1/27 WWE MAIN EVENT TV REPORT: Hardy and Ricochet team up and Carrillo vs. Garza

WWE MAIN EVENT TV REPORT
JANUARY 27, 2021
HULU STREAMING TV
REPORT BY MIKE F. MEYERS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Tom Phillips, Samoa Joe

REASONS TO WATCH…

-Tag team wrestling and pyrotechnics return to Main Event

(1) ALBERTO CARRILLO vs. ANGEL GARZA

The men twisted about in a prolonged collar-and-elbow tie up to start. Garza yanked Carrillo down to the mat by his hair. He pinned Carrillo for an early one-count. Carrillo ducked a kick from Garza, then applied a side headlock. Garza stomped Carrillo’s foot and got free, but Carrillo leveled him with a shoulder block. Carrillo maintained the pressure and took Garza down with a hurricanrana and followed up with an arm drag. Carrillo hopped onto the middle turnbuckle and mule kicked Garza, then launched into a high cross body. Carrillo covered for two.

Garza fooled Carrillo into chasing him out of, then back into, the ring. This allowed Garza to intercept Carrillo’s entrance with a drop kick, sending him back out to the floor. Carrillo held his jaw and rolled back into the ring at the ref’s six-count. Garza immediately hit a running kick to Carrillo in the corner. Carrillo crawled on his hands and knees while Garza kicked at his head some more. Carrillo fought back a bit, but Garza leveled him with a forearm to the back before applying a leg submission. Carrillo eventually got to the rope to break the hold. Garza crossed the ring, then ran back at Carrillo, but Carrillo yanked down the rope, causing Garza to tumble out to ringside.

Garza darted back into the ring where Carrillo rolled him up with an inside cradle for a two-count. Garza got to his feet and smashed Carrillo’s chin with a right cross. Carrillo escaped from a suplex attempt, then hit Garza with a springboard kick off the bottom rope. He covered Garza for two. Carrillo attempted a front kick which Garza caught with his hands. In one motion, he pushed Carrillo’s boot back down to the mat and followed through with a knee strike to Carrillo’s chest. Garza then set up and executed the Wing Clipper, good for the three-count.

WINNER: Angel Garza by pinfall in 5:00.

Meyers’s Analysis: This was a decent, formulaic match. The commentators repeatedly stressed that Carrillo and Garza were cousins.

-Main Event recap session:

Replay of Pearce / Heyman / Reigns in-ring confrontation from Smackdown

Replay of Reigns vs. Pearce, interrupted by Owens, from Smackdown

Replay of McIntyre / Goldberg in-ring confrontation from Raw

Replay of Edge’s pre-taped promo from Raw

Replay of Bliss vs. Asuka from Raw

(2) JEFF HARDY & RICOCHET vs. ELIAS & JAXSON RYKER

Ricochet started off against Elias. Ricochet ignited some flashy moves and leveled Elias with a drop kick. He tagged in Hardy, who hit Elias with a double axe handle to enter the ring. Elias stunned Hardy with a knee lift, then tagged in Ryker. Ryker ran into a pair of Hardy’s arm drags. Ryker caught a boot from Hardy in the corner, then Hardy went low with a drop kick and took out Ryker’s knee. Ryker issued a standard body slam to Hardy, but Hardy was immediately on his feet. Hardy and Ricochet got both of their opponents out onto the floor, then Ricochet teased jumping over the ropes out to Elias and Ryker, but instead flipped backward into the middle of the ring. Ricochet and Hardy posed as we cut to break.

Elias was back in and being controlled by Hardy. Ricochet tagged in and dropped an elbow across Elias’s arm. Elias maneuvered Ricochet into the corner where Ricochet delivered punches to both Elias and Ryker. Ricochet knocked Elias out of the ring with a heel kick. Ricochet chased him out and back in, but Ryker had made a blind tag. This allowed Ryker to sneak behind Ricochet and hit a backbreaker. Ryker covered for two.

Ryker fired Ricochet into the turnbuckles. Elias tagged in and took Ricochet down with a sit out choke slam, then covered for two. Elias got to his feet and lifted Ricochet into a suspended vertical suplex. With Ricochet upended, Elias turned around 360 degrees before completing the move. He covered Ricochet for a two-count, then tagged Ryker back in.

Ryker hit a side suplex and covered for another two-count, then applied a camel clutch. Ricochet quickly got his boot on the bottom rope, breaking the hold. Elias tagged back in and Ricochet stumbled back into his own corner and made the hot tag to Hardy. Hardy ran the ropes and took Elias down with a clothesline, then hit him with an inverted atomic drop and a low drop kick. Hardy did a mini splash in the middle of the ring, then covered for two. Hardy got to his feet and gestured at the ThunderDome to get louder. He set up Elias for the Twist of Fate, but Ryker grabbed Elias and pulled him out of the ring. Ricochet ran the ropes and, using Hardy as a springboard, took out Elias and Ryker on the floor with a somersault senton.

Ricochet kicked Elias in the face, then leveled him with a high cross body. Ricochet covered for two. Ricochet hoisted Elias into a fireman’s carry, but Elias escaped. He fired Ricochet off the ropes, then quickly tagged in Ryker. Ricochet ducked a clothesline from Elias, but ran into the legal arms of Ryker, who slammed Hardy to the mat and covered for three.

WINNERS: Elias & Jaxson Ryker by pinfall in 8:10.

Meyers’s Analysis: It’s unusual to see a tag match on Main Event, but this one was decent. Equally unusual was seeing a barrage of pyrotechnics during Hardy’s entrance. It was good to see both sides behaving like real tag teams by cooperating and combining forces. The heels won, but not because they cheated – they simply executed a more cunning tag team strategy.

SHOW SCORE (0-10): 8.0

Find Mike Meyers on Twitter: @themikeshow42

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S WWE MAIN EVENT REPORT: 1/20 WWE MAIN EVENT TV REPORT: Angel Garza vs. Akira Tozawa, Carrillo vs. Gulak, and more