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The Katz Files – Arnie Katz

My Saturday Night’s Main Event Notebook!

The Kingfish Arnie Katz shares his comments and analysis inspired by Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC.

Many thoughts ran through my brain as I watched Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC Saturday (8/2). Truthfully, I had a lot of time to ruminate, even though I had a video tape and fast-forwarded through the commercials and ads for WWE shows and merchandise. Main Event is the “empty calories” wrestling TV show.

 

Still, as the show unreeled on the Sony, I saw connections like invisible threads that run from Main Event to just about everything that is wrong, and right, with World Wrestling Entertainment. Let me take you through the one-hour show with my observations and analyses as they occurred to me at the time.

Jim Ross welcomed fans to the show as John Bradshaw Leyfield cruised to the ring in his white limousine.

CM Punk joined Ross and color man Jerry “The King” Lawler at the announce table for the eight-man tag team match

The Kingfish Comments: CM Punk continues to surprise and please. He did a fine job in his mic stint. He didn’t talk too much, but he did talk enough. He made a few good points, got off a couple of amusing lines and undoubtedly won new fans for himself.

John Bradshaw Leyfield, Kane, Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase d. John Cena, Batista & Cryme Tyme

Jim Ross pointed out that Batista now works for a new boss onRAW. Mike Adamle. The announcers harped on the great mystery surrounding the opponent for CM Punk at SummerSlam.

The Kingfish Comments: One of the least interesting aspects of wrestling is what I call the “no mystery” mystery, Cena & Batista are already slated to fight each other at SummerSlam, so that pretty much leave JBL. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this meaningless match made him look like a “Wrestling God.”

When Jerry Lawler cracked on the tag team champions, CM Punk said that they needed to reinforce the ring to support their egos.

Punk also brought up the subject of the little bag that Kane now carries everywhere. Lawler said he didn’t know what it meant.

The Kingfish Comments: Like most fans, I originally assumed that Kane’s babbling referred to his brother, the Undertaker. Events have proven that surmise wrong. My prediction is that this will lead to the return of Paul Bearer.

In the match, JBL hit the Clothesline from Hell and pinned HTG while Kane and Batista brawled in the ringside area.

Grade: C+

The Kingfish Comments: WWE still hasn’t figured out the best way to use Main Event. A hard-to-follow eight-man cluster schmazz is definitely not the way to interest new fans. Showing all those WWE stars has very little impact on viewers who don’t know them. They might consider focusing on just a few stars on each Main Event. They could then show those stars in matches that have some heat and drama.

The first short videos in support of Jenny McCarthy’s anti-autism Generation Rescue ran. The first ones featured Jeff Foxworthy and Carmen Electra.

Great Khali (with Rahjan Singh) d. Jimmy Wang Yang

Khali swatted Yang out of the air as the Asian Redneck jumped off the turnbuckle at him. Khali’s Two-Handed Chokeslam finished the match.

Grade: F

The Kingfish Comments:

The Kingfish Comments: This was a terrible squash match and equally misguided booking. In what way is putting Khali against a bottom-of-the-card worker who is half his size. Of course they want Khali to look powerful, but it’s hard to see how beating up a small guy like Yang could add much luster to the Punjabi Nightmare’s reputation.

Ben Stiller expressed his support for the campaign against Autism in another video.

Jenny McCarthy came to the upper stage after a commercial break. She thanked WWE and made a short pitch for support for Generation Rescue.

The Kingfish Comments: This is a popular and worthy cause – do you know anyone who’s in favor of Autism? – but I was a little disappointed that Jenny didn’t actually get in the ring and fight Autism. I was expecting Beth Phoenix or the like in a mask.

A video showed the lover’s quarrel between Edge and Vickie Guerrero. It showed hid attempt to apologize after getting caught putting moves on the wedding planner and how The Woman Scorned reinstated Taker and booked Edge-Undertaker for SummerSlam.

The Kingfish Comments: The Edge-Vickie storyline cried out for the Main Event spotlight. This is exactly the kind of story to which casual fans can relate. The show would have been much better if it had included Vickie Guerrero and Mick Foley. It wouldn’t have hurt if the attack on Foley happened on Main Event and been shown as a video on next week’s Smackdown.

A video showed Edge’s attack on Mick Foley on the previous night’s Smackdown during an interview segment.

Edge d. Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy has toned down his look. The erstwhile Rainbow Warrior has monochrome hair. He’s also wearing long sleeves to give him a cleaner look.

After the initial stalemate, Edge seized a Wristlock and worked it for all it was worth until he decided to assail Hardy with punches.

Jeff did a Float Over to avoid Edge’s Corner Charge and whipped him across the ring with an Armdrag! He applied a Hammerlock to Edge’s left arm.

Edge shot Hardy across the ring, expecting to cream him on the rebound. Jeff zipped under the bottom rope to land on his feet in the ringside area. Edge went for a Baseball Slide, but the intended victim stepped out of the way. Jeff blitzed the Rated R Superstar before he could recover his balance.

Jeff tried to take it a step too far, though. He tried to leap over the ring steps to steamroller Edge. The jump went badly, Edge evaded the hurtling Hardy and Jeff landed hard against the outer barricade.

Back from commercial, Edge had taken firm control of the match. Edge kept punishing Hardy’s left leg in a fairly successful attempt to ground the high flyer.

Hardy absorbed a lot of pain from Edge’s Leglock submission move, before he finally reached the rope. All of Edge’s work pm Hardy’s leg paid off when Jeff missed an Enzuiguiri.

After Edge doled out more punishment, Hardy tried another Enzuiguiri and this time connected. He hung Edge in the Tree of Woe. Edge dodged the Baseball Slide, but he couldn’t evade a Double Knee to his chest. It was only good for a two-count cover.

Jeff Hardy hobbled towards Edge and maneuvered him into position for a Twist of Fate. He couldn’t get properly set, though, so Edge blocked the move and dealt a vicious Impaler DDT! Hardy kicks out of the cover.

Despite the injury, Jeff Hardy leveled Edge with a Whisper in the Wind. Then he sent Edge face-first into the mat with a Sit-out Powerbomb.

Hardy had to hang onto the ropes to pull himself upright, but he still had enough left to dodge an attempted Spear. The Rated R Superstar tumbled all the way to the ringside area.

Jeff Hardy was stretched out on the mat, his head hanging over the apron. MVP came out of the crowd and destroyed him with a Running Knee to the head.

Edge Speared him and pinned him.

Grade: B+

The Kingfish Comments: This match must’ve mystified Main Event’s casual fan audience who may not even know who MVP is or why he would meddle in Jeff Hardy’s match. So it was a B+ for me, but maybe not for the typical Main Event viewer.

— Arnie Katz
Executive Editor
[email protected]
(8/5/08)