wrestling / Columns

Leighty’s 2020 Countdown: The Matches of WWE Main Event

January 13, 2021 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
WWE Main Event Ricochet Image Credit: WWE

-The Year 2020 is history and that means it is time to look back on the year that was. For me the best way to do that is by doing a countdown. I am always a sucker for countdown shows no matter the content. Next up we tackle Main Event which airs initially on Hulu before heading to the WWE Network. As Larry always said you have to right to your opinion and thoughts, but always be respectful. Let’s get it!

-My initial thought was to rank every match from Main Event in 2020, but I have only been covering the show since May 21. The great Larry Csonka covered the show prior to that and there is no way to rank what he watched to what I watched, but I also wanted to honor what he did. So, I made the decision to just include the matches he reviewed with his rating and keeping them separate from my personal countdown. So here are the 40 matches that Larry reviewed for 205 Live in 2020 in descending order based on his rating.

Aleister Black vs. Tyler Ruff (No Rating) – 03.20.20

Riddick Moss vs. Cedric Alexander (*) – 01.31.20
Natalya vs. Aliyah (*) – 04.10.20

Mojo Rawley vs. Curt Hawkins (**) – 01.10.20
DeAngelo Dawkins vs. Buddy Murphy (**) – 03.20.20
Bianca Belair vs. Catalina (**) – 05.01.20
R-Truth vs. Cal Bloom (**) – 05.08.20
Jinder Mahal vs. Denzel Dejournette (**) – 05.15.20

Chelsea Green vs. Sarah Logan (**1/2) – 01.03.20
Mojo Rawley vs. No Way Jose (**1/2) – 01.03.20
Sarah Logan vs. Deonna Purrazzo (**1/2) – 01.24.20
Sarah Logan vs. Deonna Purrazzo (**1/2) – 01.31.20
Gallows and Anderson vs. Hawkins and Ryder (**1/2) – 02.07.20
Gallows and Anderson vs. Hawkins and Ryder (**1/2) – 02.14.20
Shelton Benjamin vs. No Way Jose (**1/2) – 02.28.20
24/7 Title: Riddick Moss vs. Cedric Alexander (**1/2) – 02.28.20
Shelton Benjamin vs. Hawkins (**1/2) – 03.06.20
Ricochet vs. Eric Young (**1/2) – 03.13.20
Humberto Carrillo vs. Shelton Benjamin (**1/2) – 03.13.20
Asuka vs. Kayden Carter (**1/2) – 03.27.20
Gallows and Anderson vs. Ever-Rise (**1/2) – 04.03.20
Liv Morgan vs. Santana Garrett (**1/2) – 04.17.20
Humberto Carrillo vs. Shelton Benjamin (**1/2) – 04.17.20
Asuka vs. Catalina (**1/2) – 04.24.20
Humberto Carrillo vs. Shelton Benjamin (**1/2) – 04.24.20

Natalya vs. Chelsea Green (**3/4) – 01.10.20
Cedric Alexander vs. Eric Young (**3/4) – 01.17.20
Shelton Benjamin vs. Akira Tozawa (**3/4) – 01.17.20
No Way Jose vs. Eric Young (**3/4) – 02.14.20
Hawkins and Ryder vs. Eric Young and Shelton Benjamin (**3/4) – 02.21.20
Humberto Carrillo vs. Danny Burch (**3/4) – 03.27.20
Austin Theory vs. Shane Thorne (**3/4) – 04.10.20
Kairi Sane vs. Ruby Riott (**3/4) – 05.08.20

Cedric Alexander vs. Shelton Benjamin (***) – 01.24.20
Cedric Alexander vs. Shelton Benjamin (***) – 02.07.20
Cedric Alexander vs. Akira Tozawa (***) – 02.21.20
Akira Tozawa vs. Eric Young (***) – 03.06.20
Cedric Alexander vs. Fabian Aichner (***) – 04.03.20
Murphy vs. Humberto Carrillo (***) – 05.01.20
Bianca Belair vs. Ruby Riott (***) – 05.15.20

-In Memory of Larry Csonka! You can find Larry’s Go Fund Me page with all money going towards his daughters here.

-As mentioned I took over duties starting with the show that aired on May 21, 2020. Here are my rankings of all 62 matches that took place on WWE Main Event in 2020. Note this doesn’t include any matches from RAW and SmackDown that were shown in full or joined in progress.

62) Bianca Belair vs. Jessi Kamea (1/2*) – 07.23.20

61) Titus O’Neil vs. Akira Tozawa (*) – 07.09.20

60) Nikki Cross vs. Lacey Evans (*) – 12.17.20

59) Shayna Baszler vs. Jessi Kamea (*) – 07.16.20

58) Ruby Riott vs. Billie Kay (*) – 08.13.20

57) Erik vs. Titus O’Neil (*1/4) – 11.05.20

56) Titus O’Neil vs. Drew Gulak (*1/2) – 10.15.20

55) Peyton Royce vs. Nikki Cross (*1/2) – 12.03.20

54) Bianca Belair vs. Billie Kay (*1/2) – 07.02.20

53) Titus O’Neil vs. Angel Garza (*1/2) – 08.13.20

52) Bianca Belair vs. Liv Morgan (*1/2) – 09.24.20

51) Erik vs. Akira Tozawa (*1/2) – 11.12.20

50) Humberto Carrillo vs. Riddick Moss (*1/2) – 07.23.20)

49) Jinder Mahal vs. Akira Tozawa (**) – 05.21.20

48) Titus O’Neil vs. Riddick Moss (**) – 07.30.20

47) Erik vs. Riddick Moss (**) – 10.01.20

46) Nikki Cross vs. Reckoning (**) – 12.24.20

45) Peyton Royce vs. Billie Kay (**) – 10.08.20

44) Liv Morgan vs. Natalya (**) – 06.11.20

43) Bianca Belair vs. Billie Kay (**) – 09.17.20

42) Bianca Belair vs. Billie Kay (**) – 08.20.20

41) Humberto Carrillo vs. Tucker (**) – 10.29.20

40) Shayna Baszler vs. Ruby Riott (**) – 07.30.20

39) Bianca Belair vs. Peyton Royce (**) – 07.09.20

38) Bianca Belair vs. Ruby Riott (**) – 06.25.20

37) Humberto Carrillo vs. Riddick Moss (**) – 07.16.20

36) Andrade vs. Akira Tozawa (**) – 10.08.20

35) Humberto Carrillo vs. Ricochet (**) – 08.27.20

34) Humberto Carrillo vs. Arturo Ruas (**) – 08.06.20

33) Nikki Cross vs. Reckoning (**1/4) – 12.31.20

32) Akira Tozawa vs. Humberto Carrillo (**1/4) – 10.15.20

31) Shelton Benjamin vs. Shane Thorne (**1/4) – 06.11.20

30) Humberto Carrillo vs. Shane Thorne (**1/4) – 06.18.20

29) Mustafa Ali vs. Akira Tozawa (**1/4) – 09.10.20

28) Lince Dorado vs. Humberto Carrillo (**1/4) – 11.05.20

27) Humberto Carrillo vs. Riddick Moss (**1/2) – 09.10.20

26) Bianca Belair vs. Ruby Riott (**1/2) – 05.28.20

25) Mustafa Ali vs. Riddick Moss (**1/2) – 08.06.20

24) Humberto Carrillo vs. Akira Tozawa (**1/2) – 09.03.20

23) Mustafa Ali vs. Artuo Ruas (**1/2) – 08.27.20

22) Humberto Carrillo vs. Akira Tozawa (**1/2) – 11.19.20

21) Humberto Carrillo vs. Gran Metalik (**1/2) – 11.12.20

20) Jeff Hardy vs. Ricochet (**1/2) – 11.26.20

19) Angel Garza vs. Humberto Carrillo (**1/2) – 12.03.20

18) Ricochet and Alexander vs. Theory and Murphy (**3/4) – 06.25.20

17) Akira Tozawa vs. Shelton Benjamin (**3/4) – 05.28.20

16) Akira Tozawa vs. Angel Garza (**3/4) – 12.31.20

15) Ricochet vs. Mustafa Ali (**3/4) – 09.24.20

14) Lince Dorado vs. Akira Tozawa (**3/4) – 12.24.20

13) Humberto Carrillo vs. Dolph Ziggler (**3/4) – 10.01.20

12) Andrade vs. Ricochet (**3/4) – 06.18.20

11) Cedric Alexander vs. Shelton Benjamin (**3/4) – 06.04.20

10) Keith Lee vs. Angel Garza (**3/4) – 12.10.20

09) Ricochet vs. Gran Metalik (**3/4) – 10.22.20

08) Lince Dorado vs. Angel Garza (***) – 11.19.20

07) Ricochet vs. Shane Thorne (***) – 06.04.20

06) Ricochet vs. Shane Thorne (***) – 05.21.20

05) Humberto Carrillo vs. Murphy (***) – 08.20.20

04) Humberto Carrillo vs. Mustafa Ali (***) – 09.17.20

03) Ricochet vs. Angel Garza (***) – 10.29.20

02) Humberto Carrillo vs. Angel Garza (***1/4) – 10.22.20

-205 Live has broken out on Main Event this week and I’m not complaining. Lockup to start and Garza quickly gets an arm to ground Carrillo. Of course this is all a set-up to Carrillo to flip out, but Garza know it’s coming and catches him with a strike to the ribs. Carrillo comes back though and gets a side headlock, but Garza pushes off to break. They have a sequence where they run the ropes and it ends with Carrillo springing off the top rope and getting the side headlock again. Garza breaks again, and gets a sunset flip, but Carrillo rocks back into his own pinning sequence and they take turns doing that for a bit. They head to the floor and Carrillo gets caught upside in the ropes which gives Garza a chance to land a superkick. We take a break!

-Back with Garza in control, but he charges into a right hand. Humberto heads up, but gets tripped and Garza hits a sweet running kick. Nice! That gets two for Garza. He works the arms a bit, but goes back to the front facelock. Carrillo breaks with some right hands, but can’t follow up with much. Garza charges again and nearly gets sent to the floor. Instead he is back on Carrillo who finally gets some separation and lands a springboard kick to the face. Both men are down for a bit but Carrillo gets rolling first as he snaps off kicks. They battle on the apron and Carrillo then heads up top and comes off with a swank missile dropkick for two. Carrillo preps for Torture Rack position, but Garza escapes. Humberto still controls though as he springs again, and this time connects with a headbutt for two. Garza gets a roll-up but gets caught using the tights. Carrillo tries to take advantage but eats a superkick and the Wing Clipper finishes at 9:27.

Winner: Angel Garza via pin at 9:27
-This was fun as expected and they got some time. Garza is great and obviously the win shows the WWE is higher on him than Carrillo. I loved the ending as normally you would expect Garza to eat the loss after arguing with ref like an idiot, but instead he just casually kicked Carrillo in the face and ended it with his finisher.

01) Ricochet vs. Mustafa Ali (***1/4) – 09.03.20

-This could and should be good. I know it’s just Main Event, but I have high expectations they give us the best match we’ve had on this show in a good while. Tie-up to start after a quick show of respect. Ricochet works the arm, but Ali escapes and hits a few arm drags. Another go as they trade headlocks and Ricochet gets his own arm drag. He asks Ali “where you at,” and Ali nods at him. Ricochet gets a headlock takedown, but Ali gets to his feet and escapes into a headlock of his own. They get heated at each other as they wrestle in the corner and Ali throws a back elbow. Ricochet is pissed and blasts Ali from behind. Ricochet gets put on the apron and tries a springboard but gets punched in the face. Ali is kind of annoyed that Ricochet resorted to throwing punches first. The spinning neckbreaker gets two as we take a break.

-Back with Ali still in control as he goes to a chinlock. Ricochet punches out but gets caught with a neckbreaker for two. Ali tells Ricochet to stay down or he will put him down. Some heavy blows as both guys are showing some nice aggression in this one. Ricochet gets a backslide for two and then a straight right hand. Effective! Jesse Ventura always loved seeing two heroes getting nasty against each other and I agree that it is fun. Ricochet picks up the pace and hits a kick to the face, but then charges into a superkick. Ali goes for the Satellite DDT, but Ricochet catches him with a Northern Lights Suplex and then rolls through it into a brainbuster for two. That was sweet! Ricochet puts Ali up top and looks for a superplex, but Ali pounds out and gets a sunset flip. Ricochet rolls through though, so Ali opts to powerbomb the piss out of him for two. Damn! The 450 misses but Ali rolls through it but then charges into a back elbow. Ali looks for another neckbreaker, but Ricochet evades and spikes Ali with a reverse rana. The Recoil finishes at 8:55.

Winner: Ricochet via pin at 8:55
-I want more! Easily best match on Main Event in quite some time and you know they can tear it up given more time and a bigger stage. Just a crisp and hard hitting match with a good story of both men getting heated at the other and then getting caught up in competition. The commercial break hurt a little, but this was very good and left me wanting more.

-There you have it for Hulu’s WWE Main Event in 2020. I have enjoyed the show overall as I am just a sucker for wrestling and most of the time it is perfectly acceptable wrestling that gets some ring work for people not featured all the time on RAW. The top two matches received the same rating, but I just like Ricochet/Ali a little more and it also teased what was to come from Ali and the eventual feud between the two of RAW. Thanks for reading!