestling…and our new United States Champion.

The segment with Jerry Springer, the Bellas, and Stephanie McMahon was highlighted at this point. Nikki Bella and AJ Lee will challenge Paige for her Divas Championship at Night Of Champions.

Adam Rose and his Rosebuds are walking backstage, singing the Adam Rose tune. The bunny gets distracted by a carrot hanging randomly. Titus O’Neil sneaks up behind him and tries to throw an net on him. The bunny ducks and the net goes onto Heath Slater instead. Slater and O’Neil argue about how their plan failed. O’Neil could’ve just hit him. Just saying.

Adam Rose vs. Titus O’Neil

Byron Saxton and Michael Cole talk about how Heath Slater has to go back to West Virginia and tell his pals that he got kicked in the head by a bunny. As an actual West Virginian, we’re rooting for you Heath. Don’t let that bunny keep you down.

The bunny makes his way to ringside and tries to distract Titus. Heath Slater mouths “I got this” and crawls under the ring. He comes out on the other side and tries to attack the bunny. The bunny kicks Slater in the side of the head with a vicious Enziguri. Titus goes to check on his buddy and Rose shoves him into Heath. Rose is able to roll him up for a successful pinfall.

Winner by pinfall: Adam Rose

Michael Cole said that social media called this #bunnymania on Twitter. I did not verify if he made that up or not. Titus looked disappointed in the ring after his loss. Adam Rose, the bunny, and his Rosebuds partied out of the ring.

The Ascension vs. Los Matadores

The NXT Tag Team Champions are on Main Event? Did they advertise this? They should have. What a treat.

The crowd mildly chanted “We Want Tables” during this match, which was largely one-sided. Micheal and Byron talked about how dominant they’ve been in NXT. They won with The Fall Of Man, which is impressive looking.

Winner by pinfall: The Ascension

Viktor and Konner stand tall with their NXT titles held high to close out the show.

Mitch’s Final Thoughts:

This was just an average night of Main Event. Rollins had a good promo to start out the night and his match with Swagger was my favorite bout on tonight’s card. Cesaro and Zach Ryder had a decent match as well. Cesaro seems to be getting more mic time and he did a good job with his Renee Young interview afterward.

I normally like Slater Gator humor. The bunny stuff was mildly funny to me, but there was just a little too much of it for even my taste. I assume there will be a tag match between Slater Gator and Adam Rose & the bunny at some point. I’m hoping that the bunny is revealed to be someone worthwhile, but I’m probably expecting too much.

The main event itself wasn’t anything fantastic, but having The Ascension on a main roster show was pretty cool. They definitely brought a presence with them. But the match was short and nobody gets too worked up for Los Matadores anyways. I do like how WWE is hyping for the NXT special on Thursday. Having this match and the tag match on Raw seems like a smart way to get people excited about the NXT brand. That’s not something that needs done all of the time, but it is wise to showcase these guys immediately before the big NXT shows.

That about does it for me this week. Did you like the show? I’m middle of the road with it this week. Drop me a comment below and let me know what you think. And while you’re at it, look me up on Twitter @MitchNickelson. Thanks for reading my review, I do appreciate it.

R-Truth Outs Jack Swagger As A HUGE Rap Fan

Ron Killings suffers from a strange condition as a professional wrestler. His condition is that his real name is way cooler than any ring name that his present company (and also TNA) could come up with. WWE has tried to package Killings with a name that suits his real-life passion for hip hop, but try as they may K-Kwik and R-Truth feel like a big step backwards.

NWA-TNA fared a little better. By merging a nickname with his real name, Ron “The Truth” Killings helped him connect with an audience unlike any other time in his career. But as cool as “The Truth” is, it still must be sandwiched between the already awesome birth name of Ron Killings.

Currently, R-Truth is active on the WWE roster and can be seen wrestling all over the world. He made an appearance at a WWE House Show in Virginia yesterday and gave an interview to The Flagship a few days prior. The Norfolk-based newspaper dug up some insight from Mr. Killings on a few hip-hop fans in the WWE locker room that might be surprising…

“Jack Swagger is a huge fan of hip-hop – Roman Reigns, The Usos … and believe it or not, Chris Jericho. Kofi Kingston, I go to him. I’m working on an album now and working on new entrance music. A new, updated ‘What’s Up.’”

So the Real American, Jack Swagger, is a fan of some boom-bap? That is not expected. But Ron did comment on the current WWE product as well. He even offered his thoughts about Brock Lesnar and John Cena battling over the WWE World heavyweight Championship…

“Brock has opened everybody’s eyes in the locker room,” he said. “He truly wears that title of ‘The Beast.’ Nobody has torn John Cena limb from limb like he did. That was proof in the pudding. [Lesnar] has a d*** good chance at continuing to be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. But, I know Cena. That light will not burn out. It’s like having a mountain of faith. It’s going to come down to whomever is the hungriest. Cena has something to prove and has to come back from one of the worst butt-whoopings of all time. “

Truth doesn’t count Cena out, but what would you expect? Of course he’s not going to balk at the chances of a fellow rapper who will guest feature on not only one, but TWO tracks on an upcoming R-Truth album. WWE will be releasing the album and while an official release date is not known at this moment, rap heavyweight Wiz Khalifa will also be lending his vocals for a track as well. (Cageside Seats)

“What’s up?” indeed, Ron Killings.
                                                                   

I hope you got your R-Truth fix. While I don’t mind the guy, he’s just not someone who gets written about every day. Anywho, follow me on Twitter @MitchNickelson because you know you want to.

Main Event Review For August 5th, 2014

by: Mitch Nickelson

Live on the WWE Network, this is Main Event! The show is happening in Laredo, Texas this week. AJ Lee is advertised to be on tonight. Other than her appearance, I’m unaware of anything advertised for this weeks show.

I recap the show and insert my opinion along the way. I usually just give brief summaries and highlights of each segment, but will occasionally do some in-depth play-by-play if I’m compelled. Here we go.

Del Rio Has A Mexican Flag; Swagger Has An American Flag

Alberto Del Rio comes to the ring first, proudly waving his Mexican flag. Maybe he’s making a last minute pitch to put Mexico into that Flag Match at Summerslam. Del Rio grabs a mic and says that since he’s a few miles away from Mexico, he’ll talk in Spanish. I don’t know Spanish, so this part of the review is really easy for me. He ends his promo by thanking the fans for their support for all the years, in English.

The Real American music hits as Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter come to the ring. Zeb grabs a mic and tells Del Rio that he didn’t understand a word he was saying. We speak English, Zeb says. He might as well be in another country, like Russia. Del Rio says that this is a good place to have a fight. Zeb accepts the challenge and says that Del Rio reminds him of Rusev. Zeb gets the crowd to do the “We The People” chant to close out that segment, even though they are very partisan for Del Rio.

AJ Lee will make her return tonight. She was injured last week at the hands of Paige, who knocked her off the ramp at the top of the entryway and caused her to suffer whiplash. We’ll also get a recap of Stephanie on Raw last night, which is not a surprising sentence to type.

The opening promo set up a match between Swagger and Del Rio for later in the show. The crowd is way into Del Rio, so it should be good.

Standing in the ring right now is none other than SLATER GATOR! Even though it was a fluke, Heath had a huge win over Seth Rollins on Raw last night. Will that momentum carry over to tonight? Also, the announcers said “Slater and the Gator” again. I’m pretty sure that is wrong.

Slater has a mic and asks the crowd if they saw his win last night. They replayed it and it was beautiful. Heath is celebrating like a rock star. He stumbles over his words a little and Titus shoves him because he’s annoyed. These two face Goldust and Stardust right now.

Slater Gator vs. Goldust & Stardust

The crowd starts off with chants for Goldust and they seem to be in that corner. The match was good, nothing great. It kept a good pace and the Dusts got to show off their odd personalities. The finish came when Slater was trying to roll up Goldust but was having trouble. Teamwork came in the form of a boot by Titus O’Neil to knock Goldust over. Slater was able to pin his opponent to continue one of the best weeks Heath Slater has had in a long while.

Winners by pinfall: Slater Gator

Titus actually is looking happy a little after the win. Well, until Slater tries to jump into his arms to celebrate and The Gator shoves him off. Slater keeps trying to jump on him and Titus continues to be annoyed by him. These guys are great. Make a t-shirt for them so I can buy it, WWE.

Raw recap time and we see the contract signing by Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella from last night. They’re fighting at Summerslam, of course. AJ Lee is up next.

AJ Lee vs. Summer Rae

Summer comes out first. The announcers reference Summer’s angle with Fandango, which is surprising to still be happening. AJ comes out next with her Diva’s Championship. They replay the spill she took on Smackdown thanks to Paige.

Faint “CM Punk” chants at the start of the show. AJ had to pause about a minute into the match because she was selling her whiplash injury. Summer capitalized on this and gained control of the match. While the announcers were about to tell us about the glorious news that #SlaterGator is trending on twitter, AJ applies her Black Widow submission to force Summer to tap out.

Winner by submission: AJ Lee

AJ Lee Tells A Fairy Tale; Paige Interrupts

Tom Phillips enters the ring to ask AJ Lee about her upcoming match against Paige. AJ told a fairy tale about a girl who dreamed of becoming a queen by winning the Diva’s Title. Then, a dark witch stole it from her. But, she says that sometimes you have to be your own white knight. So she came back, took what belonged to her, and ruined Paige’s little fairy tale. At Summerslam, she will do the exact same thing.

Paige’s music hits and she is standing at the top of the ramp. She tells AJ that she’s thrilled to see her back on her feet again. She tells AJ that she can be that white knight. They belong together in that ring at Summerslam because she respects and loves her. They’re frienemies. When Paige takes her title at Summerslam, she still wants to be AJ’s friend because this is a great story.

AJ says she likes Paige’s style but Paige won’t like how this story ends. This isn’t Paige’s house, this is AJ’s kingdom. The crowd cheers for her as her music hits. Good promo by these two. Hopefully they get that good match at Summerslam that that I’m expecting from them.

Swagger vs. Del Rio is still up later. Next is John Cena/Brock Lesnar recap stuff. Next Monday on Raw is Hulk Hogan’s birthday celebration with “special surprise guests.” Did you read my news piece on TJRWrestling about the speculation that it could turn into an NWO reunion? It’s a quick one if you haven’t, so check it out here.

That really great video that detailed the history between Lesnar and Cena is played now. It’s so good, but I’m sure most people know that by now. That video is a great way to keep people excited for the match even though both guys are off WWE programming this week.

Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Colter) vs. Alberto Del Rio

Colter and Swagger come out first. This will probably be the coldest audience they’ve seen in a while. This match should be interesting.

There’s a break and when they come back they say that Dean Ambrose will be on Smackdown this Thursday. He’ll reveal his decision of what the stipulation will be in his match with Seth Rollins. Can’t pick Flag Match, Dean. That one is taken.

Del Rio comes out with his flag and the announcers point out that this largely Hispanic audience is like a homecoming for Del Rio. They really like him in Laredo.

Swagger had his ribs taped up, selling the attack from Rusev the night before. Loud “Del Rio” chants start the match. Del Rio targets those injured ribs and keeps giving Swagger some stiff kicks to them over and over.

Del Rio applies the Cross Armbreaker to Swagger over the ropes later in the match. He goes to the top rope, but Swagger crotches him. Swagger then applies a Superplex and remembers to sell his rib injury. He goes for the pin and the crowd pops a little when Del Rio kicks out. Swagger makes a come back and connects with the Swagger Bomb. He attempts a pin again, and again the crowd pops when Del Rio kicks out.

The two trade punches in the corner and Del Rio hits a Tornado DDT from the corner. Pin by Alberto, but Jack kicks out. Del Rio goes for the Cross Armbreaker in the middle of the ring, but Swagger counters it into a slam. Pin again, but fails. Del Rio is able to hit a backbreaker then follow it up with a kick to Swagger, who is on his knees at this point. He pins and Swagger somehow kicks out at two.

Del Rio goes for a Cross Armbreaker in the middle of the ring and he connects with it this time. He locks it in and somehow Swagger counters it into the Patriot Lock. Del Rio gets out of it quickly. Swagger is in the corner and Del Rio tries to kick him in the head off of the second rope, but Swagger does one heck of a catch and puts the kicking leg into the Patriot Lock. Del Rio tries desperately to crawl to the ropes but Swagger pulls with all of his might to keep him from grabbing them. The crowd is pretty loud in favor of Del Rio at this point, but he’s forced to tap out.

Winner by submission: Jack Swagger

Swagger and Colter stand with Old Glory in the middle of the ring to celebrate the win. They do a “We The People” chant as the show closes.

Mitch’s Final Thoughts:

What a great main event. It was odd because of how much the crowd wanted to cheer for the heel Del Rio. Swagger wasn’t necessarily booed, but he clearly wasn’t the favorite. Regardless, that was a very above average match and a real treat to watch. Do one of these every week, WWE.

Slater Gator are funny, so I’m glad they were on the show. Their match with Goldust & Stardust wasn’t anything special, but they were able to get a win and time with a mic. I’ll take it. AJ’s match wasn’t anything special either, but her promo with Paige was one of the better verbal bouts they’ve had with each other. It’s taken a while for the Paige heel character to get where she needed to be, but she seems like she’s arrived recently. This was a good promo and I feel like the two women are at the point where their story is starting to click.

There were only two recap segments this week. One was the Stephanie McMahon stuff. Even though she’s on WWE programming way too much, she’s at least fantastic at what she does. The other recap segment was the Cena/Lesnar video replay, which you won’t hear me complain about anytime soon.

This was another above average Main Event. As long as there is one solid match (preferably whatever goes on last) and the rest is kept to a digestible amount then I’m happy. This show had one great match, one great promo, and filler that was called Slater Gator. This was a great hour of wrestling.

Comment with your thoughts on the show below. Follow me on twitter @MitchNickelson to keep up with all of my wrestling banter. Thanks for reading again this week.