7/17 Kester's WWE Main Event Live Coverage Review: Fandango vs. Christian, Layla and Natalya vs. Alicia Fox and Aksana, and Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater

By Ryan Kester

Main Event on Ion Television
Taped 7/16/13 in Providence, Rhode Island.

[Q1] 1. Fandango vs. Christian. Fandango got in some early offense and began to dance, and Christian made him pay with a series of strikes. Christian knocked Fandango to the floor and hit a high cross body from the top turnbuckle to the outside.

Fandango rallied back and sent Christian to the floor with a knee… [C]

Back from the break, Fandango remained in control and focused his offense on Christian's neck. Christian landed a series of slaps and began making his comeback. The two men crashed head-first into each other and sold on the mat.

When they both made it to their feet, Christian went for the Killswitch, but Fandango fought out and scored a spin kick for a two count. Fandango went up for his leg drop, but Christian rolled out of the way.

[Q2] Christian went for a spear and ran into a knee from Fandango. Fandango went for a cover, but Christian caught him in a rollup for the pinfall victory…

Christian defeated Fandango in 11:45.

A recap of the exchange between Paul Heyman and CM Punk on Raw aired… [C]

Ryan's Reaction: Decent enough match, but it was slow paced enough that the rollup victory felt like it came out of nowhere and fell a bit flat.

2. Layla and Natalya vs. Alicia Fox and Aksana. Natalya and Aksana started the match, and Natalya quickly went for the Sharpshooter. Aksana crawled to the ropes to prevent the hold, and she offered Natalya a handshake.

Natalya took Aksana's hand and stomped on it. Foxed tagged in, got in some offense, and tried to do Natalya's handshake trick. Natalya managed to stomp Fox' hand and tagged in Layla.

Layla bumped Fox and went for a springboard out of the corner only to eat a dropkick from Fox. The heels began to work over Layla.

[Q3] Natalya called for a Layla chant and got a fair response from the crowd. Layla almost got a hot tag off, but Aksana slapped Natalya down. Aksana turned around and ate a kick from Layla. Layla covered Aksana and got the pin…. [C]

Layla and Natalya defeated Alicia Fox and Aksana in 5:24.

Ryan's Reaction: That left a lot to be desired. The pacing was all over the place and featured more comedy spots than actual wrestling. When Kaitlyn and AJ are able to deliver entertaining matches on PPV, it simply highlights how lackluster the rest of the division's antics can be. This is the flattest first half of Main Event in a while.

A replay of Brad Maddox giving John Cena his choice for SummerSlam opponent aired… [C]

[Q4] 3. Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater (w/ Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal). The two men worked a bit of chain wrestling with each gaining control for a brief moment. They exchanged taunts until Gabriel got a punch off and sent Slater to the floor.

Gabriel sent Slater back in the ring, but on his way back in McIntyre swept his legs out from under him and Slater was able to take over the offense. Slater focused his assault on Gabriel's neck. Slater launched Gabriel to the floor… [C]

Back from the break, Slater continued to focus on Gabriel's neck and the members of #MB got in cheap shots while the referee's back was turned.

Gabriel began to make his comeback, and the Wyatt Family's entrance video started playing out of nowhere. The Wyatt Family made its full entrance and Erick Rowan and Luke Harper were sent after the match participant and 3MB.

Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater ended in an apparent no-contest in 9:40.

Harper bashed McIntyre's head into the ring steps repeatedly while Rowan picked apart Jinder Mahal. Slater ended up backed into Bray Wyatt before Harper and Rowan knocked him down.

Bray Wyatt entered the ring as Rowan and Harper continued their assault. Bray hit his finisher on Slater and Rowan and Wyatt stacked the bodies of the men they beat down.

Wyatt grabbed a mic and asked the crowd what they were afraid of. He warned the crowd not to fear the army of wolves led by the sheep but to feat the army of sheep led by a wolf. He told the "tired little lambs" that it's time to come on home. He told Kane to follow the buzzards before a flash of Rowan in his sheep mask and the show cut off.

Ryan's Reaction: Fantastic work from The Wyatt Family and a nice surprise to close out Main Event. Each of these men are so committed to the act and use little nuances in their body language and in Wyatt's delivery that make it easy to suspend disbelief despite the heavy use of a such an off the wall gimmick. Overall, this Main Event was entirely skippable, but if you've been enjoying the Wyatt Family act so far, it's worth taking the time to seek out their latest assault. Thanks for following along with me this evening.

If you have any questions or comments or just wish to chat with a fellow wrestling fan about whatever, then feel free to email me at ryan.kester@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter.