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Thursday, 3 January 2013

WWE Main Event 2/1/2013 & Antonio Cesaro

This week, Main Event again focused on the mid-card heel champions; United States Champion Antonio Cesaro and new Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett.

After last weeks battle royal to determine a new number one contender - Great Khali - the stage was set for Cesaro to defend against his biggest challenger to date. Both had videos highlighting their talents before the match started; showing both Cesaro's lengthy reign and Khali's past and 'worth' to his country - India. There were also several references to his World Title reign a few years ago. I suppose they needed to show that Khali could be a serious threat here.

I was quite glad that after this match they hinted towards putting Miz in a feud with Cesaro. Finally we'll get to see Cesaro defend against someone that has actually done something in their WWE career. This is on the back of Cesaro beating Santino (comedy character) to capture the title, Brodus Clay (comedy character), Zack Ryder (jobber) and R-Truth (I'm not a fan). The only person that has given Cesaro a real run for his money has been Justin Gabriel. This was probably more so to get Gabriel up the ranks. Most of these matches, and especially his pay-per-view matches, haven't even gone 7 minutes each.

A competent challenger hasn't entered the scene yet. This all has made Cesaro look a dominant champion. I'd go as far to say that his title reign is becoming as prestigious and important as CM Punk's. The problem that is arising, as with Punk's situation, is that there is no worthy challengers about (apart from movie stars).

The longer Cesaro squashes everyone along the way, the more apparent the problem becomes that there are no contenders for him to face. This is why they need to get a good run out of a Cesaro vs Miz feud. Miz needs this, too, as since his face turn he has done nothing apart from brown-nose the crowd and talk a hell of a lot (whether it be on MizTV or on commentary on Main Event).

Another potential contender that has been mentioned along the way is a returning, repackaged Jack Swagger. I'm not sure how this would work as he had such a bad run the last time out that he needs a great build, and maybe even a miracle, to get him to be a genuine threat again. The only thing that we can take from Cesaro's promos is that 'no American can beat him for the title' - this surely points towards an American eventually beating him somewhere down the road.

Anyway, as predicted, Cesaro beat Khali in the main event of Main Event. This started with Khali showing dominance before Cesaro worked on the legs. A little more power (from Khali) and leg work (Cesaro) eventually led to a very impressive Neutraliser. Not a bad match considering Khali's size and lack of talent/moves. The positive that can be taken from this is that Cesaro picked up the biggest man in the company (apart from Big Show) for his finisher. Another feather in his cap.

The Wade Barrett/Kofi Kingston feud also continued on Main Event. Kofi coming down for an interview on losing the Intercontinental title. This was interrupted by Barrett who said that to show how dominant he can/will be, he would compete in a gauntlet match against anyone in the back. Now bare in mind that this is Main Event so the talent backstage weren't going to be world beaters...

This was proven as Barrett made short work of Yoshi Tatsu and JTG. His third opponent - Justin Gabriel - caused more of a problem. He lasted longer than Tatsu and JTG combined (and some) before falling victim to the Bullhammer. The forth opponent was none other than Kofi himself, who disposed of Barrett in about a minute and a half. Well it was either going to be him or him messing it up for Barrett?! (NB: Title rematch to happen on Smackdown)

From this feud, I hope we get a decisive Barrett victory that then gives Kofi the chance to go for a World Title. This is a great opportunity for them to go that way; either that or they give him the IC title for the fifth time and solidify him as a permanent fixture in the mid-card. Barrett just needs to bide his time while the World Title picture is taken up by Show, Ziggler, Del Rio(?) and Sheamus. His time will come though.

Two matches announced;
  • Punk's knee is 'officially' ok (WWE doctor Touted) so on Raw it will be: WWE Championship - TLC match - CM Punk vs Ryback
  • Next week on Main Event: Sheamus vs Dolph Ziggler (w/ AJ & Big E); presumably Big E will give the beating to Sheamus instead of The Shield this time?

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