Leighty’s WWE Main Event Review 1.4.23

-Last week I dropped my rankings of every match from this show in 2023 and you can find that review here. Funny enough, Dolph Ziggler was in my Match of The Year for Main Event and this morning he showed up in New Japan. We start a new year and a new list.

Let’s get to it! -Announce Team: Byron Saxton and Wade Barrett -Taped: San Diego, CA Akira Tozawa (w/ Maxxine Dupri) vs. “Big” Bronson Reed -Tozawa attacks to start as he looks to start fast. He avoids a charge in the corner and continues to throw fists.

He lands a running kick, but gets run over by Reed. Whip to the corner and Tozawa bounces out and to the mat. Slam from Reed and he drops a big elbow.

The crowd gasping every time Reed drops a high impact move is cool. Reed hooks a neck crank and Tozawa punches his way out, but then runs into a back elbow. Gorilla Press and Reed just drops Tozawa on his face.

Back splash misses and Tozawa rolls out of the way. He throws some kicks and tries a waist lock. Not smart as Reed backs him into a corner.

Tozawa comes off the top and gets a head scissors. He plants Reed with a jumping DDT for two. Tozawa Hulks-up as he rips the shirt off (though it took a bit).

He comes off the top, but gets caught and Reed hits a DVD. THE TSUNAMI finishes at 4:05. Winner: “Big” Bronson Reed via pin at 4:05 -Basically a SQUASH as Tozawa got some token offense, but Reed flattens him in the end with little trouble.

TSUNAMI is still great and gets a reaction every time. *1/2 -Video package recapping Lynch vs. Jax and their history dating back to Jax breaking Becky’s nose.

-Don’t Try This at Home or School! -Hulu commercials! -Back to RAW as we join Nia Jax vs. Becky Lynch in progress. Quite possibly the best Nia Jax match I have ever seen.

They got the crowd rocking by the end so kudos to both. Nia punches Becky in the face and gets the upset win with The Annihilator. -Video package on Rhea Ripley’s dominant 2023.

-Hulu commercials! -Back to RAW as we join Rhea Ripley defending her World Title against Ivy Nile in progress. It was cool to see Nile in this spot after watching her start on Level Up. No chance she was winning and it was all about how much fight would she get to show.

It was enough and I enjoyed the match, but Ivy isn’t on Rhea’s level at this point obviously. -Back to RAW as Jinder Mahal is the hyped former WWE Champion making his return. Great troll there by the WWE, but you knew something else was coming.

I assumed it would be The Rock because he was in nearby Pasadena for The Rose Bowl. The Rock gets to verbally run down Jinder and uses all the time in the world. I mean, IT’S THE ROCK! He lets Jinder get in a little bit of offense before laying the SmackDown.

Rock seemed blown up as he was sucking in all kinds of air. Rock then references sitting at The Head of The Table and the place explodes. I mean, you have to do Rock vs.

Roman if Rock is free, but I don’t want another WrestleMania ending with Roman winning. Give me Rock/Rock Night One or at Elimination Chamber. Australia loves The Rock and you can film another jungle movie down there if needed.

-Royal Rumble commercial! -Hulu commercials! -Santos Escobar vs. Kevin Owens this Friday at SmackDown New Year’s Revolution and the winner gets Logan Paul at The Royal Rumble. -Also, Iyo Sky defends her Women’s Title against Michin! -Also, also, Randy Orton vs.

LA Knight vs. AJ Styles with the winner facing Roman Reigns at The Royal Rumble. Ivar (w/ Valhall) vs.

Johnny Gargano (Tommaso Ciampa) -This could be fun! Gargano uses his speed early to avoid Ivar. He lands a kick in the corner and comes off the middle rope with a head scissors. Ivar bails to the floor, so Gargano flies with a suicide dive and then poses with Ciampa on the apron as they clap.

Gargano tries another dive, but gets caught and Ivar smashes him into the ring apron as we take out break at 1:30. -SmackDown: New Year’s Revolution commercial! This Friday! -60 seconds of Hulu commercials! -Back with Ivar controlling with a chinlock. Gargano breaks, but runs into a big boot.

Ivar gets caught in the corner with a boot to the face. Gargano fires off some forearms and a rolling punch. Step-up enziguiri sends Ivar to the corner.

Gargano gets two off a slingshot spear. The crowd starts a “Johnny Wrestling,” chant, but it doesn’t help as Ivar flattens him in the corner. Ivar heads up but misses the moonsault.

Super kick from Gargano gets a two count! Powerslam from Ivar gets two! Ivar misses a bronco buster in the corner, but he does connect with a spinning heel kick for two. Double under hook into a sit-out powerbomb for two! Sweet! Ivar unloads with back elbows in the corner, but Gargano gets a desperation super kick for two. They trade punches from their knees as the crowd reacts to each punch.

Ivar forces Gargano back in the corner and misses a charge. Gargano uses the miss to get a roll-up for the pin at 8:11. Winner: Johnny Gargano via pin at 8:11 -Fun little match, but I wasn’t a fan of the ending.

I wanted something a little more decisive. I’ll take more of these facing each other though. *** -Video package on Rollins/McIntyre! -Hulu commercials! -This Monday on RAW: Nakamura vs.

Cody Rhodes! Women’s Tag Title Rematch: Chance/Carter vs. Green/Piper! CM Punk returns! -Back to RAW as we join Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre for The World Title in progress.

Wonderful match between the two as you would expect. Priest teases a cash in but eats a Claymore. Rollins also eats a Claymore and it sure looked like they were going with a switch, but McIntyre ends up putting Rollins own foot on the ropes to force a break.

Drew gets flustered and heads to the floor, but gets caught with a Pedigree on the announce table. Seth retains as he hits The Stomp for the pin. That should get Drew away from Seth for the time being unless they set up some kind of Triple Threat for The Royal Rumble.

-Thanks for reading! 7. 0 The final score: review Good The 411 Good show to start the year as anytime you give me a match that gets to ***, I consider it a good show. The opener was a solid SQUASH and the Main Event, as mentioned, was good for this show.

legend 0 – 0. 9 Torture 1 – 1. 9 Extremely Horrendous 2 – 2.

9 Very Bad 3 – 3. 9 Bad 4 – 4. 9 Poor 5 – 5.

9 Not So Good 6 – 6. 9 Average 7 – 7. 9 Good 8 – 8.

9 Very Good 9 – 9. 9 Amazing 10 Virtually Perfect.