SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE MAIN EVENT TV REPORT
JUNE 10, 2020
HULU STREAMING TV
REPORT BY MIKE F. MEYERS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Tom Phillips, MVP
REASONS TO WATCH…
- Morgan’s playground tactics backfire
- Benjamin vs. Thorne delivers hard-hitting action
(1) LIV MORGAN vs. NATALYA
The women evenly exchanged holds and takedowns to start. Things escalated when Morgan began the playground tactic of mimicking everything Natalya was saying and doing. Natalya turned the tables on Morgan’s inferior intellect by turning her back, causing Morgan to turn her own back – thus giving Natalya the chance to knock Morgan down from behind.
Natalya dropped Morgan’s tailbone to the mat, then leveled her with a low drop kick. Morgan came back with a missile drop kick off the middle rope. In the opposite corner, Natalya hit a sitout powerbomb, then covered for a two-count. Natalya put Morgan in a surfboard stretch, but relinquished the hold after the ref counted Natalya’s shoulders down to two. Morgan surprised Natalya with a quick roll up in the corner, but Natalya kicked out.
Morgan came on with a flurry of offense including clotheslines and a shining wizard. She smashed Natalya’s face into turnbuckles, then stomped her to the mat and covered for two. Natalya intercepted Morgan’s attempt at Oblivion, but Morgan rolled Natalya into another pin anyway. The pinning attempts rolled back and forth until Natalya got to her feet and attempted the Sharpshooter. Morgan blocked this attempt and rolled Natalya into a small package pin for the three-count.
Natalya threw a brief tantrum in the ring, then took to the floor. She knocked over the ring steps, scattered the announce team’s production papers, and fired a water bottle into the wrestling observers behind plexiglass.
WINNER: Liv Morgan by pinfall in 5:30.
(Meyers’s Analysis: Morgan’s win is a little surprising given her lack of TV appearances after a seemingly abandoned repackaging effort. The bit of character work they did during the match made Morgan seem immature and unintelligent. The match itself was fine – standard back-and-forth move trading, and apparently Natalya still is still a sore loser.)
-Main Event recap session:
- Replay of Bayley & Banks vs. Bliss & Cross from Smackdown
- Match rundown for upcoming PPV Backlash
- Replay of the Peep Show, featuring Edge, from Raw
- Replay of Miz & Morrison’s pranks against Strowman from Smackdown
- Replay of MVP & Lashley vs. Viking Raiders from Raw
(2) SHANE THORNE vs. SHELTON BENJAMIN
During the entrances, MVP pointed out that these wrestlers have crossed paths in Japan during tag matches. The men locked up and battled, but Thorne escaped to the apron between the ropes. Thorne ended Benjamin’s waistlock again by using the ropes. Benjamin controlled Thorne with a chinlock, but Thorne crawled to the ropes a third time to break the hold, this time drawing boos from the onlookers.
Thorne applied a hard side headlock. Benjamin tried to fire him off but Thorne would not release the hold. They eventually broke apart and the speed picked up. Thorne attempted to leapfrog the running Benjamin, but Benjamin saw it coming and hit the brakes. He swept Thorne’s leg and knocked him to the mat, then applied an ankle lock. Thorne naturally scrambled to the bottom rope to break the hold.
Thorne escaped a potential powerslam by gouging Benjamin’s eye. He pushed Benjamin into the corner, then hit him with a running cannonball. Benjamin rolled out to ringside and we cut to break.
Back in the ring, Benjamin delivered a couple right hands, but Thorne leveled him with a drop kick. Thorne worked over Benjamin’s left arm. Benjamin broke free, but Thorne took him down with a belly-to-back suplex. Thorne missed a running knee strike, allowing Benjamin to hit a spinning heel kick, sending Thorne reeling. MVP said, “He thinks he’s back in Melbourne.” Tom corrected him, “He’s from Perth.” “Same thing.”
Benjamin lit up Thorne in the corner with punches, then delivered three bodyslams in the center of the ring. The onlookers chanted “one more time.” Benjamin did not oblige. After nailing Benjamin with a front kick, Thorne hopped into a seated position on the top turnbuckle. Benjamin took advantage and hit a rising knee strike to Thorne’s face. Thorne slumped over, allowing Benjamin to haul him to the center and hit the Paydirt. Benjamin covered for three.
WINNER: Shelton Benjamin by pinfall in 7:30.
(Meyers’s Analysis: Good action here, with solid heel work throughout from Thorne. Benjamin’s penultimate move, the knee strike in the corner, was shown to connect violently in a slow motion replay. Benjamin is becoming a Main Event stalwart, giving youngers wrestlers valuable ring time in a filmed environment.)
SHOW SCORE (0-10): 8.0
FINAL THOUGHTS: For better or worse, both matches had memorable moments. Not a bad episode.
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