Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 1.12.23

-My countdown of every match from Main Event in 2022 should be dropping any day now. I forgot how many Veer SQUASHES I sat through last year. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Kevin Patrick and Byron Saxton
-Taped: Birmingham, AL

Akira Tozawa vs. Odyssey Jones

-Jones gets an insert promo and is excited to be here. Little bit of a size disparity in this one! Tozawa lands an open hand shot and Jones just laughs at him. Tozawa works a side headlock and that gets reversed easily. Tozawa gets caught with an inverted atomic drop and a clothesline turns him inside out. Jones carries Tozawa around the ring above his head and slams him to the mat. He works the arm and shoulder. Jones misses a charge in the corner which lets Tozawa go up, but he gets caught. Tozawa slides out of a slam and goes to the knee with a dropkick. He fires off a bunch of kicks and gets a running knee to the head. Diving elbow knocks Jones to the mat, but he easily kicks out as Tozawa goes flying across the ring. Tozawa up top again, but misses so he has to roll through and as he gets back up Jones plants him with a Boss Man Slam for the pin at 4:22.

Winner: Odyssey Jones via pin at 4:22
-Just your basic big man vs little man match. Jones dominated early before a brief rally by Tozawa and in the end Jones was too much. *1/2

-They shake hands after the match.

-Mustafa Ali vs. Von Wagner later tonight!

-Don’t Try This At Home or Anywhere commercial!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to SmackDown as Roman Reign snaps on Sami Zayn for the loss against KO and Cena. He yells at Sami for trying to be The Tribal Chief. Kevin Owens interrupts and notes that Roman is yelling at Sami because he is angry at him. He wants a match at The Royal Rumble and Reigns says sure.

-Later on Sami apologizes to Roman and Roman doesn’t accept as he says he should be apologizing to Sami for the way he yelled at him. Reigns gas lighting Sami is amazing. Heyman’s reaction to all this without saying a word is great as well. Reigns wants Sami to face Kevin Owens next week on SmackDown.

-Still on SmackDown, The Usos successfully defended their Tag Titles against Sheamus and Drew McIntyre in a sweet match. I guess you could say it was a BANGER. Solo and the rest of The Brawling Brutes all get involved. Sami’s popcorn celebration in the back is great!

-Back on RAW last week as Austin Theory successfully defends his US Title against Seth Rollins.

-Hulu commercials!

-Video recap on GUNTHER vs. Braun Strowman. They meed this Friday on SmackDown for GUNTHER’s IC Title. Hopefully it’s just another win for GUNTHER.

-Back to RAW as Austin Theory celebrates his win over Seth Rollins, who then interrupts on crutches. Theory tells Rollins he is moving on to bigger and better things. He is going to win The Royal Rumble and leave WrestleMania as a Double Champion. Rollins tells us his knee will be fine by The Royal Rumble and he is going to Main Event WrestleMania. Lashley returns and mauls Theory to a big reaction from the crowd. He declares for The Royal Rumble as well as his suspension is over.

-Von Wagner cuts a promo backstage as he threatens the camera guy. Ali tells him to cool it and that he can’t treat people like that just because he is bigger than them. Ali promises to get payback for Cedric Alexander tonight.

-Cody Rhodes video package where he talks about his torn pec and getting through Hell in a Cell. “I was the car wreck.” Good stuff here as we get surgery footage and comments from Brandi.

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to RAW as Alexa tells us she is the face of evil and threatens Bianca. Uncle Howdy interrupts and that’s it.

Von Wagner vs. Mustafa Ali

-We see Wagner attacking Cedric Alexander after their match two months ago. The crowd is firmly behind Ali in this one. He rushes Von, but gets shoved across the ring. Von fires Ali into the corner where Ali bounces back out. Again to the opposite corner and Von mows Ali down with a shoulder on the way out this time. Ali chant from the crowd and he responds by getting a boot up to block a charge. Wagner catches Ali with a sidewalk slam, but Ali flips out of a slam. He ends up on the apron and delivers a shoulder, but Wagner gets a goozle and throws Ali into the ring post in a pretty dope spot. That sends us to our commercial break at 2:33.

-Bronson Reed hype video!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back at 3:41 with Wagner still in control with a chinlock. Ali punches his way out and ducks a clothesline, gets caught trying a crossbody. Wagner gets two off of Scott Hall’s SOS Slam. Wagner stomps Ali and then talks some trash. Slam from Wagner, but a splash misses. Ali lands a one foot dropkick and then another. They end up on the floor and Von tries to post Ali, but he slides off the back and Von goes into the post. Back in the ring Ali fires off a series of superkicks, but runs into a big boot. Sick clothesline turns Ali inside out and that gets two for Wagner. Call back to the Cedric match as Wagner chokes with his boot in the corner and that is what got his disqualified in that match when he didn’t break at five. This time he breaks and they start fighting up top. Ali gets a sunset flip powerbomb and then heads back up. The 450 connects and Ali gets the win at 8:00.

Winner: Mustafa Ali via pin at 8:00
-Solid match here as they played big man vs. little man well. Ali sold the hell out of Wagner’s offense and made the big man look good. This was enjoyable. **1/2

-Back to RAW as Prison Dom and the rest of Judgment Day were guests of Miz TV. Dom is great in this role! The rest of Judgment Day playing it straight and not laughing is tremendous. Miz brings up that Dom was only in County Jail for a few hours. Miz backs off and all of this segued into Tag Team Turmoil.

-Royal Rumble commercial!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to RAW as we get highlights of Tag Team Turmol: Judgment Day beat The OC, then Shelton/Dedric and then Alpha Academy. Finn gets injure and Dom takes his place as The Street Profits are the last team to enter.

-We join Dom/Priest vs. The Profits in progress. Credit to Judgment Day for putting in some work this week and they get the win to earn a shot at The Usos and their RAW Tag Team Title. Judgment Day using Freebird Rules works for me. Also props to Dawkins for the dive over the top where he landed on his feet and looked like a total beast in doing so.

-Judgment Day and The Usos have a face-off as the show closes.

-Thanks for reading!

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This was a rather average show this week which is fine. The Main Event was solid as Ali continues to be a highlight of this show. I am sure he wants to do more, but I appreciate the work he, Cedric, and Shelton have been doing on this show against the NXT kids. Again, even if it isn't the greatest in ring action, this show has been more enjoyable and feels like it has more of a purpose since it went to NXT vs. WWE format.