wrestling / TV Reports
Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 5.11.23
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-It’s a new era as this is the first show with the new rosters. Time to see if any new faces get Main Event duty. Let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Kevin Patrick and Byron Saxton
-Taped: Jacksonville, FL
”The Prodigy” Roxanne Perez vs. Emma
-Emma gets to wrestle now at least with the move to RAW. Lockup to start and Emma knocks Roxanne down with a running shoulder. Emma offers Roxanne a had to help her up. They go again and Perez gets a roll-up into a bridge cover for two. She takes Emma down and offers her a hand, which angers Emma who shoves her on her ass. Emma yells that she started NXT. Perez with a jackknife cover for two. Perez cartwheels over Emma and bows to continue to the disrespect. Perez with another roll-up for two, but Emma catches her after the kick-out and gets a German Suplex. Snap suplex gets two. Emma buries some knees into the back and then goes a body scissors. Emma looks for another suplex, but Roxanne turns that into a small package for two. Jawbreaker from Perez, but Emma rebounds with a clothesline for two. Emma slaps Perez around while talking trash, so Perez responds with her own slap. Emma misses a clothesline and Perez fires off right hands and then fists of fury. Thesz Press and more right hands from Perez. European Uppercut in the corner followed by a Side Russian Leg Sweep and Perez heads up top. Emma trips her to bring her down and hits Widow’s Peak for the pin at 6:09.
Winner: Emma via pin at 6:09
-Fun little match and nice to see Emma back in the ring. Perez looked solid here and Emma was a good choice as her opponent. **1/4
-Video package hyping The World Heavyweight Title Tournament and each competitor: Miz, Nakamura, Balor, Rhodes, Rollins, and Priest from RAW. Styles, Rey Mysterio, Edge, Lashley, Theory, and Sheamus from SmackDown.
-Don’t Try This At Home or Anywhere!
-Hulu commercials!
-Back to Backlash as we get highlights from the craziness that was Bad Bunny vs. Priest. Tremendously fun match that hit all the right notes and had an epic crowd on pat with Sami in Montreal, Punk in Chicago, and RVD in ECW.
-To RAW as Seth Rollins advances in the World Title Tournament with a win over Nakamura and Priest. This one was rather easy to pick which is fine because Rollins is on fire right now..
-Night of Champions commercial!
-Hulu commercials!
-Back to Backlash as Brock bleed in Puerto Rico (someone needed to do it) and ended up getting pinned by Cody Rhodes.
-Back to RAW as we join Rhodes vs. Balor vs. Miz in progress with the winner advancing to face Rollins in the World Title Tournament. Another one where the winner was pretty obvious because you kind of knew that Rhodes/Lesnar wasn’t finished. Rhodes nearly gets the win, but Brock pulls him out of the ring and gets the F5. Balor takes advantage and pins Miz to advance. Brock then puts Cody through the announce table and gives everyone nightmares with his messed up face as he cuts a promo over Cody’s corpse and challenges him to a fight at Night of Champions.
-Tozawa vs. Nathan Frazer is next!
-WWE2K23 commercial!
-Hulu commercials!
-Back to Backlash as we get highlights of The Bloodline’s win over Owens, Sami, and Riddle. More tension with The Bloodline.
-Roman Reigns returns on SmackDown this week. Also, Liz and Raquel defend their Tag Titles against Damage CTRL (Bayley and Dakota).
Akira Tozawa vs. Nathan Frazer
-Frazer lost to Bronson Reed in his last time on this show and Byron mentions that Frazer was trained by Seth Rollins. Tozawa controls the wrist and avoids an escape to turn into a hammerlock. Frazer rolls and then flips his way out and they end up getting into a stalemate which pops the crow. They slap hands and go again. Frazer gets a side headlock on the mat, but Tozawa rolls back for a two count. Frazer runs the ropes with crazy impressive speed and gets a dropkick for two. Suplex is blocked and Tozawa gets a roll-up for two. Tozawa gets sent to the apron and eats a springboard dropkick that sends us to a commercial break at 3:08.
-WWE Most Wanted Treasures is all about Randy Savage this week! Yeah, I am watching that one!
-1:35 of Hulu commercials!
-Back at 5:13 with Frazer holding a cravat. Tozawa gets a slam, but Frazer maintains the hold in a cool spot. Tozawa gets separation, lands a kick in the corner and lands a sick release German Suplex. Running knee from Tozawa and he comes off the top with the back elbow for two. Tozawa tries dead lift German, but Frazer gets a roll-up for two. They start trading kicks and heavy blows and Frazer gets a sweet elevated spinning neckbreaker for two. They are sucking the crow into this one. Frazier misses a springboard which lets Tozawa hit a spinning head kick. Senton Backsplash off the top finishes at 9:18.
Winner: Akira Tozawa via pin at 9:18
-Fun match that built nicely and got the crowd into it. Frazer looked good, but one mistake cost him. **3/4
-Back to Backlash where Seth Rollins beat Omos!
-Video package on WWE’s recent European Tour.
-Hulu commercials!
-RAW this week: GUNTHER makes his RAW debut, Nakamura vs. Miz, and Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville get a Tag Title Match.
-Back to RAW as we join Rollins vs. Balor in progress with the winner heading to the Final of the World Title Tournament. It shouldn’t shock anyone, but this was a good match and I appreciated the call back to their SummerSlam Universal Title Match. Rollins gets the win as he was the logical choice to win the RAW side of the bracket. Now SmackDown, that’s more wide open.
-Thanks for reading!
