wrestling / TV Reports
Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 5.23.24
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Early wake up call for me tomorrow as my work is paying me to golf in a charity event at 8 AM. Good times! Let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Blake Howard and Brian James
-Taped: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC
Natalya vs. Kiana James
-Nattie steals James’ purse before the match to play mind games. Both these women are coming off wins on last week’s show. Lockup and they jockey for position. Clean break in the corner from James, but she shoves Nattie who responds with a right hand. Nattie gets a side headlock, but gets shoved off to the corner. She floats over and we get a rope running sequence that ends with James on the apron. She lands a forearm as the ref tried to pull Nattie away. James stomps away in the corner and then delivers a few shoulders. Running shoulder and she poses before getting a two count. Nattie gets a roll-up for two but a clothesline knocks her back down. James chokes on the middle rope with her knee and then lands kick. James with some smack talk and then hooks an abdominal stretch. Nattie breaks with a hiptoss and lands a shot to the gut. Elbow from Nattie, but James runs her into the corner again. Back handspring, but Nattie charges out and hits a discus lariat to leave both women down. The count is on and both women are up by nine. Nattie with a flurry including a basement dropkick for two. German Suplex from Nattie as this is a rather subdued crowd. Nattie looks for the Sharpshooter, but James squirms to the bottom rope. They start exchanging pin attempts and James gets the last counter into a pin for the win at 5:54.
Winner: Kiana James via pin at 5:54
-I was expecting a little more here based of what each woman did last week. Outside of the counting with the ref, the crowd wasn’t into this one at all. James winning makes sense even if I wasn’t a fan of her winning with a roll-up. *3/4
-Hulu commercials!
-Back to RAW as Sami Zayn cuts a promo to hype his Triple Threat Match against Gable and Reed. Gable interrupts and makes sure to call Alpha Academy, standing behind him, a bunch of clowns. Gable says he doesn’t have to pin Sami to win on Saturday, but he is going to. Sami wants a match right now.
-We jump to the match in progress where Gable has kicked Maxxine and Tozawa to the back which leaves Otis at ringside. The normal good match between these two. Gable distracts the ref while waiting for Otis to get involved, but he won’t do it which pops the crowd. Gable bitches out Otis and slaps him in the face. The crowd is going to go crazy when Otis has had enough of Gable’s crap. For now though Otis listens and drops Sami with a clothesline. Chaos Theory gets the win for Gable to give him momentum heading into Saturday.
-Becky/Liv! Women’s World Title! This Saturday!
-Hulu commercials!
-Back to RAW as Liv Morgan interrupts a Becky Lynch promo to put the final touches on the build to their match. Becky wants a fight and Liv teases like she is ready to go, but backs away and will wait until Saturday for their Title Match.
-WWE Speed commercial! I am waiting for the next Ricochet Title defense before posting my next review of that series of matches.
-Hulu commercials!
-Back to SmackDown for the contract signing between Cody Rhodes and Logan Paul. Cody wants to be a Grand Slam Champion, but Paul rips up the contract after advice from his lawyer. He has a new contract where only Cody’s WWE Title is on the line. Cody signs after Paul and then we brawl! Good segment as the crowd loves Cody and hates Logan.
The Authors of Pain (w/ Paul Ellering) vs. The Creed Brothers
-The Authors get off to a fast start which I ignore for a second as Howard makes a reference to May 19 and how it may not be the best thing to say in WWE. That is a fantastic deep pull by Howard and I approve! The AOP continue to dominate the opening 90 seconds as we head to a commercial break.
-Cody vs. Logan This Saturday! Champion vs. Champion, but only Cody’s Title is on the line!
-90 seconds of Hulu commercials!
-Back with Brutus being grounded and fighting to the corner. He gets cut off and then double teamed in the corner. Back elbow from Akam gets a two count. Tag to Rezar and he hooks a chinlock as the fans try to rally Brutus. He punches his way out and avoids a charge in the corner. The hot tag is made to Julius and Akam gets the tag as well. Julius runs wild and starts throwing suplexes leading to the straps being pulled down. Standing Shooting Star Press gets a two count as Rezar makes the save. All four men battle and Brutus ends up getting bounced to the floor. Akam hits a release Rock Bottom on Julius and then a suplex into a powerbomb/neckbreaker gets the pin at 6:54.
Winners: The Authors of Pain via pin at 6:54
-Not much to this one as once you take the commercial break out, they had less time than the opener. We didn’t even get a Brutus Ball tease. Other than the flurry by Julius, this was a SQUASH for The AOP. The Creeds continue to take their lumps in the division. *1/2
-Recap of the RAW side of The King of The Ring Tournament. It’s GUNTHER vs. Jey Uso in the semi-finals and it’s next!
-WWE MLB Titles! PAUL SKENES IS THE FUTURE. Sadly, my Pirates have a bit of a bullpen issue right now.
-Hulu commercials!
-Back to RAW as we join GUNTHER vs. Jey Uso in progress. This was a beating by GUNTHER as he steamrolls the RAW side of the bracket. You have to assume he is getting Randy Orton in the Finals because GUNTHER vs. Tonga doesn’t really make too much sense. With the stip now being that the winner gets a Title Match at SummerSlam, it seems like Orton is the favorite to get us to Cody/Orton. I’ll still hold out hope for King Ring General!
-Thanks for reading!
