Leighty’s Main Event Review 09.26.24

-As you may know, Main Event no longer airs on Hulu. Instead we have to wait 3 weeks for it show up on Peacock. I talked with Jeremy and it was decided I could continue reviewing the show, but only the matches as nobody is going to care about the outdated recap videos of what went down on RAW or SmackDown. I want to get the matches done so I can do my yearly ranking of every match from the show and perhaps by January they show will be available same week it was taped. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Blake Howard and Vic Joseph
-Taped: Toyota Arena, Ontario, CA

Akira Tozawa (w/ Maxxine and Otis) vs. Karrion Kross (w/ Scarlett)

-It’s been some time since Kross has appeared on this show and it might go all the way back to when he was wearing that stupid helmet. Vic calls Blake out for sweating and getting tongue tied with Scarlett out here. Kross controls early with his power, but gets kicked in the face trying a charge in the corner. Head scissors from Tozawa sends Kross to the floor. He tries a suicide dive but Kross catches him and throws him into ring post. Cool! Kross uses the middle rope to choke and that lets Scarlett get involved as she uses the ropes to choke as well. Death Valley Driver from Kross as he yells at Otis. He charges in and eats a superkick, but seems annoyed more than hurt. Tozawa picks up the pace again with a head scissor. He comes off the top with a missile dropkick for two. TOZAWA-MANIA as he rips his shirt, but a great visual as Kross pops up behind him and stares. Kross sets Tozawa on top, but he counters with a sunset flip for two. He tries another head scissors but Kross catches him this time and hits the modified F5 (Final Prayer?) for the pin at 3:30.

Winner: Karrion Kross via pin at 3:30
-This as an energetic little match that was just a bit more than a SQUASH. Tozawa is great at bumping for someone like Kross so I enjoyed this. **

Lyra Valkyria (w/ Natalya and Zelina Vega) vs. Zoey Stark (w/ Sonya Deville and Shayna Baszler)

-Zoey charges at the bell and runs Lyra into the corner. She hits a few shoulders, but Lyra counters. They do a small flipping sequence and Lyra gets a knock down into a side headlock. Stark powers up and breaks with a back breaker. Lyra floats over in the corner and goes to the knee. She shows off her flexibility with a bendy rana for two. Cross-body gets two! Stark backdrops Lyra to the apron and hits a superkick to send her to the floor. That sends up to a break at 2:05.

-40 seconds of Peacock commercials. I have to get used to that as I have been typing Hulu commercials for the last four years.

-NXT on CW commercial thought this was for the premiere and that has already happened.

-Back at 3:25 with Stark beating Lyra down in the corner. The crowd starts a chant for Lyra and she gets in a few shots, but Stark lands a LOUD chop. Another one and Zoey is quite pleased with herself. She goes for a third, but Lyra gets in a kick. The rally is snuffed out as Zoey slams her down by the hair. Zoey gets a one count and seems frustrated, so she goes to the ground and pound. Reverse chinlock as the crowd is into this one. Zoey runs into boots in the corner and then eats a back elbow. Lyra throws punches and palm strikes and hits another crossbody. She snaps off another rana and an enziguiri sends Zoey to the floor. Between the ropes dropkick connects. Lyra heads up top which draws Shayna up to the apron. Stark uses the distraction to bring Lyra down. Springboard dropkick gets two for Zoey. They trade pin attempts and then Sonya gets on the apron. Lyra goes after her and now Zoey gets distracted by Nattie and Zelina. Nightwing finishes at 7:34.

Winner: Lyra Valkyria via pin at 7:34
-I enjoyed this as they put in some work here in front a crowd that was buying what they were selling. The ending was a little flat with the double distractions, but Lyra getting the win is nice to see. **1/2

-Thanks for reading!

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

I always judged this show by the two matches and that won't change now that I am only reviewing the matches. Both matches were solid and I found them enjoyable. Lyra and Zoey notably put in some good work and I would like to see each of them get more of a chance on RAW. Kross seems to always be on RAW as the pot stirrer, but it was cool to see him back in the ring.