WWE Main Event - February 3, 2015
by Scrooge McSuck
- Last week was a colossal mess due to severe Weather in the North-East. Raw was practically canceled (yet delivered a very strong show to follow up on a weak ending to the Royal Rumble PPV), and the rest of the programming schedule was completely thrown off. We’re back, everything is under normal circumstances, and it’s time for MAIN EVENT.
- Taped somewhere in the Outer Reaches of Your Mind (or Colorado Springs), with Tom Phillips and John “Bradshaw” Layfield calling the action, unless otherwise noted.
Sin Cara vs. Bad News Barrett (IC Champion):
Non-Title Match. Last time they did Non-Title, Sin Cara, the lowly undercard guy who mostly works in NXT now, pinned Barrett clean. Last Monday, Dean Ambrose challenged Barrett to an IC Title Match, which just means Ambrose has been demoted because WWE had nothing better for him to do. Sin Cara with a waist-lock into a head scissors, but Barrett nips up to escape. Lockup into the corner, with Barrett unloading with knees. Whip to the corner, Sin Cara scales the ropes, and takes him over with an arm drag. Barrett quickly takes the knee out and slaps on a chinlock. Whip to the corner, Sin Cara with another arm drag, and a dropkick sends Barrett to the floor. He tries to follow with a tope’, but Barrett boots him in the face to counter. We return from a quick break, with Barrett pounding away on Sin Cara in the corner. Sin Cara fights out of another chinlock, but takes a boot to the face. Barrett with a knee drop, but it only gets a two count. Sin Cara mounts another comeback, flipping off the ropes and connecting with a dropkick. Springboard headbutt and body press connects. Modified Asai Moonsault gets two. He teases a senton splash, but Barrett moves. Winds of Change connects for two. Sin Cara ducks the Bull Hammer and rolls him up for two. Sin Cara springs off the ropes and… hits something? Charge to the corner, Barrett slams him into the buckle, and the Bull Hammer finishes at 7:16. ** Very rest heavy until a hot finish. At least Barrett didn’t lose another non-title match. Barrett looks like he got potato’ed somewhere along in that final sequence.Summer Rae vs. Brie Bella (w/ Nikki Bella):
Oh God, can I just take a 5-minute break and forget to pause the stream? Nikki is set to face Paige at Fast Lane, but Brie is just a worthless sidekick right now. A+ writing to build up the match includes calling Paige pale and spraying her with fake tan. Lockup, and Brie with a takeover. Summer Rae with a takedown that looks like a DDT, but Brie no-sells it like she’s a video game character. Whip to the corner, Brie gets an elbow up, and comes off the second rope with a missile dropkick for two. She slaps on a single-leg crab. They flail around for a few moments, and then the X-Factor suddenly finishes it at 2:37. ¼* Squash Match. I think Summer Rae got one legit offensive move in. Considering Summer Rae has mostly worked against faces, I don’t see the logic in doing heel vs. heel.- This past Monday Night on Raw, The Authority addressed the “controversy” surrounding the Royal Rumble Match (a.k.a the backlash to Roman Reigns’ winning). After careful consideration, it was announced that Daniel Bryan would face Seth Rollins, and the winner of that match will face Reigns at Fast Lane for the WrestleMania Main Event Championship Match. I stand by my original comments: They shouldn’t have brought Daniel Bryan back unless they were willing to accept the fans disapproval to him losing, and now appear to be cow-towing to them. Reigns CANNOT lose to Bryan, but at the same time, they need to book the most absolutely perfect match to make sure the fans don’t turn completely on Reigns now that he is going one-on-one with their preferred chosen one. It’s something that holds a lot of intrigue, and I’m definitely interested to see where everything goes from here.
The Ascension vs. The Ham ‘n’ Egger Special:
How are the Powers of Pain considered “legendary”? Demolition are 3-time WWF Tag Champions and hold the record for length of one reign at over 16 months, and the Road Warriors are the only team to win, amongst others, the WWF, NWA, and AWA Tag Championships. The Powers of Pain won nothing, did nothing, and broke off into two spectacularly underwhelming singles pushes. Konnor attacks the pudgy, bearded scrub and stomps away. Viktor in with some of the same. They trap him in the corner and take turns pounding away. Konnor with a charge, and Viktor with a weak boss man slam. The other scrub tags in and gets a flurry of rights in on both men until getting slapped down. Viktor is maybe 6’0”, but he’s got a good half-foot on this guy. They do a double flip and slam, and the Fall of Man finishes at 2:01. Standard squash match.- Earlier this week, Jimmy Uso and Naomi have a dinner date planned with Natalya and Tyson Kidd. Tyson shows up late, with Cesaro. This was supposed to be a double-date, but he assumed they meant doubles like in Tennis, bringing his partner with him. Naomi stands up for her man because she owns his balls. Kidd calls her out for being a former-Funkadactyl. Uso gets in Kidd’s face, and Cesaro knocks him out… and then NATALYA makes Jimmy and Naomi feel bad. Interesting way to build up a Tag Title Feud.
The New Day (w/ Xavier Woods) vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (w/ Natalya):
I don’t care if these two teams have worked at least one match a week for the last two months. They have good chemistry. Xavier Woods: “We do suck… we suck up all the negativity.” Natalya hasn’t changed her dress, despite wearing it “earlier in the week” for Dinner. Earlier in the week on Raw, Cesaro pinned Jimmy Uso, so now Kidd and Cesaro are 2-0 in singles matches. Kidd and Big E. start. Kidd with a spinning kick to the chest, but he gets caught and thrown with a belly-to-belly suplex. Big E. does it again, drops him face first into the buckle, and Kofi with a jumping kick to the face for two. Cesaro with knees to the midsection of Kofi. Whip to the corner, Kofi quickly springs off the middle rope with a missile dropkick for two. Big E. launches Kofi into the corner, then takes Cesaro down with a clothesline for two. Big E. with a press slam, and a clothesline sends Cesaro to the floor. Kidd comes in and gets tossed as well. Kofi tags in, and Big E. assists him with a launch over the top rope, onto Cesaro and Kidd. Back in the ring, Kofi covers Cesaro for two.We return from a commercial break, with Kidd jumping into the arms of Big E. Cesaro with the blind tag, and clips the knee of Big E. He drops a pair of elbows across the knee and grapevines the ankle. Kidd with a modified STF, and Cesaro back in with a single-leg crab. Big E. tries to muscle his way to his corner, but Cesaro drags him back. They continue to punish the leg, but it’s Big E., so it’s not very interesting. Cesaro with a boot to the knee and DDT for two. Cesaro with a jumping double-stomp, and Kidd applies a version of a spinning toe hold. Cesaro comes off the top rope across the knee for two. Big E. fights free of a chinlock, but Kidd tags in and wraps the leg around the middle rope. He charges, but Big E. catches him with a forward slam. Kofi with the hot tag, coming off the ropes with chops on Cesaro. Kofi counters a slingshot into the buckle with a twisting body press for two. Kofi with a boot from the apron and a sunset flip, but Cesaro blocks and covers for two. S.O.S. by Kofi gets two. Kofi rallies the crowd as Kidd clips the injured ankle of Xavier Woods. Big E. tries to help out, but it’s for naught, as Kidd nails Kofi from the apron with a kick to the head, and Cesaro finishes with the Uppercut at 10:24. **3/4 Good match, but Big E. isn’t exactly the guy you can build sympathy on with success. It was a smartly worked sequence, but lacked excitement and we didn’t get much double-team spots, especially from Cesaro and Kidd.
Final Thoughts: Another breezy episode of WWE Main Event. As lame as a PPV titled “Fast Lane” is on paper, I’m genuinely interesting to see where several programs go. One that went unmentioned was Bray Wyatt’s cryptic (I know, no surprise) promo that seems to be calling out the Undertaker. As far as first-run material is concerned, it was just another day at the office? Decent match between Barrett and “Sin Cara”? Check. Good match between the New Day and Cesaro/Kidd? Check. Ascension squash? Check. Worthless Diva’s Match? Check. Nothing blew me away this week, but it’s a fun hour of WWE
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