8/7 WWE MAIN EVENT TV REPORT: Humberto Carrillo vs. Arturo Ruas, Mustafa Ali vs. Riddick Moss

WWE MAIN EVENT TV REPORT
AUGUST 5, 2020
HULU STREAMING TV
REPORT BY MIKE F. MEYERS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton

REASONS TO WATCH…

• Main Event debut of Arturo Ruas

(1) HUMBERTO CARRILLO vs. ARTURO RUAS

With MVP’s advancing role on Raw, Byron Saxton moves into his place at the Main Event announce table. The announce team explained that Ruas was born in Lebanon, but moved to Brazil at a young age. While in Brazil, Ruas was an undefeated freestyle wrestling champion for 17 years. On his Main Event debut, the 38-year-old Ruas wore baggy black pants and no shirt. His wrists and bootless feet were heavily taped.

Ruas took Carrillo down early, then shoved Carrillo’s face down while taunting him. Ruas took Carrillo to the mat with an arm bar. Carrillo reversed the hold and offered some taunting of his own. Carrillo dodged a big kick, then hit a high cross body. With Ruas sitting on the mat, Carrillo hit a low drop kick. Carrillo took Ruas down again with a springing arm drag off the middle rope. On the apron, Ruas struck Carrillo with a rising knee strike to the face, causing Carrillo to tumble out to the floor.

Ruas delivered a series of kicks and punches to Carrillo, but Carrillo fired back in the corner. Ruas maintained the upper hand and applied another arm bar. Carrillo broke free, and landed a series of kicks and punches before leveling Ruas with a standing drop kick. Carrillo went to the top rope and hit a high cross body. He covered Ruas for two. Carrillo hit a spinning kick, then hoisted Ruas onto his shoulders. Carrillo executed a sitout flapjack maneuver, then covered Ruas for the three-count.

WINNER: Alberto Carrillo in 5:20.

(Meyers’s Analysis: Ruas signed with WWE in 2015 and made his NXT debut in 2017. His transition to professional wrestling has come at a relatively advanced age, but his unique look and martial arts moveset could help him stand out. This match was fine.)

-Main Event recap session:

• Replay of Firefly Fun House
• Replay of Nikki Cross vs. Bayley from Smackdown
• Replay of McIntyre / Orton confrontation from Raw
• Replay of Mandy Rose / Sonya Deville backstage fight from Smackdown
• Replay of Seth Rollins / Dominik Mysterio in-ring confrontation from Raw

(2) MUSTAFA ALI vs. RIDDICK MOSS

During Ali’s entrance, Tom indicated that it was “time to chase the light,” whatever that means. As Moss entered, Tom described him as a “stud” and “a former 24/7 champion” in the same sentence.

The match opened with Moss tossing Ali to the mat twice. Ali chopped Moss in the chest in the corner, then sold his stinging hand more than Moss sold receiving the chop. They broke away from the corner and Ali hit two glancing drop kicks, but Moss wouldn’t relent. Instead, he leveled Ali with shoulder tackles and a clothesline. Moss covered for a two-count, then applied a chinlock. Ali broke free and clotheslined Moss over the top rope, causing both men to tumble out to ringside. We cut to break.

Ali briefly had control after the break, but appeared to injure his left knee while being shoved off the corner by Moss. Moss followed up by concentrating a barrage of attacks on said knee. After smashing Ali’s left leg around the ring post, Moss hit a spear in the corner, then took Ali to the mat with a snap suplex. Moss made a slow cover for two, then applied a single-leg crab. Tom indicated that Ali’s high-flying offense had been “zapped” by Moss.

Ali managed to twist over and kick Ali in the face to escape the crab. Ali limped to a corner. Moss followed, but received more kicks from Ali. Ali rolled across the ring and hit moss with the X-factor, then covered for two. Ali slowly climbed the corner, but Moss approached and yanked him down by his ankle. Moss scooped Ali, but Ali slipped free and hit a spinning DDT off the middle rope. Ali again climbed to the top rope and went for a 450 splash, but Moss had time to roll out of harm’s way. This allowed Moss to hit his modified neckbreaker for the three-count.

WINNER: Riddick Moss in 7:45.

(Meyers’s Analysis: This was a decent showing by both wrestlers, although strange that Ali takes the loss here in spite of his recent (July 20) return to television on Raw. The announce team did a good job of putting over the power of Moss, even pointing out that he holds many weightlifting records at the Performance Center.)

SHOW SCORE (0-10): 7.6

CATCH UP… 7/29 WWE MAIN EVENT TV REPORT: Riddick Moss vs. Titus O’Neil, Ruby Riott vs. Shayna Baszler