Tag: curt hawkins

WWE Leeds live results: Curt Hawkins returns to the ring

Posted on by F4W Staff

Submitted by Matt Barker

A Raw-brand house show took place in Leeds, England on Tuesday.

The show opened with Elias performing. He’s so talented and has a lot of charisma. Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Tamina interrupted him, which led to the next match.

– Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke & Ember Moon defeated Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan & Tamina

Banks made Morgan submit to the Banks Statement.

– Zack Gibson defeated El Ligero

Really good match, but a strange decision to have Ligero lose in his hometown. Gibson won with the Shankly Gates.

– No Way Jose & Tyler Breeze defeated Mojo Rawley & Curt Hawkins

Hawkins had been out of action for 11 weeks due to a hernia. No Way Jose was very over and hit a pop-up punch on Hawkins for the win.

Hawkins got on the microphone after the match and said he wanted to end his losing streak, which led to a match against Zack Ryder.

– Zack Ryder defeated Curt Hawkins

Ryder hit the Rough Ryder to get the immediate win.

Hawkins still wasn’t happy with the result, leading to him facing Titus O’Neil.

– Titus O’Neil defeated Curt Hawkins

Hawkins lost immediately again, with O’Neil hitting the Clash of the Titus.

– Raw Tag Team Champions AOP defeated Bobby Roode & Chad Gable to retain their titles

Very enjoyable match. Gable is awesome — as is Drake Maverick. Maverick was superb on the outside, acting like he was going to faint at how close AOP came to losing the titles.

– Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose by DQ

The disqualification was due to Ambrose low blowing Rollins. Decent match that was cool to see in person.

– The B-Team defeated Heath Slater & Rhyno and The Ascension in a triple threat tag match

Bad move putting this on after intermission, but the crowd chanted for the B-Team and did “ECW” chants for Rhyno. The finish was cool, with Axel hitting the Perfect Plex on Viktor.

– Nikki Bella defeated Natalya

Alexa Bliss was the guest ring announcer and played a part in the finish by distracting Natalya when she had the Sharpshooter locked in. Bella made reference to Ronda Rousey not showing up when she heard about the show being in Leeds.

– Elias defeated Jinder Mahal

This was a short match. Elias won with the Drift Away.

– Braun Strowman defeated Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre in a handicap match

Strowman won with a powerslam on Ziggler. Baron Corbin came out after, hit Strowman with a chair, and ordered it to be restarted as a three-on-one match with no disqualifications.

– Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre defeated Braun Strowman in a no DQ, handicap match

McIntyre hit the Claymore Kick and all three pinned Strowman. Strowman came back and slammed all three of them after.

Corbin grabbed the microphone as Strowman had gone backstage. He ordered a singles match between him and Strowman.

– Braun Strowman defeated Baron Corbin

Corbin got the referee to start counting, but Strowman came out and hit a powerslam for the quick victory.

WWE Main Event results: Authors of Pain, Chad Gable in action

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: The Authors of Pain continued their undefeated streak, seeing off Titus Worldwide with relative ease. Chad Gable and Curt Hawkins had a good match, leaving Hawkins without a win since November 2016.

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The Authors of Pain defeated Titus Worldwide (w/ Dana Brooke) (4:34)

This was yet another dominant performance of power, strength, and agility from the Authors of Pain, and they remain undefeated since being called up to the main roster in April. The only thing stopping these two is going to be promos. With Paul Ellering gone, if they are to be main event players, they might need someone to talk for them.

Titus O’Neil and Apollo Crews couldn’t get any degree of separation until O’Neil dodged a charge to the corner, leaving Rezar posted. This meant O’Neil and Crews could grab a minute or so of offense, before they were quickly cut off again.

The finish started when Rezar broke up a pin attempt by O’Neil. Crews came into the ring, but Rezar sent him packing and neutralized him outside by driving him into the apron. He then blind tagged in so that he and Akam could hit the Last Chapter on O’Neil for the win.

Chad Gable defeated Curt Hawkins (4:58)

Hawkins and Gable had a fine match here, ending with Hawkins’ streak extending to 0-208. He took to Twitter this week to show the extent of his injuries from the match — some pretty nasty bruising to his left forearm.

This was a pretty athletic contest from start to finish and went by in a flash. Why they aren’t doing more with either of these performers is a question worth asking. Hawkins is a good foil for Gable, who is able to flip around and show off all of his best stuff and distill it down to five minutes.

There were a few false finishes at the end. And then, after Hawkins got a near fall on Gable, Gable escaped a powerbomb attempt, sending Hawkins into the turnbuckles. Gable then sunset flipped Hawkins, following it up with a roll-through German suplex for the win.

WWE Main Event results: Ryder vs. Hawkins in Long Island

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: There were two good matches from Long Island this week featuring hometown talent. Cedric Alexander beat Tony Nese after some good back and forth and Curt Hawkins went 0-193 as Zack Ryder answered his open challenge.

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WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander defeated Tony Nese in a non-title match (6:00)

As you would expect, Tony Nese was over here in front of his home crowd — but he still played the heel as they put on as good a match as they could in the time they were given. The commentators really put over Alexander strong with notes on his work ethic, dedication, and good nature outside the ring.

Alexander got some heat early on with elbows and a swinging neckbreaker, but Nese kicked out at two. Alexander took off his elbow pad and went for a top rope forearm, but Nese was wise to it and hit a beautiful twisting moonsault over the top rope to Alexander on the outside.

The crowd got into it late as Nese got some near falls and you could tell they thought he might sneak one out because it was his home turf. The finish came when Nese couldn’t dodge the charge and got caught with the Neuralyzer. Alexander followed it up with the Lumbar Check for the win.

Zack Ryder defeated Curt Hawkins (5:27)

Hawkins cut a pre-match promo issuing an open challenge. He noted that he’d won championships in the building and had grown up coming to shows there. He then turned against the crowd, calling them “nobodies” before a light “we want Ryder” chant started up. Ryder came out to a good reaction.

Hawkins went 0-193 here after a good match that gave him plenty of chances to break the losing streak. The way it was told, this match really wouldn’t have looked out of place on a pay-per-view. Hawkins kicked out of the Broski Boot — and when Ryder missed the Rough Ryder, Hawkins was able to send him into the turnbuckle and hit an enzuigiri for a near fall.

The crowd got into it the more they traded finishing moves and near falls. Ryder took Hawkins off the top rope and hit the Rough Ryder, but Hawkins managed to get his foot on the rope. Hawkins had the match won after blocking a Broski Boot attempt, but the referee spotted that he was using the ropes to get leverage. As Hawkins pleaded with the referee, Ryder used the distraction to hit the Rough Ryder for the win.

After the match, Ryder got on the mic and said that after he’d climbed the ladder and won the Intercontinental title at WrestleMania 32 he wanted to see that “sick” view again. He said he wanted to be in the Money in the Bank ladder match at next month’s PPV and become WWE’s new “Mr. Money in the Bank.” Whether or not he will be entered in the match remains to be seen.

WWE Main Event results: Curt Hawkins goes 0-188

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Curt Hawkins lost to Heath Slater via a small package as they show him getting closer with each passing week to finally breaking his losing streak.

Top billing was given to a cruiserweight six-man tag match that ran at just over two minutes, since the lion’s share of the show was given over to Raw video packages.

**********

Heath Slater (w/ Rhyno) defeated Curt Hawkins (6:14)

This was a lot of fun this week. Hawkins spent the opening minutes trying to find a cheap way to win: he laid down in the middle of the ring urging Slater to pin him, but was playing possum and then went outside and tried to win via disqualification. Hawkins shoved Rhyno and then urged him to retort in front of the referee.

The commentary team is now really drawing attention to Hawkins’ losing streak storyline, while in previous months it had been glossed over. Hawkins was given a number of near falls here and at every opportunity the camera would zoom in on his face to get his despairing reaction — it is really making him look like a sympathetic figure at this point.

After a Pele kick, a pained Rhyno looked on as Slater just mustered enough strength to kick out. Hawkins then went up to the top rope, but Slater rolled out of the way so Hawkins jumped down. As he approached him, Slater rolled him up into a small package for a win that looked more unfair than ever on Hawkins and took the number to 0-188.

Kalisto, Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik defeated Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari & TJP (2:19)

Not only was this a match where the entrances of the six cruiserweights easily went longer than the actual bout, but it also inexplicably went through a commercial break.

TJP and Kalisto were fantastic to watch in the opening minute, but, like the match, it was short-lived as TJP kicked out of a cover and we headed to a break. They had played up the 205 Live storyline where TJP was taunting Kalisto about the division not being as strong as when he was the champion.

When we returned, it looked like we had missed all the action as the ring was full and the luchadores were hitting Nese and TJP with stereo suicide dives.

Dorado then quickly went to the finish on Daivari, superkicking him into position for the Shooting Star Press. The loss leaves Daivari winless in 34 straight.

WWE Main Event results: Hawkins loses to Goldust yet again

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Curt Hawkins lost yet again to Goldust, taking his losing streak to 0-185. Hideo Itami made his Main Event debut, notching up a win in a short tag team bout with Akira Tozawa against Jack Gallagher & TJP.

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Goldust defeated Curt Hawkins (5:11)

Hawkins came close to breaking the streak here in defeat to Goldust. The loss marks his 18th to Goldust in this current run and took the overall number to 0-185. Amusingly, Hawkins took to Twitter to mark the milestone with a picture of John Cena, with Hawkins’ head pasted over it, pointing at the Main Event sign where the WrestleMania sign would be.

On commentary, Vic Joseph is now referring to Goldust as “the ageless wonder of WWE.” The crowd wasn’t much into this one, despite some early “Goldust” chants akin to “Goldberg” ones. Goldust gave Hawkins plenty of the match to tease that he might finally get the win in what Nigel McGuinness noted had become an “ignominious statistic.”

They traded near falls at the end with Hawkins escaping the Golden Cross and using a belly-to-back suplex for two. He then followed this up by catching Goldust in a spinebuster for another close two count.

But Goldust got the win when he finally caught Hawkins in a headlock and was able to plant him with the Golden Cross in the middle of the ring.

Akira Tozawa & Hideo Itami defeated Jack Gallagher & TJP (3:11)

When Hideo Itami arrived in WWE, there was never any part of me that expected his stock to fall as much as it has. Seeing him in person live at WrestleMania 31 in San Jose in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal is about as good as it has gotten for Itami in a WWE career, which has thus far been marred by injuries and bad luck.

In his Main Event debut here, he teamed up with Akira Tozawa, who has had a few wins recently over on 205 Live. Despite having arrived from two different companies in Japan, they have a good rapport in the ring and worked well together.

Tozawa took the opening minute, then Itami dominated the main bulk of the action until they went to commercial halfway through Itami’s offense, without warning. Itami and Tozawa worked with purpose, double-teaming their opponents until they quickly put Gallagher in position for Tozawa to hit the Drop Zone for the win.

WWE Main Event results: Curt Hawkins’ streak reaches 0-184

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Apollo was the latest man to defeat Curt Hawkins, taking his tally to 0-181 here and at the time of this writing 0-184. Gran Metalik & Kalisto had a by-the-numbers tag bout with Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese, leaving Daivari still winless since August.

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Apollo (w/ Titus O’Neil and Dana Brooke) defeated Curt Hawkins (4:59)

The streak continues for Hawkins, who went 0-181 here and then lost three times over the weekend (including twice in the same night at Raw’s house show in Minneapolis on Friday) to take the tally to 0-184. With no indication of when or where this losing streak will end, the live reports of Hawkins with this gimmick have been very favorable and there’s no denying that it has been fun covering this on Main Event.

He and Apollo went back and forth here in much the same mold as the matches he’s had on Main Event of late: Apollo gave him lots of the match and they really made it look as though Hawkins had enough to finally end the streak until Apollo was able to snatch the win out of nothing.

After an enzuigiri and his patented standing moonsault, Hawkins kicked out and they traded near falls. The finish saw Hawkins go up to the second rope, looking for a flying back elbow, but he got caught by Apollo, who quickly nailed him with The Chariot for the win.

Gran Metalik & Kalisto defeated Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese (4:31)

Meanwhile, in the cruiserweight division, another losing streak is forming. After going 0-31 last week on this show, Ariya Daivari is now 0-33 in all competitions with yet another loss here. He is still without a win in seven months.

Metalik and Daivari started the match, with Daivari calling for Kalisto to be tagged in. After quick covers, Daivari made it to the ropes and Nese came in. When Kalisto dropkicked Nese, he followed it up with a head-scissors and Nese rolled out of the ring. Metalik hit a twisted plancha to the outside on Nese and Daivari as we went to the break. 

The match flew by in the second half and they quickly went to the finish. Metalik hit a senton to the outside on both Nese and Daivari. He then rolled Nese back into the ring and superkicked him to put him in position for the rope-walk elbow drop. Metalik nailed Nese in the middle of the ring with the elbow for the win.

WWE Main Event results: Curt Hawkins goes 0-179

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: This was a show for losing streaks. Akira Tozawa beat Ariya Daivari to take him to 0-31 and winless since August. Curt Hawkins also took his tally to 179 without a victory in another loss to Goldust.

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Akira Tozawa defeated Ariya Daivari (6:40)

This past week, Daivari lost to 205 Live’s latest acquisition, Buddy Murphy, in the Cruiserweight title tournament to take him 0-30 and without a win since last summer. Tozawa has been in better form, though he also lost in the first round of the tournament.

They went longer than WWE usually gives cruiserweight matches on this show, building the match around whether Tozawa could get Daivari in position for the Drop Zone. Daivari got some good heat in the second third of the match, after he thwarted Tozawa’s top rope attempt. After several near falls, including Tozawa kicking out of the Persian Lion Splash, Tozawa took over again.

Tozawa eventually got Daivari in position and nailed him around the side of the head with a spinning enzuigiri. He went up top and hit the Drop Zone for the win.

Tozawa celebrated and they went straight to the next segment without comment on Daivari’s 31st consecutive loss or a replay of the finish.

Goldust defeated Curt Hawkins (4:08)

Hawkins wrote on Twitter that this loss was more of an honor than a disappointment, referencing that the match took place in the same arena that WWE filmed the infamous Hollywood Backlot Brawl from WrestleMania XII between Goldust and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.

For those keeping count, of Hawkins’ 179 losses since his return to the company, 18 of them have come at the hands of Goldust. They have good chemistry, with Goldust giving a lot of the match to Hawkins here. Hawkins disrespected Goldust, often slapping and shouting at him.

After Hawkins had looked like he might break the streak, he took too long and didn’t pounce on the opportunity when it arose. The finish saw Goldust show that he’d had enough of being shoved around and dropped to his knees to slap Hawkins in the face before hitting the Golden Cross for the win.

WWE Main Event results: Curt Hawkins goes 0-171

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Curt Hawkins’ losing streak continued with a loss against Goldust, who was managed by Mandy Rose.

Kalisto defeated Ariya Daivari in a longer than usual cruiserweight offering that left Daivari without a win since August.

**********

Goldust (w/ Mandy Rose) defeated Curt Hawkins (3:40)

Hawkins’ never-ending losing streak continued here with another loss to Goldust, whose partnership with Mandy Rose has given him a new lease of life. After a lot of comedy early on, Hawkins took control when he waffled Goldust on the apron to send him outside. He followed him and nailed him with a stiff clothesline and they teased a count out finish. Goldust rolled back into the ring at 9.75.

Hawkins took over the match, slowing things down with a rear chinlock until Goldust got some separation with a spinebuster. He got the heat with clotheslines, a running bulldog, and a scoop slam. Hawkins wriggled out of the first attempt, but Goldust kicked him in the gut and hit the Final Cut for the win.

The loss took Hawkins to 0-171 but was a good win for Goldust in preparation for his Mixed Match Challenge bout with Mandy Rose against Jimmy Uso & Naomi on Tuesday night.

Kalisto defeated Ariya Daivari (7:31)

Speaking of losing streaks, Daivari currently finds himself on one of his own. Without a win since August in all competitions, the loss here to Kalisto took him to 0-28.

Daivari disrespected Kalisto early on but soon looked the fool. After mocking Kalisto’s “lucha” chant and even laying across the top turnbuckle, Kalisto hit him with a kick to the side of the head and then shot at him with a suicide dive outside.

After the break, the pace had slowed with Daivari using his heel moveset to keep Kalisto from using his speed and agility. This led to a near fall when Daivari absolutely nailed Kalisto with a spinebuster, but Kalisto just managed to get his shoulder up. Daivari tried to pull off Kalisto’s mask, but it didn’t lead anywhere.

Having put up a good fight and putting on a decent match, Kalisto finished Daivari off by planting him with a rana and the Salida del Sol for the win.

WWE Main Event results: Metalik & Kalisto vs. TJP & Gallagher

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Curt Hawkins added yet another loss to his streak, this time against Goldust, and Gran Metalik & Kalisto defeated TJP & Jack Gallagher in under three minutes.

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Goldust defeated Curt Hawkins (4:29)

And so it continues. Curt Hawkins went 0-164 here, is now 0-165, and following Main Event went on to have a backstage segment after Raw where the Brooklyn Brawler told him not to give up and to believe in himself. We may be going somewhere with this streak, but exactly where is not yet clear.

Goldust took the win out of nothing, really. The match was back and forth, with Hawkins looking the more likely of the two to come out on top. They did a lot of comedy early on, with Hawkins even laying down in the middle of the ring asking to be pinned. Of course, it was a ruse.

The finish started when Hawkins used a side Russian leg sweep and slapped on a rest hold. When Goldust worked his way out, he dropped to his knees, struck Hawkins, and rolled him up for the win. Hawkins was in disbelief.

Gran Metalik & Kalisto defeated TJP & Jack Gallagher (2:43)

They didn’t give this one long at all in front of this expectant pre-Raw 25th anniversary show crowd. Metalik has had TJP’s number over the last few weeks on 205 Live, and the same was true here as the pair started things off together.

After taking two arm whips, TJP hobbled as quickly as he could to make the tag to Gallagher. Gallagher slowed things down, crotching Metalik on the top turnbuckle as we went to a break.

We returned to both men down, and they went straight to the hot tag and the finish. Kalisto took care of Gallagher, tossing him over the top rope and hitting him with a springboard seated senton. And Metalik finished off TJP with a rope-walk elbow drop and the Metalik Driver in the middle of the ring.

WWE Main Event results: Curt Hawkins goes 0-157

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Curt Hawkins’ losing streak continued with yet another loss against Rhyno, and Mustafa Ali defeated TJP as the pair had a really strong match in the main event.

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Rhyno (w/ Heath Slater) defeated Curt Hawkins (5:32)

Curt Hawkins continues to put over his losing streak on social media, referring to where he will be #streaking every day. While he lost here on Main Event to go 0-157, he is currently 0-161. Hawkins even posted on Twitter this past week that he lost twice in the same night in Reading, Pennsylvania.

As usual with these Hawkins matches, it was perfectly fine. Despite the streak, Hawkins is a good in-ring performer and a very precise technician. Rhyno took the first half of the match and made it look easy — until Hawkins was able to take the advantage when both men had gone outside.

Hawkins beat Rhyno down and performed a pretty impressive snap suplex on the big man, then Rhyno hit him with a Samoan drop and they both went down.

They traded near falls until Hawkins looked like he was going to come out on top. He squatted in the corner, ushering Rhyno to get up, but he was caught in the charge and nailed with a spinebuster for the win.

Mustafa Ali defeated TJP (5:20)

This was a very impressive athletic display from start to finish. TJP hasn’t been on Main Event for some time and it was a joy to watch these two work together. After the opening minutes that were 100 mph of mat work, flips, and kip ups, TJP settled the pace and turned nasty.

He pushed Ali outside through the ropes, using his boot with Ali narrowly missing the steel steps. TJP then proceeded to throw him around, smashing him face-first into the dasher boards and posing for a dab as we were sent to a break.

TJP went after Ali’s knee after the break. A failed superplex attempt allowed TJP to missile dropkick off the top rope onto Ali’s left knee. Ali did everything he could to avoid TJP getting to it, but he eventually locked in the kneebar as they teased a submission finish.

TJP went for a figure four but was kicked off out of desperation. Ali then rolled through TJP into a bridging pin and managed to steal the win. The nice wrinkle in the finish was how Ali still sold his knee, only using one leg in his bridge and keeping the injured leg raised so as not to put pressure on it.

WWE Main Event results: Apollo Crews takes Curt Hawkins to 0-146

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Prior to his injury on 205 Live on Tuesday, Kalisto beat Ariya Daivari on Main Event. Apollo Crews, who is now accompanied to the ring by Dana Brooke and Titus O’Neil, left Curt Hawkins 0-146 going into the holiday period.

**********

Kalisto defeated Ariya Daivari (6:04)

After the unfortunate events from Tuesday night’s 205 Live that ended in Kalisto needing stitches and an MRI when a fan threw a bottle of water at him, it was good to see Kalisto’s Monday night Main Event match result in a great performance and a win.

Daivari and Kalisto worked together well here and built a match that looked like it could go either way. When Daivari successfully hit a huge Persian Lion Splash for the second time, you could have been forgiven for assuming that the match was done at the five-minute mark. When Kalisto kicked out, it proved a nice wrinkle in the storyline of the match.

The finish saw Daivari trying to bully Kalisto, towering over him and trash-talking him until Kalisto leapt up and flew into the Salida del Sol to get the win. This loss leaves Daivari, a man with very few wins under his belt since joining WWE, without a win since August.

Apollo Crews (w/ Dana Brooke and Titus O’Neil) defeated Curt Hawkins (5:05)

Hawkins may just be becoming the new Gillberg after all, as his losing streak continued here against Apollo Crews — an opponent who he has lost to frequently over the last few months. Crews came out with the addition of Dana Brooke in his entourage. Brooke was sporting professional attire: business suit, glasses, and clipboard.

On the bell, Hawkins looked disgruntled at the presence of both Brooke and O’Neil and shouted that they should be sent “to the back!” Hawkins is making the most of his streak: after some back and forth, he actually laid down in the ring and urged Crews to get it over with. Of course, he was playing possum and Crews fell for it, allowing Hawkins to dominate the middle section here.

The match went through a commercial break and they really made it look as close as they could. Hawkins kicked out of a standing moonsault and Crews kicked out of a second rope powerbomb. Finally, Crews dug deep and nailed Hawkins with a running single leg high knee and his spin-out powerbomb for the win.

Until next time, wishing you a wonderful holiday period with your families and loved ones.

WWE Main Event results: Curt Hawkins goes 0-142

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Curt Hawkins’ losing streak continued to rise with a loss against Rhyno, and the trend of short cruiserweight tag matches headlining the show persisted with Gran Metalik & Akira Tozawa dispensing with Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher in less than four minutes.

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Rhyno (w/ Heath Slater) defeated Curt Hawkins (5:02)

In the city that is home to the currently winless Cleveland Browns, Curt Hawkins added yet another loss to his ridiculous total. Although this took the streak to 0-142, at the time of this writing, Hawkins is now 0-144.

Rhyno mowed down Hawkins in the first few minutes, taking stiff chops in every corner of the ring. Finally, Hawkins reversed a whip to the corner and waffled Rhyno with a lariat and then applied a rest hold. Hawkins took Rhyno outside and roughed him up, nailing him back-faced into the ring apron.

Rhyno got the advantage with a huge back body drop and started to fire up with clotheslines and belly-to-bellys. The finish saw Rhyno catch Hawkins and nail him with the spinebuster for the win.

Gran Metalik & Akira Tozawa defeated Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher (3:20)

Main Event was again left with a tag team bout that was 100 mph and lamentably too short. The standout performer was Gran Metalik, who was exceptional here — moving around with such pace and agility.

Tozawa was all over Gallagher in the early going and Metalik then overwhelmed Kendrick. Gallagher distracted him to break up the flow of the match so that Kendrick could come off the second rope with an inverted atomic drop on Metalik.

Metalik worked his way out of trouble, hitting Gallagher with the Metalik Driver but missing the blind tag that Kendrick had made. The ring filled, and Tozawa sent Kendrick outside so that he and Metalik could hit stereo suicide dives on the heels. Metalik then finished Kendrick off with a rope-walk top rope elbow drop.

WWE Main Event results: Gallows & Anderson vs. Slater & Rhyno

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Akira Tozawa beat Brian Kendrick in a cruiserweight opener, then Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson saw off Heath Slater & Rhyno in the main event.

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Akira Tozawa defeated Brian Kendrick (6:30)

Brian Kendrick was still without a singles win since August as Akira Tozawa shot off the top rope to finish him with the Drop Zone here. But the following night at the 205 Live taping, Kendrick would submit Gran Metalik to break the streak.

This was a little longer than the usual cruiserweight outings that we are normally treated to on Main Event. The back and forth was more tangible as both men were given time to build offense so that it really looked like either could win.

The final moments were where this was at its strongest as Kendrick looked every bit the man to take the match. He scooped up Tozawa from a near fall and ran to the ropes to hit Sliced Bread #2 when Tozawa shot over the top of him and just grazed Kendrick with an enzuigiri. As he lay prone, Tozawa sold his tiredness to build the tension and made the slow climb to the top rope to hit his finisher.

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defeated Heath Slater & Rhyno (3:27)

By contrast, this was far too short and was really all about Gallows and Anderson getting an opportunity to neutralize Rhyno so that they could get the smaller, lighter man in the ring for the Magic Killer.

These two teams faced off last month on Main Event with the same result, but that match was nearly twice the length of this one. Here, Slater and Rhyno took most of the going, with Slater taking Anderson to his corner and cutting the ring in half with quick tags to Rhyno. After Gallows and Anderson were sent packing, we came back from the break for the finishing segment.

Gallows clotheslined Rhyno over the top rope and followed him outside, smashing him into the dasher boards. While Slater tried to take it to Anderson, Gallows came back to help out with Rhyno nowhere to be seen. The tag was made and a furious Gallows gestured to Anderson to hoist up Slater and get this over with. They hit a slightly clumsy looking Magic Killer for the win and went to the back staring Slater and Rhyno down.

WWE Main Event results: Curt Hawkins goes 0-137

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Gran Metalik & Kalisto defeated Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher in less than four minutes. Apollo Crews beat Curt Hawkins in a rematch from last week to take Hawkins’ storyline losing streak to 137.

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Apollo Crews (w/ Titus O’Neil) defeated Curt Hawkins (5:13)

In a rematch from last week, Apollo Crews beat Curt Hawkins again. They have upped his streak by five from last week even though Hawkins hasn’t worked a live show in the last seven days, suggesting that the number is as arbitrary as the angle itself.

Hawkins took a beating in the first half of the match, with Crews showing off his strength with a long vertical suplex. When Hawkins got some heat, he went outside and mimicked O’Neil’s Florida Gators call, but O’Neil didn’t rise to it this week.

The last few minutes saw the two men exchange quick pinning combinations as Hawkins looked like he was pushing Crews all the way. It ended, though, when Crews ducked under a clothesline and spun Hawkins up into the air to nail him with his spin-out powerbomb.

Gran Metalik & Kalisto defeated Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher (3:44)

Gallagher is a remarkable performer but is perhaps even more so now that he wrestles in a full three-piece suit and dress shoes. He and Kendrick are as different as chalk and cheese — especially evidenced if you’ve seen their episode of “Ride Along”on the WWE Network — but functioned well as a tag team here.

After Metalik played babyface in peril, he managed to get distance between himself and Gallagher and Kendrick. They did a great spot where Kendrick slid back into the ring as Metalik was crawling to make the hot tag and Kendrick dove to stop him, just missing as the tag was made. The timing was perfect.

The finish saw Metalik hit a prone Gallagher with his rope-walking elbow drop while Kendrick was too far away to make the save. Metalik and Kalisto celebrated like they had just won a championship but, overall, this was far too short given the talent on the show.

WWE Main Event results: Curt Hawkins’ streak reaches 132 losses

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Gran Metalik defeated Brian Kendrick in a fun opener that was well told. Apollo Crews beat Curt Hawkins as Hawkins and Titus O’Neil nearly came to blows. Hawkins is now at 132 straight matches without a win.

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Gran Metalik defeated Brian Kendrick (5:42)

Kendrick is without a singles win since August and lost here in a good match that was told in three parts. Metalik took the early going, using his pace and aerial ability to stun Kendrick and get the crowd involved and engaged in the match. A huge suicide dive from Metalik launched Kendrick into the air and on to his back.

But after baiting Metalik outside, Kendrick took over in the second third and slowed things down with rest holds. It was here that Metalik was a little too cartoonish in his selling and it took away from the main thrust of the match.

The final part saw both men kick out of each other’s finishers, with Metalik using his rope-walk elbow drop and Kendrick trying for the Sliced Bread #2. After Metalik looked beaten when his top rope dive was turned into a powerbomb, he kicked out and managed to reverse Kendrick into a Metalik Driver for the win.

Apollo Crews (w/ Titus O’Neil) defeated Curt Hawkins (4:22)

Crews beat Hawkins with relative ease here to bring Hawkins’ losing streak count to 132. Assuming that this keeps going at the rate of one per week, we would hit 150 by WrestleMania weekend. If they make fans aware of it, they could at least give him a match on the card to see if he could curb it. Not to make the most of a streak as long running as this would seem misguided.

The match was just as most of these Hawkins’ squashes have been. The difference here was O’Neil in the role of Crews’ manager. Hawkins is always good, despite the losses every week, and this week he continually trash talked O’Neil. Before the break, the mind games got to O’Neil and he got up on the apron to square up to Hawkins but eventually thought better of it.

Crews was impressive, flipping around and showing off his agility and selling well for Hawkins. He took an enzuigiri and a flapjack from Hawkins for a near fall but turned the tide quickly and finished things off with a spin-out powerbomb for the win.