WWE Main Event
WWE Network
Biloxi, MS
September 16, 2014

Episode 103

On the road to Night of Champions, WWE stops in Biloxi to prepare us all for the big event on Sunday. The show features a tag team match to hype up the Intercontinental Championship match at Night of Champions, as well as a main event featuring Seth Rollins looking to take down a big guy as he prepares for Roman Reigns… again. Of course, due to health, Roman would end up not competing at the Pay Per View. So let’s enjoy this look back at what could have been!

Miz & Mizdow defeat Ziggler & R-Ziggler: Miz pinned R-Ziggler with the Skullcrushing Finale. This was the best match on Main Event in several weeks, thankfully given time to breathe. At fifteen minute of quickly paced action, this was a solid preview for the IC title match at Night of Champions. Mizdow continues to steal the act from Miz, and it was nice to see him get some good ring time on TV. This was the right finish, letting the IC challenger get the pin over the IC champ’s partner. Ziggler would end this program as the Intercontinental Champion, and by episode 104 of Main Event, he will have lost and then won back that championship. WWE, yeah! ***3/4

Backstage: Renee Young interviewed Seth Rollins, who was quite happy with himself on camera despite losing last night on Raw to Roman. Seth continued to hype up the fact that he killed Dean Ambrose and owns the briefcase, letting all negatives slide away. Later on the show, Big E vs Seth Rollins.

I don’t know what it is, but I’m quite fond of Brie’s new theme. It has something.

Brie Bella defeated Cameron: Brie won with the X-Factor. More time was given to this than i expected, but the match was better than I expected. The crowd was really behind Brie, as well, so that bodes well. I tend to rate Cameron matches not by how good she is, but by how little she screws up. That’s unfair, I admit. This was totally passable, though, so a thumbs up for this show so far. After the match, Brie did the “Girl, Bye.” to Cameron. Cameron looked stunned. **

Hype job for Night of Champions by Michael Cole and Byron Saxton, America’s favorite commentary duo!

Seth Rollins defeated Big E: Rollins won via pinfall after the curbstomp. Seth was in a happy go lucky mood pretty much the entire time, toying and having his way with Big E. Big E got offense in this one, but never sustained to the point where it felt that Big E would get the win. Of course, that’s no surprise. The whole match was building the story to Roman vs Seth, which ended up not happening. The match was pretty good, albeit slow because the story was Seth was grinding Big E and wearing him down. They did do the Big E spear through the ropes spot, too, so they didn’t completely sleepwalk through this relatively unimportant match. It got some time, too, nearly fifteen minutes. This was quite the wrestling show. Thirty five minutes of wrestling in a fifty-four minute program is not bad. **1/2

WWE Main Event
WWE Network
Little Rock, AR
September 23, 2014

Episode 104

Now, we are post-Night of Champions. Announced for this show was Dean Ambrose guesting on Miz TV. Surprisingly enough, this wasn’t a show opening segment that would then lead to a match at the end of the show.

Eden kicked off the show introducing The Bunny & Adam Rose to the ring, as the duo was set to perform commentary for the opening match. The Bunny even wore a headset, but Rose kept telling Cole that bunnies can’t talk. Rose, it’s 2014, bunnies can do whatever they want to. Unless they didn’t pass Presentation Skills class in Orlando.

Los Matadores defeated Slater Gator: Slater took the fall after a top rope crossbody from one of the Matadors. This match went one minute, with Slater immediately distracted by Rose, The Bunny, and the entourage at ringside. After the bout, the Matadors invited the entourage in to dance. El Torito and the Bunny were the best of friends. N/R

Mark Henry’s Statement to America: Mark Henry, suited up, came to the ring and heeled out on America. He read a prepared statement, in which he said that it was the crowd who forced Henry into the Rusev rematch on Raw. A match he didn’t want, but felt obliged to take. He also said he was done apologizing, and said that America loves winners and spits out losers. Big Show, sans music, then walked to the ring to cheer up his buddy. Show said he’d stand with Henry through the boos, and that he was his brother. The crowd cheered Show in his pep talk, and Henry seemed receptive to it. Show told Henry that on Smackdown, he’d get Henry back and knock Rusev out. Henry smiled, the two hugged, and all seemed well. Until, of course, Show loses because of Henry.

Stark contrast this week to last week. Last week’s show had 15 minutes of wrestling in the first 17 minutes, whereas tonight we’ve gotten only one minute of wrestling in the same timeframe.

Paige defeated Naomi: Paige won via pinfall with a rollup. AJ Lee sat in on commentary, which garnered a lot of Paige’s attention. She would frequently lose focus, jealous that AJ had the Diva’s Championship. The match was quick, but Naomi was impressive. She hit a leg scissors DDT which I haven’t seen before, and looked really good. Paige got the win with a weak looking rollup while gaining leverage with her feet on the ropes. Afterwards, without Paige looking, AJ ran in and whacked Paige upside her head with the title belt. AJ then skipped away, and Paige screamed on the mat in rage at AJ. *1/2

Backstage: The Usos cut a disjointed Presentation Skill on their tag title rematch this Friday on Smackdown.

Kofi Kingston beat Bo Dallas: Kofi won via pinfall after Trouble In Paradise. Before the match,  Bo was happy to see Kofi as he didn’t think Kofi still worked here. Zing! Bo tried to inspire Kofi to be relevant again, and I suppose it worked as Kofi won this quick bout. Bo continues his losing streak, so it’s time to try and re-inspire himself. *1/4

With the main event being the Miz TV segment, this episode will go down as one of the weaker Main Events when it comes to in ring sports entertaining.

Miz TV w/ Dean Ambrose: Miz was accompanied as usual by Damien Mizdow. If you watched Raw, you saw Damien Sandow mimic almost everything Miz did, including the Figure Four leglock to an invisible opponent. Well, tonight, Mizdow mimicked Miz cutting his opening Presentation Skill. It was quite humorous. As for the segment, the big question Miz had for Ambrose was “How did you escape the locked room on Raw?” Ambrose’s answer… well, “there were two doors.” Simple enough. Ambrose laughed a bit at the Authority’s lack of awareness of the room they locked him in. He said the Authority has picked a fight they can’t win. Miz then got in Ambrose’s face, unhappy with Ambrose’s short answers. Dean didn’t take kindly to that, so he headbutted Miz, took out Mizdow, and thanked everyone for watching Miz TV to end this week’s episode.

Final Thoughts:

The two hours of Main Event in this recap were far more entertaining, and much easier to digest, than the three hours of Raw this Monday. Episode 103 was excellent, and while Episode 104 was lacking of wrestling and true meaning, it wasn’t a difficult watch. The main event Miz TV segment lasted only six minutes, but was entertaining due to Mizdow and Ambrose. The problem, however, was the main event player in the segment was working with an act that is literally a joke. Episode 103 is worth a watch, while 104 is skippable. What will 105 bring? Sports Entertaining or numerous Presentation Skills? Find out next time right here at Voices of Wrestling!