wrestling / TV Reports
Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 07.31.25
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-I am writing this just as SummerSlam Night One Ends. I won’t spoil anything if you haven’t seen Night One yet. Let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Blake Howard and Vic Joseph
-Taped: Little Caesar’s Arena, Detroit, MI
-The episode opens with the Hulk Hogan tribute video from RAW (the one set to “Ordinary” by Alex Warren). Sure, I wanted to shed tears again! I get chills with the “take my breath away,” line as it focuses on the still photo of Hogan holding the WWF Title above his head in the ring cart following the Andre match at Mania III. Again, a massive part of my childhood and honestly, my life passed away. My article on Hogan’s passing can be found here.
-In Memory of Hulk Hogan 1953-2025 graphic!
Natalya and Maxxine Dupri (w/ Tozawa) vs. Lainey Reid and Karmen Petrovic
-Hey now, we are going back to WWE vs. NXT format with this one. I haven’t reviewed a match with Reid or Petrovic since the Level Up days. Interesting! Howard lets us know this is the first women’s tag match on Main Event since January. Nattie starts with Karmen and they exchange some counters and Karmen scurries to her corner to escape a Sharpshooter attempt. Reid in and Nattie throws her across the ring with a suplex and hits Nattie by Nature. She tries for the Sharpshooter again, but bails to the floor. Nattie with a baseball slide to both Reid and Karmen. Nattie gets attacked from behind on the floor and the NXT kids take control. Karmen stomps Nattie down in the corner and tags back to Reid. She hits a back splash in the corner and we get some double teaming from the newbies. Petrovic gets a two count off a Sling Blade. She uses his legs to hook an arm submission as she has Nattie all kinds of tied up. Reid back in and charges into a boot in the corner. Hot tag to Dupri and she hits a series of pump kicks and then a head kick. Release Fisherman’s Suplex followed by a kip up and then a splash in the corner. Reverse Caterpillar pops the crowd, but only gets two. Reid slides out of a slam and gets a roll-up (with the tights) for two. Maxxine gets an ankle-lock on Reid while Nattie gets the Sharpshooter on Karmen and we get a double tap at 5:32.
Winners: Natalya and Maxxine Dupri via pin at 5:32
-The crowd enjoyed this more than I thought as I was worried they would be quiet due to not knowing Reid and Karmen. They were into it though and Karmen and Lainey looked solid out there. This was fine. **
-Peacock Commercials!
-Back to RAW as Lyra Valkyria, rocking big, blue shoes, says her shoes are her Becky Stompers. She gets a little lost with the promo but recovers. She proves to be smarter than the typical babyface as she doesn’t fall for the music distraction and attacks Becky before she can attack her. Shout-out to Graves for the O’Neil Cruz line. Yes, it sucks being a Pirate’s fan right now though. Lyra beats the piss out of Becky with a kendo stick.
-WWE Shop commercial!
-Peacock commercials!
-Back to RAW as Paul Heyman tries to play mind games with Jey Uso. Jey doesn’t fall for it though and says whatever happens tonight and at SummerSlam is on Paul.
-Back to RAW as Judgment Day successfully defend their World Tag Titles against The LWO. Fun match where the LWO got to show off and get some shine in a higher profile match, but didn’t have much of a chance of winning. El Grande Americano gets involved which brings out Dragon Lee and they fight to the back. Another El Grande appears to cost the LWO. Cole: “the guys a foot shorter than the other idiot.” The El Grande stuff has been great all year and I want to see where they run with this.
-Survivor Series: War Games heads to PetCo Park in San Diego. Should offer some amazing visuals in that stadium and city in November.
-Peacock commercials!
Johnny Gargano (w/ Ciampa and Candice) vs. Nathan Frazer (w/ Axiom)
-I am happy for the SmackDown Tag Division getting TLC Match on SummerSlam tomorrow. The crowd is crazy for Gargano here. Detroit isn’t far from Cleveland. Arm-drag from Gargano and the crowd pops. Frazer rolls out to escape and takes Gargano down and gets his own arm-drag into an armbar. Frazer flies running the ropes and hits a dropkick. He looks for a dive to the floor, but Gargano avoids and Frazer throws on the brakes as Candice is in the way. Gargano takes over from behind and all three members of DIY sit on the apron and clap for themselves to pop the crowd again as we head to a break at 2:15.
-HHH WrestleMania 42 commercial!
-60 seconds of Peacock commercials!
-Back at 4:02 with Frazer throwing punches, but Gargano sends him throat first into the middle rope. Frazer back with a head kick and both men are down. Gargano misses a charge in the corner. Frazer off the top with an axe handle and then a standing shooting star gets a two count. Frazer back up but misses the Phoenix Splash. Gargano with a head kick and Michinoku Drive for a two count. Johnny heads up, but Frazer jumps up to hit him with a kick. They fight up top and Frazer back flips down to create space and then jumps back up to get a superplex. He rolls through with it and hits a twisting suplex for a two count. Sweet! Frazer up top again, but Ciampa is on the apron. That brings Axiom over and while they fight, Candice knocks Frazer off the top. One Final Beat gets the pin at 7:32.
Winner: Johnny Gargano via pin at 7:32
-I wanted more! Too short as I was hoping they would get more than five minutes (not counting the commercial). What we got was good as you would expect and that crowd reaction for Gargano was something. **3/4
-Clash in Paris commercial!
-Peacock commercials!
-Back to RAW as Punk and GUNTHER have one last verbal battle before SummerSlam. Again, I won’t spoil the result, but their match tonight was fantastic!
-Back to RAW for Jey Uso vs. Bronson Reed. Bron Breakker hits a spear for the DQ and then beat down is on. Here’s Roman Reigns for the save. Bron and Bronson turn things around though and just lay a massive beating on Reigns and Uso. Breakker hits a spear to put Roman and Jey through the barricade and then BRONSON STEALS ROMAN’S JORDANS! That will get you shot in a lot of places. Great stuff here!
-Thanks for reading!
