Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 7.04.24

-Sorry for the delay, but I had to work for part of the day as it was decided to give us tomorrow off for a 3 day weekend and then I had things to do at home as my family was at Idlewild Park. Tomorrow I will have my normal review of Level Up, but we also have a new episode of This is Awesome to get to as well. For now, Happy 4th and let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Blake Howard and Brian James
-Taped: TD Garden, Boston, MA

Akira Tozawa vs. Pete Dunne (w/ Tyler Bate)

-Dunne quickly takes things to the mat, but Tozawa is able to get back to his feet and it’s a stalemate. Another go and Dunne offers a clean break against the ropes, but then forearms Tozawa square in the face. Dunne goes for the arm and drops a knee on it. He snaps the arm over his shoulder, but runs into a boot in the corner. Tozawa snaps off a rana, so Dunne heads to the floor. Tozawa tries a suicide dive, but Dunne kicks him in the head and then we get SMALL JOINT MANIPULATION back in the ring as the crowd freaks out. Always cool! Dunne stomps the elbow and starts bending it in ways it shouldn’t bend. The crowd gets behind Tozawa as Dunne has taken the heel role in this one from the start. Tozawa gets tossed in the air, but snaps off a head scissors. He connects with a Shinning Wizard and comes off the top with a missile dropkick for two. Dunne lands a knee to break up a suplex attempt, so Tozawa kicks him in the face. They start trading strikes and Tozawa ducks a clothesline to get a snap German Suplex for two. Sweet! TOZAWA-MANIA IS RUNNING WILD! He heads up top, but the Senton is blocked as Dunne gets his knees up. More SMALL JOINT MANIPULATION and Dunne finishes with The Bitter End at 4:55.

Winner: Pete Dunne via pin at 4:55
-I enjoyed this and wish they were given more time. New Catch Republic deserves more, but I am grateful to have them on Main Event on a regular basis. **3/4

-Don’t Try This at Home or School or Idlewild Park or Sandcastle Water Park or Kennywood Park or anywhere!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to RAW as Chad Gable interrupts a Jey Uso promo to hype the Men’s Money in The Bank Ladder Match! Gable is tired of hearing YEET and that draws many boos from the fans as you would expect. “For your information, you Boston idiots, Yeet isn’t a word.” Man has a point! The exchange of words breaks down into a fight and Gable bails to the floor to save himself. The Wyatt Sicks lights hit and the single repeating music note starts to a big pop. Gable tries to find a way out, but keeps running into Wyatt Members (though we only see them as shadows). Nikki/Abby is back and delivers another VHS tape to Cole. I can appreciate the slow burn on this story.

-They transition seamlessly to the latest video with Uncle Howdy and Bo talking to each other. That Uncle Howdy voice gives me Scarecrow from Arkham Knight vibes at times. I still find this captivating and will continue to be patient to see where it goes. Bo and Howdy merge by the end of the video and we just see Bo sitting by himself. Then he disappears and Howdy is sitting by himself. “There you are.”

-This Saturday at Money in The Bank: Priest vs. Rollins! World Title!

-Hulu commercials!

-Indianapolis is getting The Royal Rumble in 2025 and then will be getting a WrestleMania and SummerSlam! You have to think McAfee will be in The Rumble Match in Indy.

-Back to RAW as Liv Morgan successfully defends her Woman’s World Title against Zelina Vega. Solid match with the crowd rallying behind Zelina and buying a few of the near falls. The crowd really hates Prison Dom still, which is awesome for him.

-Liv gets interviewed after the match by Cathy Kelley and Liv says she feels like the luckiest girl in the world. She dedicates her win tonight to the most gorgeous man in WWE, “my daddy Dominik.” Fantastic!

-Later on RAW, it’s Dom vs. Rey in a father/son match and Liv tries to help only to find herself being straddled by Dom again. The crowd is just eating all of this up and the memes online have been tremendous. Vega gets some of Liv and that ends up knocking Dom off the top rope, which lets Rey drop the dime for the win.

-WWE Shop commercial!

-Hulu commercials!

-WWE takes over Toronto starting tomorrow night with SmackDown! I’ve been to Toronto once and that was back in 1998 when my parents took me and my girlfriend so I could see Phantom of the Opera for my birthday. Only time I have ever been out of the US.

The Creed Brothers vs. The LWO (Joaquin Wilde and Dragon Lee)

-Wilde and Brutus start and Brutus immediately takes Wilde to the mat. Wilde uses the ropes to get back up and gets a head scissors. Brutus carries Wilde to his corner and makes the tag to Julius. Dragon Lee gets the tag and goes for the pin, but Julius just picks him up to stop the count. Lee starts bouncing off the ropes and hits a dropkick. Blind tag by Brutus and he pulls Lee down by his mask from the apron. Tag back to Julius who lands some shots to the ribs. Lee back flips out of a suplex and makes the tag to Wilde. He gets a brief flurry, but Julius catches him and hits a trio of Overhead Belly to Belly Suplexes and that sends us to a break at 2:42.

-SmackDown commercial! This Friday we get Bloodline fall-out after destroying Paul Heyman. Also, A Town Down Under defends their Tag Titles against DIY.

-1:27 of Hulu commercials!

-Back at 5:05 with Wilde still getting his ass beat by The Creed Brothers. Julius with a dead lift into a powerbomb that just PLANTS Wilde. Dang! He decks Dragon Lee on the apron for good measure. Nice! Brutus back in and he gets a two count before hooking a chinlock. Wilde gets out, but charges and ends up getting tossed and landing on his face. Julius misses a charge in the corner and the hot tag is made to Dragon Lee. He starts flying all over the ring and hits a sweet kick on Julius. Sling shot into another kick to the face. Tornado DDT gets a two count as Brutus makes the save. Wilde in and he gets dumped to the floor. We are left with Lee and Julius. Dragon eats a right hand as he tries to head up top. Julius with a suplex off the apron and then another one. He sets Dragon up top, but Dragon knocks him into the Tree of Woe and hits a double stomp. Dragon takes out Brutus with a suicide dive and Wilde is back with a 450 on Julius for the pin at 8:43.

Winners: The LWO via pin at 8:43
-That’s two straight losses for The Creeds after getting a win over New Catch Republic. Perhaps this is them being jobbed out of the “Main Event Territory” as they are heading to RAW to be with Gable. Solid match as you would expect and I am good with any combination of the LWO guys being on this show as well. **1/2

-Money in The Bank! This Saturday! Toronto!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to SmackDown where the new Bloodline acknowledge Solo Sikoa. Paul Heyman, with tears his his eyes, won’t do it and MSG EXPLODES! He knew he was a dead man the minute he was put in that position, but he took the bullet instead of turning on Roman. Speaking of Roman, when he returns that crowd is going to MELT. Heyman, ever the pro, takes a Shield Powerbomb through the announce table.

-Rundown of the card for Money in The Bank! Should be a really good show with a hot crowd and good matches up and down the card.

-Back to RAW as the final spot in the Men’s MITB Match was settled between Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, and Dragunov. I still haven’t seen the match yet, but I assume they beat the piss out of each other. The highlights I’ve seen seem to back that up. Drew gets the win and he would seem like a favorite, but is it a better story to have Punk screw him out of winning there or screw him out from being able to Cash In after he wins the briefcase?

-Thanks for reading!

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

-The run of decent to good shows continues and again, having The Creeds and New Catch Republic on here every week helps. It is kind of odd they haven't featured the women's division the last few weeks though. I will continue to enjoy the nice little run this show has been on and see if it continues for another week.