WWE Main Event results: Jinder Mahal in action, The Ascension win

The Big Takeaway: The Ascension grabbed a very rare win in the opening bout against Heath Slater & Rhyno, and former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal returned to Main Event to beat Zack Ryder and close out the show.

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The Ascension defeated Heath Slater & Rhyno (5:08)

Both matches on the show this week felt slow and labored. And at just over five minutes, this easily felt twice as long as that. Nigel McGuinness noted on the bell that Rhyno and Slater had been “tearing it up at the live shows” of late, but there was little evidence of that here.

The Ascension don’t get many victories. You have to go back as far as February of 2016 to find a tag team win for the pair — and it came on a show that no longer exists (Superstars) against a team that featured a wrestler who no longer works for WWE (Damien Sandow).

The finish started when Konnor broke up a pin attempt by Slater, then Rhyno clotheslined Konnor to the outside. Viktor, in turn, sent Rhyno out and Slater tried to steal the pin on Viktor. Konnor then sent Rhyno into the dasher boards, while back in the ring Viktor clotheslined Slater and tagged Konnor back in. Together, they hit The Fall of Man on Slater for the win.

Jinder Mahal (w/ Sunil Singh) defeated Zack Ryder (5:30)

Mahal hasn’t appeared on Main Event since March of last year, and that’s probably quite a good barometer of just how much his push totally transformed his career. He went from a regular on Superstars and then Main Event to WWE Champion within months. His change in physique was marked and appeared to have a significant influence on the timing of his upturn in fortunes.

He and Ryder worked as you would expect: Mahal’s move set is a slow, heel one that included several long headlocks here. It stifled what Ryder does best and took the pace and thrust out of his offense. The match only really picked up when Ryder got some hope.

Ryder connected with a forearm on Mahal in the corner, but Sunil Singh distracted him on the apron. After he had scared Singh off, Ryder went for the Broski Boot, but Mahal had it telegraphed and was able to hit the Khallas for the win.