Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 8.03.23

-Announce Team: Kevin Patrick and Byron Saxton
-Taped: Toyota Center, Houston, TX

Dana Brooke vs. Xia Li

-Lock-up to start and Dana hooks a side headlock. Li breaks with the ropes and swings wildly with a punch, but misses. Brooke back to the side headlock and she gets the cartwheel into a kick to the face for two. Ugly sequence as Dana either falls down or tries a leg sweep and Xia wasn’t wise to it. Not sure what happened there. Li pulls Dana over her back by the hair and gets a two count. Li hooks a chinlock as the crowd tries to rally Dana. Li slugs her down and counters a roll-up by slamming Dana on the back of her head by the hair. Running knee in the corner from Li as this crowd is really quiet and the lighting is crazy dark. Brooke makes her comeback as she throws Xia around the ring by the hair. Dana gets the crowd into it and hits the handspring elbow. Dana heads up, but Xia greets her with a kick to the head. Dana fights out of a superplex and headbutts Xia to the mat. Brooke off the top with a Swanton for the pin at 5:43.

Winner: Dana Brooke via pin at 5:43
-The last thirty seconds or so started getting solid, but not much before that. Dana pulling out a Swanton was kind of sweet. *

-Apollo Crews vs. “Big” Bronson Reed is our Main Event!

-Back to SmackDown where Main Event Jey lets Roman know he has already beaten him and that’s why he is so confident. Later Grayson Waller gets in Jey’s business and a match is set between the two.

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to SmackDown for Jey Uso vs. Grayson Waller. Roman, Solo, and Heyman head down to have a look. Jey gets the win as Waller continues to eat losses, but I assume they figure he can talk his way out of any loss. It works for The Miz, but the difference is The Miz was allowed to win and has some equity with the fans. After the match Solo attacks and Jey hits a superkick and then spears Roman. The numbers are too much though and Jey gets murdered with a Spear/Samoan Spike combo. Again, that move needs to be protected at all costs for as long as possible. They do it again because it’s an awesome combo move!

-Video package covering Cody Rhodes/Brock! Good stuff here as I like when they use licensed music. They are great at this stuff and can make any feud seem epic! I have said it before and I would have bought a DVD (when they made them) of nothing but their best video packages.

-This Saturday: SummerSlam! Detroit! Ford Field! There was a local restaurant in my area that was taking a bus to Detroit for the show, but I just couldn’t do it as I am trying to get to Mania in Philly. Plus, we are getting Pay Back in Pittsburgh!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to RAW as Cowboy Brock calls out Cody for a handshake before the do battle on Saturday. Gentlemanly of him! Cody is out which gives everyone a chance to sing the song! Nice touch as Cody doesn’t play along with the song and just walks slowly with his eyes focused on Brock. Brock seems amused by the singing. We need Boombox Brock back! They shake and Brock bumps Cody on his way out. Cody won’t take that and dives through the ropes on Brock, and he should have just let Brock walk as Cody gets his ass kicked again. Just a massive beat down!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to SmackDown as Santos Escobar earns a US Title Match with a win over Rey Mysterio. Sucks that Rey got injured and they had to just end the match, but can’t be too careful when you think it’s a head injury.

Apollo Crews vs. “Big” Bronson Reed

-This could be a fun little HOSS FIGHT! Reed mows down Crews, who takes a second in the corner to regroup. Crews gets a side headlock and then hits a dropkick. He gets dumb and tries a slam, but escapes a Reed slam and lands a strike. Reed shakes it off so Crews dropkicks the knee and then lands a knee to the face. Reed bails to the floor and Crews slings over the top with a dive. He tries to go up for a springboard, but Reed yanks him down by the arm. Reed dives off the apron and flattens Crews with a shoulder block on the floor. We head to our break at 2:00.

-Reigns/Uso this Saturday! SummerSlam! Tribal Combat!

-1:30 of Hulu commercials!

-Back at 4:12 with Reed hitting a splash in the corner followed by a slam. He hooks a body vice on the ground to kill some time and get the crowd to rally behind Apollo. It also gives KP a chance to plug SummerSlam on Peacock and put over how awesome Paul/Ricochet is going to be. They also touch on Drew/GUNTHER as they work in as much as they can before Apollo breaks the hold. He catches Reed with an enziguiri and then flips out of a belly to back suplex. Pump kick from Apollo followed by a leaping punch. Stinger Splash in the corner and Apollo heads up top. He gets a crossbody for two! He looks for The Samoan Drop, but no dice as Reed is just to big right now. Reed drops an elbow on Crews for a two count. Reed preps for a powerbomb, but Crews fights back and again tries The Samoan Drop. He gets him up, but Reed slides off and gets a powerslam. TSUNAMI finishes at 8:19.

Winner: Bronson Reed via pin at 8:19
-That TSUNAMI is awesome and it needs to be a big deal if they ever have someone kick-out of it. That shouldn’t happen for a long time though. This was okay and I was hoping for a little more, but the idea was to make Reed look like a killer and the finisher does that by itself. **

-Video package of Judgment Day running wild on RAW last Monday!

-Hulu commercials!

-Back to RAW as Sami Zayn teamed with Seth Rollins against Dirty Prison Dom and Damian Priest. Fun match that involved interference from Balor and Rhea. Priest gets the urge to cash in, but Finn delays before handing the case and that lets Rollins recover. Balor eats a Helluva Kick and Priest gets Stomped for the pin.

-Thanks for reading!

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

One of the weaker episodes we have had since the Draft injected new life into the show. The matches were just kind of there and had a subdued crowd for the most part. The rest is all packages getting us set for SummerSlam on Saturday.