Rants

WWE Main Event Review – 7.02.26

By Kat Bourne on 2 July 2026

Thursday night means Main Event! Tonight, Main Event is even shorter than usual. With WWE doing a Raw broadcast immediately followed by a SmackDown taping to give the crew some rest after the wicked international travel schedule, the Main Event taping time was cut a little short. We’re doing two matches tonight instead of the standard three. That’s great for me! That’s great for you as well, if you’re one of those people that complain about my reviews being too long.

The week in WWE: Main Event / SmackDown / Night of Champions / Lucha Libre AAA / Great American Bash / Raw / NXT / Evolve

Much like Monday’s Raw and tomorrow’s SmackDown, THIS is the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Vic Joseph and Blake Howard are on commentary while the great Alicia Taylor handles the ring announcing.

Carmelo Hayes vs Axiom

This is the first Main Event appearance for Melo in 2026 while Axiom has been here four times this year, most recently in a May victory against Kit Wilson. These two faced off on this very program back in August 2025 with Hayes winning in six minutes and have a history of matches dating back to NXT.

This starts with a quick pace, including Axiom diving onto Melo in the entrance area. Axiom leaps over Hayes and Hayes spins him down with a bulldog for a two count. The crowd is fully behind Hayes, repeatedly chanting for him throughout the match. Axiom, not so much. Hayes boots Axiom in the back of the head and springboards onto him with a leg drop. Vic wonders if a win tonight will get Hayes back on the championship path. One could hope. Hayes springs onto Axiom with a springboard clothesline that again only gets him a two, drawing another “Melo” chant from the crowd.

Axiom dropkicks Melo down to try to get back into things. Axiom flatters Hayes with a running kick and suplexes him on his head for a near fall. Axiom punts Hayes with the Yes Kicks before Melo rolls him up. Melo springboards a DDT off the second rope for a two and heads up top, Axiom following and nailing a beautiful Spanish Fly. Axiom sets up the Golden Ratio, Hayes leaps into the momentum and catches Axiom with the First 48 instead to get the pin.

Carmelo Hayes pins Axiom. Quick and enjoyable. These two are a very good pairing and made each other look great. Let’s get Melo something to do on the big show.

Dragon Lee vs Rusev

Lee has competed four times on Main Event this year, last in March in the Intercontinental Title ladder match qualifying matches by defeating Grayson Waller. Rusev was last on Main Event on the same show, defeating big Otis. More interesting is that Rusev FIRST competed on this program on April 8, 2014, back when this show was only 80 episodes in and not over 700. He beat Sin Cara in under a minute, but that episode is notable because it had a really good six-man Shield vs Wyatts match that flew under the radar. That’s right, the entire Shield battled the Wyatts in an exclusive Main Event match and it ruled. Scott Keith even dipped his toes into Main Event to review it, giving it 3.75 stars. WWE doesn’t have an official upload of the match on YouTube, but another user has uploaded it here. If you read the Blog of Doom WWE Vault team, upload the match.

Rusev takes apart Lee early before Lee speeds up and dropkicks Rusev outside. Rusev simply punches Lee to stop the comeback streak and slams him down in the ring, dropping elbows and laying in kicks as commentary mentions these two being on opposing sites recently on Raw. Dragon spikes down Rusev with a running clothesline and drops the corner boots into the face. Lee bridges Rusev into a two count and nails a Tope to the outside on Rusev. With Rusev back in, Rusev kicks Lee in the face as Lee tries to fly onto him. Rusev hooks on the Accolade. Rusev drops it to taunt and tries to hook it again, Lee rolls up Rusev and gets a three count though you could probably say Rusev kicked out at 2.5.

Dragon Lee pins Rusev. Not terribly exciting but as part of a twenty minute show, it’s good enough to watch.

And that’s our entire show. Two matches, four commercials, twenty minutes. Easiest show to watch every week! You might as well watch the entire show, but Axiom vs Hayes is worth your time if nothing else. Go ahead and watch that Shield/Wyatts match from Main Event’s past while you’re at it.