WWE MAIN EVENT TV REPORT (7/19): Apollo Crews vs. J.D. McDonagh, Akira Tozawa vs. Riddick Moss,

WWE MAIN EVENT TV REPORT
JULY 19, 2023
HULU STREAMING TV
REPORT BY MIKE F. MEYERS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Byron Saxton, Kevin Patrick

REASONS TO WATCH…

-.Rubber match between Apollo Crews vs. J.D. McDonagh

(1) RIDDICK MOSS vs. AKIRA TOZAWA

The men locked up and Moss shoved Tozawa to the mat, then began doing pushups in the middle of the ring. Tozawa applied a side headlock, but Moss fired him off and leveled him with a shoulder block on the rebound. Moss did a few more pushups before choking Tozawa against the bottom turnbuckle with his boot. Tozawa came back with a flurry of offense, then did some pushups of his own – this initiated a good crowd pop. Moss sprinted and ran the ropes, then turned Tozawa inside out with a high-speed clothesline. Moss shot Tozawa shoulder-first into the ring post through the ropes, then postured to a booing crowd. He stood over Tozawa and yelled, “Look at your boy now!” He scooped up Tozawa and dropped him with a fall away slam, then covered for a one-count. Moss applied a chinlock.

The crowd clapped rhythmically to urge Tozawa on. He responded by flipping Moss to the mat with a hurricanrana, then delivered a running knee strike. Tozawa climbed to the top rope and hit a flying reverse elbow, knocking Moss back to the mat. Tozawa covered for two.

Tozawa attempted to hoist Moss onto his shoulders, but he struggled and Moss got free. Tozawa went on to hit an enzuigiri, then climbed to the top rope again. Moss got to his feet and caught a flying Tozawa in mid-air. Moss set up for another fall away, but Tozawa reversed it into a roll-up cover for two. Tozawa went for another running knee, but Moss intercepted him this time and slammed him to the mat. Moss followed up with a suspended vertical suplex into a power slam. Moss covered for the three-count.

WINNER: Riddick Moss by pinfall in 5:20.

(Meyers’s Analysis: Standard Main Event match. Moss’s heel work is pretty convincing. The crowd was pretty hyped to see the first match of the night.)

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(2) APOLLO CREWS vs. J.D. MCDONAGH

McDonagh went on the attack first, punishing Crews in the corner. McDonagh fed Crews a light kick which Crews easily caught with his hands. He spun McDonagh around and clotheslined him to the mat. McDonagh tried to escape through the ropes, but Crews caught him and clotheslined him again. Crews splashed McDonagh against a corner, then sent him to the mat with a back body drop. McDonagh rolled out to ringside, and Crews followed. On the floor, Crews punched McDonagh in the midsection. McDonagh staggered away from the blow and clumsily began to flip over the ringside barricade. Crews caught him by one leg and dragged him back to their side of the wall. Crews allowed McDonagh to chop him twice on the chest, but no sold these shots. They got back into the ring where Crews was soon smashing McDonagh’s face repeatedly into all three turnbuckles of a corner. Crews absorbed some admiration from the crowd before clotheslining McDonagh over the top rope back to the floor. We cut to break.

We returned from break just in time to see McDonagh yank Crews’s foot out from beneath him while seated on the top turnbuckle, causing Crew’s head to rebound off of said turnbuckle. McDonagh applied a chinlock on the mat. Crews got free and landed a series of strikes and kicks. Crews fired McDonagh into the ring post with a slingshot. Crews went to the top rope and crushed McDonagh with a flying cross body – he stayed on top for a two-count cover. Crews hit a standing moonsault in the middle of the ring and covered for another two-count. McDonagh reversed out of a Samoan drop and attempted to roll up Crews with the same illegal leverage maneuver from their last match, but they were too far from the ropes for McDonagh to take hold.

McDonagh hit a Spanish fly to a running Crews, then covered for a two-count. McDonagh went to the middle rope but Crews met him there and chopped his chest two times before setting up for a superplex. McDonagh fought him off, but Crews bounced back. Again, McDonagh knocked him off, then launched into a high cross body of his own. He hit his mark, but Crews caught him and rolled backward to absorb his momentum. Crews got back to his feet, still holding McDonagh in his arms, and hit him with the Samoan drop. Crews covered for three.

WINNER: Apollo Crews by pinfall in 7:20.

(Meyers’s Analysis: Pretty good match with a cool finish. Nice touch to see McDonagh resort to his same cheating tactic as last match. I don’t care for McDonagh’s Spanish fly to a much larger opponent who is sprinting at him. At a glance, it looks like Crews demolished him with a clothesline, except McDonagh happens to land on top and is magically covering his opponent. It’s clear that McDonagh is just “going along for the ride” and is confusing to look at.)

SHOW SCORE (0-10): 8.2

Find Mike Meyers on Twitter: @themikeshow42

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