Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 1.28.21

-Time for another edition of WWE Main Event on Hulu! Elias spoiled this show just a bit on RAW Talk this past week as he hinted at a tag match taking place, but I won’t spoil anymore of what he spoiled. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Tom Phillips and Samoa Joe
-Taped: WWE ThunderDome (Tropicana Field), St Petersburg, FL

-Speaking for the Tampa area, how spoiled are they right now? Lightning win Cup, Rays make it to World Series, Bucs get Brady and are in the Super Bowl. Then they get to host The Super Bowl and WrestleMania. That’s a hell of a run right there and would have made for crazy times had there been regular sized crowds to enjoy all of it.

Humberto Carrillo vs. Angel Garza

-Sweet! These two always produce something good due to the chemistry and yes, in a perfect world they would get to have these matches on RAW or PPV, but I will take what I can get. Also, the 8K camera for entrances has come to Main Event and it is glorious! Lock-up to start and neither man wants to break as this one is personal. They counter each other and miss some kicks before Carrillo controls with a side headlock. Phillips brings up the family history and references Hector Garza in WCW. Nice! Carrillo gets backdropped to the apron, but springs back in with an armdrag. He heads up top and hits a moonsault crossbody for two. Garza slides outside to break and then back inside as Carrillo gives chase. As Carrillo tries to get back in, Garza catches him with a swank basement dropkick. The pants come off as Garza means business now. Garza gets a snap-mare and hits another dropkick to the back of the head. Carrillo fights back but eats a heavy blow to the back. Garza targets the ankle and makes sure to slap Carrillo around while in the hold as well. Garza is great! Carrillo shows toughness with a well placed elbow to break. A charging Garza gets caught with a small package for two. Garza just decks him in the face and looks for a suplex, but Carrillo drops out and gets a roll-up for two. As Carrillo is kicked off he springs off the ropes with a head kick for two. Again, nice! Carrillo looks for another kick, but Garza catches and delivers a knee to the face. The Wing Clipper finishes at 4:59.

Winner: Angel Garza via pin at 4:59
-This was a heck of a 5 minute match as they crammed in as much as they could while also making everything look crisp and hard hitting. These two are great together and you know they have a 12-15 minute classic in them. ***

-Back to SmackDown as Adam Pearce disrespects Paul Heyman and Roman wants that’s corrected as it shows disrespect to him as well. Heyman wants a match with Pearce and he agrees.

-Back to SmackDown for Heyman vs Pearce. Heyman has an “injury” and uses “card subject to change” to have Roman take his place. Pearce immediately eats a Superman Punch as Heyman talks shit to him. It must be said again, this man is an amazing heel! Pearce continues to get murdered as Reigns beats him all around The ThunderDome. He threatens to throw him off the ThunderDome wall of fans like he did Owens, but Owens makes the save. They have a fantastic brawl that is all kinds of hate filled and awesome! Owens gets the upper hand with a Stunner and puts Roman through the announce table with a pop-up powerbomb. I love this feud!

-Back to RAW as Drew McIntyre returns from COVID and hypes his Rumble match with Goldberg. Miz and Morrison interrupt, but Goldberg interrupts their interruption. That leads to Goldberg and Drew squashing Miz and Morrison before having a stare down.

-Recap of the Hardy/Elias issues and the tension between Elias and Ryker. Our Main Event for Main Event tonight is Ricochet/Hardy vs Elias/Ryker.

Jeff Hardy and Ricochet vs. Elias and Jaxson Ryker

-Elias and Ricochet start and Ricochet uses his quickness and snaps off a dropkick. The tag is made to Hardy and Elias is out as well. Ryker charges in and eats an armdrag and then charges into a boot in the corner. Hardy gets in a dropkick to the knee and gets a two count. Ryker is able to get in a slam, but misses a falling headbutt. Ryker gets sent to the floor and Elias comes in and ends up on the floor as well. That normally means a break is coming and after Ricochet teases a dive to the floor, our break does come.

-Back with Hardy in control of Elias as he makes a tag to Ricochet. Elias catches him and backs him into his corner. He lands some chops, but Ricochet fights back with right hands to Elias and Ryker. He hits Elias with a kick and slides out to the floor after him, but Elias slid back in and made a blind tag to Ryker. Ricochet gets caught focused on the wrong man and Ryker takes advantage. He tosses Ricochet around the ring a bit and makes the tag back to Elias. He shows some power with a chokeslam for a two count. Circling suplex gets another two count. Tag back to Ryker and he hits a nice belly to back suplex. Joe rightly points out that suplex had bad intentions. Ricochet gets caught with a camel clutch, but gets a foot on the ropes to break. Elias looks for a belly to back, but Ricochet flips out and falls into the tag from Hardy. He runs wild on Elias with an inverted atomic drop and a low dropkick. A splash gets a two count as Ryker makes the save. Ricochet takes Ryker out with a dropkick. Hardy preps for the Twist of Fate, but Ryker pulls him out of the ring. Ricochet leaps off Hardy’s back to hit a dive over the top ropes onto both men. Back in the ring Elias counters another Twist of Fate. Ryker sends Hardy into the railing while inside Ricochet hits a springboard crossbody for two. Elias slips out of The KickBack, and Ryker gets another blind tag. He catches a charging Ricochet with a modified BossMan Slam for the win at 9:24.

Winners: Elias and Jaxson Ryker via pin at 9:24
-This was a quality tag match that was all action after the commercial break. Ricochet and Hardy make for a solid team and Ryker was used the way he should be: the heavy hitter for Elias. ***

-Back to RAW as Alexa Bliss challenges Asuka for her RAW Women’s Title. Again, I am all for the Alexa/Fiend stuff, but I am not the biggest fan of things like a rocking horse appearing in the ring and Bliss transforming clothes and looks mid-match. I also thought Bliss was getting the Title at one point, but the returning Randy Orton ends that as he hits Bliss with an RKO.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Easily the best episode of Main Event in quite some time and I would recommend checking out both these matches when you have a few minutes to spare. The recap stuff is what it is, so you can forward through that though the Reigns/Owens stuff is great as well. Fun show overall this week!