Official Main Event Aftermath, Ratings & Review Thread

[HBsam31]

I agree with Jack Hammer that Sheamus/Ziggler was a very strong match, but I really think that Sheamus could have taken the loss here. Outside of Big Show SHeamus hasn't really taken many losses in the last year. A win over Sheamus would have done well for Zigglers momentum. All in all a great match though. I am not a Ryder fan by any means, but his match with Barrett was good, and like Hammer said you never really thought Barrett was in any danger of losing the match. Great Main Event this week and I am glad I made that part of my weekly watching schedule.

[George Steele's Barber]

I'm getting kind of tired of all of the Hell No break up tease but I've also been watching way too much WWE lately and I need to pretend for a minute I am a normal human being and let it go.

But the reason I am awakening this death trap of a thread is to express my enthusiam for WWE finally putting Naomi in the ring. I saw a little bit of her work on the Season Estrogen of NXT and was somewhat impressed. Tonight she did more in 2 minutes than I've seen from any other Diva in years. Sure it wasn't a 60 minute iron-person masterpiece but she had some cool moves and did it with a waste of space like Aksana.

My only concern is that WWE has no female even close to her league right now.

[Dr.]

Originally Posted by George Steele's Barber

My only concern is that WWE has no female even close to her league right now.

Natalya is around there somewhere, probably.

I'm with you in that Naomi looks great in the ring, though. I was pulling for her during NXT 3 simply because of her athleticism. She isn't much of a talker if I recall; she sort of sounded like a slightly more polished Jacqueline, if I remember correctly. In any case, though, if WWE ever decides to pull the Divas division off of life support, Naomi is a keeper.

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Main Event
May 1, 2013
Detroit, Michigan

Backstage Promo - There was a brief backstage promo featuring Antonio Cesaro. This was a more aggressive & serious version of Cesaro than we've seen. Personally, I like it. He had some fire & intensity rather than going on about how superior the Swiss are, and especially none of that damn yodeling. Nothing earth shattering here or anything, but it's something I'd much rather see WWE do with Cesaro. Thumbs Up

1. Kofi Kingston vs. Antonio Cesaro for the WWE United States Championship - This was an awesome match, genuinely one of the best matches of the year in any company whether it be on television or ppv. I thought the both of them did an incredible job here and, in my opinion, showed why they're two of the best in-ring guys on the WWE roster. There were a few spots where it was a little sloppy but there wasn't anything to detract from the match. Cesaro also had several legit great moments in which he displayed his strength. For instance, when he superplexed Kofi off of the apron & into the ring, he pretty much simply muscled him up. Because of the position, Kofi wasn't able to generate a lot of force when pushing up off the apron. Kofi also did a good job of selling Cesaro's offense, as well as selling the "injury" to his knee. Kofi & Cesaro told a really good story and meshed their styles together very well. The end comes with Cesaro setting Kofi up for the Neutralizer. Kofi counters into a back drop but Cesaro flips & lands on his feet before charging Kofi. Kofi moves out of the way and delivers Trouble in Paradise to the back of Cesaro's head and picks up the win at the 24 minute mark. Following the match, Kofi gives a good babyface in-ring interview with Matt Striker in which he praises the birth of his newborn son. The crowd was really behind Kofi and both wrestlers worked their asses off. ****

Cesaro Attacks - As they come back from commercial, Kofi is shown limping backstage with the US title with some backstage crew members telling him that he did a good job & all that. Cesaro comes running up from behind and jumps Kofi, knocking him into equipment. Cesaro pushes/pulls a heavy trunk and sits it on Kofi, especially his leg, and talks some smack to him. He tells him "You don't take from Cesaro, Cesaro takes from you" before reaching down and yanking out one of Kofi's dreadlocks. Again, I liked what I saw here from Cesaro and I hope that this is the direction WWE takes him from now on and leave that yodeling crap back in the 30s with Jimmie Rodgers. Thumbs Up

2. Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater - This was also a strong match for the show. Unlike most of the secondary matches on Main Event, neither of these guys really has a ton of momentum at this point. Neither one is high on the totem pole, so it genuinely felt like it could have been anyone's match. Gabriel spent a good amount of time on offense, which worked out just fine as Slater did a great job of selling it. Slater makes a comeback in the second half of the match by countering a 450 Splash attempt from Gabriel into a power slam off the top rope for a really good near fall. Slater works over Gabriel for a bit before they start going back & forth. The end comes with Gabriel countering a superplex attempt from Slater & pushes him off the ropes, hitting him with the 450 Splash. Gabriel gets the win about the 14 minute mark. ***

Final Thoughts - Tonight's episode was much, much closer to the original format of the show before Vince turned it into a heavy recap show during WrestleMania season. The only recap on the show was on what happened this past Monday with the six man tag team main event & Cena's Achilles issues. The show featured the two strongest matches that it's had in quite a while. The US title match was one of the best matches of the year in my opinion. If you only watch one match this week, it's the one to see. The US title felt like a big deal tonight, something that we haven't seen in months, and it only added to the overall environment. I hope tonight was a turning point for Cesaro as he's simply much more enjoyable as a character when he's this serious, aggressive guy. He displayed that even more so when he attacked Kofi after the match. Can't remember the last time I saw a guy get his dread pulled out of his head. Gabriel vs. Slater was also a really good match. Not nearly as good as the US title match, but certainly more than I was expecting. It was a good night for mid-carders on Main Event tonight as all four guys showed that they can be of great benefit to the company if they're used & treated like a priority.

Grade: A

[thatotherguy]

So since no one has done the May 8th edition:

WWE Main Event
May 8th, 2013

Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro: I was really looking forward to this match. I knew Randy was going to win, but I figured Orton and Cesaro would put on a good match together. So, it's fair to say that I was a little disappointed and part of that is almost certainly my high expectations. Throughout most of the match Cesaro worked over bother arms of Orton, and Orton…let's just say he seemed to forget from time to time that his arms were being worked over. I like Orton, but let me give an example. So Orton's been spending the entire match cradling his left arm like it's a baby. Now Cesaro is working over the right arm and Orton's arms just look hurt. Okay, fair enough. Now Orton goes up for a superplex. That should be hard with both arms hurt. I should see the pain on his face as he tries to lift Cesaro. Nope. Orton hits the superplex. He looks hurt. But he sells the impact as being mostly to the back, whereas with two hurt arms, the impact should be seen more with the arms. Cesaro, for his part, just bored me through this match. I can't honestly say I enjoyed watching him, or his offense. I was rooting for Randy, just because I enjoyed the match more when he was in control.

But I'm being far too harsh. This was not a bad match by any stretch of the imagination. I definitely did not live up to my expectations, but it was still a hard hitting match. The psychology was, for the most part good, aside from Randy forgetting his hurt arm(s) from time to time. That superplex I mentioned? Was absolutely sick. Cesaro looked good in defeat. Overall: 2.5/5

Video packages: Boy there were a lot of these. All RAW recaps. All completely unnecessary for me, since I watched RAW.

3MB vs. Justin Gabriel and the Uso's: Big week for the Uso's. That would be their 2nd 6 man tag of the week. Of course, 3MB isn't quite The Shield. Strong 6 man tag, about as fast paced as you'd expect and everyone got a chance to display some of their offense. It actually took a while for Slater to get involved in the match, which is a shame because I kind of enjoy watching him wrestle. And I really enjoy watching him sell. Justin Gabriel's mini-push continues with him hitting the 450 splash for the win. Overall: 3/5

So there you have it. Two pretty good matches worth sticking around for, video packages be damned. Good enough show. It won't stand out in the long run, but it was still good enough.

Final Grade: B-