Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 11.16.23

-Announce Team: Blake Howard and Byron Saxton
-Taped: Capital One Arena, Washington DC

Katana Chance (w/ Kayden Carter) vs. Tatum Paxley

-Paxley is one of the Level Up kids and these two have history in NXT. Paxley plays mind games to start. Katana gets a basement dropkick and a trip followed by a Senton. She ends up on the apron, but Paxley goes after the arm and that sends Chance to the floor. She works the arm as she rams it off the apron. Back in the ring, Paxley gets an elbow drop for two. Paxley continues to work the arm and gets a Codebreaker to the arm. Chance lands a few shots and gets a head scissors. She catches Paxley with a boot to the face and then slams her down by the head. Somersault ax kick gets two! Chance misses a kick and Paxley goes back to the arm. She gets a slam for a near fall. Paxley sets too early on a backdrop and gets caught with a boot to the face. Modified Flatliner gets the pin for Chance at 4:48.

Winner: Katana Chance via pin at 4:48
-Super, basic match like I am used to seeing on Level Up which makes sense considering who was involved in the match. They both need in ring time and this was a chance. *

-We go back to RAW in July of 2020 and see Bayley turfing Kairi Sane from the company.

-Back to SmackDown as Bayley wants to know what’s happening. Kairi respects Bayley as the leader of Damage CTRL and she forgives her. GROUP HUG! Bianca wants some and has back up with Charlotte and Asuka! 

-Don’t Try This At Home Or Anywhere!

-Hulu commercials!

-Solo Sikoa returns to SmackDown this Friday! Also, LA Knight vs. Jimmy Uso!

-Back to SmackDown as it was Charlotte, Asuka, and Bianca against Damage CTRL. We join the match in progress and probably could have guessed the turn coming with the way they built to Asuka getting into the match. Bianca fights to her corner, and Asuka short arms her and HITS THE MIST. Asuka is happy to have her friend, Kari back and the crowd pops for their reunion. Brings a tear to your eye! HUGS ALL AROUND! Charlotte tries to ruin this touching moment and pays for it. Shotzi comes out as she also wants to be a Debbie Downer. Damage CTRL leave all three women laying and it seems they will need a 4th as we build towards War Games! 

-Back to RAW as Judgment Day play mind games with Cody, Seth, Sami, and Jey. They remind all of them about the past issues they all had with each other. Sami is on to their game, and Seth just wants to fight.

-Tegan Nox video package going over her battles to get back from injury. The Network did a special on her and you can find my review here.

-Hulu commercials!

-Tribute to The Troops returns Dec 8!

-Back to RAW for JD McDonagh and Prison Dom against Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn. Solid, fun tag match! No winner as Judgment Day hit the ring and that brings out Cody and Jey for more brawling between the two teams. Officials and refs are out to separate and Pearce is barring both teams from the building so they can’t interfere in the Tag Title Match.

-Hulu commercials!

Apollo Crews vs. Tavion Heights

-Heights is another of my Level Up kids and has shown some potential. This should be interesting! Heights is Olympic Wrestler as he was on Team US in the 2020 Tokyo Games for Greco-Roman wrestling. So he has some legit mat skills! Lockup to start and Heights mows Crews down with a shoulder. Crews smiles about it! Lockup and this time Crews knocks Heights on his ass and he poses. They exchange the grapples and Crews ends up with a side headlock. He takes it to the mat before releasing and then catching Heights with a dropkick. He gets the 10 count punch in the corner and ends with a chop. Delayed suplex as Crew makes Heights think about it a bit before dropping him down. Heights bails to the floor and catches Crews on the apron by dropping him throat first on the top rope. Big boot from Heights and he sends Crews to the floor as we take a break at 2:59.

-Next Saturday! SURVIVOR SERIES! WAR GAMES! CHICAGO!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back at 5:00 with Heights stomping Crews down in the corner. He yells at the ref as well to make sure we know he is the bad guy in this one. The crowd chants, “you suck,” so it worked! Heights just launches Crews with a release overhead belly to belly suplex for two. Heights works the back with some forearms and then a backbreaker. That gets two! Heights drops some elbows and gets another two count. Gut-wrench suplex gets two! Heights hooks a chinlock which lets the crowd rally behind Apollo. He gets to a vertical based and gets a belly to back suplex to break. Both men down and it’s a race to their feet. Crews gets a Stinger Splash in the corner followed by a clothesline. Leaping clothesline from Crews! Standing moonsault gets two! Heights avoids a charge in the corner and snatches Crews and plants him with a power slam for two. Crews ducks a clothesline and hits a boot to the face. Crews heads up top and connects with a Frog Splash for the pin at 9:38.

Winner: Apollo Crews via pin at 9:38
-This was solid and Heights got to show off a bit. Crews continues to work off the rust since his return and him working with the kids on Main Event is good gig. **1/4

-LA Knight vs. Jim Uso! This Friday!

-Hulu commercials!

-RAW this week: Raquel vs. Nia! Becky Lynch vs. Xia Li! War Games Advantage Match!

-Back to RAW for our Main Event as Judgment Day defend their Tag Titles against Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso! Good match as you would expect. Drew McIntyre shows up and drills Jey with a Claymore! That lets Judgment Day retain and the show ends with Drew shaking hands with Rhea Ripley. I guess Team Cody needs a 5th!

-Thanks for reading!

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

This was certainly an episode of Main Event. For some reason the show dragged, but that could be on me as I am fighting off a sinus infection. Crews/Heights was solid and check it out if you haven't seen Heights yet.