Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 4.20.23

-Announce Team: Kevin Patrick and Byron Saxton
-Taped: Simmons Bank Arena, North Little Rock, Arkansas

Nikki Cross vs. Isla Dawn

-Dawn, as you may know, is one half of the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions. Dawn gets an insert promo as she talks about her and Nikki meeting in a previous life and now they are going to have fun together. These two apparently grew up a mile apart from each other and Dawn had her first ever match ten years ago against Nikki. Cool! Lockup to start and Dawn slams Nikki’s head into the mat and then knocks her down with a shoulder. Cross back with a knock down of her own and then a splash in the corner. She plants Dawn face first on the mat and heads up, but Dawn knocks her off the ropes. Meteora from Isla gets two! Nikki tries to cover in the corner, but Dawn breaks through with a boot and then uses the boot to choke. Cross gets whipped face first into the corner and Dawn hooks a version of a Cobra Clutch. Cross fights back, but Dawn drops her with a short-arm clothesline. She goes back to the submission hold and tries the clothesline again, but this time Cross ducks and gets a roll-up for two. She gets no more though as Dawn catches her with a belly to back suplex for two. Nikki gets in a kick off her back and then jawbreaker. She throws forearms, ducks several clotheslines and gets a basement dropkick to the knee. Running splash in the corner, but a hair pull stops the bulldog. Cross gets an elbow in the corner and gets a Tornado DDT. Cross hits her version of a spinning neckbreaker for the pin at 5:00.

Winner: Nikki Cross via pin at 5:00
-Just a solid 5 minute match between two people that were probably thrilled to be out there against each other. **

-Dexter Lumis vs. Eddy Thorpe later!

-Back to RAW a few weeks back as Brock Lesnar turns on Cody Rhodes and beats the brakes off of him in brutal fashion.

-Don’t Try This At Home Or Anywhere Else!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to RAW as Cody Rhodes calls out Brock Lesnar. Adam Pearce and security are out instead and Cody demands Brock Lesnar. Pearce gives Cody a match with Brock at Backlash and here is EVIL COWBOY BROCK. Cody destroys the in ring security and goes after Brock, but more security gets in the way. The crowd was hot for this and the match in Puerto Rico should be fun.

-Back to RAW as Lashley and Bronson Reed slap some meat and it ends in a double count-out. Security has to pull them apart after the match.

-Hulu commercials!

-Bronson Reed hype video!

-Back to RAW as old rivals, Austin Theory and Bobby Lashley did battle. No finish as Bronson Reed gets involved and after a bit of a beating, flattens Lashley with The Tsunami.

-Hulu commercials!

-WWE Draft commercial!

-This week on SmackDown we get three title matches as The Women’s Tag, Men’s Undisputed Tag, and IC Titles are defended.

Eddy Thorpe vs. Dexter Lumis

-I have seen a few Thorpe matches as he has popped up on Level Up every few weeks. Funny gag as Lumis gets an insert promo and it’s get him staring. The crowd is hyped for Lumis and he acknowledges them. Thorpe works the arm and transitions into a side headlock. Lumis powers his way out and into a side headlock of his own. Thorpe uses his wrestling ability to escape and Lumis starts crawling around which freaks Eddy out. Thorpe back with a crossbody and some in the crowd boo. Lumis lands a back elbow and gets the mounted 10 count of punches in the corner. Charge misses and Thorpe snaps off a release German Suplex. That sends up to our commercial break at 2:48.

-Hulu commercials (1:30 of them)

-Back at 4:15 with Thorpe landing a running back elbow that gets two. Thorpe lands some blows and tries to work the arm, but Lumis punches his way out. Thorpe gets a leg-whip and drops an elbow for two. He goes back to the arm and makes sure to turn Lumis around so they are working the hard cam. The crowd is getting annoyed by the lack of Lumis offense. Thorpe hooks an abdominal stretch and he makes sure to throw some blows to the ribs for maximum effect. He releases and looks for a suplex, but Lumis blocks. Lumis then snaps off his own suplex. Running corner clothesline followed by a face-plant and then a belly to back suplex for Lumis. He drops a leg after a kip up and finishes with a modified Rock Bottom for the pin at 8:01.

Winner: Dexter Lumis via pin at 8:02
-This was similar to the opener where the newbie got some shine and then the RAW star shook it off, ran through their offense and got the clean win. I enjoyed the opener a little more. *3/4

-Back to RAW as Paul Heyman brokers peace between The Bloodline and Judgment Day thanks to a short term deal courtesy of Roman Reigns. Each side will help take care of the concerns the other side has. In this case Judgment Day vs. Riddle, KO, Sami and Solo vs. Rey Mysterio.

-Later Solo gets a win over Rey to hold up The Bloodline’s end of the deal.

-Hulu commercials!

-WWE Backlash: Puerto Rico commercial!

-Back to RAW for The Six Man Tag Main Event. Fun match with Balor eating a Stunner, Helluva Kick, and Floating Bro before the pin. Then the real fun starts as The Bloodline hit the ring and then the LWO are out and we have 13 men people the crap out of each other all over the ringside. Rey gets Dom with a 6-1-9 and KO apparently listens to the crowd chanting for tables and suplexes Priest on the announce table.

-Thanks for reading!

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

-A little bit of a letdown after last week's great episode, but this was still an easy watch. The matches weren't anything special, but it can't be stated enough that the NXT vs. RAW format for this show makes it so much better. It just gives more energy to the show and I can appreciate what they are trying to do. This was fine this week even if the matches kind of had a similar formula to them.