Welcome to my recap of WWE Main Event, the often forgotten show which consists of matches taped before Monday Night RAW & recaps from action in WWE over the course of the week. It can be home to some sleeper hits, and gives underused and sometimes fan favorite talent a chance to be seen. Commentary is handled by the trio of Byron Saxton, Dio Maddin and 6 time womens champion Mickie James.
Akira Tozawa vs. Shelton Benjamin
Two new additions to the RAW roster will start the proceedings this week. Shelton Benjamin has been seen recently being mauled by Cain Velesquez due to his connections to Brock Lesnar, but Tozawa has been sparsely seen on TV, mainly making his appearences for the WWE Network exclusive, 205 Live. Tozawa is a former Cruiserweight Champion, while Benjamin is a very decorated champion in WWE, being a 3 time Intercontintal Champion, 2 time Tag Team Champion and 1 Time United States Champion.
This match comes down to youth & speed with Tozawa against power & experience with Benjamin. Benjamin isn’t the slowest man on the roster, but Tozawa can be quicker than a hicuup. The speed difference didn’t mean much early on, with Benjamin simply over powering his much smaller opponent, channeling his anger over his position in the company to beat down Tozawa. Shelton didn’t account for the unbelivable stamina Tozawa posseses, outlasting the assault from Benjamin, and stringing together some offense, a hurricarana into a shining wizard getting a two count for Tozawa. He’d then be shut down with a huge knee strike, powerbomb, and then be put down with Benjamins finisher, the jumping facebuster known as Paydirt. Power & Experience would win on this day.
Recaps
I won’t be focusing too much on the recap segments, just the original matches this program has to offer. What was recapped on this week is the “Face to Face” confrontation between Brock Lesnar & Cain Velesquez from this past weeks Smackdown, The Divorce Court with Jerry Lawler, Rusev, & Lana, and Seth Rollins vs. Eric Rowan from RAW.
Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins vs. Mojo Rawley & Eric Young
Our Main Event of Main Event is up next, as former RAW Tag Team Champions face off against former Sainty leader Eric Young & Zack Ryders former tag team partner Mojo Rawley.
Zack Ryder starts off strong with a dropkick to Mojo Rawley, before being overtaken by the bigger, stronger opponent, who gets Ryder into the corener before hitting him with a huge running splash. Ryder regains control by countering a suplex into a neckbreaker and tagging in Curt Hawkins, who loses control of Rawley and Eric Young enters the match only to be hit with a big back body drop. Young rolls to the outside, and Hawkins follows to get him back in the ring, but a distraction from Rawley gets the upper hand for the thrown-together duo.
As we return from commerical break, we see Rawley mauling Hawkins in the ring, making it clear they maintained control over the break. For a thrown-together team, Young & Rawley are showing good tag team chemistry, constant tags in and out to hold Hawkins off from making the tag, but a DDT/Facebuster combo from Hawkins gives him the opening to get his fresh partner in. Ryder runs wild on Eric Young, forcing them to the outside where Hawkins hits an impressive elbow drop from the top rope, knocking their opponents to the ground.
Once Young gets back in the ring, he’s able to slip Hawkins onto his shoulders for a Death Valley Driver, which could have ended the match but Ryder makes the save. Rawley re-enters the ring, only to be quickly thrown back out, and Young is left defenseless as Hawkins & Ryder hit a combonation of a Samoan Drop & Diving Neckbreaker for the win in a very fun little tag match.
You will never find anything absolutely incredible on WWE Main Event, but if you just want to see some of those lowercard talents who you don’t see on RAW on a weekly basis in action, it’s the place to find them and remember that they are damn good in their own right.
