9/27 WWE Main Event Report: No Way Jose & Zack Ryder vs. Mojo Rawley & Mike Kanellis, Apollo Crews vs. Tyler Breeze

WWE MAIN EVENT #313
SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 ON WWE NETWORK
REPORT BY MIKE MEYERS

Announcers:  Nigel McGuinness, Vic Joseph, and Percy Watson

(1) No Way Jose & Zack Ryder vs Mojo Rawley & Mike Kanellis

Jose and Ryder entered to Jose’s music and had a conga line of dancers in tow.  Ryder, in Rome, danced down the ramp like the others as the announce team hyped the upcoming Undertaker vs. Triple H match at Super Show-Down.  Rawley and Kanellis entered to Rawley’s music.

Ryder and Kanellis started things out.  Vic indicated that he ran into Kanellis before the match – Kannelis was working out, doing curls, and was “up to 1002.”  Ryder had the upper hand early, but Kanellis leveled Ryder with a right cross and tagged in Rawley.  Rawley tossed Ryder into the corner and charged, but caught a double knee lift.  Zack shouted “Woo woo woo,” and threw a charging Kanellis outside of the ring.  As Kanellis circled back to his own corner by way of ringside, Ryder fired a missle dropkick through the ropes, knocking Kanellis into the barricade.  However, Rawley seized the moment and knocked Ryder down with a big shoulder tackle.

Rawley rolled Ryder into the ring and immediately pinned for a two-count.  Rawley brutally slammed Ryder into the corner three times, grappling Ryder’s face for leverage, and went for another pin.  Rawley tagged in Kanellis, as Nigel pointed out that Kanellis and Rawley have teamed together far more effectively in this match.  (Fair enough, as Jose hadn’t been involved at all yet.)  Kanellis whipped Ryder into the corner and followed through with a clothesline, before delivering a big boot between the eyes and tagging Rawley back in.

Rawley applied a chinlock in the center of the ring, as the crowd began to chant “No Way Jose!” while Jose bounced on the ring apron.  Ryder managed to take out both opponents and began the crawl toward his own corner, but Rawley ran across the ring to knock Jose to the floor.  The crowd, and the conga dancers, were not pleased.  Rawley flicked sweat onto Ryder, and lightly kicked at his head, toying with him.  Ryder took advantage of the nonchalance and delivered a Rude Awakening.  Hot tag session – Jose and Kanellis were tagged in simultaneously.

Jose dealt a fluid flurry of fresh faced offense to Kanellis, which resulted in a pinfall broken up by a leaping Rawley.  Ryder entered the ring and gave the Rough Ryder to the interfering Rawley, and for his trouble he was given a superkick from Kanellis.  This allowed Jose to perform a pop-up punch to the distracted Kanellis, which lead to the pinfall.  Ryder performed the Charleston, as you do, in his victory celebration to Jose’s music.

WINNER:  No Way Jose and Zack Ryder by pinfall.

(Meyer’s Analysis:  A nice tag match with plenty of movement and minimal rest time.  The crowd was involved, if not on their feet.  Jose and Ryder benefitted from having a conga line cheerleading section to help direct the crowd.  I find Rawley particularly effective as a heel – he has a huge chip on his shoulder and takes it out on whoever is in front of him.)

-Main Event recap session:

• Partial replay of Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre vs. The Revival Tag Team Title Match from Raw
• Replay of A.J. Styles contract signing / Samoa Joe sidewalk trespassing from Smackdown
• Ad for WWE Network centered around Undertaker’s career
• Match rundown for upcoming PPV Super Show-Down
• Promo package for Undertaker vs. Triple H at Super Show-Down

(2) Apollo Crews vs. Tyler Breeze

As Breeze made his entrance, the commentary crew again remarked on how Crews has strung along a couple of victories since leaving Titus Worldwide, while Breeze is still “figuring things out” without his tag partner Fandango.  Nigel called Breeze a “ship without a rudder.”  (What about a breeze without direction?)  Nigel added that Breeze has struggled with Crews in the past, indicating that the match is tilted in Crews’ favor.

Early headlock for Crews, before knocking Breeze down with a shoulder block.  Some leapfrog action before Crews leveled Breeze with a drop kick.  Crews scaled the corner to prepare for the frog splash, but Breeze retreated to the opposite corner.  Breeze fired a mule kick into Crews’ midsection and knocked Crews down with a dropkick of his own before getting a two-count in a pin.  Breeze applied a headlock on the mat.

Crews powered up and flipped Breeze onto his feet, before performing some awkward wasted-motion flips across the ring.  Crews leaped backward off the middle turnbuckle, but Breeze fired a dropkick into Crews’ back, knocking him out of the air.

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Breeze had Crews in a single-leg crab, but Crews crawled to the ring edge for a rope break.  Crews rocked Breeze with an enzuigiri, but was still reeling from the crab.  Breeze delivered a backstabber for a two-count.  Crews held his lower back in pain.  Breeze scaled the corner, but Crews caught him with another enzuigiri, and Breeze’s body slumped across the top turnbuckle.  Crews, in a nice show of strength, lifted Breeze off the turnbuckle in a shoulder press before dropping him to the mat.  Crews attempted a standing shooting star press, but Breeze lifted his knees to stun Crews, and delivered his own enzuigiri to Crews’ head.

Breeze attempted and failed a hurricanrana on the larger Crews, and Crews flung Breeze to the mat and landed a successful shooting star press for a two-count.  Both men were very slow to get up.  Breeze hit Crews with a superkick, and followed up with forearms in the corner.  When he attempted a high cross body, Crews caught Breeze and threw him to the mat in a fallaway slam.  Crews rolled out to the apron and again scaled the corner.  Crews landed the frog splash for the three-count.  The commentators continued the narrative of Crews’ roll since leaving Titus Worldwide.

WINNER:  Apollo Crews by pinfall.

FINAL THOUGHTS: A decent match which didn’t have the benefit of a heel vs. babyface dynamic.  It was nice to see Crews tease the frog splash early, Breeze showing awareness to move out of range, and the commentators acknowledging all of it.  Also, the early commentary focused on Breeze needing to find his way, which I took as foreshadowing of a Breeze victory, but this was not the case.  It’s nice to see a win streak pile up by design.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS REPORT: 9/20 WWE Main Event Report: Zack Ryder vs. Mike Kanellis, Mojo Rawley vs. Apollo Crews with a winning streak established for one wrestler