WWE Main Event results: JD McDonagh debuts, Asuka in action

This past week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, before Monday’s Raw.

Asuka defeated Kiana James (4:16)

There was nothing much to this one as it was kind of odd to see Asuka on Main Event when she’s at the top of the card in the women’s division. But, the match was fine.

As she made her way to the ring, they aired a James inset promo from earlier in the day. She is still talking up her feud with Dana Brooke from the last few weeks and said that people needed to now “invest” in her.

This was Asuka’s third-ever Main Event appearance and second singles outing, but with the win, here she remains undefeated on this show.

The crowd were more into this type of match than usual, but that makes sense given that its Asuka this early into their Monday night viewing. She gave James a fair amount and let her get a couple of covers in before she finished it off.

James used a couple of scoop slams before slapping on a chin lock. Asuka eventually fired up with strikes and kicks and after she avoided a bulldog, James took a kick to the head for the defeat.

Credit to Asuka as she sold the win as though she had been in a battle and carried it off like the professional that she is, but I’m not sure we’ll be seeing her again on Main Event any time soon.

Cedric Alexander defeated JD McDonagh (8:15)

This was a very strong match by Main Event standards with both men putting in a really good showing with a nice storyline to boot.

It was in June when they announced that Jordan Devlin’s name would be changing as he appeared in a vignette on NXT 2.0 promoting his arrival. But under any moniker, this marked his first taste of main roster WWE television and thus, it was quite the boon for him to get such a fantastic opponent.

The story of this one was McDonagh working over Alexander’s left wrist and arm so that he wasn’t able to operate in quite the same way. Alexander continued to sell his arm in differing ways as the match continued with it actually stopping him from using the Neutralizer after the commercial break.

McDonagh used a moonsault off the second rope onto Alexander on the outside, even managing to land most of it on his left arm. What was clear here was just how much like one of his trainers he is in his gait and mannerisms. Those not watching carefully could have mistaken the moonsault for Finn Balor.

They built to a 50/50 finish with both trading strikes in the middle of the ring until Alexander was able to use an enzuigiri to set up for the Michinoku Driver for the win.

Final Thoughts:

Main Event continues to be a playground for new talent, making the show infinitely more interesting than it used to be. This week really cemented the fact that Cedric Alexander is an excellent wrestler, but also showed that JD McDonagh can more than hang with him and thus, a main roster spot would suit him just fine.