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Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 6.08.23

June 8, 2023 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
Candice LeRae WWE Main Event Image Credit: WWE
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Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 6.08.23  

-RIP Iron Sheik!

-Announce Team: Kevin Patrick and Byron Saxton
-Taped:

Candice LeRae vs. Xia Li

-This is Li’s Main Event debut since being drafted to RAW. Lockup to start as Byron notes that Xia didn’t find her footing on SmackDown and this change of scenery can be good for her. They fight over a backslide, but Li escapes and lands a kick to the stomach. Candice back with some arm-drags and lands a dropkick for two. Candice heads up top, but Li knocks her off balance and sends her crashing to the mat. Legdrop from Li followed by a whip to the corner. Li gets a running knee and then throws some strikes in the corner. Suplex tosses Candice across the ring and gets a two count for Li. Trash talk from Li, so Candice throws some punches, but Li slugs her back down again and gets a two count. Li hooks a chinlock as the crowd starts to get behind Candice because she is awesome at drawing sympathy. Jawbreaker from Candice and he snaps off some chops. She goes crazy fists in the corner and gets a back elbow. She comes charging out of the corner with a clothesline for two. She looks for a springboard moonsault, but Li grabs her and tosses her across the ring. Clothesline is ducked and Candice tries a kick, but Li catches so Candice hits an enziguiri and then a step-up Senton. The middle rope springboard moonsault finishes at 4:45.

Winner: Candice LeRae via pin at 4:45
-This was fine. The crowd was solidly behind Candice and she notches another win. **

-Roman Reigns 1000 Day Reign Video Package! WWE is great at stuff like this! Hey, that’s CM Punk on that graphic!

-Don’t Try This At Home or Anywhere!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to SmackDown for Roman’s 1000 Day Ceremony. HHH presents Roman with a brand new Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. The same belt design, but not with Gold behind the logo. The Usos interrupt and Jimmy cuts a heck of a promo as he lays everything out and seemingly gets Solo on his side. Roman is an emotional wreck, hugs Jimmy, but tells them they aren’t The Ones and Solo decks Jimmy with The Samoan Spike. Great stuff and now it’s all about Main Event Jey and where his soul lies!

-Hulu commercials!

-Rhea Ripley hits 2 million followers on Tik-Tok which makes her the most followed WWE Superstar.

-Back to RAW as GUNTHER and Kevin Owens went one on one and they beat the snot out of each other as one would expect. GUNTHER gets the win with a roll-up thanks to KO going after Imperium as they attacked Sami. Good finish as no need for GUNTHER to lose and it protects KO. Plus, a roll-up win makes perfect sense for The Ring General!

-Backstage Riddle wants to be IC Champion and takes out the non GUNTHER members of Imperium. Big Daddy won’t be happy about that!

-Johnny Gargano vignette. Just waiting for Ciampa to unleash DIY on the Tag Division. I need KO/Sami vs. DIY in my life!

-Hulu commercials!

-Women’s MITB Ladder Match: Becky Lynch, Zoey Stark, and Zelina Vega have qualified.

-Men’s MITB Ladder Match: Ricochet, LA Knight, and Nakamura have qualified.

Apollo Crews vs. Akira Tozawa

-Apollo Crews is back on Main Event! The crowd is happy to see him. Byron notes these two are good friends and go back to their days in Japan. Crews shoves Tozawa across the ring to show of the power advantage and then poses. Another go and again Crews uses his power. He grabs a side headlock and then runs Tozawa down after getting shoved off. Crews works on the arm and back to a standing side headlock. Tozawa is able to break and gets the pace a little quicker and sticks a dropkick. He gets the boots up as he catches Crews charging in the corner and then follows with a head scissors. He escapes a suplex, and then blocks another into a roll-up for two. Tozawa charges and Apollo just launches him over his head and Tozawa face plants on the top buckle. Nice! We take a break at 2:18

-Superstar Sunday is about Roddy Piper!

-Hulu commercials! 1:20 of them!

-Back at 4:08 with Crews throwing Tozawa around the ring some more and then hooking a chinlock on the mat. Tozawa gets a sunset flip for two, but Crews mows him down with a clothesline for two and then hooks another chinlock. Tozawa crawls and gets a foot on the ropes to break. Fisherman’s Suplex gets two! Eh, he’s not perfect I guess! Crews goes back to the chinlock and gets another two count after slamming Tozawa back to the mat. Tozawa starts to fight back and gets a head scissors counter. Running knee followed by a back elbow off the top rope for two. Tozawa fires off a flurry of kicks to the back and chest. He misses a head kick, but ducks through and connects on the second try. Back up top bu Crews catches Tozawa and transitions into a thunderous Samoan Drop for the pin at 8:30.

Winner: Apollo Crews via pin at 8:30
-Solid match here between two dudes that know each other well. Easy story to tell with power vs. speed and power wins again the WWE. Nice way to get Crews back on RAW and some momentum. **1/2

-Back to RAW as Damian Priest tells Rollins he doesn’t need Rhea, Dom, or Finn out with him tonight and Finn does a double take. Damian accepts the stipulation that Judgment Day can’t be at ringside and Finn doesn’t seem to take that well.

-Money in The Bank in London!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to RAW as Seth and Damian have a darn good match as Damian got a chance to show-out in a World Title Match. It was also nice to have a World Title Match back on RAW. Finn comes out and Damian is annoyed by that. Rollins gets The Stomp for the win to start his reign off strong and it seems we are the road to trouble in Judgment Day. It’s only a matter of time until they turn Priest and try to run with him as a face in the upper card.

-Thanks for reading!

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
Two decent matches make for one of the better shows we have had in some time. Definitely one of the better ones since they ditched the RAW vs. NXT format. I will say the fresh faces have helped and that's one benefit of the Draft. An easy watch and while nothing Earth shattering it was a perfectly acceptable wrestling show.
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