We’re back with another week of action on WWE Main Event, which aired its final episode on YouTube last night. Starting next week, WWE’s weekly online show will move to Rumble and air on Wednesday nights. This week’s show ran just under a half-hour and featured three matches, including a former Royal Rumble winner taking on a former WWE Champion celebrating 20 years with the company. You can find the full episode at the link below, but if you’d rather read up on what happened, keep scrollin’, scrollin’, scrollin’!
Shinsuke builds a Bakusai win streak
Main Event kicked off with Shinsuke Nakamura taking on former WWE Champion The Miz, who was joined by Kit Wilson and came out wearing a brand-new T-shirt to commemorate his 20-year anniversary with the company. After Shin accompanied him on last week’s show, Kyoki was at ringside to return the favor this week. Shinsuke got his ‘Come on!’ spot in early on in the match, but The Miz did his usual Miz thing and took control with a little help from a Kit Wilson distraction. Kit Wilson got involved again a little while later, almost letting Miz steal one from Shinsuke, but that prompted Kyoki to even the odds by hitting Kit with a diving dropkick off the ring apron and to the floor. Moments later, Shinsuke lined up Maryse’s husband and leveled him with a Kinshasa to pick up a win.
Reaction: For weeks, WWE has been posting a ton of digital exclusives after SmackDown, featuring blue brand stars they didn’t have time for on the main show. Main Event seems to be another avenue they’re using to ease the roster logjam on Friday nights. We hadn’t seen Miz wrestle a televised match since August, a losing effort with Kit Wil-son in Bakusai’s debut. It was a little jarring to see Miz relegated to a Main Event loss like this, but I guess that’s just where he is right now. As for the winner, Shinsuke scoring the pinfall after Kyoki won his own Main Event match last week was definitely the right call, but if they want Bakusai to be seen as a credible threat to Haku’s boys, I think the next step should probably be to have them wrestle in some tag team matches, no?
Maxxine gets The Vision in the win column
Maxxine Dupri was in action on this week’s show, accompanied as expected by one half of the World Tag Team Champions, Austin Theory. After defeating Chantel Monroe last week, she took on another newcomer, Andi Summers. This was Andi’s WWE television debut, and Blake Howard mentioned on commentary that she is waiting to hear from NXT GM Stone and Evolve Foreman Thatcher on when she can debut on one of those brands. Summers, an 8-year veteran, asserted herself well, but the match followed the same playbook Dupri and Theory used last week. In the closing moments, Theory grabbed Andi’s leg as she bounced off the ropes, allowing Maxxine to take control of the match for good. Dupri picked up the win, hitting a step-up Fame-Asser on Summers to run her Main Event winning streak to two.
Reaction: Featured on Main Event for a second straight week, Maxxine’s heel persona is becoming more prominent. She’s engaging the crowd more, but as in her match on last week’s show, the biggest heat was directed at The Pressure, Austin Theory. All in all, it’s clear that WWE brass is invested in Dupri’s development. While she got a bit of a push as Intercontinental Champion earlier this year, it became clear she still had more to develop in the ring. Giving her some run on Main Event shows that they still think she can get there. On the other side, I like giving some ID and Evolve ladies an opportunity, as they have in the last two weeks. Andi Summers, like Chantel Monroe last week, didn’t embarass herself by any means, and I’ll be curious to see where she pops up next.
Big Cass manhandles another high-flyer
After being jumped by Birth Right on NXT and losing his spot in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, Sean Legacy returned to Main Event after a tag team loss in his previous appearance in July. His opponent on last night’s show was a man who has been picking on cruiserweights in recent weeks, Big Cass. Legacy used his considerable speed advantage to hit some offense early, but Cass’ size soon tipped the scales back in the 7-footer’s favor. Legacy mounted a scrappy comeback but Big took control for good by catching him on a suicide dive, and putting the finishing touches on his win by leveling his opponent with a big Timberland boot to the face.
Reaction: It was good to see Sean Legacy get a chance to mix it up with a main roster star, even though he ended up being fodder for the big man. Legacy competing in singles action after both he and Dorian Van Dux were taken out on NXT on Tuesday adds more fuel to my theory that DVD is fighting through an injury. As for Cass, his continued habit of picking on guys much smaller than him has to lead somewhere, and a logical destination might be Intercontinental Champion Chad Gable. This appearance lasted less than 10 minutes, but it was still enough to again make it clear that something is missing from Cass’ presentation. I’m not sure what that missing element is, but he’s just not a compelling character right now.
Final Thoughts
Pretty pedestrian night of action on last night’s show. Nothing was bad by any means, but nothing particularly jumped out at me either. It followed a pattern very similar to last week’s episode, except this one ended with a heel picking up a win. Looking ahead to next week, it’ll be interesting to see whether Bakusai competes in tag team action after winning singles matches on the last two shows, or whether they’ll appear on SmackDown tonight for more than a digital exclusive. I’ll also be curious to see if another young star from the NXT or Evolve women’s divisions gets a chance to break Maxxine Dupri’s winning streak.
Check back next week for another recap as Main Event switches over to Rumble. Plus, check out the recap of last week’s episode, where Otis took on Naraku!
