SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE MAIN EVENT TV REPORT
JANUARY 8, 2019
HULU STREAMING TV
REPORT BY MIKE F. MEYERS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Byron Saxton, Mickie James
REASONS TO WATCH…
•Natalya seems temporarily possessed during match against Green
(1) MOJO RAWLEY vs. CURT HAWKINS (w/ Zack Ryder)
During Rawley’s entrance, Byron pointed out that Rawley won the 24/7 title, his first championship ever with WWE, on the Fox New Year’s Eve special, but immediately lost the title back to R-Truth.
Rawley did his usual schtick of dragging his feet to begin the match, eventually getting up off of the bottom turnbuckle. He threw Hawkins to the mat, then took a seat in a different corner, proclaiming, “He ain’t worth it!” He got to his feet again and punished Hawkins with forearm blows while continuing to taunt him verbally. When Rawley ran the ropes, Hawkins intercepted and planted him to the mat with a spinebuster. Hawkins climbed the corner, but Rawley slowly rolled out of the ring, drawing some boos from the crowd.
On the floor, Rawley smashed Hawkins’s lower back into the ring apron three times, then rolled him back inside and continued the taunting. The crowd booed when he postured at them. Rawley spiked Hawkins to the canvas, back first, with a handful of his beard. Rawley then applied an arm bar.
Hawkins broke free and knocked Rawley down for with a Pele kick. Both men fell to the mat. They got to their feet and Hawkins maintained the upper hand, landing repeated right hands before leveling Rawley again with a running forearm and drop kick. Hawkins scooped Rawley into a sitout powerbomb and covered for two. Hawkins scrambled to the top rope and landed an elbow drop on the still-prone Rawley, and covered for another two-count.
Both men got to their feet and Hawkins whiffed on a clothesline. Rawley carried on with his momentum and spun Hawkins through the air with a shoulder tackle to Hawkins’s hip. Rawley hoisted Hawkins up onto his shoulders, propelled him upward over his head, and used both hands to slam him face-first to the canvas. Rawley covered for the three-count.
Ryder tended to Hawkins in the ring while Rawley slowly walked up the ramp, applauding his own efforts.
WINNER: Mojo Rawley by pinfall.
(Meyers’s Analysis: Not bad. Rawley continues to use his voice on Main Event, with or without a microphone. His taunts of Hawkins not being worth it were essentially proven true, as Rawley dominated most of this match. Ryder’s presence was largely irrelevant.)
Main Event recap session:
- Replay of Heyman / Lesnar in-ring promo from Raw
- Replay of Reigns & Bryan vs. Corbin & Ziggler from Smackdown
- Replay of emergency wedding of Lana & Lashley, and Rusev’s honeymoon, from Raw
- Replay of Big Show, Samoa Joe & Owens vs. Rollins & AOP from Raw
(2) NATALYA vs. CHELSEA GREEN
The women exchanged holds fairly evenly to start. Eventually Natalya fired Green off the ropes out of a side headlock, and Green knocked Natalya down on the rebound with a shoulder block. Natalya blocked two hip toss attempts, then dropped to the mat and launched Green with a monkey flip. Natalya pulled Green toward the middle and tried for an early Sharpshooter, but Green scooted to the bottom rope to break the hold. While the ref was physically backing Natalya away from Green, Green took advantage and landed a bicycle kick to Natalya’s chin, knocking her to the mat. We cut to commercial.
Green continued to work over Natalya in the corner after the break. Green leveled Natalya with a clothesline and covered for two, then applied a chinlock. Green choked Natalya against the middle rope, then moved to the apron and smacked her own hindquarters for some reason before landing a front kick to Natalya’s face. Natalya made disturbing, vocally spastic sounds as she violently rolled off the rope and to the middle of the ring. Green pinned Natalya for another two-count, then applied another chinlock.
Natalya got to her feet and tossed Green over her shoulder, but Green countered with another front kick and mounted Natalya from behind with another chinlock. Natalya got to her feet, this time with Green on her back, and reached out as if to draw energy from the crowd, to little avail. Still, she fell backward to crush Green against the canvas, breaking herself free.
Natalya nailed a seated Green with a low drop kick to the face and covered for a two. When the ref told Natalya it was a two-count, she screamed at him to “Shut up!” Natalya clotheslined Green to the mat, and this time was able to lock in the Sharpshooter. Green resisted momentarily, but soon tapped out.
WINNER: Natalya by submission.
(Meyers’s Analysis: I shouldn’t have to use the word “another” this many times in a match so short. I’m not sure why, in a match with otherwise clear boundaries of babyface and heel, Natalya is so mean to the referee.)
SHOW SCORE (0-10): 7.0
FINAL THOUGHTS: Main Event at its most average.
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