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Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review: 12.31.20
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-We close out 2020 with the final WWE show of the year and it just happens to be Main Event on Hulu. As I mentioned previously I will be posting an article soon counting down every match from Main Event in 2020. Based on spoilers I don’t think either match here will take the top spot, but being this is 2020, who knows? Let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Tom Phillips and Samoa Joe
-Taped: WWE ThunderDome, St Petersburg, FL
-In Memory of Jon Huber “Luke Harper” 1979-2020 graphic appears before the show. Nice!
Nikki Cross vs. Reckoning (w/ Mustafa Ali)
-This is a rematch from a week ago where Reckoning got the win. Tom throws to a WWE.com exclusive interview with Cross promising to show everyone a new Nikki Cross in 2021. Lockup to start and Reckoning easily gains the advantage with her power, but offers a clean break in the corner. Cross charges and gets sent to the mat. Cross hits a crossbody and pounds away on the mat showing good fire. She charges in the corner, but gets caught and dropped face first on the top buckle. Cross gets a roll-up for two and goes to the throat to ground Reckoning. Cross charges again and again it backfires as she gets low bridged to the floor. Reckoning follows and tosses her into the ring post and back into the ring for a two count. A kick to the face gets another two count. Nice Dragon Suplex into a bridge gets another two count. Cross gets in a strike to create space and both women collide in the center of the ring to leave both down. Both up and Cross starts firing off strikes and some clotheslines. A neckbreaker is followed by two seated Sentons. The corner crossbody gets a two count. Cross sticks a Tornado DDT and rolls out of that into her neckbreaker to finish at 4:14.
Winner: Nikki Cross via pin at 4:14
-50/50 booking strikes Main Event. I enjoyed this one more than last week as Cross showed some good fire and they crammed as much as they could into the 4 minutes they were given. **1/4
-Recap of Reigns defeating Owens at TLC to retain The Universal Title.
-Back to SmackDown last week as Reigns and Owens bring the goods again with a Steel Cage match. Reigns wins again thanks to Jey handcuffing Reigns to the cage. Owens: “You’re a little bitch” made me laugh! There should be a Part III at The Royal Rumble and I am all for it.
-Back to SmackDown as Big E wins The Intercontinental Championship to end Sami Zayn’s end. Last weeks SmackDown was easily one of the best of the year and E winning the IC Title to close the show was the right call. If you haven’t go check out Talking Smack from the next day and watch the Heyman/Big E ending segment. Great stuff!
-Back to RAW as Keith Lee defeats Sheamus to get a WWE Title Match against McIntyre next week.
Angel Garza vs. Akira Tozawa
-Tozawa throws some kicks to get loose so Garza throws his pants in his face to gain the advantage. Nice! Garza lands some strikes and goes to the ground, but Tozawa breaks on the ropes. To the corner and Garza lands more strikes and a head kick. Tozawa gets set on top and Garza reigns down strikes. He locks Tozawa in the Tree of Woe and hits a running PK. Tozawa ends up on the apron and gets in a forearm strike, but gets caught coming off the top with a superkick. Sweet! Tozawa rolls to the floor as we take our standard main event commercial break.
-Back with Garza pounding away in the corner and he gets a two count. Back to the ground as this has been a mauling from Garza. Camel Clutch, but Tozawa gets to the bottom rope to break. One weak strike from Tozawa is countered with a heavy blow from Garza for another two count. Next the abdominal stretch, but Tozawa throws some elbows to break. A pop up powerbomb is countered by Tozawa with a rana. Shining Wizard followed by the cannon ball dive for two. Garza bails so Tozawa looks for a baseball slide dropkick, but Garza heads back in the ring and then connects with his own baseball slide dropkick for two. Tozawa counters an Irish whip into an Octopus, but Garza powers out. Tozawa maintains the advantage, but a roll-up is blocked and Garza blasts him with a superkick. The Wing Clipper finishes at 8:12.
Winner: Angel Garza via pin at 8:12
-Right winner and decent match to boot. Tozawa is good when they let him just go out and wrestle and Garza has been great since he debuted. As always the commercial hurt this a bit, but still solid. **3/4
-Back to RAW as they replay the entire Orton/Bliss angle that closed the show. I mean I am all for cliffhangers to end the show, but this one was a little weird as if Orton had set her on fire we likely would have hear about an attempted murder at this point. Bliss continues to crush it in this role though.
-Thanks for reading!
