I will say this - if new episodes of Monday Night War come out every Tuesday, you could do a lot worse than warming up for it by watching Main Event.
Last night's episode of what is essentially a live pre-show for the Smackdown taping featured some pretty good action, the obligatory Raw replays and some sneaky storyline progression. A video playlist of the WWE-released clips from the three matches on the show is above; the match results and always excellent Cagesider comments can be found in the open thread post from last night.
Some items that came up on the show and quick thoughts about the whole affair:
- Seth Rollins and Rob Van Dam have good chemistry, and I think the only matches I'll end up remembering from this latest RVD run are the ones he had with the Architect. Fitting then that I assume Seth will be the one to write him off on Friday night, as this one ended really abruptly and has to be set-up for a rematch. After about ten minutes, it became a countout match, and having Van Dam get a victory over the Money in the Bank briefcase holder on his way out the door doesn't make any kind of sense.
- Michael Cole mentioned that Ryback is injured and will be out for a few weeks. He made no mention of when the injury occurred or how, so this still smells kind of kayfabe-y. But it seems like his latest deleted tweet may have disappeared because of the CM Punk references more than the "going away" talk.
- Love the Curtis Axel vs. Adam Rose match set-up of the match coming about because Axel didn't want to party with the Exotic Express. Reminds me of my days recapping Superstars when we used to call Michael McGillicutty Mr. Superstars. In all seriousness, though, it's silly, simple backstory like that which can build characters and feuds in the undercard. Why they don't do it more often is beyond me.
- Anybody not sure whether or not to call the Dust Brothers actions from Raw a heel turn can stop now. They beat up El Torito. No self-respecting babyface would lay a hand on that little bull.
How was your Tuesday night, Cagesiders? Did it involve Main Event?