Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 6.22.23

-Quick plug for my weekly Dark Side of The Ring Report. You can find the one on Doink The Clown here. Also, my Great American Bash 96 review should be up later this week and King of The Ring 96 should be in the coming days as well. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Kevin Patrick and Byron Saxton
-Taped: Cleveland, OH

Dana Brooke vs. Xia Li

-The crowd is behind Dana is this is her hometown. Li throws some chops to start as Dana backs off in the corner. She throws some chops of her own and then throws a bunch of slaps and punches to pop the crowd. Dana hits a shoulder block and then a second sends Xia to the mat. Cartwheel splash gets a two count! Brooke misses a charge in the corner and Li mounts to throw down some punches. Li with a suplex that bounces Dana’s knee off the bottom corner buckle. Li has a body part to target and goes to work on the knee with kicks and that gets a two count. Li with a sit-out face buster for two! She stomps away at the stomach and lands a head kick to many boos from the crowd. Brooke hooks a version of the STF and again the crowd gets into it to try to rally Dana. Brooke releases the hold and misses an elbow. Brooke throws a leg kick and hits a clothesline while hopping around on one leg. Brooke hits the hand spring splash in the corner for two. I guess her knee is feeling good now! Li tries a slam, but Dana escapes and gets the spinning neckbreaker for the win at 5:05.

Winner: Dana Brooke via pin at 5:05
-Nice moment for Brooke getting the win in her home city. *1/2

-WWE and Special Olympics commercial! Special Olympics World Games are in Berlin!

-Back to RAW as Seth Rollins is set for an Open Challenge, but gets attacked by Finn Balor. He beats the stuffing out of Seth in epic fashion and I found this to be an effective start to RAW and added to their match at Money in The Bank. The double stomp off the steps was a sweet visual as it looked like Finn was flying every time he did it.

-Moments later, Balor attacks Rollins in the backstage are and beats the piss out of him some more. Seth has been waiting seven years for this moment! Good stuff!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to RAW as Logan Paul returned and announced he has been added to the Money in The Bank Ladder Match because he can. Ricochet interrupts and he and Paul are going to defy gravity in that match. Nakamura interrupts as does LA Knight and the crowd pops huge for him. GIVE THAT MAN THE BRIEFCASE! Santos Escobar interrupts as well and here is Butch. Everyone brawls and Logan Paul dives over the top onto everyone to stand tall.

-Grayson Waller hype video!

-Hulu commercials!

-Women’s Tag Titles are unified this Friday on SmackDown. Also Bayley vs Shotzi and if Shotzi wins, she gets Bayley’s spot in MITB.

JD McDonagh vs. Apollo Crews

-Crew has been on a winning streak since returning to Main Event. McDonagh throws some forearms in the corner and goes to work on the arm. Crews reverses and DJ reverses that as they go through a sequence with neither man gaining an advantage. Crews ends up getting a shoulder tackle, but JD with a drop toehold and lands a legdrop to the back of the head. To the corner for some chops, but Crews turns that round and throws chops off his own from one corner to the other. Some heavy chops from Crews as he is lighting up JD’s chest. Crews with a whip to the corner and JD goes flying off the top buckle and to the floor. Crews with a sweet standing moonsault off the apron and he lands on his feet. We head to our break at 2:30.

-Hulu commercials!

-This Sunday Most Wanted Treasure is all about Kurt Angle!

-Back at 4:24 with JD and Crews fighting on the top rope. JD looks for a superplex, but Crews punches him off. JD avoids Crews, but he rolls through and lands more strikes. Leaping clothesline from Crews followed by a kip up. He connects with a Stinger Splash in the corner and heads up. He comes off with a crossbody for two. The crowd is into this one! JD throws elbows to escape a slam attempt and avoids a charge in the corner. JD uses the top rope to take Crews down gets a two count. JD misses a moonsault and Crews gets a one armed spinebuster for two. Good near fall there! JD blocks a suplex and they go back and forth with a small package with both men rolling over at two. JD comes out of nowhere with a Spanish Fly for two in another good near fall. JD heads up, but Crews knocks him off balance. Crews meets him up there, but eats an elbow to knock him down. JD comes off, but gets caught and Crews ends this with a Samoan Drop at 8:31.

Winner: Apollo Crews via pin at 8:31
-This was a sweet little match! Everything after the break was a strong 4 minute sprint as they got the crowd into it and had some good near falls. More from these two! ***

-JD gets in a cheap shot after the match to get some heat back!

-Back to RAW where Cody Rhodes challenges Prison Dom to a match at Money in The Bank and Rhea accepts on his behalf.

-Money in The Bank: London next weekend!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to SmackDown for the greatness that was Jey Uso making his decision. This was perfect and everyone knocked it out of the park. Roman was a great gas lighting villain while Jey cut a heck of a promo before the swerve. The crowd looked like they were prepared to have their hearts broker, but Jey is out too and SUPERKICKS ROMAN IN THE FACE! The crowd explodes and Solo eats a superkick from Jimmy. Roman is pissed and struggles to his feet, so he gets dropped with a double superkick and sells it like death as he bumps his ass off taking it. This was all great and deserved all the views it has received.

-Bloodline Civil War at Money in The Bank! Should be epic!

-Back to RAW for a great six man tag with Judgment Day vs. Owens, Zayn, and Cody. They had the crowd rocking and put on a great show. Priest takes the fall as they don’t need Balor losing before facing Seth and Dom losing isn’t what’s best for business right now.

-Thanks for reading!

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

The Apollo/JD match is enough to make this a good show this week. The opener was okay, but had a hot crowd thanks to Dana being back home. Good stuff this week!