Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 11.24.22

-Happy Thanksgiving! No better way to start the day than with Main Event. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Kevin Patrick and Byron Saxton
-Taped: Albany, NY

Alba Fyre vs. Tamina

-Fyre gets in insert promo and she will scorch anyone that stands across the ring from her. This is Fyre’s Main Roster debut as they continue the trend of putting NXT stars on this show. Tamina and Dana Brooke seem to be the Main Event gatekeepers for these NXT women. Alba ducks a clothesline and throws some chops. She hits a head kick from the apron and heads up top, but gets yanked down. Tamina chokes on the middle rope and goes to a neck crank. Patrick is leaning into the fact that Alba is making her debut in Albany. Tamina switches to a chinlock before Fyre fights her way out. Tamina slugs her back down. Slam followed by another chinlock. The crowd rallies Fyre who gets a jawbreaker before getting slugged down again. She avoids a charge in the corner and throws some forearms in the corner. Tamina back with a knee, but gets caught with a superkick to the gut. A second one to the shin drops Tamina to her knees. Fyre throws more kicks and then hits a splash in the corner. Tamina catches her with a clothesline and preps for a Samoan Drop. Fyre elbows her way out and hits a Tornado DDT. Fyre heads up top and hits a Swanton for the win at 5:20.

Winner: Alba Fyre via pin at 5:20
-Last 90 seconds or so was solid and Fyre looked okay out there. The crowd bought into her which was nice to see. This was okay. *1/2

-Grayson Waller interrupts Dana Brooke backstage and she has no idea who he is, but Shelton Benjamin does. He blames Waller for Truth getting hurt in NXT and for celebrating when Truth was being carried out. Waller tells Shelton if his boy wasn’t so fragile he wouldn’t be on crutches now and he tells Dana he will DM her.

-Tozawa vs. Waller later tonight.

-Back to SmackDown as The Brawling Brutes and Drew McIntyre make peace in the name of War Games. Sami Zayn interrupts and guarantees a win at War Games and in his SmackDown World Cup Match against Butch. Sheamus promises Sami will crap his pants when he finds out who their 5th member is.

-Don’t Try This at Home or Anywhere!

-Hulu Commercials! I’ve been to Disney World twice in the last year and these commercials just make me want to go again.

-SmackDown: This Friday: Sheamus/Drew vs. Usos for War Games Advantage! Shotzi/Raquel vs. Ronda/Shayna! World Cup Semis: Braun Strowman vs. Ricochet!

-Back to SmackDown as we join Sami Zayn vs. Butch in progress in the 1st Round of The World Cup. The Brutes and Bloodline get involved which costs Sami as he takes the loss. Everyone starts brawling and then things get real as Roman’s music hits and our Tribal Chief is here. He strolls down to the ring and wrecks everyone. He has a showdown with Drew (helped by Solo) and then Sheamus (helped by Sami) before Kevin Owens pops the crowd with his return as he is the 5th member of Team Brawling Brutes. It’s what we all wanted and they delivered! Let’s Go! Owens unleashes on Reigns before having a stare-down with Sami. The “holy shit” chant that was muted on SmackDown is not muted here. KO hits Roman with a Stunner to leave The Brutes standing tall.

-War Games commercial!

-Hulu commercials!

-Video package on Theory as he explains MITB was an anchor and he realized nobody can touch Roman due to the Bloodline. He decided to go after Rollins and The US Title but Lashley ruined it. I will give them credit for giving Theory an explanation that makes sense.

-Back to RAW as we join Ali vs. Theory in progress. Fun match with Theory getting the clean win with A Town Down. Lashley interrupts on The Tron and tells Theory he will be right out for a fight. The talk crap and then get into a brawl as Theory won’t back down which is nice to see with his new attitude. It’s only when Lashley shrugs off a chair shot that Theory decides it’s best to fight another day. The chase is on and they end up in Gorilla where Ali ends up getting his ass kicked by Lashley.

-Back to RAW as Tozawa messes with JBL which costs Corbin in his match against Drew McIntyre. Tozawa is no longer dressed like a ninja and has his hair dyed blonde.

-Shelton catches up with Tozawa in the back and wants Tozawa to put a hurting on Waller tonight. For Truth, Tozawa will do it!

-WWE 2K22 Commercial. Game is great!

-Hulu commercials!

Grayson Waller vs. Akira Tozawa

-It’s been a while since I’ve had to review a Waller match. I saw a bunch of his work when he was part of 205 Live and had some quality matches on that show. Tozawa looks better out of the Ninja gear. Waller tries to clown him to start and calls him embarrassing. Waller gets a hammerlock into a side headlock, but Tozawa grounds him and throws shade right back. Waller gets a shoulder tackle but gets tripped. Sunset flip from Waller, but Tozawa rolls through it and lands a head kick. Tozawa off the middle ropes with a rana and he delivers a pump kick to knock Waller off the apron. A dive is avoided as Waller heads back into the ring and then heads back out to deliver a sick clothesline that Tozawa sells with a 360. That sends us to our commercial break!

-WrestleMania Week commercial! Tickets for all the events available now. Again, my plan is to be there for WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia. It will be my first Mania since XXVII in Atlanta.

-Hulu commercials!

-Back with Waller choking with his boot in the corner. Tozawa’s comeback is cut off by an STO for two. Waller works the arm and drops some elbows to the shoulder joint. Tozawa snaps off a head scissors and hits a running knee. He heads up and gets two off the cannonball. Back up and Waller smartly rolls away. Tozawa gives chase and gets kicked in the knee. Waller throws strikes and comes off the middle rope with the baller elbow drop for two. Leg Lariat gets another two count. GTS (at least it looked like that’s what he was going for) is countered into a roll-up and Tozawa gets the win at 8:32.

Winner: Akira Tozawa via pin at 8:32
-Solid match as I expected from these two. It’s nice to see Tozawa getting a little push as I appreciate seeing people from Main Event getting a little main roster love. **1/2

-Waller attacks after the match and hits a sit-out powerbomb to get his heat back.

-Survivor Series: War Games commercial!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to RAW as we join Rhea Ripley vs. Asuka in progress as the winner gains the advantage for her team at War Games. Good match and Rhea gets the win to thankfully give her team the advantage. The match just works better with the heels having the advantage. After the match everyone hits everyone. Team Bianca reveal their 5th member on SmackDown it seems.

-Thanks for reading!

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

I have enjoyed the transformation of this show in the last few minutes. I appreciate the backstage segments to give the show some storylines and the inset promos to get the audience familiar with the NXT call ups. This show seems to have a purpose now and I can appreciate what they are doing. The wrestling is usually okay to solid with the occasional good to really good match which is fine for this show. This week was about what you would expect from an average episode of Main Event. Tozawa/Waller was solid and Fyre get to get in front a bigger crowd to show what she can do.