Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review: 05.05.22

-Welcome to your weekly review of Hulu’s WWE Main Event. I have finished Spring Stampede 97 as I continue with my look back at shows from 25 years ago. That should be posted sometime this weekend. Tomorrow is the new Broken Skull Sessions with Cody Rhodes and that will be up either late Friday Night or early Saturday morning. Let’s get to it!

-Taped: Greensboro, NC
-Announce Team: Kevin Patrick and Byron Saxton

Commander Azeez vs. T-Bar

-No Apollo Crews out with Azeez as Crews will be in our Main Event later tonight. Hey, T-Bar is back! Lockup and Azeez tosses T-Bar into the corner. T-Bar gets a side headlock but Azeez lifts him and throws him off. He looks for a slam, but T-Bar escapes and starts landing clubbing blows. Azeez blocks a whip and sends T-Bar into the corner, but misses a charge. T-Bar hits a running shot which staggers Azeez, but Azeez lands a bit boot on a second attempt. Body slam from Azeez followed by a short arm clothesline. Modified Cobra Clutch from Azeez as the crowd tries to rally T-Bar. He does land a shot to break the hold, but can’t follow up as Azeez chokes with his boot in the corner. T-Bar hits a kick and catches Azeez with a boot to the face. He lands a clothesline and then a superkick. A shoulder tackle takes Azeez off his feet and that gets two. T-Bar heads up but gets caught on the way down and Nigerian Nail follows. Spinning Rock Bottom finishes at 6:02.

Winner: Azeez via pin at 6:02
-Slow and plodding as T-Bar had to fight from underneath and didn’t get to use his offense. *

-Last week on RAW Mustafa Ali returned and pinned The Miz.

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

-Hulu commercials!

-Tables Match with New Day vs. Sheamus/Holland this Friday on SmackDown. Banks vs Baszler as well.

-Back to SmackDown as we get most of the Rousey/Shotzi match in the still Beat the Clock Challenge which really didn’t have a point. Beat The Clock Challenge to reward someone with the last entrance in Elimination Chamber makes sense. Ronda wins in 1:41 and now Charlotte has to beat that time in her match with Aliyah. We get that match now and Aliyah survives which Cole won’t even count Aliyah as the winner. Just not a fan of this feud at all.

-Back to SmackDown for The Usos and RK-Bro signing the contract for their Tag Title Unification Match at WrestleMania Backlash. The teams brawl and Roman Reigns is out to turn the tide. He rips up the contract and now Drew McIntyre is out to make the save. So, The Tag Title Match is off and now we get a 6 Man Tag for WrestleMania Backlash. Well, that sucks. I mean should be a fun match but doesn’t have the stakes of the Unification Match obviously and they probably need to circle back to that after promoting it for a month.

-Cody/Seth WrestleMania Backlash commercial!

-Hulu Commercials!

-Back to RAW as The Bloodline is here and Roman wants acknowledged, but RK-Bro pop up and hit The Usos with stereo RKOs. Drew McIntyre is out and he and Roman go which Drew gets the advantage until The Usos save. All six men brawl.

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to RAW as AJ Styles pins Damian Priest which means Priest is barred from ringside at Backlash. Edge and Priest beat AJ down after the match, but Finn Balor makes the save and we get Too Sweet! We’ve been calling for that for weeks and nice to see WWE actually go with it.

Apollo Crews vs. Ciampa

-Eh, of all the name changes, Ciampa losing his first name isn’t the worst thing. Ciampa grabs an arm and grinds Crews to the mat. The crowd is firmly behind Ciampa even though he is being booked as a heel on RAW. Arm drag back into the armbar from Ciampa. Back elbow from Ciampa, but then he gets caught with a nice dropkick. Standing moonsault missed, but Crews lands on his feet. Ciampa tosses him to the floor and lands a knee as Crews tried to get back in the knee. Ciampa applauds himself and the crowd roars as we head to a break.

-Bloodline vs. RK-Bro/Drew WrestleMania Backlash commercial!

-Hulu Commercials!

-Back with Crews hitting an elevated backbreaker to bring Ciampa off the ropes. Ciampa gets fired hard into the corner and then another backbreaker. Crews stays on the back with a bearhug. He claps the ears to break and comes back with a clothesline. Running clothesline in the corner and another. Jumping clothesline next, but knee in the corner misses. Standing enziguiri from Crews and he looks for a Gorilla Press, but Ciampa slides out and drops Crews. Fairytale ending blocked and Crews gets an Angle Slam. Standing moonsault gets two for Crews. The crowd is into this one now. Ciampa gets a roll-up for two and then hits the knee to the head. Fairytale Ending finishes at 7:29.

Winner: Ciampa via pin at 7:29
-I want more! That was a wonderful sprint as it was 6 minutes of hard hitting action. Again I say, this two could have tore the house down in NXT. This was a good Main Event for this show and again, I want more. ***

-Back to RAW a few weeks back as Bianca beats Sonya three different times in one night while also taking out Queen Zelina and Carmella. Sonya then puts Zelina and Carmella in their place with a slap to the face.

-Back to RAW Adam Pearce tells Sonya she is being investigated for abuse of power. She gets put into a 6 Women Tag Team Match with no executive power.

-Charlotte/Ronda WrestleMania Backlash commercial!

-Hulu Commercials including one for Canada Dry Ginger-Ale. I love Schweppes of all the Ales of Ginger. Basically all I drink is Ginger Ale and water.

-Back to RAW for the above mentioned 6 Woman Tag Match: Sonya, Becky Lynch, Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan, Bianca Belair, and Asuka. It was solid and Liv Morgan gets the pin on Sonya.

-Thanks for reading!

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

Mixed bag as the opener was one of the worst matches on this show in a while, but the Main Event was one of best we've had this year. Split the difference and call this an average episode for this show.